Michel Abecassis open-raised all in for 49,000 (a little over 16 big blinds) from early position. Next to act, Fayad Ghassan set out a column of chips adding up to 100,000 for a reraise, and the rest of the table skedaddled. Abecassis then tabled his and Ghassan his , the pair nodding and shrugging to one another as if to say "que sera sera" as the dealer prepared to deliver the community cards.
The flop came , then the turn brought the to give Abecassis straight possibilities. Then came the river… the ! A straight for Abecassis, earning him the pot, tourney survival, and a pat on the shoulder from Ghassan.
Henri Chapuis is an early casualty here in the EPT Deauville main event.
The action folded around to Chapuis on the button and he moved all in for 44,000 chips. Brian Benhamou was in the small blind, he checked his hole cards before announcing, "Call." Mathew Frankland folded in the big blind and the cards were turned onto their backs.
Chapuis:
Benhamou:
Both players improved to a pair on the flop, then improved further still when the was placed on the turn. The river card, however, was the , gifting Benhamou a full house and resigning Chapuis to a seat on the sidelines.
Gordon Huntly, who had an amazing 12-280k day yesterday, has started off aggressively but is down on chips after two folds.
In one hand around 50,000 had made it into the middle by the time the board rested as . Huntly led for 17,300 but tank-folded when Andriy Lyubovetskiy raised to 40,000.
The very next hand Huntly raised to 6,000 from mid position only to fold when Jean Julien Stempffer shoved for 52,000 from the big blind.
We're back for the third day here in Deauville in beautiful Normandy, the length of the levels has increased from 75 minutes to 90 minutes. We're expecting five levels to be played today with the bubble likely to burst in one of the first two.
Andrei Stoenescu, who finished 3rd at EPT Madrid in Season 8, leads the field with 485,600 ahead of former EPT Loutraki winner Zimnan Ziyard (380,200). Also still involved are former winners Salvatore Bonavena (229,000) and Lucien Cohen (46,100) - the latter having won here in Season 7. Flying the flag for PokerStars Team Pro are Matthias De Meulder (186,000) EPT Berlin winner Sandra Naujoks (73,500) and Vanessa Rousso (34,200).
Play will be begin in a little under half an hour so stay tuned!