The Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano, and head honcho of the Italian Poker Tour, explains how you put together a poker tournament in which the buy-in is lower than before but the prize pool remains the same. Welcome to the world of accumulator tournaments. Read all about it on the PokerStars blog.
Dave 'Dubai' Shallow is the probable chip leader right now with a stack of around 96,000. He'd evidently just won a pot when I arrived at his table as he was still stacking chips, he didn't have time to finish that job though as he three-bet to 2,050 over the top of Sebastien Lapeyre's open. One seat to the left of Shallow is Sergii Baranov, he elected to smooth call and when it got back to Lapeyre the Frenchman did likewise.
On the flop Shallow bet 2,400, Baranov raised to 6,000 and Lapeyre tank-folded. Shallow then got an eyes on chip count of Baranov's stack (21,000 back) before moving all-in. After a wry smile Baranov mucked his cards. Pot to Shallow.
Late registration is open all day today and people are still arriving. In fact, you can register till the beginning of day two tomorrow.
Just now we saw three recognizable Dutch players enter. Serial EPT casher Paul Berende made his way to the registration desk, online savant Thomas Brader walked in and Freerk Post (22nd for €23,000 here last year) handed over €5,300 for a seat.
The tournament clock now makes mention of 428 registered players. 356 of those are still in the tournament at this time making for a tournament average of 36,000.
With a full board of on the felt an in position JP Kelly moved all-in for 6,600. His opponent - Uladzimir Zakharau - folded and Kelly took the pot to climb to 18,000.
Victoria Coren, PokerStars player, journalist and broadcaster is playing today on table 12. She is down a little bit from her starting stack but still in the action. As we joined her table a big hand broke out between Martin Staszko from Czeh Republic and Sunny Chattha from the UK. Staszko raised to 900 from early position and was called on the button by Chattha. They saw a flop of and Chatta called a continuation bet of 1,000 from Staszko. The turn card was the which saw a bet of 2,300 from Staszko met by a raise to 5,300 from Chattha. Staszko contemplated the board and moved all in. This got a disbelieving look from Chatta, but in the end, a fold.
Matt Frankland has recently joined the table and had a brief chat with Chatta. After winning a pot preflop uncontested Frankland proclaimed that he wanted a stack high enough to use as a chin rest before the next level.
It was Coren’s turn to play a pot now. On the button she looked at her cards and gave a playful smile. Bodo Sbrzesny, a PokerStars player from Germany either didn’t notice or didn’t care as he opened for 800 in the cut off. Coren raised him to 1,700 and after the blinds folded he made the call. They both checked the flop of . The turn card came and Sbrzesny checked. A 2,000 bet from Coren and he folded.
This is the fourth or fifth time that Jon Spinks has played EPT Deauville. However, this is the first year he has made it passed level four. That doesn't necessarily mean he's doing well though as he is struggling with around 8,000.
"It's pretty excruciating to be continually grinding 13 big blinds," he admitted, "at this point I'm not even sure what I want recover..."
So what would be the most likely scenario?
"I'll probably finish the day with my starting stack and burst first thing tomorrow..."
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If PokerStars' plethora of regional tours are meant to be breeding grounds for players to step up to the EPT then step forward exhibit No. 723, also known as Daniel Stacey.
The Brit, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, is a 23-year-old professional poker player who finished fourth in the Sunday Million back in September. In October of 2013 he qualified to UKIPT London for $100 and turned that into £8,480 when he finished 11th. He knocked out Barry Greenstein but didn't get a copy of his book, however he did see him in Burger King the night after and shook his hand!
His performance at UKIPT London earned him a free seat to UKIPT Isle of Man and he did even better there, finishing sixth and earning a £21,250 pay day in November 2013.
He's playing today in Deauville having qualified online and he has dropped a bit from his starting stack to just 21,500. When he's not traveling the circuit he plays Omaha Zoom and tournaments.
couldn't hit against Pagano's 
flop Shallow bet 2,400, Baranov raised to 6,000 and Lapeyre tank-folded. Shallow then got an eyes on chip count of Baranov's stack (21,000 back) before moving all-in. After a wry smile Baranov mucked his cards. Pot to Shallow.
on the felt an in position JP Kelly moved all-in for 6,600. His opponent - Uladzimir Zakharau - folded and Kelly took the pot to climb to 18,000.
and Chatta called a continuation bet of 1,000 from Staszko. The turn card was the 
which saw a bet of 2,300 from Staszko met by a raise to 5,300 from Chattha. Staszko contemplated the board and moved all in. This got a disbelieving look from Chatta, but in the end, a fold.
. The turn card came 
and Sbrzesny checked. A 2,000 bet from Coren and he folded.
