Luca Pagano opened to 900 preflop and was called by Erik van den Berg from the cutoff before Olivier Busquet made it 3,100 on the button. Pagano and van den Berg both made the call to see a flop of 
flop but when it was checked to Busquet, the French-Canadian bet 3,600 resulting in instant mucks from both opponents.
I think it was Danafish who created the word "Romanellism" during the Welshman's charge towards the EPT title in Prague. Roberto Romanello is currently sharing the same oxygen as three EPT Main Event Winners over at his table right now. Sebastian Ruthenberg, Michael Tureniec and Romanello himself.
It was during a hand involving Ruthenberg that we heard the first Romanellism of the day. Ruthenberg raised to 650 in the cut-off and Luca Topazio three-bet to 1,725 from the button. The action folded around to Ruthenberg who said something to Topazio. Topazio gave Ruthenberg a puzzled look and Ruthenberg folded his hand. Romanello poked Topazio on the shoulder.
"Did you understand what he said?" Asked Romanello.
Romanello and Topazio then had a conversation in Italian.
"What did he say?" Ruthenberg asked Romanello.
"He asked me what is was that you said," said Romanello.
"And what did you say?" Ruthenberg asked.
"I told him you called him a donkey," said Romanello.
To say Ruthenberg's face was red was an understatement.
Proving for the benefit of the shoutbox that Ted Forrest really is here.
We joined the action a little late. The flop was 
and the big blind had checked to Rasmus Larsen who bet 1,600. John Eames and Stefano Servalli made the call and the big blind folded.
Turn: 
Larsen checked, Eames bet 2,500, Servalli called and Larsen folded.
River: 
Eames checked and Servalli bet 8,300. Eames thought his way through the preceding action and made the call.
Servalli: 
for the bluff.
Eames: 
for second pair and the winning hand.
Level: 6
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 50
Half the field is now on a dinner break. The other half continue to play.
Some have gone up, others have gone down. Such is poker.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
95,000
33,000
|
33,000 |
|
||
|
67,000
24,500
|
24,500 |
|
||
|
52,000
23,000
|
23,000 |
|
50,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
49,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
|
||
|
48,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
43,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
41,200
3,200
|
3,200 |
|
41,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
|
38,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
|
||
|
37,500
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
33,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
||
|
27,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
25,150
650
|
650 |
|
22,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
|
8,100
12,900
|
12,900 |
|
|
8,000
19,000
|
19,000 |
We caught James Keys' eye, then looked down at his stack - it comprised just 8,100. He put two fingers to his temple in the international gesture of blowing his brains out.
"Nothing really," he sighed when we asked what had done the damage, "Just like 20 hands where I lost 2k. That's an exaggeration by the way. 10 hands isn't an exaggeration though." He assessed his stack with sadness - it's always bad when all your chips will easily fit in the palm of your hand, and none of them are the good high-denomination ones. We wish him luck.
There was a raise to 900, a three-bet to 2,500 and then a David Vamplew four-bet to 5,875 from the small-blind. The original raiser moved all-in, the three-bettor moved out of the way and Vamplew called.
Vamplew: 
Original Raiser: 
Board: 
Vamplew now has 58,000.
