Nicolas Chouity has just been eliminated at the hands of EPT Prague champion Martin Finger.
We joined the action having seen Finger raise to 2,400 from middle position, Per Ummer call to his direct left and the action pass to Chouity in the big blind. Chouity pondered all of his options before settling on a raise to 6,700 in total. Finger made the call, as did Ummer.
The flop came down and Chouity fired out a bet of 4,700, leaving himself around 20,000 chips behind. Finger eventually called but Ummer left them to it and folded.
The appeared on the turn and now Chouity checked and he had the look of a man who had backed himself into a sticky situation. Both he and Finger were now short and it seemed inevitable the chips were going to end up in the middle sooner rather than later. Finger bet just 5,500 and Chouity looked resigned to calling, which is what he did.
The river was the and Chouity checked for a second time but Finger pounced and moved all-in for 15,000, covering Chouity by just a couple of thousand chips. Chouity left out a big audible sigh before making the call but he mucked his hand when he saw Finger had been sat their with all along.
Chouity slammed his identification tag onto the felt before gathering his belongings and leaving the tournament area. Finger on the other hand --pardon the pun — is back in business with 63,000 chips.
Oleskii Kovalchuk has somehow managed to fly under our radar thus far but not any longer. The talented Ukrainian is now up to 115,000.
In his latest hand he opened to 2,500 from the cutoff and found some resistance in the shape of Kamalcan Bakbak in the big blind. The pair shared a flop reading , Bakbak checked, Kovalchuk bet 2,400 and Bakbak called.
Fourth street was the and Bakbak checked again. Kovalchuk increased his bet to 4,500 and this was enough to get the job done.
Don't know who Kovalchuk is? He is a phenomenal player who has two WSOP bracelets to his name, two IPT titles, a third place in last year's Partouche Poker Tour Main Event and a list of other cashes as long as your arm. He's definitely one to watch in this tournament.
Usually when you are short stacked, your loose-aggressive opponent has put you all-in and you are holding pocket kings you do a fist-pump, make the call and dance around the table in celebration. Not if your name is Peter Griesmann.
Griesmann raised from the cutoff and then got into a battle with Giuseppe Pantaleo who was in the big blind. The end result was Pantaleo putting Griesmann all-in and despite Griesmann being pot committed he went into the tank for in excess of two minutes.
Eventually the clock was called on Griesmann and as the floor supervisors was counting down the last 10 seconds, Griesmann made the call, turned over his cards and made the whole table's jaws drop in astonishment.
Pantaleo:
Griesmann:
The board ran out and now Griesmann was fist-pumping. His table mates cannot believe he took so long to call and they are almost certainly going to bombard him with multiple bets, three-bets and four-bets to put him under maximum pressure after the break.
Chino Rheem has massively increased his lead, he had a 60,000 bet paid off on the river of a board by Hüsnü Sincar. Rheem showed for a rivered set of queens, Sincar said afterwards he had been holding aces.
Earlier we had the tank-call with pocket kings now we have a hand that even the floor staff are shaking their heads at!
Atzlan Gil opened the betting with a raise from early position, two players folded and Giuseppe Pantaleo three-bet. To his direct left is the boyfriend of Gaelle Baumann, [Removed:167] and he cold-called the three-bet. Gil also called and it was three way to the flop.
Gil lead out with a bet of 18,200, Pantaleo made the call but Ehrhardt made it 44,000 to play, leaving himself just 21,000 behind. Gil went into the tank for around 90-seconds, constantly staring on Ehrhardt, before folding. He later claimed to have folded . Pantaleo was sat with his right hand covering his mouth and after 30-45 seconds he moved all-in and was obviously snap-called.
Pantaleo:
Ehrhardt:
Gasps reverberated around the table as the dealer put out the turn and the river, boosting Ehrhardt to 140,000 chips and leaving a red-faced Pantaleo woth around 65,000.
and Chouity fired out a bet of 4,700, leaving himself around 20,000 chips behind. Finger eventually called but Ummer left them to it and folded.
appeared on the turn and now Chouity checked and he had the look of a man who had backed himself into a sticky situation. Both he and Finger were now short and it seemed inevitable the chips were going to end up in the middle sooner rather than later. Finger bet just 5,500 and Chouity looked resigned to calling, which is what he did.
and Chouity checked for a second time but Finger pounced and moved all-in for 15,000, covering Chouity by just a couple of thousand chips. Chouity left out a big audible sigh before making the call but he mucked his hand when he saw Finger had been sat their with 
all along.
and Bakbak checked again. Kovalchuk increased his bet to 4,500 and this was enough to get the job done.
and failing to outdraw Arthur Voskanyan's 
.
and now Griesmann was fist-pumping. His table mates cannot believe he took so long to call and they are almost certainly going to bombard him with multiple bets, three-bets and four-bets to put him under maximum pressure after the break.
board by Hüsnü Sincar. Rheem showed 
for a rivered set of queens, Sincar said afterwards he had been holding aces.
flop.
turn and the 
river, boosting Ehrhardt to 140,000 chips and leaving a red-faced Pantaleo woth around 65,000.