Remi Castaignon will go into tomorrow's EPT final table here in Deauville as the overwhelming chip leader after he tore through his opponents in the last couple of levels. Castaignon finished with 9,900,000 which is around 42% of the chips in play and no-one else has even half of this. As it stands, it's going to be a tough job for anyone to get close to the Frenchman. Castaignon knocked out eight of the 15 players eliminated today, including the last three.
Just 23 players started today after the elimination of Sam Grafton in the last hand yesterday and it wasn't long before we lost our first player, Eric Sfez, who went all in on the turn holding top pair against Castaignon's two pair and couldn't catch up. This exit was an all too rare example of a player heading to the payout desk as the day began very slowly, taking nearly five hours to eliminate just six players.
A late dinner break seemed to spice everything up with the rock-solid Pascal Aznar, former Irish Open winner James Mitchell and former chip leader Cyril Andre all departing in quick succession. Andre's exit was perhaps the most surprising but the high-stakes PLO professional came off worse in a tussle with Castaignon which left him with few chips and little room to maneuver.
Castaignon eliminated Jean Pierre Petroli in 10th place with holding against on board to reduce the event to just a single table and with the exit of Cymbaluk following quickly, the final table is set. His chip count dominance recalls Nicolas Chouity at the EPT Grand Final in Season 6, Chouity began the final table with a huge chip lead that he never looked like losing. Can Castaignon follow in his footsteps tomorrow?
Remi Castaignon raised to 160,000 preflop from early position before it was passed around to Glen Cymbaluk in late position - the Canadian moved all in for 1,120,000.
Castaignon asked for a count and had his raise pulled in. After a couple of minutes he made the call.
Castaignon:
Cymbaluk:
The flop came giving Castaignon the lead but Cymbaluk had a flush draw. The on the turn changed nothing and Cymbaluk was just one card away from bubbling the final table.
The river was the , right colour but wrong suit. Castaignon is going to be a huge chip leader at tomorrow's final table.
The table folded around to chip leader Remi Castaignon in the small blind who raised to 200,000, and Jean Pierre Petroli didn't waste too much time before pushing all in from the big blind for about 910,000.
Castaignon went into the tank for about a minute, then emerged to carve out the calling chips, setting the column apart from the rest of his massive stack. He rubbed his eyes and began to engage Petroli in some quiet banter, with both occasionally laughing as he did.
Finally with a nod Castaignon pushed the chips forward with his left hand while tabling his with his right. Petroli turned over his hand — — and the pair leaned back in their chairs to watch Daniela, the dealer, deliver the community cards.
The flop came to pair Castaignon, then the turn provided Petroli some hope in the form of a straight draw. But the river was the , eliminating Petroli and reducing the field to nine.
The remaining players are now redrawing to gather around a single not-quite-final final table, with the plan being to play until there is one more elimination before stopping tonight.
Players on the outer table folded around to Remi Castaignon on the button who raised to 130,000, and when Jean Pierre Petroli stepped aside, Cyril Andre reraised all in for his last 410,000 or so. Castaignon called right away, showing while Andre talbed .
The flop came , giving Andre a set and appearing to take the drama away from the hand. Andre remained leaned back in his chair as the turn came the and river the , and it appeared only after Castaignon pushed his two spade cards forward to indicate he'd made a flush that Andre realized his set hadn't held up.
Start-of-Day 5 chip leader Andre is out in 11th, while Castaignon moves up over 6 million chips with that one. The remaining 10 players will continue to play five-handed until the next elimination, at which point the final nine will consolidate to an unofficial final table, then play down to eight before stopping.
Cyril Andre raised to 120,000 preflop from early position and was called by Glen Cymbaluk and Remi Castaignon in the blinds. The flop was and it was checked to the raiser Andre, who bet 125,000.
Cymbaluk folded but Castaignon put in a small check-raise to 275,000 which Andre opted to call. If the latter thought this would slow Castaignon down, he would be mistaken, Castaignon came out firing to the tune of 500,000 - an amount worth almost half of Andre's remaining chips.
The high-stakes PLO specialist tanked for several minutes before making the call to see the on the river. Now Castaignon thought for about 30 seconds before moving all. Andre's face fell slightly and he mucked leaving himself perilously close to elimination.
Noel Gaens opened to 200,000 from the cutoff and James Mitchell was all in from the small blind for 225,000. Jeffrey Hakim moved out of the way and Gaens quickly called the rest.
Gaens:
Mitchell:
The flop came , "Seven of spades?" asked Mitchell hopefully.
The turn was the and now Mitchell picked up some chop outs in the form of deuces and tens. The river though was the and James Mitchell, the last remaining Englishman, was eliminated.
Short-stacked Pascal Aznar made his stand when he moved in over the top of a Walid Bou Habib raise only to be snap-called.
Aznar:
Habib:
The flop came "I had 6-3," quipped Jeffrey Hakim, before the on the turn gave Habib a full house. Aznar couldn't hit either hole card on the river and he departed leaving 12 players left.
While Gulyy was seeing his dreams die on the outer table, Aurelien Guiglini was moving all in against Jeffrey Hakim, the latter calling in a nail-biting flip.
Hakim:
Guiglini:
The flop came and the Frenchman picked up a gutshot to go with his pair outs but the couldn't improve him on the turn. The river bricked Guiglini a second time and he busted out in 14th place.
The silver lining? Even though he busted just 30 seconds after Gulyy, he's managed to get an extra €5,000 after making the pay jump.
[Removed:4] opened to 100,000 from late position and a short-stack Yury Gulyy moved all in for 475,000 behind him. Folded back to the German who made some calculations and then threw in the call.
Gulyy:
Rudelitz:
Gulyy's son Andrey looked on anxiously from the rail but the flop came with a bullet, and Gulyy couldn't catch one of the two remaining knaves in the deck on the turn or river.
While the short stacks over on the feature table keep open-shoving and getting no callers — Pascal Aznar and Aurelien Guiglini in particular have done so multiple times — Eilert Eilertsen found himself down to just a few big blinds on the outer table after losing that preflop all-in to Romeo Robert. And just now Eilertsen was forced to commit those last chips himself in a hand versus Remi Castaignon.
Following a Castaignon open for 100,000 from middle position, Jean Pierre Petroli spent a long while eyeing Eilertsen's short stack of 230,000 before folding his hand. Eilertsen then checked his cards and put his remaining chips forward, and when it folded back to Castaignon he quickly called.
Eilertsen had and Castaignon . The flop and turn provided no ace for Eilertsen, but did add a flush draw. But the river was the , and the Norwegian was eliminated in 16th.
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
holding against 
on 
board to reduce the event to just a single table and with the exit of Cymbaluk following quickly, the final table is set. His chip count dominance recalls Nicolas Chouity at the EPT Grand Final in Season 6, Chouity began the final table with a huge chip lead that he never looked like losing. Can Castaignon follow in his footsteps tomorrow?
on the turn changed nothing and Cymbaluk was just one card away from bubbling the final table.
, right colour but wrong suit. Castaignon is going to be a huge chip leader at tomorrow's final table.
while Andre talbed 
.
, giving Andre a set and appearing to take the drama away from the hand. Andre remained leaned back in his chair as the turn came the 
and river the 
and it was checked to the raiser Andre, who bet 125,000.
, "Seven of spades?" asked Mitchell hopefully.
and James Mitchell, the last remaining Englishman, was eliminated.
river bricked Guiglini a second time and he busted out in 14th place.
and Castaignon 
