2011 European Poker Tour Grand Final Madrid

Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2011 European Poker Tour Grand Final Madrid

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
109
Prize
€1,500,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€6,860,000
Entries
686
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000

Vries Rolling

Level 7 : 300/600, 50 ante
Shander de Vries
Shander de Vries

Shander de Vries just won a substantial pot against Kevin Stani and a third player, the latter of these was all in preflop for about 12,000 while most of de Vries chips were in the middle with Stani covering.

Flop: {Q-Diamonds}{Q-Spades}{9-Spades}

The remaining 4,000 of De Vries stack went in the middle and Stani shrugged and called.

De Vries: {A-Spades}{K-Clubs}
Stani: {8-Spades}{8-Clubs}
Short Stack: {A-Hearts}{A-Diamonds}

The turn was the {K-Hearts} and barring an eight, De Vries would be getting the side pot worth 25,000 which coincidentally is exactly what he started with. The river though changed everything, it was the {K-Spades} and the Dutchman backdoored into a full house meaning he now also picked up the main pot worth another 40,000 to push him up to 65,000.

Stani looked a bit grumpy but he's still got a very solid stack.

Tags: Shander de VriesKevin Stani

Some of the Former EPT Winners Still In

Level 7 : 300/600, 50 ante

Could one of these become a double EPT champion?

Jeff Williams (Grand Final)
Roberto Romanello (Prague)
Michael Martin (London)
Carter Phillips (Barcelona)
Sebastian Ruthenberg (Barcelona)
Noah Boeken (Copenhagen)
Rob Hollink (Grand Final)
Kevin Stani (Tallinn)
Pieter de Korver (Grand Final)
Salvatore Bonavena (Prague)
Roland de Wolfe (Dublin)
Aaron Gustavson (London)
Max Lykov (Kiev)
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (PCA)

Level: 8

Blinds: 400/800

Ante: 75

Rousso Runs Into Language Barrier

Level 7 : 300/600, 50 ante
Vanessa Rousso - 21,000
Vanessa Rousso - 21,000

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 {2-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}{8-Spades} 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 {A-Hearts}{K-Diamonds} 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.

Tags: Vanessa RoussoEmanouil Savin

Roca of Ages

Level 7 : 300/600, 50 ante

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 {6-Hearts}{7-Clubs}{7-Diamonds}{8-Hearts} board, when Roca checked and then called 10,000 from Thorsson. They saw a {4-Clubs} 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 {q-Hearts}{9-Hearts} - and Roca's {a-Diamonds}{q-Diamonds} 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.

Tags: Mayu RocaKristoffer Thorsson

Pagano Gone

Level 7 : 300/600, 50 ante
Luca Pagano
Luca Pagano

Luca Pagano is out, his {a-Diamonds}{k-Hearts} no good against fellow Team PokerStars Pro Sandra Naujoks' {a-Spades}{q-Spades} when the board came down {9-Spades}{10-Hearts}{2-Spades}{10-Spades}{6-Clubs}. 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.

Tags: Luca PaganoSandra Naujoks

Quintuple Check-down (Until Cathy Hong Has a Go)

Level 7 : 300/600, 50 ante
Cathy Hong
Cathy Hong

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:

{10-Diamonds}{A-Hearts}{Q-Spades} Check-check-check-check-check
Turn: {3-Hearts} Check-check-check-check-check
River: {5-Clubs} 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.

Tags: Cathy HongShannon Shorr

Back in a Jeffy

Level 8 : 400/800, 75 ante

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 {J-Spades}{J-Diamonds} but the former Grand Final champion was happy to see his opponent's {A-Hearts}{K-Clubs}. UTG+2 pointed to the big slick and said, "I had that..."

The board came out all low: {7-Hearts}{4-Spades}{4-Clubs}{10-Clubs}{9-Diamonds} and Williams moved back over the 30,000 mark.

Tags: Jeff Williams

Blom Fails to Flower

Level 7 : 300/600, 50 ante
Viktor Blom
Viktor Blom

Our latest casualty is one Mr. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom. We understand that he faced a board of {8-Spades}{j-Diamonds}{k-Spades}{6-Hearts}{4-Hearts} 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 {k-Hearts}{j-Spades} for top two and Blom couldn't beat it and was gone.

Tags: Viktor Blom

Level 8: Who's Climbing Now?

Player Chips Progress
Christer Johansson se
Christer Johansson
111,500
83,500
83,500
Surinder Sunar gb
Surinder Sunar
75,600
15,600
15,600
Xuan Liu ca
Xuan Liu
63,200
9,200
9,200
Noah Boeken nl
Noah Boeken
62,500
-16,500
-16,500
Cathy Hong
Cathy Hong
61,400
-11,600
-11,600
Rob Hollink nl
Rob Hollink
56,500
-11,500
-11,500
$25K Fantasy
EPT 1X Winner
Carter Phillips us
Carter Phillips
55,200
15,200
15,200
EPT 1X Winner
Yevgeniy Timoshenko ua
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
52,400
-2,600
-2,600
Roland de Wolfe gb
Roland de Wolfe
51,000
28,000
28,000
EPT 1X Winner
Dan Heimiller us
Dan Heimiller
45,600
9,600
9,600
Shannon Shorr us
Shannon Shorr
44,000
5,000
5,000
$25K Fantasy
Raul Mestre es
Raul Mestre
42,400
-37,600
-37,600
James Akenhead gb
James Akenhead
34,000
19,000
19,000
Michael Martin us
Michael Martin
30,000
-10,000
-10,000
Marcel Luske nl
Marcel Luske
24,500
-8,500
-8,500
Neil Channing gb
Neil Channing
22,300
-16,200
-16,200
John Eames gb
John Eames
22,300
-15,700
-15,700
Alex Kravchenko ru
Alex Kravchenko
22,000
5,000
5,000
Pieter de Korver nl
Pieter de Korver
17,500
-8,500
-8,500
Roberto Romanello gb
Roberto Romanello
Busted
EPT 1X Winner
Vanessa Rousso us
Vanessa Rousso
Busted