In the last hand before dinner, Brian Altman raised to 1,200. Ghassan Bitar three-bet to 4,300 on the button and Aliaksei Boika called in the small blind. Altman took his time before four-betting to 15,000 and Bitar checked his stack carefully before moving all in. Boika snap-folded, as did Altman.
"If you fold, I would have moved all in," Boika said to Bitar as they headed out of the tournament area.
Konstantinos Nanos started very well and quickly drove his stack all the way up to 65,000, but since then a lot has changed and he was on less than starting stack. Nanos got involved into a raising war with table neighbor James Akenhead and faced a three-bet to 3,700. Nanos four-bet to 7,650 and Akenhead shoved, Nanos called all in for 18,650.
Nanos:
Akenhead:
The board ran out and that was it for Nanos, while Akenhead recovered from previous losses.
Dan Shak opened quite big to 2,000 from the button and Luke Marsh three-bet to 4,800 out of the big blind. On the flop , Marsh bet 3,600 and Shak raised to 15,000 only for Marsh to quickly move all in. Shak called to put his last 41,900 in total on the line and the cards were tabled.
Shak:
Marsh:
The was a blank, but gave Shak an additional gutshot on top. It was then the on the river that improved him and Marsh lost two third of his stack.
Another round in the tournament area revealed an even bigger stack for Pasi Sormunen. When asked, the Finn smiled and said "I just lost a pot, I am tilting." A look at his chips shows a stack of almost four times the current average, more than enough for a comfortable lead.
First, Christophe Larquemin doubled up Ben Heath. The Brit was all in for 11,900 and the board ran out . Heath tabled for two pair. Larquemin had and was left with only 2,500 chips.
Two hands later, he moved all in from the button for 2,100. From the big blind Karzan Hamarash made the call and Larquemin was in big trouble.
His was way behind the of his opponent. The at least gave him some outs. The turn wasn't the help he wanted but the fell on the river and gave him the lucky double up.
A couple of hands later, Ben Heath raised to 1,300 and Larquemin maid the call with 3,600 behind. Hamarash called as did Thomas Mjeldheim and Pratyush Buddiga.
All checked the flop. The turn was the and Heath slid out a bet of 850. Larquemin moved all in and Hamarash called. Mjeldheim and Buddiga folded but Heath made the call as well.
The two active players checked the that fell on the river. Larquemin stood up and had his cigarettes in his hand but had to sit down after he tabled his .
To his own surprise, he won the hand against Heath's and Hamarash's .
According to Dan Shak, Roman Ermakov had accidently posted the big blind while being under the gun and Nick Petrangelo was in the big blind. Petrangelo checked, Ermakov raised and Petrangelo called to see the flop come . Petrangelo shoved for his last 5,750 with the and Ermakov called with .
The turn gave some chops odds, but the on the river improved Ermakov and sent Petrangelo out of the tournament.
Luca Pagano was spotted leaving the tournament area and a quick glance at the previous table revealed a big stack for Oleksii Khoroshenin. It was indeed the Ukrainian that had knocked out Pagano, and Khoroshenin explained what happened.
After an under-the-gun raise, Pagano three-bet to 2,500 and Khoroshenin called from one seat over on the button, the initial raiser also called. On the flop, Pagano bet 4,500 and Khoroshenin moved all in, the third player in the hand folded. Pagano called with the for top pair and Khoroshenin had a huge draw with . It was no spade but a king on the river that sent Pagano out.
On the three-way flop of , Aliaksei Boika checked in the small blind and Yigit Aktulga in the big blind checked. Ghassan Bitar bet 3,800 on the button and just Boika called. After the turn both players checked and the fell on the river.
Boika bet 4,000 and Bitar called after brief consideration, then mucked when Boika flashed the for two pair.
In a previous hand, Marko Popovic had forced a fold from Viatcheslav Buldygin in a pretty big pot and he put the chips to use just now. Popovic raised to 1,200 and Paul Newey called in the small blind. Andrew Christoforou three-bet to 3,500 in the big blind and just Popovic called.
On the flop, Christoforou bet 3,000 and was called before the turn brought no action. On the river, Christoforou checked. Popovic bet 11,000 and Christoforou wasn't as happy, he asked the dealer to spread the pot to see how much was in there, and then called after some further consideration. Popovic showed the for trips aces and won the pot.