Or the bathroom, or the smoking area. Shopping mall up the road might be too far, though - play will resume in 15 minutes.
2011 European Poker Tour Grand Final Madrid
Yesterday Shander de Vries hit running kings with 
to crack 
- well just now he held 
on a 



board against 
to bust yet another player. The Dutchman is on a role as we head towards the final break of the day.
Let that be a warning to Table Reynolds, who just saw US-on-US-action eliminate Anthony Maranca in a c.400k pot.
Dan Heimiller started it all by limping preflop for 3,000. Button William Reynolds made it 8,000 on the button; over to big blind Maranca who three-bet to 23,000. Heimiller passed quickly but Reynolds had a little look at his stack - which he estimated at 170,000 at the start of the hand - and then raised again, to 45,000.
This triggered a seemingly simultaneous all-in/call:
Maranca: 

Reynolds: 

The board: 



.
"Every time he limped, you isolated," Maranca ruefully mentioned as he stood up. "Good luck, man," he added, "Take it down."
The flop read 

when Lucien Cohen got his whole stack in; we didn't see the action but we can only assume that it was the result of an extremely ill-timed move on his opponent's part.
Cohen: 

Gentleman Opponent: 

Turn: 
River: 
Cohen waited until the river so he was absolutely certain that he'd won the hand before he stood up and shouted, "YESSS!!!" He fist-pumped and continued in French while the rest of the table remained silent around him, and he was still making occasional little noises like, "Nnhhh! Nnnnnhhhh!" while we were walking away from the table. He's at roughly 260,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
450,000 | |
|
|
190,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
|
170,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
|
150,000
96,000
|
96,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
150,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
|
|
103,000
32,000
|
32,000 |
|
|
85,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
|
67,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
|
43,000
17,000
|
17,000 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
450,000
210,000
|
210,000 |
|
|
405,000
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
|
325,000
226,100
|
226,100 |
|
|
325,000
135,000
|
135,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
265,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
265,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
260,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
|
230,000
26,000
|
26,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
225,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
213,000
171,000
|
171,000 |
|
|
200,000 | |
|
|
190,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
|
170,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
|
160,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
153,000
33,000
|
33,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
140,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
130,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
125,000
165,000
|
165,000 |
|
|
118,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
|
107,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
|
100,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
100,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
86,000
86,000
|
86,000 |
|
|
80,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
73,000
17,000
|
17,000 |
They're breaking tables into the Mandalay room next door which houses among other things the feature table - and like moths to a flame, the big names all seem to be crowding in there. Check out this one astounding table at the back of the room. Elsewhere in there, there's also a secondary Table Of Doom involving Xuan Liu, Ted Forrest, Ran Azor, Johannes Strassmann, Victor Ramdin and Dag Palovic.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
233,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
|
203,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
|
190,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
120,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
120,000 | |
|
|
120,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
|
95,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
35,000
53,000
|
53,000 |
We arrived just in time to see a three-way preflop showdown.
Antonio Vecchio: 

McLean Karr: 

Tom Bedell: 

Board: 




Bedell busted out and Vecchio pretty much tripled up to 150,000. Karr received a roughly 6,000 side pot which he initially contested, having misunderstood how many chips Vecchio had, but he eventually accepted the decision and settled down.
Once climbing the heights of the chip leaderboard, Jean-Noel Thorel is now facing the felt and none too happy about it. Thprel opened preflop (7,000), called in one spot before Stefano Demontis shoved from the small blind for just under 100,000. Thorel counted the call out, head in hands, and made it (the third player folded) showing 
vs. 
.
Demontis was staring elimination in the face after the 

flop, but a glimmer of hope on the
turned into a double-up blaze with the straightening
river. Demontis made a sound like, "Geeeeeee!" delighted to be back in the running.
Thorel, meanwhile, sank right down into his chair so his nose was level with the felt, saying, "Putain!" then helpfully translating it (roughly) into, "Sh*t! Sh*t!"
Laszlo Bujtas slid his last few chips in preflop with 
against Fabrizio Gonzalez (who went deep at EPT San Remo last week) - the Uruguayan turned over a slightly ahead 
(ace jack of parsley!) and there were no surprises on a 



board.