In a little less than an hour the fourth day of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event, the biggest EPT ever, will kick off. There are another five 90-minute levels on the schedule, and again no dinner break today.
EPT Vienna champion Oleksii Khoroshenin leads with over 1.7 million, good for 170 big blinds. Thore Nordboe starts out as the short stack with just 56,000 or almost 6 big blinds.
PokerStars Team Pro Johnny Lodden was the last player to get eliminated late last night and so 110 players remain; all guaranteed €13,475, all eyeing that €1,420,500 first place prize.
Sit back and relax, and make yourself ready for another day of live coverage of the biggest EPT Main Event in history.
John Juanda first lost a good chunck of his chips in a pot where we just caught the river action. Juanda had 148,000 out in front of him from the big blind on a board of , and Jaroslaw Sikora from Poland was all in for just 135,000 more. Juanda tanked long, got the clock called on him, but folded in the end.
Not much later he squared off against Frederik Jensen. Jensen opened to 22,000 from the cutoff and Juanda three bet to 62,000 from the button. Both blinds folded and Jensen four bet to 156,000. Juanda tanked again and called.
The flop came and Jensen bet out 180,000. Juanda thought for just a minute and announced all in. Jensen wasn't happy and eventually reluctantly folded.
Daniel Dvoress raised in early position to 35,000 and and the player on his direct left called Dmitry Yurasov moved all in from the big blind for 357,000. Dvoress made the called and the third player folded.
Dvoress:
Yurasov:
The board ran out and Dvoress raked in this huge pot to boost his stack up to just shy of 1.4 million.
On the feature table we just caught the end of Patrik Antonius' elimination. Antonius was all in for just 26,000 chips against Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder and the showdown went as following.
Antonius:
De Meulder:
The board ran out and Antonius hit the rail. After this hand De Meulder lost some chips and he's currently sitting on around 455,000.
Daniel Dvoress was busy stacking a lot of chips, and the camera's were on him doing so because he is our new chip leader. We missed what had happened, but fortunately Dvoress was kind enough to tell us afterwards.
Dvoress opened under the gun with and Pakinai Lisawad defended from the big blind. The flop came with two spades and Lisawad checked. Dvoress made a continuation bet of 25,000 and Lisawad check raised to 60,000. Dvoress called.
The turn was an off suit and Lisawad checked. Dvoress bet out 135,000 and Lisawad called.
The river was an off suit and Lisawad checked again. Dvoress bet 385,000 and after some tanking Lisawad called, but mucked upon seeing Dvoress' set of jacks.
Shyam Srinivasan has had countless swings this tournament, but right now he's back in the thick of things after busting one of the fan favorites; Dutchman Joep van den Bijgaart.
Van den Bijgaart, a former EPT Berlin finalist, raised to 45,000 from the cutoff and Srinivasan three-bet from the small blind to 135,000. Van den Bijgaart decided to make it 600,000, with very little left behind, and Srinivasan shoved.
With a pending pay jump, Van den Bijgaart took some time before calling off the remainder of his stack, but ultimately we witnessed the following showdown.
Van den Bijgaart:
Srinivasan:
The board ran out and the queen on the turn gave Srinivasan this massive pot worth over 1.2 million. Van den Bijgaart collected €18,320 for his efforts, and Jasper Wetemans is now the last Dutch player remaining.
The action just folded to Anthony Zinno in the small blind and he raised to put Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari all in in the big blind. Akkari called off his final 292,000 chips and the showdown went as following.
Akkari:
Zinno:
The board ran out and Akkari doubled up, leaving Zinno with just 150,000 chips.
A player under the gun raised to 50,000 and former EPT Copenhagen winner Jens Kyllonen three-bet to 125,000. From his direct right it was Stuart McDonald who four-bet to 235,000 and the action folded back to the Finn, who moved all in for about 600,000. McDonald called.
McDonald:
Kyllonen:
The board ran out and Kyllonen hit the rail, while McDonald is now among the chip leaders.
Heinz Traut was the chip leader not too long ago, but he's now eliminated from the tournament. He raised it up from early position and action folded to Mario Sanchez Cano in the big blind. Cano pushed all in and Traut called.
Mario Sanchez Cano:
Heinz Traut:
The board ran out and Traut made his way to the exit.
John Juanda open pushed the button for about 280,000 and Matthias De Meulder in the big blind was quick to call. Juanda was in serious trouble with his as De Meulder showed .
The board helped Juanda with and he doubled up, leaving De Muelder with just over 300,000.
Two hands later Matthias De Meulder found himself on the button and action folded to him. He pushed his last 313,000 to the middle and Rui Suiza in the big blind instantly called.
Rui Suiza:
Matthias De Meulder:
The board ran out , saving De Meulder on the river.