We didn't get to see how this hand played out, we only saw the aftermath.
Where Sander van Wesemael was previously sat, there lay only the on the felt, with his 2,200,000 chips being counted down by the dealer. Across from him sat Viktor Langlitz with , looking at runout.
Apparently all the chips went in pre-flop, but all that matters now is that Langlitz has an enormous chipstack with just over two levels left to play in Day 1B of the Main Event.
Zabaleta sent Jack Sinclair to the rail when the Brit got it in preflop for more than 60 big blinds with pocket nines only to see Zabaleta turn over pocket aces.
Gerald Karlic sent Rofat Gegic to the rail when his queens against kings, spiking one of his two outs.
Last but not least, Julian Thomas called a three-bet to 59,000 out of the big blind and the initial raiser four-bet to 140,000 in the cutoff. The button folded and Thomas called, then check-raised the to force a fold and grab another 160,000 in change.
Miroslav Lelek raised to 21,000 and picked up six callers including Hossein Ensan in the small blind and Do Tran in the big blind. The flop came and Ensan bet 60,000 right away, picking up two callers in the cutoff and button. After the turn, the three players checked and Ensan bombed the river with a pot-sized bet of 250,000.
His first opponent folded, but the button called and Ensan rolled over for a full house to chip up.
Ngoc Bui Hai opened from early position for 35,000 and picked up three callers including Pierre Neuville.
The flop was and Hai continued for 61,000 with Neuville being the sole caller.
The turn card was the and Neuville checked it to Hai who fired 110,000. Neuville then check-raised him to 310,000. Hai looked serious and studied the board with an air of concern before calling.
The river was the Neuville had a count of his remaining stack before moving all in for around 700,000 and Hai wasted no time in calling the bet.
Neuville showed having hit his gut-shot on the turn for a straight.
Hai had a gut-shot on the flop too but his went one better than Neuville’s straight to bust him.
Tomas Kuril min-raised under the gun to 20,000, with action folding round to Tonio Roder, who came in with a 3-bet to 65,000 from the cutoff. The blinds got out of the way, before Kuril put in the 4-bet to 130,000. Roder 5-bet shoved for 500,000 effective, getting the all-in triangle and a call from Kuril simultaneously.
Roder's was in bad shape versus Kuril's , but things got a little sweaty for Kuril when Roder picked up a flush draw on a flop. The hit the turn, before the came on the river to complete Roder's backdoor straight draw, sending Kuril to the rail.
Gerald Karlic busted and bought back in for his single re-entry on the day, making i four bullets in total. He then lost ace-king to the ace-three of Tommaso Bonni before getting into a bigger pot with fellow re-entry candidate Rifat Gegic. Karlic bet the river for 315,000 and Gegic called, then mucked when Karlic flashed for a full house.
The opponent of Marek Blasko was not happy either after calling a bet of 150,000 by the Slovakian on the and mucked with plenty of uproar, as Blasko turned over for a back door straight.
Sander van Wesemael was another player to fire a second bullet while Christian Stratmeyer just bought in.
The partypoker German Poker Championships are using the “Button Ante” system, so instead of every player having to ante each hand the button pays.
It seems to be working perfectly well so far after some initial furrowed brows amongst the players, and the dealer’s heart pressure is more stable.
On one table a player had busted and there was a dead button on the next hand. The small and big blinds put their blinds in and as the dealer shuffled one player asked, “Who is the ante?”
“No one” replied the dealer and the hand progressed with no antes in the middle.
We joined the action with Rezet calling Zabaleta's all-in for around 400,000 each. Zabaleta tabled his with a smile, prompting Jack Sinclair to widen his eyes, "this guy's crazy!"
Rezet didn't look particularly confident, as he turned over his . Zabaleta paired up on a flop, sealing the deal when he made trips on the turn. As the inconsequential river was dealt, Rezet stormed off, muttering what was likely to be some rather unflattering things under his breath.
With 240,000 in the pot and the board showing , Jiri Horak checked from early position and called a bet of 155,000 by Matze. The river completed the board and Horak checked again before Matze made it 155,000 once more. Within a second, Horak tossed in a single chip and was shown for a full house to drop below a million.
Sebastian Langrock has chipped up since and is slightly ahead of Horak.