Vitalijis Zavorotnijs value bet his hand to the tune of 3,000 on the river with a board of staring up at him and his . His opponent Paul Knebel thought briefly but paid him off, mucking when he saw the Aces-up. An expressionless Zavorotnijs stacked the extra chips, which make his stack over 35k in total.
Every time we worm over to the far corner in which lurks Jan Skampa's table, Sergio Castellucio is doing something. That's not always winning - his 23k stack will confirm that - but such details don't seem to put him off any. Just now he raised in early position, getting three callers to a flop. He bet out 1,200 called only by Konstantinos Nanos. On the turn he bet 2,600 when it was checked to him again, and this time the action slowed as if he'd fired the bet at Nanos in bullet time. Nanos gripped his cards in the 'no win fold edge' style, but couldn't make up his mind. Finally he let it go.
We believe that Alex Kravchenko had opened to 500 and Lex Veldhuis to his immediate left had called; either way, Kristijonas Andrulis went all in for around 8,000, Kravchenko reraised to 16,000, and following a swift fold from Veldhuis the cards were on their backs.
Kravchenko:
Andrulis: did not look very happy as he turned over
Board:
Andrulis, the young Lithuanian aviator sunglasses enthusiast who took down two side events at EPT Tallinn and won one side event and came second in another at EPT Vilamoura, will not be going any further in this Main Event. Still, with a side event record like that, who needs the Main?
The Team Pokerstars Pro Arnaud Mattern could do with a little help after his stack has shrunk to ~12,000 after this hand. The player in seat five made it 500 to play from early position and ended up with six callers. The flop was and everyone checked. The turn was the and the original raiser bet 3,000 and Mattern made the call. The river was the and the initial raiser declared "I give up - I will check to you." Mattern also checked and the initial raiser took down the pot after showing a pair of eights in his hand.
The numbers haven't yet been officially processed and confirmed, but Day 1a registration is now closed and the number on the board at the moment is 234. With the numbers expected to be much higher tomorrow (today is a public holiday in Austria, which we suspect will have made many people opt for tomorrow instead), this is looking as though it's going to be a pretty chunky EPT field.
Chip leader, we believe, at this early-mid stage of Day 1A, is Jan Skampa, winner of EPT Prague in '09 (the same year in which he finished fourth at EPT Vilamoura). 71,000 sounds like a lot and it is - especially considering the blinds are just 100/200.
Recent WPT London Champion Jake Cody is currently treading water over at table 24. He is currently sat on a stack of ~33,500 after getting to showdown in this recent hand.
The most active player at the table in seat four opened for 600 and Cody made the call in the next seat. They were both joined at the flop by the button and small blind. The flop was and the action checked to Cody who bet 1,400. Only the button called and there were two going to the turn. This is where the action stopped as they both checked the turn and river. Cody showing and the player on the button showing which was enough to take down the pot.
Such was the joyous exclamation from Marcin Horecki as his came good against his opponent's . The chips had gone in preflop, and the board had come down to double him up to around 12,000.
Horecki had the good manners to follow his first statement with a second: