Antonio Russo will not be coming back tomorrow for the penultimate day of EPT San Remo. The Italian was knocked out by Antonino Venneri after both had pushed all in preflop.
Venneri:
Russo:
The board came and Russo screamed, "Running sixes!" but the turn meant Russo needed a queen just to chop.
"Queen queen queen queen queen queen," shouted Russo but it was all in vain, the came on the river and the Italians embraced. The last 24 players are now bagging and tagging their chips.
Right at the business end of the tournament you have got to have some balls to make the hero calls. It seems Marco Bognanni and Nicolo Grieco know exactly where there's are!
Marco Bognanni - HERO!
On a board of with Massimiliano Manigrasso seated in the big blind and Bognanni on the button, Manigrasso check-called a 70,000 flop bet by Bognanni. The dealer gave us a turn and both players checked. On the river Manigrasso bet 130,000 and Bognanni called with Queen high and it turned out to be the winning hand.
Bognanni
Manigrasso
Nicolo Grieco - HERO!
Nicolo Boldini bet 80,000 on the button and Grieco defended his small blind.
Flop:
Both players checked.
Turn:
The fourth club and Grieco check-called a 80,000 Boldini bet.
River:
Grieco checked again and Boldini bet 180,000 and Grieco snapped him off with . Boldini showed the bluff .
With 60 players returning today, it was always going to be a short day, but we have outdone ourselves here - we're out before sundown.
Leading our final 24 into the penultimate day is Norwegian resident and sole Chilean national remaining in the field Nicolas Yunis. Yunis came back today in joint second place and soon took the lead when overnight chip leader Roberto Spada lost a chunk of his chips to Rupert Elder, and then lost some more doubling up Luca Cavecchi.
A little behind Yunis are young Brits Rupert Elder and Andrew Teng; fellow countryman Kamal Choraria is somewhat behind them towards the bottom of the chip counts. It's been a fantastic year for Britain at the EPT, and we could yet see our fourth British winner this season.
Also still in with decent shots at the title, although somewhat reduced from their earlier big stacks and now only slightly above average, are Team PokerStars Pros Max Lykov and Joe Cada. Below average, but still in an excellent position to make his second consecutive EPT final table, is 20 year old EPT Berlin runner up Max Heinzelmann.
We'll be back at noon to play down to a final table. Until then, we and all the remaining runners are heading out into the still sunny San Remo evening to fuel ourselves for a big Day 5. Get some rest. It's going to be good.