This €25,000 High Roller event features a single re-entry allowed that can be taken at anytime after a player fully busts, up until the registration period closes, which will be at the start of play on Day 2.
Please note that players are not restricted to using just cash for re-entry, which is the rule for rebuy events — re-entry and rebuy events are separate formats.
Paul Newey and Jean-Noel Thorel are two of the business men playing today and they just did battle with one of them getting eliminated.
There was an under-the-gun raise to 600 that was called in one spot before Thorel squeezed to 2,100 from the button. Newey was in the big blind and put in a four-bet to 6,500.
Only Thorel called to the flop where he also called a 7,000 c-bet. On the turn Newey fired 16,000 and called when Thorel shoved for 28,275.
Newey:
Thorel: .
Thorel needed to hit his draw but he failed to do so on the river and busted.
The board rested as and 25,000 chips were being passed to Joesph Cheong after his was enough to win the showdown pot.
"Back to half starting stack!" mused Cheong.
Just at that time Griffin Benger, the High Roller champion from EPT Berlin, took his seat at that table. The shy and retiring Benger is convinced he's going back-to-back. PokerNews will be on hand to see if he's a record breaker.
The river betting amounts are not for the faint hearted today as lots of pressure is being applied.
Govert Metaal and Ilya Bulychev made it to the river of a board where the latter checked to the former. There was around 13,000 in the pot and Metaal bet 31,075. His Russian opponent check-folded.
Two hands later, Metaal opened to 600 and Erik Seidel called from the small blind to see a flop. Metaal continued for 700 and Seidel check-called to see the turn. Both players checked to the river where Seidel check-called a 3,600 bet. Metaal opened and Seidel mucked.
In between these hands on a nearby table, Nacho Barbero was in a world of pain in a hand verus Martin Finger. Around 40,000 had made it into the middle by the time the board rested as . Finger moved all in for an effective 29,000 and Barbero took five minutes to fold.
Dan Smith and Byron Kaverman got embroiled in a pre flop raising war that ended in one of them being very disappointed in the set up that unfolded.
The action was underway and Smith had raised (not his first in the hand) to 10,250 from the small blind. Kaverman came back with another raise to 16,000 and called when Smith shoved for 42,900.
Kaverman:
Smith:
The board ran to make Smith a full house. Kaverman just shook his head.
There was a slight pause of the tournament while a technical fault was fixed on the feature but play is back underway. Dan Smith is up to 110,000 after raking in another pot.