Initially, there were five levels scheduled for today or the tournament would play down until 16 players. With only 17 players left after less than 2,5 levels, the tournament directors have changed the schedule.
Play will continue until the completion of level 21, which means one more level after the current level. That means we'll play four levels today, no matter what number of players remain.
The reason behind all this is as follows: due to today's speed of bustouts, it might take a lot longer on the final day. To prevent the final table from taking ages on Saturday, play will resume today, even if it means less than 16 players will come back tomorrow.
After the next bustout, there will be a redraw for the final two tables.
Dominik Panka limped in for 16,000 in the small blind. Ole Schemion raised to 50,000 in the big blind. Panka shoved all in and Schemion immediately released his hand.
Down to just ten big blinds, Guillaume Diaz shoved 157,000 total from under the gun. Frederik Jensen called from the cutoff, which brought the action to Bastian Dohler on the button.
The German, who won his package for EPT Malta with a €10 Spin & Go on PokerStars, went all in over the top for 492,000. Jensen immediately called to put both players at risk.
Guillaume Diaz:
Frederik Jensen:
Bastian Dohler:
Jensen was in prime position to score the double knockout, but the flop flipped the tables on the former EPT champion. Dohler flopped a set of tens to take a commanding lead in the hand.
The on the turn made things interesting, giving Jensen a flush draw to go with the case king. Diaz needed to hit a non-diamond queen to save his tournament.
The river sealed it for Dohler, who raked in a pot of over a million chips. Diaz was forced to the rail, while Jensen had to ship almost half his stack to his German neighbor.
From the cutoff, Armin Mette raised to 33,000 and Benjamin Pollak defended his big blind.
The flop provided a lot of action. Pollak checked, only to check-raise when Mette fired out a bet of 38,000. Pollak made it 102,000 and Mette rechecked his cards twice before moving all in for around 200,000. Pollak immediately called.
Armin Mette:
Benjamin Pollak:
Mette had flopped top pair, but was way behind against Pollak's flopped straight. The Swiss started packing his bag while the dealer was ready to lay down the turn.
It was the and it was all over for Mette. The on the river didn't matter anymore.
"Nice hand", said Mette while he zipped his bag, and went on his way to the payout desk.
Tomas Macnamara raised to 35,000 from middle position and Dmitry Yurasov defended his big blind. On the flop, Yurasov check-called a 40,000 from Macnamara. Both players checked the on the turn.
On the river, Yurasov checked, prompting Macnamara to bet 97,000. Yurasov spent nearly three minutes in the tank, before coming up with a check-raise to 310,000.
Macnamara saw no option but to fold, leaving the pot to the dangerous Russian.