Alina Volodina, Paul Berende, Leonardo Armino and Yannick Oosterlinck have been eliminated towards the end of level eight. And then, Andrei Krauchuk flat-called a raise to 2,600 by Gordon Plomp.
Ian Simpson squeezed to 8,700 and Plomp called before Krauchuk jammed for 38,000 with pocket threes. Simpson reshoved successfully with and Plomp folded to see the Brit win the flip.
The action has most definitely picked up a lot and the last 100 players have already been reached. The most recent bustouts included Tom Janssens, Mikkel Lorentzen as well as local player Glenn Laureys. According to the screens, only 96 participants remain and the field for Day 1b has been cut into half.
Until the river of a board , more than 70,000 chips were in the pot and Jasper van Vlasselaer had checked his option in the big blind. Mark Bongaerts pushed him all in and the Belgian called after some consideration for 33,100 with the for jacks and fours.
Bongaerts was caught with the fingers in the cookie jar and had to reveal , sitting next to Jonas ten Cate.
Christophe Morbee raised to 2,500 and picked up one caller in middle position before Mateusz Moolhuizen three-bet to 7,300 from the button with pocket kings. Only Morbee called to see a flop of and Moolhuizen was able to extract value on all streets for 6,500 on the flop, 11,500 on the turn and the last 18,000 chips of his opponent on the river.
Morbee went into the showdown with pocket tens and sent over his stack to Moolhuizen, less than 20 minutes after losing a big pot with queens versus jacks.
"Always a good hand," Thomas Petrus sighed and left his chair after the turn of a board . He was already drawing dead after five-bet shoving his stack of 37,000 with the and the chips went to table neighbor Tim Verbon.
The Dutchman's scooped yet another bigger pot and he cemented his lead.
The top 36 spots will get paid at least €2,087 for their efforts while the winner takes home the coveted trophy with a diamond as well as a payday of €71,260. The full payouts will be available shortly.
The fireworks started on the flop with Arnoldas Merkelis betting 11,000 and then moving all in for more than 40,000 once Christophe Morbee had raised. The latter called it off for half of his stack with the and Merkelis showed for top set.
The turn and river changed nothing whatsoever and Morbee let out a simple "nice hand" before moving onto the next hand.
Peter Harkes got his last 27 big blinds in with over on the feature table and Marc Dogge looked him up with the . The board ran out and that was it for the Dutchman.
Dogge became one of the bigger stacks in the room and also the clear chip leader on the feature table.
Mario Lepez was all in and at risk for his short stack with the and saw Krisztian Arvai in a dominating position, putting him at risk with . Lepez got there on the flop and held up on turn and river.