Christer Johansson had raised a bet of 2,200 on a flop to 5,800 against the UTG player who had been the initial raiser (the former Irish Open Champion having called on the button). We missed the turn action because of watching the events unfold in the Jeff Williams hand (see below) but on the river UTG had checked and Johansson bet 11,000 - just a little less than half his opponent's stack.
UTG looked in total agony, taking several minutes before eventually calling.
"Ace high," said Johansson softly and his foe turned over triumphantly. Johansson dropped to about 110,000 having previously been at the lofty heights of 160,000.
Raul Mestre came close to eliminating triple crown holder Roland de Wolfe, but ended up putting him back in the game with an above average stack for the first time in a while.
Caught on the river with a pot of over 17,000 already built, Mestre, first to act, was deliberating putting in de Wolfe who had less than that back. The board stood and after a pause the rest went in (it was quiet but it looked like Mestre set in cutoff de Wolfe and he quickly followed with . Mestre shook his head showing and re-counted his 40,000 or so with the expression of someone finding a wasp in their lemon.
Our latest casualty is one Mr. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom. We understand that he faced a board of and his opponent bet out a stack of high denomination chips. Blom asked for a count, and when he realised that he was covered he tanked for a while before calling all in. His opponent revealed for top two and Blom couldn't beat it and was gone.
Jeff Williams has more than doubled up after a timely flip went his way. UTG+1 had raised to 1,400 before UTG+2 made it 5,000 to go. Williams reraised all in for 13,625 on the button and UTG+1 reshoved all in. UTG+2 tanked for several minutes before deciding to fold.
Williams stated, "Wow, you must have a monster..." turning over but the former Grand Final champion was happy to see his opponent's . UTG+2 pointed to the big slick and said, "I had that..."
The board came out all low: and Williams moved back over the 30,000 mark.
We don't see this very often in Level 7+ in the EPT Grand Final - a five way raised flop (1,500 pre). Not just that, but the action followed:
Check-check-check-check-check
Turn: Check-check-check-check-check
River: The blinds checked, the initial raiser checked, Cathy Hong finally ventured a 2,350 bet. Button Shannon Shorr counted out over 10,000 but thought better of it and passed, as did everyone else.
Hong is fairly striding through this Day 1, on over 73,000 at present.
Luca Pagano is out, his no good against fellow Team PokerStars Pro Sandra Naujoks' when the board came down . Pagano left without a word. Naujoks is up to 38,000 or so; we believe it's the first time she's been above her starting stack today.
Mayu Roca has gone from merely average-y to a 100,000 big stack since the dinner break. Since busting Antonin Teisseire immediately after returning from the break, Roca has picked up a very chunky pot courtesy of Kristoffer Thorsson.
We caught it from the turn of the board, when Roca checked and then called 10,000 from Thorsson. They saw a river and again Roca checked. This time Thorsson bet 15,000, which prompted an epic spell in the tank from Roca. He tanked up long enough for the clock to be called, and he was down to seven seconds on the countdown before he announced call. Thorsson turned over a nice-on-the-turn but nothing-on-the-river - and Roca's was good to take the pot.
The river bluff meant that Thorsson dropped to 26,400; Roca's good call meanwhile put him in possession of a century.
An interesting hand developed preflop with three players coming in for 2,000 before button Emanouil Savin* threebet to 4,000. No one passed for this extra 2,000, and they all saw a flop. This is where it kicked off - check to Savin who bet 7,000. Pass to Vanessa Rousso who calmly tipped in 15,000. Back to Savin who quickly threw forward all of his remaining high denomination chips (18,000 worth, with <2k in shrapnel behind).
Now Rousso looked pained. "You have aces?" she half asked, half announced. Savin said a word which sounded like, "Bluff!"
"Me?" Rousso replied, "You think I'm bluffing? I'm not - I would already have folded if I was bluffing..." She had his stack counted down and realised her own stack barely covered his.
Another tack: "Where are you from?"
"From," he replied.
"He doesn't speak English," it was then pointed out. Rousso chuckled, "So I've been talking to myself...this sucks so bad! My little midget overpair is no good."
She passed and the perma-grinning Savin showed her to a whistle from the rest of the table.
*Because of the lack of English, the name confirmation proved rather difficult. But we think 'tis him.
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop to 5,800 against the UTG player who had been the initial raiser (the former Irish Open Champion having called on the button). We missed the turn action because of watching the events unfold in the Jeff Williams hand (see below) but on the river UTG had checked and Johansson bet 11,000 - just a little less than half his opponent's stack.
triumphantly. Johansson dropped to about 110,000 having previously been at the lofty heights of 160,000.
and after a pause the rest went in (it was quiet but it looked like Mestre set in cutoff de Wolfe and he quickly followed with 
. Mestre shook his head showing 
and Williams moved back over the 30,000 mark.
Check-check-check-check-check
Check-check-check-check-check
The blinds checked, the initial raiser checked, Cathy Hong finally ventured a 2,350 bet. Button Shannon Shorr counted out over 10,000 but thought better of it and passed, as did everyone else.
. Pagano left without a word. Naujoks is up to 38,000 or so; we believe it's the first time she's been above her starting stack today.
board, when Roca checked and then called 10,000 from Thorsson. They saw a 
- and Roca's 
was good to take the pot.
to a whistle from the rest of the table.