2008 Partouche Poker Tour - Cannes

James 'Flushy' Dempsey just went from having 150,000 in chips to none in a matter of minutes, sparked by one pivotal pot that left him with less than 26,000 in chips.

The pot saw Dempsey make it 5,500 to go from the button and Philippe Rottemberg made the call from the big blind. The flop came and Rottemberg opened with a 6,000 bet. Dempsey then raised to 20,000 and Rottemberg re-popped it to 40,000.

Holding and on a complete bluff, Dempsey moved all in putting his opponent to a decision for all of his chips. Much to Dempsey's dismay, Rottemberg made the call with and Dempsey was drawing dead.

The hand that dealt the fatal blow came shortly after when Flushy announced 'Tapis' and slid his stack, worth 23,000, across the betting line. Joseph Balvay opted to call and the rest of the table folded.

"I've got three outs . . . I just don't know which three," Dempsey said as he tabled . Balvay then revealed , saying "I like greens!" in reference to Dempsey's four stacks of green chips that were up for grabs.

The flop was a poor one for Dempsey, as it gave his opponent flush and gutshot straight draws.

"That's a good flop . . . I'm a big fan," he said, sarcastically of course.

The turn brought the , at which point Dempsey got out of his chair and said "Well played," as he misread the club for a spade. After a double take, he regained interest in the river which brought the , giving Balvay a single pair and the best hand.

"Well played," Dempsey muttered again, as he wished the rest of the table good luck and exited the tournament area.

When you're hot, you're hot. Poker Battle Warrior Noah Schwartz just took out another opponent, Christian Montarnal, calling Montarnal's pre-flop all in with ; Montarnal tabled .

The board filled out in favor of Schwartz, who now has over 340,000 in chips and climbing.

From middle position, Robert Mizrachi comes in raising to 5,500. Before the chips are even out of his hand, Laurent Alibert moves all in for a total of 22,100. Action folds around the table, and Mizrachi shrugs and makes the call, tabling . Alibert winces and shows down his .

The flop comes out , a big dry desert for Alibert. Not to worry though, the turn and river show up and respectively, making triple jacks for the at-risk player, and doubling him up to 47,000 chips.

With 82 players remaining in the tournament, the average chip stack is currently 117,073.

Since crippling Juha Helppi, Fabrice Nkoa has been vacuuming up the chips at his table and has just moved into the chip lead after eliminating yet another opponent. He currently sits with 475,000 in chips and can't seem to find the time to stack his winnings, as he's involved in almost every other pot.

Noah Schwartz is milking his rush for all that it's worth, having just doubled up through former Day 1a chip leader Pierre Eugene Charil.

Holding pocket sevens, Noah led out with a 6,500 bet on a flop. Next came the unthinkable; Charil opted to move all in right then and there -- a bet worth approximately 170,000 -- on the strength of ace-king, neither of them clubs.

Noah made the call for all of his chips (about 150,000) and was ecstatic when he saw what he was up against. The board ran out , and Schwartz filled up on the end to take down the monster pot. By our calculations, he now has over 300,000 in chips and it's crazy to think that he had just 30,000 less than an hour ago!

Action folded around to a short-stacked Juha Helppi who moved his last 15,400 into the middle before the flop holding . Arthur Jerome Canadas made the call with , leaving himself just 31,000 behind.

The board ran out and Helppi took down the pot with just king-queen high. He now sits with just over 31,000 in chips.

Juha Helppi was sitting quietly by himself in the lounge during dinner break, collecting his thoughts and preparing for the last four levels of Day 2. Now it appears that he may be headed for the exit with more than three levels still to play.

We find him involved in a massive battle-of-the-blinds pot with Fabrice Nkoa, as the board shows . The falls on fourth street, and Nkoa checks the action. Helppi very deliberately considers his options before sliding out 75,000 chips. Nkoa immediately moves all in for an additional 28,500. Helppi is priced in, but he hates making the call. As he does, he turns over . Nkoa is in command, having flopped a set with his .

Helppi needs to find one of the four sevens to win the pot, but the comes instead, sending an enormous pile of chips over to Nkoa. After dropping that big confrontation, Juha Helppi has under 20,000 chips remaining, while Nkoa has vaulted up near 250,000.

Noah Schwartz, better known in the online community as 'fouruhaters,' is on a tear as of late, having surged from ~30,000 in chips to just over 150,000. He recently strung together three decent-sized pots in a row and appears to be beaming with confidence following the dinner break.

We'll keep you posted on his progress.