Portuguese PokerStars qualifier Rui Sousa opened for 700, got a call from Vishal Pundjabi, Sal Al Fakih in the small blind, and big blind Laurynas Levinskas. The four players saw a flop of and it was checked to the original raiser, Sousa, who continued for a near pot-sized 2,900. Only Al Fakih made the call and they saw a turn card of . Al Fakih once more checked and Sousa showed little fear in continuing for 4,225. Al Fakih flicked out two blue chips for a raise to 10,000, but Sousa barely hesitated before announcing all in for around 50,000 more.
This certainly gave Al Fakih pause for thought, and pause he did for several minutes as he ran some beads through his fingers and tried to figure out what to do. Eventually he showed the and mucked his hand.
When we arrived at Table 29 there were already some bets out there. We tried to reconstruct the hand and it appeared as if Mikolaj Zawadzki from Poland had opened the pot with a raise to 800 under-the-gun. Darren Elias behind him had three-bet to 1,800 and received calls from Alin Sameeian, Cengiz Ulusu (on the button) and Kjetil Hansen (in the big blind) before action was back on Zawadzki. The Polish player four-bet to 6,800 and Elias, Sameeian, Ulusu and Hansen all called to make the pot grow to a staggering 34,000 before a community card was even dealt.
The five-way, four-bet pot saw the flop come . Hansen in the big blind checked and Zawadzki bet out 8,200. Elias and Sameeian folded rather quickly, but Ulusu had something different in mind. He announced all in for what turned out to be 14,625. After Hansen folded, Zawadzki instantly called and announced he had the nuts.
Zawadzki:
Ulusu:
Set over set in a five-way, four-bet pot is not what you see every day. But what happened next made it even more special as the dealer burned a card and turned the… . "Yeah!" shouted Ulusu before awaiting a river which could still spoil his party. The hand didn't get any sicker though, and there was not another one outer in the cards. The on the river was a blank and Ulusu increased his stack dramatically.
Zawadzki didn't seem too phased about it, and he handed over the chips like he's done many times before.
Vit Blachut from the Czech Republic had called an opening raise to 700 from his position in the small blind and was subsequently the only caller when Marcin Wydrowski from Poland made it 1,650 to play from the big blind. They saw a flop of . Both players checked and again checked the turn . River , check from Balachut and after a pause a single T5,000 chip was flicked on to the felt by Wydrowski. Blachut gave it some deep thought and made an unhappy fold. The pot was pushed to Wydrowski who then initiated a lengthy conversation in a language unfamiliar to your reporter, but we almost certainly understood one phrase towards the end that sounded uncannily like “I don’t bluff.”
After Darren Elias opened for 800 from the cutoff, Germany's Alin Sameeian three-bet all in for 8,525 from the hijack. It was a big raise, but it didn't deter Jesse Yaginuma, who made the call from the cutoff. Action folded back to Elias, he folded, and the cards were turned up.
Yaginuma:
Sameeian:
According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Yaginuma was a 67.89% favorite while Sameeian would come from behind 31.67% of the time. The flop gave Sameeian a pair of queens, but his chances of survival still dropped to 13.43%. That's because Yaginuma flopped a set of jacks to become a monster 85.45% favorite. The turn dropped Sameeian to 9.09%, which meant he needed to catch a ten and a ten only on the river to star alive. Unfortunately for him, that didn't happen as the blanked.
Jeff Rossiter's unique choice of eyewear here in the EPT10 Prague has draw some curious looks, but the Australian has remained steadfast in keeping them on.
In a recent hand, action folded to Rossiter on the button and he raised to 6,000. The player in the small blind called, as did Simon Eriksson from the big, and three players took a flop of . Two checks put action on Rossiter and he promptly fired out 1,2000. The small blind called, Eriksson folded, and it was heads-up action to the turn. The small blind ended up check-calling a bet of 2,900 and then checked for a third time when the completed the board on the river.
Rossiter fired one last time by putting out 4,900, but it was in vain as the small blind called with the . Rossiter indicated that it was good and sent his hand to the muck.
Meanwhile, Connor Drinan has been eliminated from the tournament.
Belgian player Kenny Hallaert just busted the Main Event. "A tournament to quickly forget about" he said with a wry smile. He had flopped an open-ended straight draw but failed to improve against his opponent's top pair and top kicker. Hallaert was already down to his last 8,000 before the hand. He can now focus on other things than the Main Event.
One table down sits Prague serial casher and last year's third-place finisher, David Boyaciyan. He's had a stack of between 14,000 and 20,000 for some levels now and currently sits at 20,000. "A rather boring table" he commented as we only recognized Shannon Shorr besides Boyaciyan at the table.
In the same row of tables we wrote down chip counts for Busquet, Selbst and Wigg, who are all up since our last count.
Scott Margereson opened for 400 on the button and was called by the blinds Adrian Mateos Diaz and Mario Adinolfi. They saw a flop of . Diaz checked, Adinolfi bet 600 and when Margereson folded Diaz called. They both checked the turn and the river saw the fall. Diaz came to life and bet 1,500. Adinolfi didn’t seem to like it as it represented a fair portion of his chips, but he threw them in with a look of resignation and mucked when he saw Diaz’s .
Not surprisingly, all of Adinolfi’s chips were in the middle during the next hand. He was in the small blind and had bet 1,300 on a flop of . Robbie Bull made the call and they saw the turn. “All in,” Adinolfi announced and Bull threw in a chip to call, tabling for the flopped straight against the top two pair of Adinolfi, who’s tournament was at risk. He was half out of his chair, but salvation came on the river as the dealer put out the to deliver a full house to Adinolfi.
When we got to Table 39, JC Alvarado had just slipped forward a four-bet to 3,600 and it was up to Sebastian Saffari, a PokerStars qualifier from the United Kingdom. He made the call after some thinking and checked to Alvarado on the flop. Alvarado bet out 4,600 and Saffari made the call. The hit the turn and again Saffari checked. Alvarado took his time and eventually decided to bet 8,000. Saffari announced all in, and as soon as he saw that it was a little over 20,000 total, Alvarado made the call. Saffari showed up with top set; , which meant Alvarado needed to hit either a spade or a five with his . He failed to do so as the river brought the to the table.
Alvarado dropped down to 31,350, while Saffari continued the tournament with 57,150.
and it was checked to the original raiser, Sousa, who continued for a near pot-sized 2,900. Only Al Fakih made the call and they saw a turn card of 
. Al Fakih once more checked and Sousa showed little fear in continuing for 4,225. Al Fakih flicked out two blue chips for a raise to 10,000, but Sousa barely hesitated before announcing all in for around 50,000 more.
and mucked his hand.
. Hansen in the big blind checked and Zawadzki bet out 8,200. Elias and Sameeian folded rather quickly, but Ulusu had something different in mind. He announced all in for what turned out to be 14,625. After Hansen folded, Zawadzki instantly called and announced he had the nuts.
. "Yeah!" shouted Ulusu before awaiting a river which could still spoil his party. The hand didn't get any sicker though, and there was not another one outer in the cards. The 
on the river was a blank and Ulusu increased his stack dramatically.
. Both players checked and again checked the turn 
. River 
, check from Balachut and after a pause a single T5,000 chip was flicked on to the felt by Wydrowski. Blachut gave it some deep thought and made an unhappy fold. The pot was pushed to Wydrowski who then initiated a lengthy conversation in a language unfamiliar to your reporter, but we almost certainly understood one phrase towards the end that sounded uncannily like “I don’t bluff.”
flop gave Sameeian a pair of queens, but his chances of survival still dropped to 13.43%. That's because Yaginuma flopped a set of jacks to become a monster 85.45% favorite. The 
blanked.
. Two checks put action on Rossiter and he promptly fired out 1,2000. The small blind called, Eriksson folded, and it was heads-up action to the 
completed the board on the river.
turn and the river saw the 
. Robbie Bull made the call and they saw the 
top two pair of Adinolfi, who’s tournament was at risk. He was half out of his chair, but salvation came on the river as the dealer put out the 
hit the turn and again Saffari checked. Alvarado took his time and eventually decided to bet 8,000. Saffari announced all in, and as soon as he saw that it was a little over 20,000 total, Alvarado made the call. Saffari showed up with top set; 
. He failed to do so as the river brought the 
