Now that he's got a few chips, Ludovic Lacay is now splashing it about a bit although he just lost a few chips to table mate Simon Mayer after check-calling 7,000 on the turn of a board before the river went check-check.
Neither player wanted to show first, but Mayer eventually turned over and Lacay flashed his before sending it into the muck. The Frenchman has dropped back down to 70,000.
Meanwhile, Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern has been going much slower today, finding it a bit more of a grind. He had opened to 950 with Benny Spindler and the button both calling, but the flop came and it was checked to the young German who fired out 1,600. Mattern and the button both folded.
This tough-looking table will be next to break which might come as a relief to some of its' participants...
A big increase in wealth for Garlef Rinne just now. The beady eyes of the press were attracted by the size of the river bet, into a pot bristling with yellow 5k chips - 24,000 from Carmine Avolio. The board was . Rinne thought for a while before counting out the call (over four fifths of his stack, but only half of Avolio's remaining chips) and throwing it in.
Avolio:
Rinne: . Second nuts good against ace-high.
Seat 2: EPT Vilamoura champion Toby Lewis
Seat 3: EPT Deauville finalist Kenny Hallaert
Seat 5: Johan "busto_soon" van Til
Seat 7: winner of many things William Thorson
Seat 8: EPT Tallinn finalist Dmitry Vitkind
Seat 9: EPT Deauville winner Lucien Cohen
Good luck to the other three players on that table.
The chip accumulation of young Brit Toby Lewis has been halted by doubling through his neighbour (a 19k loss in total). All in preflop in a button vs. small blind confrontation, Lewis gave the all-in shorter stack a spin with against . The board brought a pair for Lewis but a set for his opponent - .
[Removed:197] continues to reside among the upper echelons of the chip leader group. He isolated a limper preflop from the small blind with a 1,100 raise but then checked a board all the way to the river where he suddenly spurred into life with a 2,500 almost pot-sized bet.
The limper rechecked his cards briefly but then sighed and gave up. [Removed:198] is still on around the 90,000 mark.
Juha Helppi has busted Anton Ionel, who managed to see a three-way flop somehow with . When Helppi led out, Ionel moved all-in and was quickly called by Helppi alone. The flop was or may have been , but the outcome was the same - Juha showed which turned into a bigger house as the turn and river came . The table gave a smirk and a wince at the same time.
Ludovic Lacay has rocketed up to 83,000 after he raised a 9,000 river bet on a board to a chunky looking 27,700. His opponent sighed, muttering "runner-runner..." before throwing in the call.
Lacay turned over for a straight and a flush both of which were beating his opponent's which had flopped a set only to come unstuck at the end.