Only 82 players remain after two hours of play and they have been sent into a 20-minute break. The chip race of the black T-100 denominations now takes place and 39 participants of the 121 hopefuls can already focus on the Side Events, sunshine outside or prepare for the players party this evening.
Quentin Lecomte confirmed the bustout of Gilbert Diaz, Vincent Verdickt was also sent to the rail a few minutes ago. According to the Frenchman, George McDonald had shoved for 30,000 with the and Julien Sitbon called with , Diaz called with the for another 15,000 behind.
On a rainbow flop, Diaz got the rest of it in and Sitbon turned an ace before a six on the river gave McDonald the triple up thanks to a one-outer. Another player said he had folded .
David Hefner made a lot of chips early on and was also responsible for the bustout of Vladyslav But just now. The latter had gotten the rest of it in with pocket threes and Hefner made the call with the .
The flop was about as bad as it can get for But and the turn completed a straight for the Swede. To rub it in even more, the river even brought a flush as well ... .
It is quite remarkable that the chips didn't get in preflop, which speaks a lot for Ian Simpson and Bogdan Petru Petrascu. The latter faced a check-raise all in after the turn and called with only to see Simpson flip over the .
The river bricked and Petrascu has been sent back to the short stack.
Of the five most recently eliminated players, four come from Scandinavia. Two Norwegian including former big stack Christer Nagell, one Finn and a Dane.
Jari Koskinen never got many good cards according to our colleague Juhani and then lost the rest of it with against pocket sixes.
Niels Vesterlund and David Stocker clashed preflop with the Frenchman letting out a loud cry once the board was complete. His cards were already in the muck but other players on the table confirmed he held pocket kings. Vesterlund was at risk with the and got there on the river.
A quick chat with tournament director John Scanlon revealed the further plan for today. Either a total of 10 levels of 60 minutes each will be played. Depending on the progress the day may be cut short though but this is yet to be seen. The speed of eliminations early on with more than 30 players bust in 90 minutes would suggest an alternative ending.
Anthony Giangrasso has been taking a lot during the first day and even on the feature table when facing tricky spots. Another of such situations just occurred with the board reading . There were about 70,000 in the pot and Viacheslav Igin made it 45,000 to go out of the big blind. Giangrasso tanked again for several minutes, stood up and studied the board.
The Frenchman eventually made the call and was shown the for a backdoor straight.
Table one is somewhat hidden just behind the feature table that will start streaming after the next break and there was just a "seat open" announcement heard. Mateusz Syc left and gave us a quick rundown of what happened. The Pole had lost most of his chips and then three-bet shoved for 20 big blinds out of the big blind with the .
Initial raiser Gabriel Gusetoiu immediately looked him up with pocket queens and there was no help for Syc anymore. Next to the Romanian is Nicolay Langfeldt with even more chips. Alan Brown is also out as well.
and Julien Sitbon called with 
, Diaz called with the 
for another 15,000 behind.
rainbow flop, Diaz got the rest of it in and Sitbon turned an ace before a six on the river gave McDonald the triple up thanks to a one-outer. Another player said he had folded 
flop was about as bad as it can get for But and the 
turn completed a straight for the Swede. To rub it in even more, the 
river even brought a flush as well ... .
only to see Simpson flip over the 
.
river bricked and Petrascu has been sent back to the short stack.
against pocket sixes.
river.
. There were about 70,000 in the pot and Viacheslav Igin made it 45,000 to go out of the big blind. Giangrasso tanked again for several minutes, stood up and studied the board.
for a backdoor straight.
.
