Dutchman Bart Kuiper is already sitting on 43,000, after being the beneficiary of a full-house-over-full-house situation. According to Kuiper, Stephen Chidwick opened under the gun and two other players called. Kuiper called with from the small blind, and the big blind called as well, creating a five-way pot.
The flop was gin for Kuiper. He checked, as did the other players. The Dutchman led out big on the turn, with Chidwick as the only caller. On the river, Kuiper bet 2,500 in a 2,700 pot, Chidwick raised to 7,500, and Kuiper called.
Chidwick showed for the lower fullh ouse, and had to move a sizable portion of his starting stack to Kuiper.
Charlie Carrel skipped out on the World Series of Vegas, and elected not to play the €50,000 Super High Roller which reached its final table late last night. However, he's making the most of his Main Event as this hand between him and Johannes Korsar proves.
Carrel raised to 300 and Johannes Korsar three-bet to 1,200 from the small blind. Carrel called and the pair saw a flop of .
Korsar checked to Carrel who bet 2,000 and the Swede called. The turn was the and again Korsar checked. This time, Carrel bet 4,000. Korsar called for a second time.
The river was the and Korsar checked for the third time. Carrel bet 11,000 and after less than a minute's thought, Korsar called. Carrel quickly turned over for a flopped full house: tens full of queens, and Korsar mucked.
After earlier action, Majid Noubarian from Iran three-bet preflop to 1,100 on the button. Christoph Vogelsang four-bet to 3,200 from the small blind. Noubarian then five-bet to 8,500, and Vogelsang called.
The flop was , Vogelsang checked, Noubarian bet 5,000, and Vogelsang called.
On the turn, Vogelsang checked a second time, and Noubarian snap-shoved for 40,000. It was effectively for 20,000, Vogelsang's remaining stack. The German went deep in the tank and tried to chat up his opponent.
"If you have the best hand in poker, you win." Vogelsang remarked to a stoic Noubarian. The Iranian didn't respond to Vogelsang's attempts to extract information and stared in front of him. Suddenly, after five minutes of being stared down, he spoke up.
"Flush draw?" asked Noubarian.
"Flush draw? No, I told you what I had," smiled Vogelsang. Even with the slightly less tense atmosphere, the German couldn't decide whether to call off the rest of his stack. After eight minutes of tanking, his tablemates had enough and called the clock on Vogelsang. It took the German thirty more seconds before he smashed one of his chip stacks in the middle.
Majid Noubarian:
Christoph Vogelsang:
As it turned out, it was Vogelsang's opponent who had the flush draw. The German was in great shape to double up, but still needed to dodge an ace or heart to survive. The river, however, was the , completing Noubarian's flush. The Iranian lets out an audible "Yes!" and stacked up Vogelsang's chips, with the latter head-shakingly seeking out his friends at the rail.
Move over William Kassouf, there's a new motormouth in town. It appears that Benjamin Heath might have got some lessons in tabletalk from his fellow Brit, as demonstrated in this hand against Simon Boss.
Heath was facing a 6,000 bet from Boss into a pot of around 10,000 on a board of . After some consideration, Heath moved enough chips forward to put his opponent all in.
There was a moment's silence before Boss spoke up: "It's hard to fold a set," he said.
"You can!" replied Heath, "You have 18k and..." (he paused to check the tournament clock), "Six levels. A whole day of fun times to be had."
Boss counted out his stack, but Heath wasn't letting up with the talking. "One fold for a whole day of fun. I think that's a very fair price," he continued.
Eventually, Boss threw a single chip forward signalling a call. Heath turned over for a rivered top set. True to his word, Boss showed and started to gather his things.
It is often said that you can't win a tournament on the first day, but you can certainly lose it, as demonstrated earlier by Christoph Vogelsang.
On a flop of Andry Konopelko's opponent checked and the Belarussian bet 500. His opponent called. The pair checked the turn which was the before the was dealt on the river.
Again his opponent checked to him, allowing Konopelko to bet 1,000. After some thought his opponent called, but mucked when shown for top pair.
Defending champion John Juanda just sat down in the Main Event. Juanda won the EPT Barcelona Main Event last year, earning €1,022,593 and his first EPT title in the process.