Three players including Steven Watts took a flop of in a raised pot. With 900 already in the middle, there were two checks on the flop over to Watts' button. He moved 350 past the betting line and Yannick Autaa quickly called from the small blind. The third player got out of the way, leaving the duo heads up to fourth street.
The dealer burned and produced the on the turn, putting two pair on the board. Autaa checked for a second time and Watts followed suit. The on the river induced two more checks, prompting Autaa to table . Watts could not beat the nines and his hand was sent sailing into the muck. With this hit, Watts' stack is down to about 24,600.
Tom Dwan once said that one can never be too careful when playing poker. He said so with a smirk on his face in one of the episodes of High Stakes Poker, mocking a very cautious player. Dwan might have said the same if he was standing next to Steve Watt's and John Eames' table a couple of minutes ago. Then again, Tom Dwan has fallen of his pedestal pretty hard the last couple of months, so take his words for what they're worth.
Anyway, we saw a hand just now where the small blind checked on a flop of . John Eames in the big blind bet out 525 and Steve Watts (who presumably was the initial raiser) in the hijack made the call, the small blind folded.
Eames checked on the turn and called after Watts bet out 700. Eames checked again once the completed the board. Watts double checked his cards, and checked behind.
Eames showed for the flopped flush but he was outdrawn by Watts' . Eames laughed he might had check raised, and that was probably exactly why Watts didn't bet.
With both players in the blinds not being at the table yet, Vladimir Troyanovskiy raised to 200 and Salem Sahed three-bet to 600 before Rob Strong four-bet from one seat over, making it 1,500 to go. Viktor Litovchenko called on the button, Troyanovskiy folded and Sahed also called.
On the flop all players checked and the appeared on the turn. The action checked to Litovcheko and he made it 1,300, Sahed check-raised to 3,500 and Strong flat-called whereas Litovchenko quickly folded. The river saw Sahed bet 5,500 and Strong called with to see his opponent flip over for complete air.
The floor was called when two players had got to the river of a board reading . There had been a bet, a raise, a re-raise and then just a call without all the chips going in the middle. The player who called showed and the other tabled . It was a chop but the problem was that both players had the nuts, an unbeatable hand, and technically you are not allowed to do that to avoid the suspicion of soft play or collusion.
The player who called explained that he knew what the other player had and it would be chopped so he simply called. The usual penalty would be to sit out for one round but in this case, as there had been significant action, the player was just warned and allowed to continue.
Sofia Lovgren is in the field today bright and early after finishing fifth in the Women’s Event last night. Lovgren currently lives in Malta and as there is and EPT happening there for the first time this year there is interest amongst the other players at her table.
Marius Pospiech from Germany has already qualified for the Main Event and was telling her that he was excited to go for the first time. Lovgren confirmed that it wasn’t too hot at that time of year as she opened to 250 and met no resistance as Pospiech folded his small blind.
On the next hand Lovgren, in the big blind, tangled with Italy’s Andrea Dato calling down his bets to the river of a board reading . They both checked and Lovgren declared a flush, turning over . Dato said he had the best hand until the river and then confirmed he will be playing the prestigious Global Poker Masters in Malta.
EPT Malta will run March 18-28 in partnership with the Italian Poker Tour, at the elegant Portomaso Casino.
Joining the action on a three-way flop of , the opponent of Steven Watts bet 500 and another player folded. Watts had the hands covered over his cards and the opponent exposed , which caused some confusion on how to proceed. Floor was called and it was ruled that the hand of the opponent wasn't dead, Watts still had all options.
The Brit eventually mucked, floor however gave the opponent a one-round penalty for exposing his cards out of turn.
We recently found Florian Ravier and Vladimir Troyanovskiy engaged in a hand were the board read . Florian was first to act and he checked his action over to Troyanovskiy.
Troyanovskiy dipped into his stack and came out with a bet of 850. Ravier thought for a brief moment before opting to check-raise the action to 2,200 total. This move put the pressure back on Troyanovskiy and in the end he decided that the price was too high. Troyanosvkiy flung his cards into the muck and Ravier pulled in the pot.
On a table with Konstantin Puchkov, Efim Rudnik just doubled back to slightly more than starting stack after being all in with after a board of . The cards of the opponent were already mucked and Rudnik as well as Puchkov talked in Russian, though the straight of Rudnik was good enough to scoop the pot and is around 32,000 in chips.
in a raised pot. With 900 already in the middle, there were two checks on the flop over to Watts' button. He moved 350 past the betting line and Yannick Autaa quickly called from the small blind. The third player got out of the way, leaving the duo heads up to fourth street.
on the turn, putting two pair on the board. Autaa checked for a second time and Watts followed suit. The 
on the river induced two more checks, prompting Autaa to table 
. Watts could not beat the nines and his hand was sent sailing into the muck. With this hit, Watts' stack is down to about 24,600.
. John Eames in the big blind bet out 525 and Steve Watts (who presumably was the initial raiser) in the hijack made the call, the small blind folded.
turn and called after Watts bet out 700. Eames checked again once the 
for the flopped flush but he was outdrawn by Watts' 
. Eames laughed he might had check raised, and that was probably exactly why Watts didn't bet.
flop all players checked and the 
river saw Sahed bet 5,500 and Strong called with 
to see his opponent flip over 
for complete air.
. There had been a bet, a raise, a re-raise and then just a call without all the chips going in the middle. The player who called showed 
and the other tabled 
, the opponent of Steven Watts bet 500 and another player folded. Watts had the hands covered over his cards and the opponent exposed 
. Florian was first to act and he checked his action over to Troyanovskiy.
after a board of 
. The cards of the opponent were already mucked and Rudnik as well as Puchkov talked in Russian, though the straight of Rudnik was good enough to scoop the pot and is around 32,000 in chips.
