Following the start of the new blind level (which was announced with the tune to the Addams Family, in honour of it being Halloween) Konstantinos Nanos seems to have taken over from Michael Eiler in raising preflop most hands. He's picked up over 300k in this fashion in one orbit. There was one hand's pause from Nanos as Daniel Negreanu on the button simply moved in for millions in order to apply pressure to the short-stacked blinds, but then Nanos was back in the driving seat.
Bruno Launais raised and got flat calls from Luca Cainelli and Daniel Negreanu behind. They saw a flop.
Flop:
Launais bet out 175,000 and the aciton moved to Cainelli. He paused, and then raised to 550,000. Negreanu quickly folded, but Launais announced all in. A swift call, and Cainelli, apparently afraid that he was behind, immediately asked him, "Eights?" But no.
Cainelli:
Launais:
Turn:
River:
Cainelli had Launais covered by the slimmest of margins, and Mr. Launais will not be bettering his last EPT final table result (seventh in Deauville in 2009) - he is busto.
Daniel Negreanu called yet another Michael Eiler preflop raise (to 115k). The flop of saw a bet of 155k from Eiler, which took him down another pot. He arrived today in a mood to accumulate, and that's precisely what he's been doing, rising to 3,610,000 in the short time the final table has been playing.
There's plenty of history between these two in particular - yesterday Eiler fourbet all in at least twice preflop for a very large amount, pushing Negreanu off his raise and usually his button. He then paid off Negreanu's full house later for over 900k on the river, but never dropped to a dangerously low stack. He'll definitely be one of the players here today who will make Negreanu work to retain his chip lead all the way through to the end.
Matthias Lotze who started this final table with 1,250,000 has just joined Andreas Wiese and Team Pokerstars Pro Martin Hruby in the shorter stack department after clashing unsuccessfully with Michael Eiler.
Eiler who had raised in the first three consecutive pots finally found some competition from Team Pokerstars Pro Daniel Negreanu and Lotze as they both called Eilers 110,000 from the blinds.
The flop was and both Negreanu and Lotze checked before Eiler fired out a continuation bet of 180,000. Negreanu glanced over at Lotze before getting out of the way and Lotze made the call. The turn was and the pot was 730,000, Lotze again checked and Eiler this time also checked. The river was the and this time Lotze took the turn to be the aggressor when he bet 225,000. Eiler counted out a raise and put them into the pot making it 625,000 and essentially putting Lotze's tournament on the line. Lotze folded.
The first hands are quiet single-raise-fold affairs, with Michael Eiler stepping up to the initial aggression plate. Having briefly tasted the chip lead yesterday before losing it back to Daniel Negreanu in a three million chip pot in the final stages, he seems unfazed and keen to regain it. Three in a row have been opened by Eiler.
The prematch interviews and photographs and the attachment of microphones to the eight remaining players plus necessary testing of the TV table are almost at an end. Once the cards start flying, expect a tough game of poker with plenty of live and online experience between these last men standing. If any of them were feeling at all apprehensive, by now they'll just be chomping at the bit to get into action.
The clocks went back here in Vienna last night so while it might feel like midday already, it's only 11am and the players have appointments with the photographers before the scheduled restart of the tournament.
Thanks to PokerStars and Mad Harper for the intelligence-gathering on all the finalists.
Launais has been playing poker for six years now and has been a pro for the last three. The Frenchman is principally a high-stakes short-handed online cash game player, and typical of good players has a formidably aggressive style.
He first came to notice in 2009, finishing seventh at the EPT Deauville in season five, earning €108,300 in his first ever live event. Launais cashed twice at the World Series of Poker this summer, including a fourth place in the $5k NLHE Six-Handed event, worth $173,000. He also cashed at EPT Prague last season and won a Partouche event in Cannes last year, collecting €60,242 . It’s a record that makes Launais one of the most promising new players in the game.
![[user46298]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
saw a bet of 155k from Eiler, which took him down another pot. He arrived today in a mood to accumulate, and that's precisely what he's been doing, rising to 3,610,000 in the short time the final table has been playing.
and both Negreanu and Lotze checked before Eiler fired out a continuation bet of 180,000. Negreanu glanced over at Lotze before getting out of the way and Lotze made the call. The turn was 
and the pot was 730,000, Lotze again checked and Eiler this time also checked. The river was the 
and this time Lotze took the turn to be the aggressor when he bet 225,000. Eiler counted out a raise and put them into the pot making it 625,000 and essentially putting Lotze's tournament on the line. Lotze folded.