Yesterday we told you about the Skrill Last Longer Promotion; as such, we thought we'd give you a quick update here on Day 3. Originally 203 players signed up for the promotion — which will see the last player standing receive their €5,300 buy-in refunded into their Skrill account — but at the start of the day just 44 returned to play, including the chip leader Pablo Tativian and Therese Gronstad from Norway (the last woman remaining in the last longer competition).
Here's a look at the players in the Last Longer at the start of the day: Kenny Hallaert, Ioakim Papadopoulos, Kevin Vandermissen, Alejandro Bellucia, Igor Izmaylov, Manuel Cuberos, Tigran Yazychyan, Maximiliano Gallardo, Andrey Danilyuk, Valentino Konakchiev, Atanas Malinov, Iaroslav Boiko, Thomas Brauner, Maximilian Senft, Abilio Ribeiro, Denis Gindash, Fabien Daniel Ortiz, Jose Gonzalez, Thomas Middleton, Rory Timlin, Philippe Clerc, Martin Bolecek, Kevin MacPhee, Radif Sharifullin, Justas Vaiciulionis, Alain Debackere, Sergey Rybachenko, Kostyantyn Shulga, Pablo Tavitian, Massimo Dicicco, Imed Ben Mahmoud, Slaven Popov, Aleksandar Denishev, Gaetano Dell'Acre, Milan Polke, Alexander Nelkin, Cedric Moerlen, Benoit Albiges, Therese Gronstad, Isidoro Barrena Diaz, Francesco Delfoco, Grudi Grudev, Yann Dion and Fokke Beukers.
Defending champ Mikalai Pobal is up on the feature table and looking to become the first two-time EPT winner. His chances are slim considering he's grinding a short stack, but the odds got a little better after he just doubled through Kjetil Hansen.
It happened when Hansen opened and then called Pobal's three-bet shove for 49,000 from the big blind. Hansen tabled the , but he was way behind Pobal's . The board ran out and Pobal doubled through Hansen.
Jacob Rasmussen opened with a raise to 8,500 from early position and all around the table hands were kicked into the muck until the action hit Ramsey Khoury in the big blind. Khoury announced a three-bet all in for 79,000 and Rasmussen called. Rasmussen tabled and was racing with Khoury's for his tournament life.
Rasmussen retained his lead after the flop brought but Khoury picked up more outs when the hit the turn. Khoury was then looking to pair up or make a spade flush on the river. He made the latter, as the finished the board and he was able to double to about 170,000. Rasmussen, on the other hand, dropped to about 215,000.
Ioakim Papadopoulos went all in for his last 50,000 with , and Niclas Adolfsson, a Swedish PokerStars player made the call from the big blind with . The dealer gave them the five cards . It was looking good until the turn card spiked for Adolfsson and the river was unable to deliver any salvation for Papadopoulos.
“All in and a Call.” Shouted the dealer. The flop was and both players liked it enough to get the chips in the middle. Antonio Alfaia was the player at risk and he held for top pair, Aleksandar Denishev had him covered and was loving life with for the flopped set in a pot worth over 170,000 chips. The turn and river came , runner runner clubs to give Alfaia the nut flush. Denishev rapped the table in understandable frustration while Alfaia shrugged that he had to go with his hand.
Kitty Kuo raised from middle position to 9,000 and Piotr Pietrzak moved all in for 34,000 total from the big blind. Kuo thought about the decision for a moment before casually tossing out a call.
Pietrzak:
Kuo:
The board came down and Pietrzak was able to secure a double up to about 72,000. This was but a minor hit to Kuo's stack, which is now sitting around 180,000.
One of the players surviving here on Day 3 is David Benefield. While Benefield has been a well known player for quite some time now — mainly due to his success online under the moniker "Raptor" — he's earned even more success in 2013 by making the World Series of Poker November Nine.
Benefield, along with the eight other competitors to reach the WSOP Main Event final table, waded through a field 6,352 entrants to become part of this illustrious club. In early November, Benefield and his partners will be showcased on the biggest stage in poker when the final table begins following the few-month hiatus.
Here in the European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event, Benefield entered Day 3 with just over 120,000 in chips. Just before the first break, Benefield found a double up, and he now has 272,000 in chips with the money bubble looming.
Every year since the inception of the WSOP November Nine, one or two players that reach the final table of the WSOP Main Event have put up some nice results in the months off. In 2008, the first year, Ivan Demidov took third in the WSOP Europe Main Event. In 2009, Antoine Saout and James Akenhead made the final table of WSOP Europe, then in 2010 it was Joseph Cheong who had a couple big six-figure results in the lead-up months. In 2011, Matt Giannetti won a World Poker Tour event, and in 2012 a few of the final table players all had cashes leading up to their big day in October.
This year, Benefield could very well be the standout performer in the months leading up to the final table. He already took fifth in the €50,000 Super High Roller here in Barcelona for €208,150, and is running deep here in the Main Event. WSOP Main Event chip leader JC Tran has already added a score of $526,890 in August after placing second in the first WPT Alpha8 event, but if Benefield wins one of the largest EPTs in history here for over €1,000,000, he would surely take the cake in poker headlines around the world.
, but he was way behind Pobal's 
. The board ran out 
and Pobal doubled through Hansen.
and was racing with Khoury's 
for his tournament life.
but Khoury picked up more outs when the 
hit the turn. Khoury was then looking to pair up or make a spade flush on the river. He made the latter, as the 
finished the board and he was able to double to about 170,000. Rasmussen, on the other hand, dropped to about 215,000.
, and Niclas Adolfsson, a Swedish PokerStars player made the call from the big blind with 
. The dealer gave them the five cards 
. It was looking good until the turn card spiked for Adolfsson and the river was unable to deliver any salvation for Papadopoulos.
and both players liked it enough to get the chips in the middle. Antonio Alfaia was the player at risk and he held 
for top pair, Aleksandar Denishev had him covered and was loving life with 
