In the last hand of Level 18, Guillaume Cescut of France raised to 15,000 from the hijack, then El Mehdi El Mimouni of Morocco reraised all in from the button for 56,000. The Frenchman Nicolas Levi, sitting on the other side of the dealer, was next to act from the small blind. He leaned forward to see how much El Mimouni was in for, then leaned back and pushed ahead a significant reraise, prompting both the big blind and Cescut to skedaddle.
Much ado about not a lot, it appeared, as Levi showed , while El Mimouni had . The board came , and the pair chopped it up.
Mimouni remains one of the short stacks with a little over 60,000 now, while Levi has 355,000.
Nicolas Levi raised to 14,000 on the button, and Sebastian Compte defended his big blind. The flop came out , and Compte check-called 16,000. The turn was the , and Compte checked again. This time, Levi checked behind. The river drew a bet of 38,000 from Compte. Levi called but could only muck when he saw that Compte's had rivered the nuts. Compte moved up to 375,000 with his jack-high straight, knocking Levi down a little to 265,000.
It started humbly enough -- just another hand, it seemed, with Damien Rony and Dominik Nitsche exercising some preflop aggression, much as they had for the first several hands since we reached the money.
Then things got interesting.
Rony opened with a standard raise from middle position, then Nitsche reraised from the button. The blinds got out, and after taking a few moments Rony called the three-bet.
The flop came . Rony checked, and Nitsche fired out a bet of 42,000. Rony took a full minute before making the call.
The turn was the , prompting another quick check from Rony. Nitsche fired once more, this time for 77,000. Rony took two minutes this time, and once more made the call.
The river brought the . Rony again checked. Nitsche rechecked his cards, then asked his opponent what he had left. Rony moved his hands for Nitsche to see the answer was around 220,000. Nitsche then announced he was all in, putting out a large stack of lavender chips as he did.
Rony ran a hand over his forehead and through his hair. He contemplated the situation, counting out his own chips to confirm to himself just how much he had left. Finally he said he was calling.
"Aces," said Nitsche, turning over . Rony nodded and mucked his cards, then stood to leave, the first of 27 players to cash in the tournament.
Nitsche is still stacking, but he appears to be over 1.15 million after that one, enough to make him our new chip leader with 26 left.
Action folded to Felix Oberauer on the button, and he raised to 12,000. In the big blind, Phu Truong moved all in for 46,000 total. Oberauer called with . Truong held and had to dodge Oberauer's live cards to stay alive. The board came out , and Truong doubled to 104,000, leaving Oberauer with 160,000.
Table 1
Seat 1: Patrick Muleta
Seat 2: Joel Benzinou
Seat 3: Bruno Lopes
Seat 4: Roger Hairabedian
Seat 5: Johan Williamson
Seat 6: Guillaume de la Gorce
Seat 7: Patrick Viano
Seat 8: Cedric Demore
Seat 9: Daniel El Keslassy
Table 2
Seat 1: Phu Truong
Seat 2: Sebastian Homann
Seat 3: Majid Chiboub
Seat 4: Jean Philippe Rohr
Seat 5: Eduards Rakuss
Seat 6: Eric Le Goff
Seat 7: Paul Pires-Trigo
Seat 8: Felix Oberauer
Seat 9: Suat Uyanik
Table 3
Seat 1: Nicolas Levi
Seat 2: Guillaume Goyer
Seat 3: Sebastian Compte
Seat 4: Damien Rony
Seat 5: Charles de Haas
Seat 6: Julien Labuissiere
Seat 7: Guillaume Cescut
Seat 8: Dominik Nitsche
Seat 9: El Mehdi El Mimouni
That was fast. It only took three hands to burst the bubble and guarantee the remaining 27 players a slice of the cash. Eric Le Goff was down to 40,000 when he moved all in from early position. Action folded to Viktor Gerasymenko in the small blind. Somehow, he was even shorter than Le Goff and called all in for 30,000. The big blind folded as everyone crowded around to watch the action.
Le Goff:
Gerasymenko: - at risk
The flop was clean for Gerasymenko, and the turn put him one card away from a chance at the money. But the on the river meant Le Goff won the hand and Gerasymenko was out of luck. One player cheered loudly for Gerasymenko's demise since it meant he'd made the money. The remaining 27 players are currently pausing to redraw to three tables.
At Level 17 came to a close, Dominik Nitsche opened with a raise to 11,000 from the cutoff, then Erik Tamm reraised to 28,000 from the big blind. Nitsche leaned forward to take a look across the table to see how much Tamm had left -- about 140,000 more -- then said he was all in. Tamm quickly called, turning over . Nitsche flipped his cards over to show .
The community cards came , and Tamm goes out in 29th place.
It's been a wild afternoon and early evening for Nitsche. Down to less than 5,000 after a couple of hours of play today and dead last out of the 60 or so players then remaining, he will go to the dinner break with a stack of more than 750,000, now challenging Sebastian Homann for the tourney's chip lead.
Paul Pirestrigo opened to 11,000 under the gun, and action folded to Damien Rony in the cutoff. He bumped it up to 25,000. Trigo then four-bet to 51,000. Rony chose that spot to move all in, and Pirestrigo made the call for a total of 208,500. He turned over , while Rony tabled . Oops. The flop had Rony drawing to a runner-runner straight. The turn was the first part, but the river spared Pirestrigo from an ugly beat. Rony doubled him up to 425,000, leaving himself with 370,000.
, while El Mimouni had 
. The board came 
, and the pair chopped it up.![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Compte check-called 16,000. The turn was the 
river drew a bet of 38,000 from Compte. Levi called but could only muck when he saw that Compte's 
had rivered the nuts. Compte moved up to 375,000 with his jack-high straight, knocking Levi down a little to 265,000.
. Rony checked, and Nitsche fired out a bet of 42,000. Rony took a full minute before making the call.
, prompting another quick check from Rony. Nitsche fired once more, this time for 77,000. Rony took two minutes this time, and once more made the call.
. Rony again checked. Nitsche rechecked his cards, then asked his opponent what he had left. Rony moved his hands for Nitsche to see the answer was around 220,000. Nitsche then announced he was all in, putting out a large stack of lavender chips as he did.
and had to dodge Oberauer's live cards to stay alive. The board came out 
, and Truong doubled to 104,000, leaving Oberauer with 160,000.
flop was clean for Gerasymenko, and the 
turn put him one card away from a chance at the money. But the 
on the river meant Le Goff won the hand and Gerasymenko was out of luck. One player cheered loudly for Gerasymenko's demise since it meant he'd made the money. The remaining 27 players are currently pausing to redraw to three tables.
, and Tamm goes out in 29th place.
. Oops. The 