![[user46392]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Registration is now closed, and we can reveal that 549 hopefuls coughed up their €5,000 today, bringing the total field for this year's tournament to 987. This is significantly down on last year's turnout of 1,240, but given the recent legal issues in the United States and so on, a field of almost a thousand is still incredibly impressive. Good luck to all. We'll hopefully have the payout info soon.
Robert Woodcock has been eliminated after very reasonably getting it all in with 
on a 
board against 
. Another spade came on the turn and Woodcock was drawing dead.
Unperturbed, he's off for an early evening meal.
It may not be quite as doom-laden as the table that features Liv Boeree, Jonathan Duhamel, Alex Wice and Lex Veldhuis, but there is another interesting table share currently occupying our attention.
Table 40 currently houses both the Thorson brothers - older brother William whose winning exploits over the past few years you must have been on the moon to miss, and his slightly less well known but no less talented younger brother Jens, who won the £2,000 side event at last year's EPT London and finished in 22nd place here last year. Along with them is EPT London champion David Vamplew, and between the three of them it makes it well worth the effort of negotiating our way over to the far side of the room. We'll keep you posted on how the brothers get along.
Canadian Xuan Liu, just got into a raising war against Giancarlo Castiglia. The Italian had opened to 600 from middle position and Liu made it 1,500 behind him. Castiglia then quickly made it 3,500 and Liu responded with an all in for 21,100.
Castiglia tanked, as if unsure what to do next, but eventually elected to fold. Liu moves back up to about 25,000.
Thomas Bo Markussen has doubled up after picking up 
at the opportune moment that another player turned over 
.
"I didn't expect that," said the latter as the board came out 
.... "Queen of hearts?" was asked for optimistically. The river was the 
though and Markussen doubled to about 15,000.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is sat opposite fellow Pokerstars Team Pro Joe Cada and he looks like a ghost. He is dressed in a white top that matches his white hair but Javier Achiardi is not afraid of ghosts.
Grospellier raised to 525 from early position and Achiardi called in middle position. The flop was 
and Grospellier bet 650 and Achiardi made the call. The turn was the 
and Grospellier tried again and it was 1,325 but Achiardi called. The final card was the and they both checked.
Grospellier: 
Achiardi:
Alex Wice and Alessandro Speranze do not mess about when it comes to playing poker - everything is done at break-neck speed.
The flop was 
. Wice was in the big blind and he checked to Speranza who bet 625 and Wice called. The turn was the 
and again Wice quickly check-called a 1,100 bet by Speranza. The river was the and as quickly as the other two streets Wice check-called a 2,650 Speranza bet.
Speranza quickly peeled over a pair of queens and Wice quickly mucked his hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
62,000
32,000
|
32,000 |
|
||
|
60,000 | |
|
50,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
50,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
47,500
17,500
|
17,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
46,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
|
||
|
45,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
44,000 | |
|
42,500
12,500
|
12,500 |
|
||
|
38,000 | |
|
38,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
37,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
37,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
|
35,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
35,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
35,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
||
|
34,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
|
||
|
33,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
32,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
32,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
30,000 | |
|
29,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
|
28,500 | |
|
28,000 | |
|
|
27,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
Level: 4
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 0
World Champion he may be, but Jonathan Duhamel is not going to win this EPT.
He was gone by the time we got there, but Liv Boeree was kind enough to fill us in on the manner of his demise. The flop was queen-high and all hearts, and the turn was another queen. This was when all the money went in, Duhamel holding some kind of a queen (Boeree hazarded a guess at 
) and Jackson Genovesi holding 
for a flush. The river bricked out for Duhamel, and that was that. Genovesi is up to around 65,000 and is currently table chip leader.
