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.
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.
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.
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.
By the by, we're still waiting on the official numbers for today. Last we heard, the board claimed 425 runners for today - but this was never officially confirmed and it then abruptly switched to saying 705 players, with 608 remaining. We're assuming that this number includes those already registered for tomorrow rather than representing a last-minute surge in player numbers. It's still rather misleading, though, as it's thrown out the average stack displayed on the board by some way, and we still don't have that elusive final Day 1a number. We'll let you know when the info finally comes in.
Alexey Tkachenko has just eliminated a short-stacked Khaled El Ali with holding against on a board. Currently, this is one of the rare all-in occasions at the moment where players are getting their whole stacks in.
However, we're expecting this to massively increase over the last level or so.
A bit of up and down for two-time WSOP bracelet winner but serial EPT non-casher Praz Bansi.
First the down - Donovan Baer opened for 1,500 in mid position and Bansi eyed him up before making the call from the small blind to see a flop. Bansi check-called 2,000 and they saw a on the turn. Bansi checked again but this time folded to an 8,200 bet from Baer. Baer showed him the and cheerfully told him, "Never bluff!"
"You know," Bansi told him, "In England when we bluff, we show both cards."
Bansi slipped to 55,000 in that little encounter, but he was soon back up to over 60,000 when he made it to the river of an board. His opponent checked, Bansi bet 5,000, and the hand ended right there.
![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
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.
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 this time Guerriche checked. Dattani bet 8,300, Guerriche folded rather quickly, and the pot went to Portugal.
. 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.
holding against 
on a 
board. Currently, this is one of the rare all-in occasions at the moment where players are getting their whole stacks in.
board. His opponent checked, Bansi bet 5,000, and the hand ended right there.