Dmitry Yurasov has been sitting fairly quietly recently but when the player directly to his right, Nandor Solyom, opened for 500 Yurasov three-bet him to 1,250.
The other players got out of the way and it was back to Solyom who cut out raising chips and made a four-bet of 3,525. One last look back at his cards for Yurasov before they hit the muck.
Ondrej Vinklarek from the Czech Republic opened the action from early position for 525 and picked up one caller in Martins Adeniya from the U.K. who started the hand with around 8,500.
The flop was and a continuation bet of 1,100 from Vinklarek got a call. The turn card saw the Czeck check and after some thought Adeniya placed out a bet of 1,225. Vinklarek seemed unsure for a short while but soon let him have it.
Aurelien Guiglini raised to 450 from the cutoff and found calls from David Vamplew on the button and the player in the big blind. The flop fell down and there were two checks over to Vamplew. He took this opportunity to fire 700 into the middle. The big blind folded and Guiglini called to see a turn.
The dealer burned and produced the on fourth street. Guiglini checked for a second time and Vamplew knuckled the table in reply. The fell on the river and Guiglini bet 2,000. Vamplew called but immediately mucked his hand after Guiglini showed . With this hit, Vamplew's stack is down to around 12,500.
A player called the floor over to ask for a hypothetical ruling as a hand wasn’t in progress. He asked if he moved chips forward and placed them on the felt behind the line that circles the table would that be considered a call. The answer was an emphatic yes:
“The line doesn’t count.” On the same table Jonathan Little asked a similar question about the forward movement of cards that don’t cross the line and got the same answer with the clarification, “It’s all about the forward motion.”
On another table came another question for the floor where there was a hand being played out. With a fairly decent pot in the middle Fabrice Maltez had said, “Five.” and had thrown out a T5000 chip. So was the bet a mere 500 or would, as he claimed he intended, have a bet of 5,000 stand? The ruling was, as it always is, that the bet would be ruled a bet of 500.
On a flop of we saw Filipe Saraiva from Portugal bet out 1,550 from middle position. His neighbor Leonid Markin made the call, and so did the player on the button.
All three players checked the on the turn.
The completed the board and Saraiva, who's wearing a single glove for some reason, checked. Markin bet out 2,500 and the button folded. Saraiva made the call and beat out Markin's with .
Omar Dahmani had moved all in on the turn of a board reading for his last 8,000.
Anton Astapau had a decision to make and he was taking his time; too much time in the opinion of a player not in the hand who called the clock. With the time running out Astapau made the call and saw the of Dahmani while he turned over .
Astapau nodded and when the hit the river he handed over the chips to double up Dahmani.
On a flop of the big blind and Ian Simpson checked to Anton Wigg who was seated in the hijack position. The former EPT champ bet out 1,300 and his neighbor in the cutoff called, the big blind and Simpson folded.
Both players checked the on the turn and on the river. Wigg tabled for a rivered two pair. His opponent open mucked his and they were of to the next hand.
We ran into Arnaud Mattern in the hallway, not a good sign when a new level just started and no break is to start for over an hour. Mattern told us he had a brutal day and followed up that statement with a series of hands that eventually resulted in him being knocked out.
In one hand he called a middle position raise from the small blind with . Mattern explained that his neighbor in the big blind was a very novice player who literally didn't knew the hand rankings, and so Mattern did anything to get into a pot with him. The big blind folded unfortunately so Mattern was heads up. Mattern flopped gold on and check raised the 500 continuation bet to 1,500. His opponent called and called the 2,600 bet on the turn as well. The river was the and Mattern bet 4,600. His opponent called with and so beat Mattern's flush with a slightly higher flush.
Another hand saw Mattern cold call with tens from the small blind after a raise and three bet to 1,000. The initial raiser called as well and Mattern was the only one check calling another bet on with two hearts. Mattern check folded to a second barrel on the turn and his opponent claimed to also have tens.
A third hand that helped eliminate Mattern's stack was one where the Frenchman called three barrels with on a board of . His opponent had jacks and Mattern was left with just about 12,000 after that hand.
With that stack Mattern finally found a big hand. Mattern opened with queens on the button for 400. Frederik Jensen made the call in the big blind and check called a bet of 500 on . Jensen checked called another 1,200 on the turn after giving it some thoughts first. The river came the and Jensen checked a third time. Mattern bet 3,000 with just a small stack behind, and Jensen pushed all in. Mattern was convinced Jensen had something like , or at least a better hand than queens, and mucked.
With just 4,800 remaining, Mattern squeezed all in with after a 500 raise and call. "This was just one of these days where the guy had aces" said Mattern who couldn't out draw his opponent despite turning a gut shot.
"Maybe better luck in Malta" Mattern concluded. See you there Arnaud!
We arrived at the table in time to see Erich Tedeschi all in for what looked to be around 17,000 against PokerStars Team Online Pro Ronan Monfort. The flop read and the hands were revealed to show Monfort out in front.
Monfort:
Tedeschi:
Monfort flopped top set with his pocket aces and scored the elimination after the and the completed the board. A distraught Tedeschi made a quick exit from the tournament area while Monfort remained all smiles. He stacked the pot and now has about 58,500 in chips.