Players are now on a 30-minute break, after which re-entries will no longer be available. Anybody who has missed out will have a couple more opportunities to jump into Grand Prix Austria at Montesino, with a flight starting at 7pm, and a hyper-turbo starting later on at 1030pm.
119 players have entered, of 39 of whom exercised their choice to re-enter, and 97 of whom remain, sharing an average stack of 81,443. As we head to the interval, Mica Tobosarevic looks to be our chipleader, with a whopping 269,000 chips - that's over triple average!
We'll be playing down until 10% of the field remain, no matter what time that happens to be.
As the blinds increase, some of our players are finding their stacks starting to dwindle and find themselves facing a decision: grind out their short stack, or go for the gamble before late registration closes in just under half an hour! We are seeing plenty of pre-flop all-ins, and low-equity post-flop check-raises from players desperate to run up a stack.
Timo Vogt is finding himself falling into the short-stack category, having doubled up a few hopefuls, a list that recently includes Ernst Strau, who 3-bet shoved his last 14,700 with . Vogt made the call with and just needed to fade the overcard, but failed to hold on once more, as he was outflopped on . The offered Vogt some gutshot outs to chop the pot, but the river left him frustrated, while Strau's gamble will keep him afloat a little longer.
This crazy hand started out innocently enough, with a raise from middle position to 1,700, and a call from the player next to act. Zdenko Pampurik saw this as a perfect opportunity to move all-in for his last 15,100, maybe to go to war, maybe to pick up some spare change.
That's where the wheels came off.
Stoian Ion called the 15,100 next to act, with Ivan Gaspar calling directly to his left, before the player in seat 1 (who had only recently taken his seat) moved all-in for 48,100 from the big blind.
The original raiser gave a look of mild surprise, as he cautiously folded his hand, while the player next to act just laughed as he pitched his cards into the muck. Ion folded, while Gaspar - who was now closing the action - shrugged and called it off. The dealer asked for the cards to be on their backs:
Pampurik
Gaspar
Seat 1
Gaspar was certainly live, and took the lead as the dealer spread a flop. The hit the turn, giving both hands a gutshot, but it was Pampurik who would come out on top when the completed his flush on the river. He would scoop the main pot, to bring his stack up to 65,000, better than quadrupling up! Gaspar took the side pot to show a 33,000 profit on the hand, while the player in seat 1 left the tournament area before he'd even warmed his seat!