Bonjour once more from the Casino Barrière where Day 5 of the PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville Main Event is scheduled to start about a half-hour from now. Just 23 players remain from the starting field of 782 to begin this penultimate day of play, with Cyril Andre returning as today's chip leader as the only player to have accumulated more than 2 million chips thus far.
Not far behind Andre is fellow Frenchman Remi Castaignon who is just one 3,000-chip ante shy of 2 million himself. And the next three spots in the counts are presently occupied by players from France as well — Hugo Pingray, Aurelien Guiglini, and Matthieu Herve.
Today's schedule calls for the field to be whittled down to a final eight-handed table to take place on Saturday. The first players to fall today will earn a €23,000 return on their €5,300 investment, but all are eyeing the six-figure prizes awaiting those lasting until the top six spots, with a très formidable first prize of €770,000 up top for the winner.
Coverage begins shortly at noon local time (CET). Come back then to see how the Frenchman and others fare in their battle to reach the EPT Deauville Main Event final table.
Freerk Post doubled up his short stack from 124,000 to around a quarter of a million when he reshoved from the small blind with against Matthieu Herve's button raise. The latter was priced in and found himself dominated given that he was holding . The board came and that was enough secure Post's future.
However it wasn't to last too long. Post pushed from the cutoff holding only to find Robert Romeo sitting behind him with
The flop was , “Deuce!” said a hopeful Post.
A came on the turn.
“Deuce!”
The request was ignored as the came on the river and Post was eliminated.
Hugo Pingray raised to 50,000 from middle position and Eilert Eilertsen three-bet to 101,000 in the next seat. Remi Castaignon then cold four-bet to 275,000 in the big blind. Pingray thought for about a minute and moved all in, Eilertsen got out of the way and Castaignon said, "How much? A million? I call."
Pingray:
Castaignon:
The flop was good for Pingray but the came on the turn to an audible from the tournament room. The changed nothing and now Castaignon has about one sixth of the remaining chips with 20 players left.
Matthieu Herve's EPT Deauville Main Event run has come to an end in 19th place following two successive hands that saw him first lose most of his stack, then be eliminated shortly thereafter.
In the first hand Herve was up against an all-in Yury Gulyy, the pair vying from the blinds for an approximately 1 million-chip pot. Gulyy had and Herve , and when the community cards came Herve was down to just 66,000 chips.
Herve open-raised all in from the button on the next hand with and Robert Romeo called the extra few chips from the big blind with . That board rolled out , and Herve wished all good luck before departing.
Gordon Huntly moved all in for his last 710,000 preflop from the cutoff. Walid Bou Habib got a count from the small blind before moving all in himself, [Removed:4] got out of the way.
Huntly:
Habib:
The board teased Huntly on the turn but it ran out in favour of the large stack coming .
Shortly after scoring that double-up through Remi Castaignon, Joe Mouawad found himself all in and at risk once again against the Frenchman.
This time Castaignon had raised from middle position and it folded back to Mouawad in the big blind who pushed all in for 795,000. Castaignon called, showing , and Mouawad was hoping his would hold.
All was fine for the Lebanese player through the flop and turn. But the fell on the river to pair Castaignon's ace, and Mouawad leaves us in 17th place.
The tournament has been paused to redraw for the final two eight-handed tables.
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.
[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 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.
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.
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
against Matthieu Herve's button raise. The latter was priced in and found himself dominated given that he was holding 
. The board came 
and that was enough secure Post's future.
only to find Robert Romeo sitting behind him with 
, “Deuce!” said a hopeful Post.
came on the turn.
was good for Pingray but the 
came on the turn to an audible from the tournament room. The 
and Herve 
Herve was down to just 66,000 chips.
and Robert Romeo called the extra few chips from the big blind with 
and Castaignon 
