There was already quite a pile in the middle by the time Arnaud Mattern and Attilio Donato got to the turn of a board. Mattern knew he liked the turn card, but he didn't know how perfect it was until he saw how happy Donato was to get it in against Mattern. Donato was much, much less happy when he turned over for a turned set only to discover that Mattern's had become a straight with the same card. The on the river didn't pair the board, sending Donato home in 23rd place and adding 300k to Mattern's stack. He's up to 1.4 million now.
Javed Abrahams, who already doubled through Johan Storakers in the first few minutes of play, found himself in the small blind once again and raising - this time he had enough chips to make it just a standard raise. Johan Storakers, in the big blind once more, reraised to cover Abrahams - who very quickly called all in.
Storakers:
Abrahams:
Board:
Storakers made a face like he'd been punched in the stomach as he dropped to 260,000.
Abrahams meanwhile has made an impressive comeback. From one of our two official short stacks coming back today, he has now quadrupled his short stack to a roughly average 540,000 and is in with a shot at the serious money. It has been a very good year for Abrahams - he started it off with fifth place in the $1,000 six-max side event at the PCA, and then followed it up with a number of outstanding cashes including 14th place in the $2,500 six-max event at the WSOP and 147th place in this year's WSOP Main Event. After his excellent run so far today, he is in with a decent shot at an EPT final table to go along with it.
Arnaud Mattern opened for 36,000 under the gun and it folded around to Nicolo Calia in the cutoff. The Italian veteran who went deep into the money at this year's WSOP Main Event paused only very briefly before moving all in for 265,000. Back around to Mattern, who looked interested for a moment or two, but eventually folded.
Two hands later and Calia shoved again, this time in early position. Everybody folded, and he treated them to a flashed .
Toni Ojala opened to 36,000, and out of the small blind, Vallo Maidla moved all in for a total of 132,000. Ojala snap-called with , but he really didn't want to see Maidla's . The board came , and Maidla doubled up to start his comeback as the only Estonian left in the field.
Ivan Demidov could have been the story of the tournament, but somehow he found himself going from 700,000 in chips to out in 22nd. Demidov raised to 35,000 on the button, and in the small blind, Konstantin Bilyaver reraised to 90,000. Demidov took two minutes to decide on a big raise, and Bilyaver took less than two seconds to announce that he was all in. Demidov called just as fast. Monster against monster? Umm, sorta.
Demidov:
Bilyaver:
The flop was clean, but the turn had Demidov in need of a five or a six to survive. The river bricked the , and Demidov's quest for another final table came to an abrupt end. Bilyaver is now the massive chip leader with 1.8 million.
Arnaud Mattern opened to 38,000 from the cutoff and Antti Kärkkäinen pushed all-in on the button for 160,000 more. Mattern gave it about 30 seconds and then made the call.
Mattern:
Kärkkäinen:
The board came a Mattern-favouring and his solitary pair of sixes was good enough to knock out the long-haired Finn.
Igor Ivashkiv opened to 34,000, and on his left, Matvey Linov three-bet to 85,000. When it folded back to him, Ivashkiv moved all in for a total of 85,000. Linov was stumped and spent a few minutes thinking before deciding to call, and he was immediately pleased with his decision. Ivashkiv had been making a move with , so Linov's was in the lead. He had a big smile when the door card was an ace, but the flop left Ivashkiv with outs. And the turn gave him a few more. Linov's two pair had to dodge a king, nine, or eight to eliminate Ivashkiv. But the river was the . Ivashkiv banged the table and gave a fist pump before standing in the corner with his face a few inches from the wall to compose himself. Linov was visibly frustrated, but kept his composure as he sat back down and slid nearly all of his chips to Ivashkiv. Linov was left with 32,000.
Despite having trebled up to nearly seven big blinds soon after being crippled, Matvey Linov is not exactly full awake. He just thought he was given a walk and showed to everyone, but what he hadn't realised was that Dmitry Vitkind had in fact raised to 36,000 and Linov had actually just open-folded his hand.
Vitkind showed though to leave Linov wondering what might have been.
Bassam Elnajjar opened for 38,000 under the gun but a couple seats down Anatoli Jevtejev re-popped to 80,000. Everyone else ducked out of the way, and the action was back on Elnajjar. He made it 178,000 to go. And then back to Jevtejev, who, after some brief deliberation, went all in for 395,000.
Elnajjar sat back in his chair and thought about it for a long time - enough time for our 20th place finisher to bust out on the next table, and the clock to count down into the break. Eventually though he folded, and Jevtejev took the pot without the trouble of a showdown.
![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
board. Mattern knew he liked the turn card, but he didn't know how perfect it was until he saw how happy Donato was to get it in against Mattern. Donato was much, much less happy when he turned over 
for a turned set only to discover that Mattern's 
had become a straight with the same card. The 
on the river didn't pair the board, sending Donato home in 23rd place and adding 300k to Mattern's stack. He's up to 1.4 million now.
, but he really didn't want to see Maidla's 
flop was clean, but the 
turn had Demidov in need of a five or a six to survive. The river bricked the 
, and Demidov's quest for another final table came to an abrupt end. Bilyaver is now the massive chip leader with 1.8 million.
and his solitary pair of sixes was good enough to knock out the long-haired Finn.
flop left Ivashkiv with outs. And the