Bryn Kenney's wild ride continues here in Malta, this time at the expense of Natasha Barbour.
Kenney got short again, but picked up and went with it. Naturally, Barbour called with , but could not hold on a board that left Kenney with a bigger pair.
With her Cowboys cracked, Barbour dipped to 250,000 as Kenney swung back up to 170,000.
Latvian regular Mihails Morozovs just got the bad beat of his tournament career in what must have been the sickest hand of the tournament so far.
It all started calm with Morozovs raising from the hijack to 12,000. Niall Farrell in the small blind called and Shannon Shorr in the big blind came along for the ride as well to see a flop.
The flop came and Farrell and Shorr both checked. Morozovs made a continuation bet of 16,000 and Farrell just about instantly folded. Shorr made the call to see a turn.
The hit and Shorr again checked. Morozovs fired 26,000 and Shorr moved all in. Morozovs instantly called and had his open on the table before Shorr had his displaying.
The hit the river and for a second nobody realized what had happened. Farrell was the first to exclaim how sick it was, and Morozovs just said "This is not happening to me right?" in disbelief. Shorr wasn't saying anything and just helped the dealer count out his 117,000 stack.
Morozovs leaned back with a big sigh, had his hands in his hair for a bit, and counted his 55,000 stack. What a bad beat!
Dominik Nitsche was cruising along, but two hands — one of which was extremely unlucky — saw him bounced from the tournament.
In the first, Italy's Gianluca Escobar moved all for 89,000 from middle position and Nitsche isolated by three-betting all in from the small blind.
Nitsche:
Escobar:
Nitsche was a heavy favorite, but Escobar got lucky to catch a ten on the flop. Neither the turn nor river helped Nitsche, and he was left with 37,000 after the hand.
Not long after, Nitsche raised to 27,000 under the gun, leaving himself just 5,000 back. Andreas Chalkiadakis called from the hijack, and then Escobar put in a three-bet. Nitsche called off and Chalkiadakis folded.
Nitsche:
Escobar:
This time it was Nitsche who was dominated, but he would not get lucky against Escobar, who held after the board ran out . Nitsche exited in 58th place for €10,580.
Action folded to online pro Christoph "Tight-Man1" Vogelsang on the button and he moved his short stack in. The small blind got out of the way, but Slaven Popov defended from the big.
Popov:
Vogelsang:
Vogelsang was behind, but was drawing to two live cards. Unfortunately, he became an even bigger underdog when the flop paired Popov's ace. The turn left Vogelsang drawing dead, and he took his leave after the was run out on the river.
Mike McDonald may be the most intimidating player in poker.
Of course, the record speaks for itself. McDonald was winning millions online when he was just a teenager, won his first EPT title at 18 and last week, when he shipped the €25,750 High Roller, he became the EPT's all-time leading money winner with $6,228,104 in career earnings.
A day later he was overtaken on the list when Steve O'Dwyer made it up to $6,731,614 winning the €10,200 Single-Day High Roller, but the Hendon Mob page may not be the scariest thing about the man they call 'Timex.'
He tends to stare down opponents when they play pots against him, and whether he knows it or not, the Canadian does it with a steely-eyed scowl that might make the meek muck.
He defended his big blind against a Przemyslaw Piotrowski open to 13,000 moments ago, and after checking the flop, fixed his eyes squarely on Piotrowski. Piotrowski bet 16,000, and after staring him down a little while longer, McDonald made the call.
The turn brought the , another check and a firm stare down from McDonald. Piotrowski checked as well. The river came the and this time McDonald led for 21,000, once again glancing over at Piotrowski with intensity.
Piotrowski gulped, called and reluctantly showed the . McDonald had just the and dipped below his peak stack at the end of the last level.
Piotrowski appeared to breath a sigh of relief, having faced the McDonald stare down and stood strong this time.
Patrick Jann doubled up after losing the last hand of the previous level and now joked to Kevin Lee Sharp to see one of his cards. Sharp had pushed the turn for 69,000 from under the gun and his opponent folded. Sharp showed nothing and claimed back some chips that he had previously lost.
Jesper Feddersen and Johnny Lodden had clashed earlier in the tournament and the Norwegian now took revenge after having had to fold against an all in before when he was at risk. Now, Feddersen only had 46,000 left and moved all in from early position with the .
Lodden found in the big blind and his top pair on the board won the pot.
Ivan Luca opened the hijack for 13,000 and saw Jeremy Routier in the small blind shove all in for 72,000. The big blind folded but Luca called after some serious tanking.
Jeremy Routier:
Ivan Luca:
The flop was save for Routier with , but the on the turn spelled doom for him. The on the river was a blank and Routier hit the rail 60th place (€ 10,580).
Narutoshi Otsuka opened the action with a raise to 15,000 and Marcin Wydrowski announced all in for 176,000. The action folded to Jens Lakemeier in the small blind and he called, Otsuka called all in for slightly less than Wydrowski.
Wydrowski:
Otsuka:
Lakemeier:
"Nice hand dealer," Wydrowski grinned before the showdown and then proceeded to hit two pair on the board to eliminate Otsuka and almost tripled up.
In the previous hand, Erik Scheidt had called a raise and then folded to a three-bet. Scheidt then raised to 12,000 and quickly called all in when Bjorn Geissert pushed for 111,000. It was the best two hands in No Limit Hold'em that clashed with Geissert's and Scheidt's . The board ran out and Geissert doubled up.