After 14 levels of 75 minutes each, the 605-entry strong field of the 2016 PokerStars EPT12 Dublin €5,300 Main Event has been whittled down to its last 127 hopefuls and they will return to the tables of the Royal Dublin Society in half an hour from now at 12 p.m. local time.
Only the top 87 will receive at least €9,100 for their efforts and best-positioned for the first-place payout of €561,900, is Ivan Banic from Croatia with 381,200 in chips. The online MTT player was up to more than half a million in chips already before losing a couple hands at the end of play and would have almost been caught by Alex Difelice (359,500).
The final spot on the podium belongs to Tudor Purice (323,700), closely followed by Jiachen Gong (323,200) and Mikhail Petrov (322,600). Day 1a chip leader Gilles Bernies (311,700) and Adrien Allain (297,000) also made it into the top 10 overall whereas PokerStars' red spade is represented by three players still: Team Online's Jaime Staples (289,600) as well as the Team Pros Luca Pagano (230,000) and Liv Boeree (147,600).
Other former EPT Main Event champions remaining include Mike McDonald (291,000), Dominik Panka (203,700), Adrian Mateos (172,000), Ognyan Dimov (167,700) and David Vamplew (91,000). Five 90-minute levels are scheduled for Day 3 and plenty of other talented names of the international poker circuit are still in, so make sure to follow the PokerNews live reporting and stay up to date.
From middle position, Gaelle Baumann raised it up to 6,500. Her neighbor Sven Magirius made the call and the two took a flop of . Baumann fired 7,600 and Magirius made the call.
The on the turn had Baumann bet 12,500 and she was soon facing a raise to 37,000. Baumann called and tapped the table once the completed the board.
Magirius fired 36,000 and after about a minute, Baumann announced all in. Magirius had just over 100,000 or so behind, and went deep into the tank. After several minutes, he folded.
Zvi Stern was missing from the table, but luckily for us his former neighbor Bart Lybaert knew exactly what had happened. He told us the hand with a smile on his face, stating it was rather bizarre.
From the cutoff, Zvi Stern raised to 6,500 only to be met by a button three-bet from Jean-Noel Thorel. Stern called and the flop came . Stern now open shipped his last 70,000 or so, and Thorel called.
Zvi Stern:
Jean-Noel Thorel:
The on the turn gave Thorel a flush draw he didn't even need, and the completed the board. With just ace high really, Thorel took down the huge pot.
The seat of Jussi Nevanlinna was occupied by Brian Reinert, but not for long. From what transpired it was Christopher Kruk who won a massive flip to bust the 2015 Master Classics of Poker champion. Przemyslaw Piotrowski opened to 9,000 and Nevanlinna then three-bet to 23,000 before Kruk four-bet jammed for 316,000.
Nevanlinna snap-called for 20,000 less with pocket queens and Kruk's ace-king won the huge flip.
Then, Brian Reinert got his stack of around 75,000 in preflop with the and was flipping as well. Anthony Zinno looked him up with and scored the knock out on a board of to see Reinert leave his chair in disgust.
Thiago Nishijima opened to 13,000 and was shoved on by EPT11 Deauville champion Ognyan Dimov for 35,000. Action was folded back to Nishijima who made the call.
From first position, Christoph Vogelsang shoved his last 35,500 in. Action folded around to Bernardo Dias on the button and he shoved over the top for about 115,000.
In the small blind, Bart Lybaert folded his short stack, and action was on Fabrice Halleux in the big blind. He had just 7,000 behind and committed his 12,000 total as well, to make it a three-way showdown:
Christoph Vogelsang:
Fabrice Halleux:
Bernardo Dias:
The board came and both Vogelsang and Dias made their exit.
Pre-flop Rodrigo Perez limped the small blind and McDonald raised to 14,000. Perez called and then shoved on a flop of . Timex gave Perez the stare down treatment that he is so famous for before committing the chips for a call.
Perez:
McDonald:
McDonald had made a call with king-high, but the on the turn meant that the Canadian was open-ended, and the on the river eliminated his Argentinian opponent.
In the very last hand of the level, Liv Boeree shoved for what looked like 66,000 from under the gun and Charles La Boissonnire tank-called out of the big blind.
Boeree had and La Boissonnire flipped over , spiking an ace on the flop. The on the turn gave Boeree a set and her opponent the nut flush while the river blanked.
From early position, Pierre Neuville opened for 16,000. Action folded to Mike McDonald on the button and the Canadian high roller three-bet to 38,000. Both blinds folded, Neuville called.
The Belgian pensionado checked on and McDonald followed his preflop aggression up with an all in. Neuville had 131,000 left at this point, and called just about instantly.
Pierre Neuville:
Mike McDonald:
The on the turn was a safe card for Neuville, and so was the on the river. Double up for the November Niner, while McDonald slips down to just over quarter a million.
From the cutoff, Jiachen Gong made it 14,000 to go before Alex Goulder on the button made the call. In the big blind, Mike McDonald squeezed to 48,000 and Gong folded. Goulder asked how much it was, and called.
McDonald made a bet of 45,000 on and Goulder called. The hit the turn and McDonald paused for a bit, before moving all in for 162,000. Goulder called instantly.
Mike McDonald:
Alex Goulder:
Just minutes ago, McDonald had doubled up Neuville with ace-king, and unless he hit a queen here, he would part ways with the rest of his chips with the same hand.
The completed the board and Goulder and McDonald shook hands, before the latter made his exit.
![[user38873]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Baumann fired 7,600 and Magirius made the call.
on the turn had Baumann bet 12,500 and she was soon facing a raise to 37,000. Baumann called and tapped the table once the 
completed the board. 
.
. Stern now open shipped his last 70,000 or so, and Thorel called.
completed the board. With just ace high really, Thorel took down the huge pot.
and scored the knock out on a board of 
to see Reinert leave his chair in disgust.
and Dimov exited in 89th place
and both Vogelsang and Dias made their exit.
. Timex gave Perez the stare down treatment that he is so famous for before committing the chips for a call.
, spiking an ace on the 
flop. The 
and McDonald followed his preflop aggression up with an all in. Neuville had 131,000 left at this point, and called just about instantly.
on the turn was a safe card for Neuville, and so was the 
