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Nicolas Babel is the huge new chip leader with about 155,000. Details are unclear about how he managed to amass such a lead but he won one big pot with kings and managed to make quad queens against a straight in another.
Possible impending disaster for Dutch poker fans - we're not sure how it happened, but Netherlandish poker legend Rob Hollink is down to a lacklustre 8,500.
Here are a few hands featuring Team Pokerstars Pro Christophe De Meulder.
In the first hand we arrive at the table with 1,850 in the pot and 
on the flop. De Meulder makes it 775 to play and Alain Taieb calls. The turn is the 
and De Meulder checks to his opponent who moves all-in for 4,575 stopping De Meulder in his tracks.
"Why did you go all-in? Why didn't you just bet?" The Belgian says.
It was a rhetorical question and De Meulder eventually called with 
. Taieb took down the pot with 
for two pair.
"If you would have just bet I would have folded." Said De Meulder.
That hand knocked De Meulder down to 22,000 but he was straight into action in the following hand.
Team Pokerstars Sportstar Fatima Moreira de Melo, made it 775 to play and received two callers in the shape of Ali Ahmad and De Meulder. The flop was 
and de Melo bet 1,200 and Ahmad called. De Meulder was next to play and he counted out a raised and squeezed the pot up to 3,550 forcing both players to fold. The only hand we got to see was that of Ahmad who held 
for a gut-shot.
The board read 
when we arrived, and Nicolo Calia (cutoff) was betting 11,000 into a 12,000 pot. On the button, Jeremy Nock tanked up for some time, head in hands.
"Sick," he said eventually, then amended this to, "Sick fold," indicating that he was unlikely to make the call. He mumbled various things, including, "Jacks," "Kings," and, "Maybe ace-king," before folding 
up. Sure enough, Calia showed him 
for the bigger flopped set, and the vindicated Nock declared, "I only lost 3k!" to the table.
Calia is at 39,000.
We got to the table with a board of 
displayed in the centre and 2,425 splashed around the side. The two people contesting the hand were Lucille Cailly and Jack Ellwood. Cailly had checked to Ellwood on the river and Ellwood had bet 1,325 and Cailly was in the tank. The Frenchwomen eventually found the call, and what a good call it was, and enough to take down the pot.
Cailly: 
Ellwood: 
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
63,000 | 16,000 |
|
48,000 | 7,000 |
|
44,000 | 14,000 |
|
44,000 | 14,000 |
|
39,000 | 9,000 |
|
35,000 | 5,000 |
|
35,000 | 3,000 |
|
33,000 | 2,500 |
|
33,000 | 3,000 |
|
33,000 | 3,000 |
|
29,000 | -1,000 |
|
26,000 | -4,000 |
|
21,000 | -11,000 |
|
|
14,000 | -16,000 |
|
8,000 | -22,000 |
A vacant space is now occupying the area that was once populated by Team Pokerstars Pro John Duthie. It has been confirmed that he has in fact been eliminated although we are not certain of the exact hand that led to his demise.
Chris Brammer is hitting the heady heights of 70,000 after getting it all-in on the turn after flopping a set with 
against which held for a huge pot. He looks to be the early chip leader.
The big names are rather thinner on the ground here than they have been at some other EPTs recently, but nevertheless one particularly vicious-looking table has emerged.
Table 3 currently features French powerhouses Bruno Launais (EPT Deauville 2009 seventh place, EPT Vienna 2010 eighth place) and Ludovic Lacay (EPT Warsaw 2008 eighth place) sitting next to each other, with Team PokerStars Pro John Duthie and 2009 EPT Barcelona fourth place finisher Mihai Manole further down the table. So far Launais seems to be the big winner on the table, with a stack well over 50,000.
Antoine Amourette, former WPT finalist, has 68,000 having just picked up two sizeable pots.
The first saw Lucille Cailly open to 500 before Victor Yves Hallague made it 1,375 next to her. Amourette flat-called in the big blind and Cailly called as well.
All three checked the 
flop before Amourette bet 2,625 and the other two folded.
The very next hand saw Cailly open again to 500 and the button Gaetano Dell Aera made the call before Amourette raised to 1,700 in the small blind. Cailly and Aera both called, then both called a 2,400 bet on the 
flop. The pot size swelled considerably before all three checked the 
turn leading to a river. Amourette now fired out 3,850 and Cailly tanked before folding, but Aera quickly made the call only to muck when Amourette showed 
.
