Just a few hands into the day, Arnaud Mattern opened to 1,800, then four-bet shoved for about 17,000 against a three-bettor. Mr. Mattern had Big Slick, and he was flipping for double or nothing against pocket jacks.
Jacks held strong, and Mattern was forced to slip the crutches under his arms and hobble off toward the exit. Our thanks to him for sharing the details of his exit with us, and our best wishes on a quick recovery from the foot injury.
We'll see Mattern again at the next one, no doubt. Hopefully sans crutches.
Word from the frontier has come in regarding James Akenhead's elimination. He had about 11,000 when he got the last in with pocket nines against ace-ten.
Nines went under, and so did Akenhead, and we're minus one of our notable Brits.
Jonas Molander and Scott Desveaux mixed up in a preflop raising war that left Desveaux all in and flipping for his tournament life. It was for him and for Molander, and the race was a tightly contested one.
Molander jumped out to a big lead on the flop, but Desveaux picked up some outs with flush and straight draws. He binked Broadway as the dealer gave him the promptly on fourth street, but his advantage was only temporary. Molander re-binked with the on the river, and quads beat a straight in this game.
Molander has thusly sent Desveaux off, working his count up over 70,000 in the process.
We picked up the action on the flop in a three-way pot as the dealer spread out . Anders Wessman checked from the big blind, and Henrique Pinho — who appears to have been the preflop raiser — checked as well. Nacho Barbero set out 3,100 into a pot of just less than 7,000. Wessman called, but Pinho check-raised to 8,900 total. That folded Barbero with some reluctance, but Wessman tanked for several minutes and called.
That brought the to the turn, and now the action froze on Wessman. After another couple minutes of deliberation, he announced that he was all in. Pinho asked for the count, and when he heard the dealer announce the 23,500, he cut the call from his stack and slid it into the pot. Wessman was at risk, and he was on the come.
Showdown
Wessman:
Pinho:
Wessman was drawing to the flush and the straight, but he couldn't find an out on the river. The dropped off the deck to secure the pot and the knockout for Pinho. He's moved up close to 75,000 with that win, while Wessman has been sent to the showers. Or wherever one goes when they miss a big draw to bust an EPT Main Event.
As previously mentioned, Table 4 is also known as 'The Table of Doom' with a list of heavyweights both long and scary. Martins Adeniya hasn't arrived yet though he was in the small blind as Faraz Jaka and Yorane Kerignard were batting it out in a pot that already had over 20,000 in it by the river of a board. Kerignard checked and Jaka fired 16,000 but the former made a quickish call.
Jaka instantly mucked and Kerignard quickly picked up the pot.
Juan Manuel Pastor has been eliminated by blackjack specialist John Taramas. The Team PokerStars Pro three-bet all-in for 14,500 after the Greek, who finished third at EPT Loutraki, opened to 2,000. He made the call with for showdown.
Pastor tabled the dominating ace-king but was powerless to the flop coming out. No ace came to save him on the turn or river.
In one of the first hands of the day, Chris Moorman opened to 1,900 under the gun, and the action folded all the way around to the big blind. There, Jake Cody made his first three-bet of the day, sliding out 4,700. Moorman gave him a stare for about a minute, but he surrendered his cards into the muck.
The two Brits know each other quite well, and we wouldn't be surprised to see some four- and five-bets between them before the day is done.
Former EPT Copenhagen winner Michael Tureniec spent most of yesterday grinding in a very non-Swedish, very non-Michael Tureniec way (he's usually bullying people behind a big stack) but alas it's all for nothing, he's one of the earliest casualties today.
The returning Day 2 field is stacked with notables, and naturally, some of them have drawn the same table. It's an unfortunate thing if you recognize more than one or two of your neighbors at this stage, and a couple of today's starting tables stick out as particularly tough.
We start with Table 4 where we find the big-stacked Faraz Jaka sitting next to Dominik Nitsche, whom we had a bit of fun with yesterday. Around the other side of the table, there's a murderers' row that contains Barny Boatman, Matthew Frankland, Martins Adeniya, and Yorane Kerignard.
Table 8 is another astoundingly tough place to try and work today. British superstars Jake Cody and Chris Moorman will be seated side-by-side, and they'll have to deal with Kevin Iacofono, Alain Roy, Anton Wigg, and Yann Dion as well.
Table 11 seats a trio of the Team PokerStars family as Henrique Pinho, Nacho Barbero, and Mikhail "innerspy" Shalamov have drawn three seats in a row there. They'll also be joined by former Team Pro Juan Maceiras in a reunion of sorts.
And we'll finish up with Table 18 where sit Toby Lewis, James Sudworth, Olivier Busquet, and Johnny Lodden.
Now you know which tables we're hovering around for the first few orbits today.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
for him and 
for Molander, and the race was a tightly contested one.
flop, but Desveaux picked up some outs with flush and straight draws. He binked Broadway as the dealer gave him the 
promptly on fourth street, but his advantage was only temporary. Molander re-binked with the 
on the river, and quads beat a straight in this game.
turn, and now the action froze on Wessman. After another couple minutes of deliberation, he announced that he was all in. Pinho asked for the count, and when he heard the dealer announce the 23,500, he cut the call from his stack and slid it into the pot. Wessman was at risk, and he was on the come.
dropped off the deck to secure the pot and the knockout for Pinho. He's moved up close to 75,000 with that win, while Wessman has been sent to the showers. Or wherever one goes when they miss a big draw to bust an EPT Main Event.
board. Kerignard checked and Jaka fired 16,000 but the former made a quickish call.
for showdown.
