Benjamin Pollak was short stacked but just doubled up when he got it in against Colin Lovelock with versus before the flop. The window card was the but luckily for Pollak, the and followed. The on the turn and on the river were blanks and Pollak doubled up.
"You might be here for a while now" Pollak said to his masseuse.
Nicola Grieco in the cutoff opened with a raise to 3,000 before the flop and Chris Moneymaker on the button made the call. The flop came and Grieco checked. Moneymaker made a bet of 3,500 and soon got check raised to 10,000. Moneymaker called in position.
Grieco checked again on the turn and again Moneymaker bet, this time 7,500. Grieco check raised for the second time, now for 25,000. Moneymaker wasn't scared that easily and called.
The river came the and Grieco checked. Was he going for the holy grail of poker? Would he try the triple check raise? Would he go for the trifecta of bluffs? He certainly got the opportunity as Moneymaker bet 29,000. Grieco had 52,000 behind at this point but after just a couple of seconds he gave up and the pot went to Moneymaker.
Nikita Nikolaev raised from the hijack, Walid Bou Habib three-bet to 5,200 on the button, and Nikolaev four-bet to 12,500. Habib then five-bet all-in, and Nikolaev called off his 63,000 stack.
Nikolaev:
Habib:
The dealer spread the to put a straight on the board, chopping the pot.
Habib has had a great start to the day, improving his stack by 124,000 chips.
Riots were starting to break out on Twitter when it seemed as though Friend of PokerStars Jaime Staples had been knocked out from his first ever EPT Main Event, but things settled down when he gave a sign of life.
Staples was hoovering a little below the 30,000-chip starting stack, and we just went over to see what he was up to in the tournament. The first hand we watched was folded before the flop by Staples, but on the very next one he threw in a raise to 2,200 from middle position.
The action folded to Abbas Moradi in the small blind and he three-bet to 6,200, getting the big blind to quickly fold.
"All in," Staples calmly announced for 21,300, and Moradi tossed one chip forward to signal the call.
Moradi:
Staples:
Things were looking good for the Canadian pro who remained ahead on . The turn was a bit scary as the popped up, giving Moradi a flush draw, but the river sealed the deal with the .
Quietly Staples raked in a much needed double up, while Twitch chat would've gone crazy if they had been able to see one of their favorite players rake in a big pot.
Vanessa Selbst firs tlost a bunch of her chips in a pot where she got it in for a lot of big blinds before the flop with against a player with . She lost that confrontation, but later doubled up in a similar one with versus pre flop all in with the board coming . She's no way near the high point she once was at, but she's at least still alive.
Marc Convey, a recurring reporter at PokerNews, was taking a shot in his first-ever EPT Main Event. Unfortunately for the reigning European Poker Media Person of the Year, his time was just cut short by Sebastian Pauli.
It happened when Convey, who some will also recognize as a former EPTLive commentator, opened for 2,200 from middle position and Pauli three-bet to 5,400 from the button. The blinds both folded, and Convey thought for a few moments before four-betting all in for what looked to be 21,000. Pauli snap-called and Convey seemed to know he was in trouble.
Convey:
Pauli:
Indeed, Convey was dominated, and he began to get up put of his chair. The flop didn't do him any favors, and while the turn delivered him a flush draw, the river failed to complete it.
"Good luck," Convey offered the table, which also included reigning EPT Player of the Year Dzmitry Urbanovich and online legend Liviu "0Human0" Ignat.
"My three big blind game is strong," said Simon Deadman as he stacked his three yellow 1,000 chips on top of one another.
Deadman had 15,000 more a few moments earlier, but they're now with Michael Ho thanks to Deadman's not getting their versus Ho's when the board ran .
A few hands later, Vitezslav Pesta set Deadman all-in from the small blind with and Deadman called in the big blind with . The board saw Deadman's ace-kicker play and he's now up to 7,100.