After almost 11 long hours of play, we've reached the end of Day 2. Tournament staff opted to stop the clock and call it a night with 48 players remaining, each of them now in the money.
Day 3 is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. EST) at which time the remaining players will begin their quests to reach the final table. A million-Euro first prize is up for grabs ($1,426,645 USD) and each of the 48 Day 2 survivors are hungry for it. Among said survivors are notable PokerBattle representatives Michael and Robert Mizrachi, Scotty Nguyen, Noah Schwartz and Patryk Hildebranski.
The Partouche staff have informed us that the official end of Day 2 chip counts will be released in approximately forty five minutes, so we'll post them as soon as they're made available.
Join us tomorrow afternoon (or morning, depending on where you are in the world) for our continued coverage of the 2008 Partouche Poker Tour Cannes Main Event, live from the Palm Beach Club.
After a short hand-for-hand session, Patrick Didier Gastaldi was eliminated in 49th place, earning the unwanted title of bubble boy.
The hand saw three-way pre-flop action with Gastaldi all in and called by both Daniele Mazzia and Guillaume Bayt, who would ultimately check down the board.
At the showdown, Gastaldi turned over a pocket pair of eights only to find them crushed every which way under the sun by Bayt's -- the nuts. Mazzia mucked his hand, but told us that he had the .
All 48 remaining players in the tournament are now guaranteed a minimum payday of $15,700.
The final part in this trilogy was the shortest installment of the three.
It was folded around to Arnaud Mattern in late position who moved all-in for his last 40,000 and found a call from Noah Schwartz in the big blind. Mattern tabled hoping the red ones would bring more luck than the black ones previously. Schwatrz flipped over .
The board to the turn ran and it was at this point in time that Mattern declared he was going to win the whole tournament. The river came to keep that statement alive.
Mattern back up to 100,000, Schwartz down to 130,000.
Noah Schwartz raised to 12,000 preflop and found callers in Patrice Albert Sitbon and Arnaud Mattern in the small blind before the flop was dealt as .
It's checked to Schwartz who continued with a 27,000 bet that Sitbon called before Mattern raised to 120,000. Both players called creating a monster pot for a bubble hand.
Once the fell on the turn, Mattern quickly moved all-in. Schwartz tanked so long that Mattern called the clock on him. Schwartz didn't let it run down and folded but Sitbon called fairly quickly with for an open ended straight draw and a gutshot straight flush draw, which he picked up on the turn. He was still behind though to Mattern's .
The all important river came.... to make the straight for Sitbon who responded by yelling in delight. Mattern meanwhile sat there very quietly and took his beat like a true gent.
Sitbon upto 870,000, Mattern down to just 43,100 and Schwartz on 169,000.
We arrived late to this hand with the board showing . Arnaud Mattern and Patrice Albert Sitbon are heads-up. We were told by one spectator that Mattern checked raised on the flop before both players checked the turn.
Mattern checked once more on the river to face a 60,000 bet from Sitbon. Mattern responded by moving all-in for 141,000. Sitbon took an age to call but finally did so and mucked upon seeing Mattern's for a full house.
Mattern is now up to 380,000 now whereas Sitbon is down to 310,000.
Robert Mizrachi just took out Frederic Vernege when his held up against Vernege's in what was a pre-flop all in confrontation. The win hoisted Mizrachi past the 400,000 mark in chips and left us with 49 players. One more elimination and we're in the money!
Guy Pourprix got his money in great against Stephane Bazin, holding pocket kings against Bazin's fives in what was a pre-flop all-in confrontation.
With his tournament life on the line, Pourprix looked in great shape to double up until the board filled out , giving Bazin the wheel. The surrounding spectators let out a collective sigh on Pourprix's behalf and then gave him a round of applause as he exited the tournament area just three places away from the money.