Massimilano Martinez and Tome Moreira mixed it up in a preflop battle of the blinds, and the result was Moreira getting himself all in for 231,000. Martinez showed up , and Moreira's had him poised for a big double.
The board did nothing to change the situation, and Moreira suddenly finds himself much healthier with 470,000.
Mario Adinolfi raised from the cutoff seat to 20,000. Khazret Nebezhev flatted from the button and then action moved to Jose Nieto in the big blind. Nieto three-bet and made it 83,000 to go. Adinolfi called with approximately 160,000 behind and Nebezhev tank-folded after a minute or two of thought.
The flop came down and Nieto moved all in. He had over 330,000 in his stack, but was effectively shoving for the remaining 160,000 that Adinolfi had left. Adinolfi tanked and tanked. He eventually turned and began talking to the cameras, then showed the and tossed his hand into the muck. Nieto won the pot and pushed to well over half a million in chips.
Eugene Katchalov is one of only four Team PokerStars Pros left in the field in this EPT Barcelona Main Event. He's built his stack up quite nicely since being somewhat short not too long ago and currently holds over 400,000 in chips. Here's a look at one round at Katchalov's current table.
Hand #1: Katchalov in cutoff seat
Action folded to Katchalov in the cutoff seat and he raised to 17,000 -- his standard open at this level. Saar Wilf was on the button and three-bet to 40,000. Play folded back to Katchalov and he also gave it up.
Hand #2: Katchalov in the hijack seat
Slovenian player Ljubisa Nedimovic raised from under the gun plus one to 20,000. Katchalov and everyone else folded.
Hand #3: Katchalov in early position
From under the gun plus one, Katchalov raised to 17,000. Once again Wilf three-bet him to 40,000 from the hijack seat. Craig Hopkins was in the cutoff seat and tank-folded before play folded back around to Katchalov. He gave one last look at his hand and then tossed it into the muck.
Hand #4: Katchalov under the gun
From under the gun, Katchalov raised to 17,000. Everyone folded and he picked up the blinds and antes.
Hand #5: Katchalov in the big blind
Walid Bou-Habib raised to 18,000 from the hijack seat and play folded to Katchalov in the big blind. He also gave it up and Bou-Habib won the blinds and antes.
Hand #6: Katchalov in the small blind
Walid Bou-Habib opened from under the gun plus one to 18,000. Everyone, including Katchalov in the small blind, folded.
Hand #7: Katchalov on the button
Action folded to Katchalov on the button and he opted not to attack. He folded his hand and went on to the next one.
At the end of everything here, Katchalov sat with 440,000 in chips.
Nikolay Poltaratskiy is the latest man to take the walk of shame to the payout desk. Poltaratskiy was down to just 98,500 when he made his move with . Jose Angel Latorre Marina has plenty of chips to work with, and he put Poltaratskiy to the test with his a favorite to earn the knockout.
The board:
Unable to get over the hump, Poltaratskiy has been relieved of the last of his chips, and he'll want to stop by the payout desk on his way out into the city streets to collect his earnings.
Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko has doubled-up through former chip leader Guillaume Darcourt. We missed the action but all the chips went in preflop with the Russian the all-in player with his stack of 89,500.
Kravchenko:
Darcourt:
The board came to make Kravchenko a full house. It was a good job the board was paired as the Darcourt made a straight by the river.
Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov is up to around 500,000 chips now after he eliminated Ali Amelipour.
Amelipour was down to his last 85,500 when he pushed from early position. Katchalov was in the next seat along and cold called. No one else was interested and folded to leave it heads-up.
Katchalov:
Amelipour:
The board ran to make the American-Ukrainian two pairs.
Well, we probably should apologize to Victor Ramdin for our cooler powers. We post a lovely video of him for your enjoyment, and he's promptly eliminated.
We only caught up with the hand after all the money was already in, Ramdin committing his last 83,000 after a flop. His was out in front, and Dragan Kostic's was drawing for the knockout. Kostic would not have to wait long. The dropped right on the turn, and Ramdin was already drawing dead to the river.
That's another Team PokerStars Pro to the rail, and Ramdin's exit leaves Andre Akkari, Eugene Katchalov, and Matthias De Meulder fighting for the sponsor site.
Two players not returning for this level are Martin Jacobson and Alan McIntyre.
Jacobson will be disappointed with his 79th place finish as it's 77 places below his mode EPT finishing position of 2nd.
Comeback kid McIntyre will be more satisfied with 92nd but we're disappointed he didn't create an epic comeback story for us. Still, coming back from two big blinds to secure a second pay level finish and €10,000 isn't half bad.