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Players are now on their final 15 minute break of Day 1a. Some stream outside and some into the casino half of the casino - where it must be said the dress code appears to be being upheld much more stringently.
Level: 9
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
The very tall Fabian Quoss was all in preflop with 
against a fellow German's 
after the latter got stubborn and attemped to push Quoss off the hand. The board came 
and Quoss doubled up to about 60,000.
We arrived to find the flop reading 
and Juan Maceiras all in to cover Luca Cainelli, most of whose chips were already in the middle - there was what looked like over 80,000 in the pot, and Cainelli had less than 25,000 remaining in front of him.
Cainelli tanked up long enough for the clock to be called, but within seconds of floorman Clement arriving for the countdown, Cainelli had folded. The Italian is now at less than half the average stack; the Spanish Team PokerStars Pro meanwhile is at roughly 125,000.
"Ace eight or a set?" asked Cainelli sadly. Maceiras' reply suggested that it could have been either of those things, or a flush draw.
Gustav Ekerot was all in with 
when we got there, up against the 
of Fatima Moreira de Melo. The board ran out 
which was no use to the Swede who shook his assassin's hand before heading out into the night.
De Melo is at around 85,000 now.
San Remo champion Rupert Elder is out, according to his twitter he had 
on a 
X board against 
and couldn't catch another Jack to survive on the river.
Russell Carson was very short-stacked when we found him all in with 
; this is the only explanation we can think of for him being up against 
.
Board: 
Carson doubled to 18,700. We're not actually terribly sure who was holding the as all the chips were already in the middle when we got there, but by the look on his face and the mere 15,000 in his stack, we suspect it might have been Jude Ainsworth.
Ben Wilinofsky, Berlin EPT winner, has won a huge pot mid level 9, busting long-term table antagonist Fabrice Soulier in the process. Soulier was the preflop raiser (to 2,400 from the cutoff), called by both blinds. On the 
flop, Soulier bet 3,700 when it was checked to him, the small blind folded but Wilinofsky bumped it up to 8,200. Soulier called. The turn was the 
and now Wilinofsky led 15,800 (checking out Soulier's 62,000 remaining stack after he made the call once again).
The river: and a fatal card it proved for the French EPT regular. Wilinofsky, sunglasses off, simply set Soulier in - and he was called in a second. Wilinofsky showed for a perfectly rivered flush, and Soulier calmly took his leave, bumping Wilinofsky up to over 170,000.
Arnaud Mattern, by now reduced to just 18,800, open-shoved from the cutoff. Michael Pesek in the big blind looked as though he was seriously considering a call, but in the end he folded instead.
Mattern is still hovering around the 20 BB mark - not his happy place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
260,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
||
|
235,000
143,000
|
143,000 |
|
||
|
|
225,000
120,000
|
120,000 |
|
|
||
