Team Pokerstars Pro Chris De Meulder has become short stacked and you could sense it was only a matter of time before he found himself with his chips in the middle.
When it happened he was actually in pretty good shape. The most aggressive player on the table, Ali Ahmad, pushed all-in from the button with his remaining 4,000 and De Meulder called from the Big Blind.
De Meulder:
Ahmad:
Ahmad was cursing his luck.
"Why couldn't you have had ace-three?" said the Belgian.
For a moment it didn't seem to matter when the first card the Dealer turned over was the . A and then a completed the flop and it looked like De Meulder's tournament was going to end. The turn almost confirming the inevitable before the flew out of nowhere to send home Ahmadi and give De Meulder a 8,000 life-line.
Hot Michel-on-Michel action now. Young Portuguese high stakes player Michel Dattani didn't have the best of starts to this EPT, but is now back up to just about his starting stack.
We found Dattani and Michel Guerriche looking at a board. Guerriche bet out 1,000 but Dattani made it 3,500 from the button. After a few moments spent idly fingering his chips, Guerriche made the call.
They saw a river - the - and this time Guerriche checked. Dattani bet 8,300, Guerriche folded rather quickly, and the pot went to Portugal.
Spanish poker player, David Morante, qualified for this event online at Pokerstars.net and was having a quite a good day until he bumped into the chip leader Bruno Launais.
We caught the action at the river with a board of and 27,000 in the middle. Launais leveraged his stack perfectly when he dumped a pile of grey 5k chips across the line effectively putting Morante's tournament on the line.
The young Spaniard looked like he was going to call a number of time but in the end, Ludovic Lacay called for the clock, a gesture that actually received a pleasant "thank you" from Morante who looked like he desperately needed help making his decision.
An official was called and during the 10 second countdown Morante picked his chips up one final time. We were all expecting them to cross the line when the time expired and his hand was mucked.
Launais extends his lead at the top with an estimated 160,000.
It's becoming a bit of sparring battle now between Tristan Clemencon and Praz Bansi and you can just feel that like two prizefighters, they're just waiting for a moment to strike out a knock-out. Certainly if either can manage it then they'll quickly feel they can dominate their table with few other names situated on there.
In the latest round, Bansi had 3-bet preflop with Clemencon the only caller. The double bracelet winner bet 5,500 on the flop before Clemencon made it 12,525. Bansi got a count of the Frenchman's remaining stack before electing to just flat-call, revealing a turn. Bansi checked this time, Clemencon bet 15,650 and Banzi tanked only to make an annoyed fold a moment later.
Praz Bansi is here to try and break his duck and cash in an EPT event for the first time. He is cruising at the moment with around 83,000 in front of him and we found him in the middle of an interesting hand.
The board was and there was 1,300 in the pot. Jose Fortado made it 1,050 to play on the play and Bansi called before Antti Karkkainen check-raised from the small blind making it 4,500 to play. Fortado called and Bansi mucked his hand. The turn completed any potential flush and Karkkainen check-folded to a 7,000 bet by Fortado.
Erstwhile chip leader Nicolas Babel has dropped a little to 140,000, meaning that on Bruno Launais on 150,000 is our current chip leader.
He was already in possession of a hefty stack when he got involve with Ludovic Lacay in a blind-on-blind confrontation. We only caught it on the river, the board reading . With around 25,000 already in the pot, Launais bet out 11,200 and Lacay eventually made the call, but mucked when Launais revealed for trips.
The Comeback Of The Day award should definitely go to the extraordinary Fernando Brito. Down to just 4,000 early in the day after his top set lost to rivered quads, if you recall, Brito is now back up to a roughly average 36,000. Most notably he flopped a set of sevens and doubled through a gentleman who'd flopped a pair of aces. Since then he's been on a bit of a tear, winning a succession of smaller pots, and the EPT Player Of The Year frontrunner is back in contention.
![[user169505]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. A 
and then a 
completed the flop and it looked like De Meulder's tournament was going to end. The 
turn almost confirming the inevitable before the 
flew out of nowhere to send home Ahmadi and give De Meulder a 8,000 life-line.
- and this time Guerriche checked. Dattani bet 8,300, Guerriche folded rather quickly, and the pot went to Portugal.
and 27,000 in the middle. Launais leveraged his stack perfectly when he dumped a pile of grey 5k chips across the line effectively putting Morante's tournament on the line.
and there was 1,300 in the pot. Jose Fortado made it 1,050 to play on the play and Bansi called before Antti Karkkainen check-raised from the small blind making it 4,500 to play. Fortado called and Bansi mucked his hand. The turn completed any potential flush 
and Karkkainen check-folded to a 7,000 bet by Fortado.
for trips.
