€4,900 Main Event
Day 3 Completed
2014 PokerStars.it EPT Sanremo
€4,900 Main Event
Day: 3
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
On Thursday, the remaining 115 players from a 556-player field returned to the Casino Sanremo nestled on the Italian Riviera for Day 3 of the 2014 PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Sanremo Main Event. After five 90-minute levels of play, the field was whittled down to the final 39 with Spain’s Raul Mestre and his stack of 885,000 leading the way.
Others who are in good position to make a run at the €476,100 first-place prize are Andrija Martic (885,000), Lukas Berglund (867,000), Jorma Nuutinen (852,000), and Olivier Busquet (806,000).
The money bubble loomed large at the start of the day as only 79 players would earn a piece of the €2,480,872 prize pool. That meant 36 players would leave empty handed, and they included Muhamet Perati, Pierluigi Giglio, Matteo Taddia, Team Online's Mickey Petersen, Fabio Sperling, Darie Vlad, Paul Berende, 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Pius Heinz, former EPT Grand Final winner Nicolas Chouity, and Mark James.
James actually finished as the bubble boy in Level 16 (2,000/4,000/500) when Mitch Johnson opened under the gun with a min-raise. Action quickly folded to James, who was one of the shortest players still in the tournament. He shoved from the button for 30,500 total and both blinds quickly folded. Johnson made the call.
James: 
Johnson: 
What started out as a fair fight would soon turn sour for James, as Johnson hit his set on the 
flop. James needed runner-runner something but was left drawing dead when the 
appeared on the turn. The 
was run out on the river and James exited the tournament empty handed in 80th place.
From there the in-the-money eliminations came fast and included Dmitry Ponomarev (78th - €8,434), Jan Sjavik (77th - €8,434), Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin (73rd - €8,434), Roberto Romanello (64th - €9,180), Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden (61st - €9,180), Day 1b chip leader [Removed:17] (57th - €9,180), Alex Lindop (51st - €10,170), Alex Bilokur (48th - €10,170), and Dominik Nitsche (46th - €10,170).
The two Team PokerStars Pros mentioned both had interesting journeys in the EPT10 Sanremo. Ramdin finished his starting flight with a mere 9,200 in chips, but returned on Day 2 to work it up. By the end of the night he’d grown short again, but that didn’t stop him from finding his way to the money today. Oppositely, Lodden has had chips to work with most of the tournament, but today just didn’t go his way.
Lodden’s demise came in Level 17 (2,500/5,000/500) when he got his chips all in preflop against Thomas Miller. They both had very similar stack sizes of about 70,000. Lodden held the 
and was ahead of the 
of Miller.
The board ran out 
with the turn delivering Miller a straight. Lodden was left with 10,000, but a comeback was not in store as the Team Pro fell a couple hands later.
While many fell, a select few were able to punch their ticket to Day 4 including Jeff Hakim (651,000), Jordan Westmorland (638,000), Shyam Srinivasan (590,000), Ariel Celestino (480,000), and Stephen Chidwick (429,000). Likewise, two Team PokerStars Pros are still in contention in Alex Kravchenko (390,000) and Vicky Coren (455,000). Coren is actually one of three former EPT champs looking to become the first two-time champ. The others being Dimitar Danchev (302,000) and Michael Tureniec (213,000).
Day 4 action is set to kick off at Noon local time, which is also when the €10,000 High Roller will get underway. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand in Sanremo to bring you updates from both. Join us then, but while you wait be sure to check out this video where Vanessa Selbst and Sorel Mizzi will give you some advice on pot-limit Omaha:
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Andrey Lobzhanidze | Russia | 358,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Piotr Shautsou | Belarus | 139,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Stefano Garbarino | Italy | 438,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Raul Mestre | Spain | 942,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Jordan Westmorland | USA | 638,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Vicky Coren | UK | 455,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Igor Nekazakov | Russia | 80,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Rocco Palumbo | Italy | 209,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Olivier Busquet | USA | 806,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Emmanuel Pariset | France | 284,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Jorma Nuutinen | Finland | 852,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Giacomo Fundaro | Italy | 304,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Bruno Stefanelli | Italy | 489,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Louis Salter | UK | 217,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Andrea Benelli | Italy | 721,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Alex Kravchenko | Russia | 390,000 |
| 3 | 2 | Andreas Goeller | Germany | 643,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | 302,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Miguel Gurrea Monton | Spain | 270,000 |
| 3 | 5 | Zachary Korik | USA | 342,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Vincenzo Scarcella | Italy | 226,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Eros Nastasi | Italy | 711,000 |
| 3 | 8 | Dan Murariu | Romania | 165,000 |
| 4 | 1 | Oleg Cazac | Moldova | 304,000 |
| 4 | 2 | Pedro Pellicer | Spain | 178,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Ludovic Riehl | France | 158,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrija Martic | Croatia | 885,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Denis Pisarev | Russia | 395,000 |
| 4 | 6 | Ariel Celestino | Brazil | 480,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Shyam Srinivasan | Canada | 590,000 |
| 4 | 8 | Pawel Brzeski | Poland | 116,000 |
| 5 | 1 | Stephen Chidwick | UK | 429,000 |
| 5 | 2 | Jeffrey Hakim | Lebanon | 651,000 |
| 5 | 3 | Federico Cipollini | Italy | 177,000 |
| 5 | 4 | Xia Lin | Italy | 517,000 |
| 5 | 5 | Lukas Berglund | Sweden | 851,000 |
| 5 | 6 | Dinesh Alt | Switzerland | 592,000 |
| 5 | 7 | Cristiano Viali | Italy | 174,000 |
| 5 | 8 | Michael Tureniec | Sweden | 213,000 |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
942,000
322,000
|
322,000 |
|
885,000
255,000
|
255,000 |
|
852,000
28,000
|
28,000 |
|
851,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
806,000
64,000
|
64,000 |
|
721,000
87,000
|
87,000 |
|
711,000
251,000
|
251,000 |
|
651,000
344,000
|
344,000 |
|
643,000
433,000
|
433,000 |
|
638,000
59,000
|
59,000 |
|
592,000
178,000
|
178,000 |
|
590,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
517,000
392,000
|
392,000 |
|
489,000
209,000
|
209,000 |
|
480,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
455,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
||
|
438,000
358,000
|
358,000 |
|
429,000
283,000
|
283,000 |
|
395,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
390,000
292,500
|
292,500 |
|
|
||
|
358,000
28,000
|
28,000 |
|
342,000 | |
|
304,000
39,000
|
39,000 |
|
304,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
302,000
68,000
|
68,000 |
|
||
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
The players are currently bagging and tagging for the night. Stay turned for a complete list of chip counts, the Day 4 seat draw, and a full recap of the Day 3 action.
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
In the last hand of Day 3 over at the feature table, Zachary Korik got his stack of 163,000 all in preflop holding the 
and was racing against the 
of Shyam Srinivasan. The board ran out 
and Korik lived to play another day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
570,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
342,000
179,000
|
179,000 |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Nothing extraordinary happened in the last ten minutes and the clock has just been stopped, four more hands will be played.
Alex Kravchenko won a medium sized pot with the 
and top pair on the flop against Piotr Shautsou. Dan Murariu three-bet shoved twice against Jorma Nuutinen but the Finn mucked in both hands.
Last but not least we saw a 
turn between the two big stacks Andrea Benelli and Raul Mestre. The Spaniard check-raised from 57,000 to 135,000 and that did the trick to win the pot uncontested.
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Filippo Marroccoli had three-bet and when Finnish PokerStars player Jorma Nuutinen four-bet shoved Marroccoli snapped him off with 
. Nuutinen had his opponent covered but he also had 
.
The board ran out 
and an apologetic Nuutinen dragged the pot as Marroccoli headed for the cashiers desk.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
880,000
440,000
|
440,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
From the hijack it was Andrea Benelli who raised it up to 16,000. Next door neighbor Jordan Westmorland made the call from the cutoff, Denis Pisarev on the button came along, and Vicky Coren in the big blind called as well.
Coren checked to Benelli on 
. The seasoned Italian pro made a 26,000 continuation bet and just Westmorland made the call, Pisarev and Coren folded. Benelli checked the 
on the turn and called after Westmorland bet out 55,000. Both players checked the river and Benelli's proofed good enough for the win.
Not much later the two of 'em battled it out again. In a single raised pot it was Benelli who had the initiative. He bet out 15,000 on and Westmorland made the call. Both players checked the 
on the turn and the dealer burned and put the on the river. Benelli now bet 24,000 and Westmorland made the call.
Benelli tabled with some confidence, but that hand was no good. Westmorland turned over 
and raked in the chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
808,000
333,000
|
333,000 |
|
|
579,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
The flop was 
and two players were facing off. Dimitar Danchev in the big bind checked and Eros Nastasi in position bet 14,000. Danchev called.
The turn card was the 
and again it went check Danchev bet Nastasi for 35,000. Danchev called.
The river card was the and Danchev pulled out some chips after some thought but they were soon back in his stack and he checked again.
Last chance for Nastasi to bet and he took a good few minutes to make up his mind. The result of all that thinking was a bet of 110,000. Danchev had just under 400,000 behind and couldn’t seem to work out what to do. Eventually he flicked his cards towards the dealer in frustration.
