Ruslan Prydryk has just won consecutive pots and this should give him some extra confidence after not being involved in the action in a while.
The action folded around to Prydryk in the small blind and he raised to 105,000. His opponent in the big blind was Fabian Holling and as usual Holling had a good stare into the side of Prydryk's head before making the call.
The flop was dealt and it was and both players checked. The turn was and Prydryk pushed a bet of 100,000 across the line and Holling folded.
In the next hand Kenny Hallaert raised to 90,000 from under the gun and Prydryk three-bet making it 260,000 to play and Hallaert decided it would be better to fold.
Martin Jacobson will be picking the PokerNews Team's lottery numbers tonight.
He had raised to 86,000 with PokerStars qualifier William Johnson making the call in position.
The flop came and Jacobson fired out 85,000 before Johnson raised to 185,000. The action did not stop though as the Swede 3-bet the flop, bumping it up to 400,000, his American opponent deliberated the options before electing to just call with around 1.1 million chips behind, Jacobson with 850,000.
After all the action on the flop, the turn went check-check and a fairly innocuous looking came on the river. Jacobson now moved all-in and Johnson let out a loud sigh, sinking into his chair.
"I call," he said with a grimace. Jacobson turned over for the rivered nut straight and Johnson flashed for two pair. The American dropped to about 200,000 while Jacobson has 2.6 million.
Fabian Holling raised to 83,000 in the cutoff and it folded around to the newly chipped up Martin Jacobson in the big blind, who reraised all in. Holling called all in for around 900,000, Jacobson announced, "Ace queen," Holling told him, "Ace queen is good," and a few moments later we were down to 13 players.
Holling:
Jacobson:
Board:
Jacobson is now at 3.7 million - that looks to be second in chips behind Alex Wice. Jacobson is now looking in extremely good shape to make his third EPT final table. He finished third in his first one (EPT Budapest 2008) and second in his second one (EPT Vilamoura 2010), so if he continues this trend he's on track for a win...
Alex Wice has retaken the chip lead after winning another huge pot against Kevin Lambert. Wice had bet 430,000 on the turn of a board with Lambert the only caller before the Canadian then bet 650,000 on the river. Lambert tanked for several minutes before calling for most of his stack only for Wice to turn over for trips.
Lambert looked disgusted and mucked his cards, he's been crippled.
William Johnson qualified for EPT Deauville through an online satellite at Pokerstars.net and he has had one hell of a ride. Unfortunately, for the American, that ride has just come to abrupt halt courtesy of Kenny Hallaert.
It was a simple affair really after Johnson lost most of his stack to Martin Jacobson just a few short hands earlier. Hallaert raised to 90,000 and Johnson moved all-in for the remainder of his stack and Hallaert called.
Hallaert:
Johnson:
The flop was very helpful to Halleart. giving the Belgian a full house. Johnson was drawing dead after the turn came down making the river rather unneccessary.
Anthony Hnatow raised to 88,000 in late position, and in the big blind the man with three first names, Julien Claudepierre, made it 262,000 to go. Hnatow announced all in, and a moment later said, "S***," with feeling, when Claudepierre called all in for 1,092,000 total.
Claudepierre:
Hnatow:
Board:
Hnatow looked furious while the board was being dealt, but by the end of the hand he was laughing. Claudepierre doubled to around 2.3 million; Hnatow was left with around 2.2 million, the chip leader at the last break now merely average.
Philip Jacobsen raised to 92,000 on the button and Franck Pepe three bet from the small blind making it 182,000. The big blind moved out of the way and Jacobsen moved all of his chips into the middle.
It was a 930,000 decision on Pepe who tapped the table in recognition of his opponents move before folding.
Kaspars Renga is one of our short stacks here on the remaining two tables and it was only a matter of time before he had to try and dodge some bullets.
When he did make his 411,000 move he was holding and he found a caller in the shape of Martin Jacobson who was holding . Jacobson was looking for an eight or a split pot but neither came and Renga doubled up.