One could be forgiven for thinking that Yury Gulyy was tanking over a decision for his tournament life, being so close to the money and all. This blogger's suspicious mind was proved wrong though when the Russian made a correct call.
He opened to 8,000 from early position before Maxime Petitprez shoved all in from the big blind. Gulyy tanked for a few minutes and then called.
Jason Koon is looking incredibly dangerous, he just knocked out Kajetan Masiewicz on the feature table to win a big pot after all the chips went in preflop. It was the classic '57-43'.
Maisiewicz:
Koon:
The board came offering no help to the Pole. It's now hand-for-hand on the bubble.
Big drama on the bubble here at the EPT Deauville Main Event as on the second hand of hand-for-hand play we've just seen our first all-in and a call.
Following a min-raise to 8,000 from the hijack seat by Jesper Feddersen, last year's EPT Deauville High Roller winner Eric Sfez called from the button and both blinds stepped aside. The flop came , and Feddersen checked fairly quickly. Sfez paused a beat, then tossed out a bet of 10,000, leaving himself a little over 75,000 behind. Feddersen instantly announced he was all in, thereby sending Sfez deep into the tank.
The Frenchman considered for a couple of minutes, during which time media swarmed around the table, with cameras clicking away and commentators delivering narratives of what was happening in a variety of languages. Sfez counted out his stack, pushing his chips up to the line but not over, then held his cards for a moment as if he were about to toss them away. Finally with a wave of his hand he said he was calling, pushing his chips forward so they spilled towards the table's center.
Another pause ensued as the announcer described the situation over the public address, then the players cards were revealed… for Feddersen, and for Sfez.
Sfez had the edge with his kicker, and was able to fade the turn and river to keep his seat.
Hugo Pingray just got very lucky to chop a huge pot against Shahaf Hadaya. The board was reading and Hadaya check-called a 70,000 bet on the turn before check-calling Pingray's all in bet on the river.
The cameras and media descended on the table but they were to be dissatisfied as Pingray flipped , getting exceedingly lucky to chop against Hadaya's .
Bastian Fischer has just doubled up over on Table 3 in a hand that spanned over 10 minutes.
Jean-Yves Malherbe opened from middle position to 15,000 and Fischer three-bet all-in for 111,500 from the hijack. Malherbe took an age to call and when he did the players were prevented from revealing their hands until the action had been completed on other tables.
Eventually, the instruction to reveal the hands was given, and this is what we saw.
Malherbe:
Fischer:
The "Big Slick" of Malherbe was in front, but not for long. The flop catapulted Fischer in front, the turn kept him there and the river completed the hand and guaranteed Fischer's double up.
We are still on 121 players and are playing hand-for-hand.
Casey Kastle had fired 40,000 on a flop of before Vladimir Velikov raised to 91,000. Konstantin Tolokno folded and the action was back around to Kastle who took a full ten minutes before folding his hand.
Tobias Peters was involved in two interesting hands on the bubble and both times he had pocket queens.
The first hand saw Matthias De Meulder set him all in on the turn of a board. Peters tank-folded face up and the Team PokerStars Pro showed him for a pair and big draw.
The next hand De Meulder opened to 10,000 from under the gun and Peters shoved for 65,500 from two seats along. De Meulder folded after Kevin Miannay flat called from the cut-off.
Peters:
Miannay:
The board ran to safely see the Dutchman double up.
Just as all the other players were heading off to their break, many hadn't noticed that there was still action going on over on table 9.
Christophe Lesage had opened to 8,000 preflop, getting called by David Susigan before Said Basri moved all in for his last 10,500. Yury Gulyy flat-called and since it was an under-raise Lesage and Susigan could also only call.
The board checked down the whole way and all four tabled their hands.
Lesage:
Susigan:
Basri:
Gulyy:
Susigan took the pot and Basri finished in 121st place. Since the vast majority of the players had already gone on break, they'll receive a happy surprise when they return in about five to ten minutes.