Ben Tollerene raised to 70,000 from the hijack seat on his short-handed table. Just Mike McDonald called from the big blind, and the flop came down . McDonald check-called a bet of 90,000, and then he checked again on the turn. Tollerene checked behind, and the landed on the river. McDonald checked once more, and Tollerene bet 160,000. McDonald called, and Tollerene showed the . McDonald mucked, and Tollerene won the pot.
"Sometimes you eat the bear... and sometimes the bear eats you." — The Big Lebowski
Tournament poker can be a cruel, unruly endeavor. At times, the little bit of luck involved in the game can get the best of you despite how well you may play. Just ask Phil Hellmuth how that goes. Other times, it's just the unfortunate situation of running a very big hand into another very big hand when there's not much that could've be done to avoid it. For Jason Les, he fell victim to the latter after a crazy cooler of a hand against Dzmitry Urbanovich.
The action started with pay folding to JC Alvarado on the button. He raised to 60,000, and then Les opted to three-bet to 180,000. In the big blind was Urbanovich, and he took his time before placing out a four-bet to 399,000. Alvarado quickly ducked out of the way, but then Les went into the tank. After a minute or two, Les announced that he was all in for around 1.9 million total. Urbanovich quickly looked back at his cards, then called, creating a massive pot of over 3.6 million in chips.
When the cards were revealed, Urbanovich tabled the to do one better than Les' . Following a runout of , Urbanovich had won the hand and the counting of the stacks began.
Urbanovich's stack was counted down to 1.793 million — a massive amount for a full double. Les had just over 100,000 more than that and sent over the chips to award the young Polish star his due. Then on the next hand, the rest of his stack was passed Max Altergott's way.
Altergott had opened with a raise and Les went all in. Altergott made the call for the extra bit of chips and displayed the . Les had the . The board came , and Les was eliminated.
Jason Les raised from under the gun to 60,000. In the small blind, Max Altergott reraised to 200,000. Everyone folded, including Les, and Altergott won the hand.
From the hijack seat, Igor Kurganov raised to 56,000. Fedora Holz reraised to 158,000 out of the cutoff position, and play folded back to Kurganov. He called, and the flop was . After Kurganov checked, Holz bet 147,000. Kurganov stuck around with a call to see the turn.
The landed on fourth street, and Kurganov checked. Holz fired 382,000, and Kurganov called. The river was the , and both players checked.
Kurganov showed the , but that was no good against the for Holz that picked up the best hand on the turn. Holz won the pot and moved to 3.3 million in chips. Kurganov dropped back to 1.85 million.
From the cutoff seat, Igor Kurganov raised to 56,000. Christoph Vogelsang called out of the big blind, and the flop came down . Vogelsang checked, and Kurganov bet 71,000. Vogelsang called.
The turn was the , and Vogelsang checked again. Kurganov bet 170,000, and Vogelsang folded.
Paul Newey moved all in from the button for 304,000 and Igor Kurganov tanked for a while before making the call from the small blind. Fedor Holz folded from the big blind, and the showdown went as following.
Newey:
Kurganov:
The board ran out and Newey kept his tournament hopes alive.
Mustapha Kanit, winner of last season's EPT Grand Final single day €50,000 Super High Roller, has just been eliminated. We saw him getting his chips in on a board of holding . His neighbor Michael Egan was the one pushing the action and he tabled for the flush draw on top of his open ended straight draw. The river meant Kanit had to say good bye, and he did just that.
Hassan Fares came back from dinner with very little chips and he just moved all in for 47,000 from late position. Viacheslav Buldygin went into the tank for a while before three-betting to 72,000 and Max Altergott called from the big blind.
With 50,000 in the side pot the flop brought out and both players checked. On the turn the hit and again the action was checked. The river completed the board with the and Altergott fired out 110,000.
Buldygin folded right away and Altergott showed . Fares shook his head and showed as he exited the tournament.