A total of 28 players busted in the first 30 minutes of play today. Those we have loved:
Markus Lehmann
Sergey Shchiptsov
Alex Balaguer
Lukas Bjorn Berglund
Peter Verbeek
Andre Fiedler
Nicholas Newport
Asgar Dharamshi
Laurence Houghton
Vitaly Lunkin
Almira Skripchenko
Arnaud Mattern
Anatolii Ozhenilok
Matt Waxman
Lothar Meier
Nicolo Calia
Victorio Alexandru Piturca
Richard Schaapsmeerders
Fabio Lanzafame
Jose Manuel Rebolloso Salvador
Wolfgang Haag
Mihai Manole
Kewin Lambert
Robin Lindqvist
Miahi Cristian Zaharia
Francesco Brambilla
Juan Maceiras Barros
From under the gun, Todd Charles Jatras raised to 2,500 to start things off. Action didn't go much further before getting kicked up even more as Ivan Starostin reraised from the next seat to 6,400. Sam El Sayed was in the next seat and flatted before play folded all the way back around to Jatras. He called as well and the three playrs went to the flop.
The flop came down and everyone checked to see the land on the turn. Again, everyone checked. The river then double paired the board with the . Again, everyone checked and it didn't seem like anyone wanted to win the pot. When the hands were tabled, here's what we saw.
Jatras:
Starostin:
El Sayed:
As you can see, all three players held an ace and that went along with the two pair on board. They chopped up the pot three ways and wound up profiting just a third of the blinds and antes each.
We didn't see much of this pot, only walking up when the drama was already over, really. The board showed , though, and there was already about 70,000 in the pot when the betting action exploded. Vinogrodskij got himself all in for another 98,300, and Gustavo Kein was right there with the matching amount to put an enormous pot up for grabs. We could see Vinogrodskij's laying face-up on the table as the winning hand, and the floorman was laboriously counting out the big double up. If our Spanish is any good, it sounds like Kein flopped top set with pocket nines, but that cooler has robbed him of nearly everything.
Vinogrodskij is now in a challenge for the chip lead, sitting pretty with about 270,000 now.
Koen De Visscher opened with a raise to 2,300 from under the gun and Martin Schleich called from middle position. Everyone else folded and the flop came down . De Visscher fired 3,800 and Schleich raised to 9,400. De Visscher made the call and the turn brought the . De Visscher checked and Schleich bet 20,500. De Visscher mucked and was left with 90,000. Schleich improved to 198,000 in chips.
Guillermo Garcia Gomez de Barreda opened the pot to 2,100, and Andre Akkari flatted in position. That brought the action around to Matt Waxman, and he squeezed his last 18,000 or so into the middle with . That folded the initial raiser, but Akkari took just a minute to consider before dropping the call into the pot, turning over pocket threes. Race!
The board was a big, blank desert for Waxman, and his failure to improve the overcards means his EPT Barcelona Main Event is history. He's still loitering around here though, flipping through his iPhone and waiting for the 4:00 PM side event to get here.
James Mitchell and Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki were two players that Vanessa Selbst would been aware of and wary of when she saw her seat draw this morning. The solution? Knock them both out in one hand of course!
She raised from early position before Mitchell shoved for 22,000 from the small blind and Horecki for 66,000 from the big blind. She called very quickly to create the big three-way showdown.
Mitchell:
Horecki:
Selbst:
The board ran to send the whole lot Selbst's way. She's up to 150,000 chips again now.
Max Silver is out. He four-bet jammed from the highjack with king-queen after Alvaro Aspas Tarrazon three-bet his raise from the the button. Silver had been very active and felt like it was a good spot against a player who, he thought, was gunning for him. Tarrazon certainly was gunning for him this time as he had two bullets waiting in the whole.
Kfir Yamin was all in for his last 3,400 with the and up against the . He was able to pull off the double up when the board ran out and take step one in climbing back from the bottom.
Andrej Vinogrodskij has added a few more chips to his mountainous stack after claiming the rest of Slobodan Bjelobrk's. It was the of Bjelobrk running up against the chip leader's , and the board changed nothing. That's the end of the road for Bjelobrk -- who only had about 12,000 to start the hand -- and the rich get just a little bit richer over there at Table 17.
Leo Margets just sent Diogo Borges to the rail after cracking Borges' aces with pocket queens. Margets held the and Borges the as the money went in preflop and the board ran out . With that pot, Margets is over 100,000 in chips now.
and everyone checked to see the 
land on the turn. Again, everyone checked. The river then double paired the board with the 
. Again, everyone checked and it didn't seem like anyone wanted to win the pot. When the hands were tabled, here's what we saw.
, though, and there was already about 70,000 in the pot when the betting action exploded. Vinogrodskij got himself all in for another 98,300, and Gustavo Kein was right there with the matching amount to put an enormous pot up for grabs. We could see Vinogrodskij's 
laying face-up on the table as the winning hand, and the floorman was laboriously counting out the big double up. If our Spanish is any good, it sounds like Kein flopped top set with pocket nines, but that cooler has robbed him of nearly everything.
. De Visscher fired 3,800 and Schleich raised to 9,400. De Visscher made the call and the turn brought the 
. De Visscher checked and Schleich bet 20,500. De Visscher mucked and was left with 90,000. Schleich improved to 198,000 in chips.
to send the whole lot Selbst's way. She's up to 150,000 chips again now.
and up against the 
. He was able to pull off the double up when the board ran out 
of Bjelobrk running up against the chip leader's 
board changed nothing. That's the end of the road for Bjelobrk -- who only had about 12,000 to start the hand -- and the rich get just a little bit richer over there at Table 17.
