On the river of a board, Mat Frankland had checked and Martin Staszko bet 4,200. Frankland then came in for a check-raise to 13,700 and Staszko looked confused, eventually mucking his hand.
Ludovic Riehl was all-in preflop with two other players still in the action: Arkadiusz Peitsch from Germany and Karim Yenbou from France. The dealer sorted out the side pot and dealt a flop of . Peitsch checked and called a bet of 6,000 from Yenbou. They both checked the turn and when the fell on the river Peitsh moved all in. Yenbou just covered Petish, but it was effectively a call for his tournament life. He agonised and made the call. Peitsh immediadely flashed the bad news nut flush. Yenbou was forced to turn over his . Riehl sheepishly showed the and exited the tournament room as Peitsh gathered in his mound of chips.
Yenbou moved his last 2,000 all-in on the next hand with and was called in the big blind by Manuel Bevand holding . It looked good on the flop of but the turn brought the and a river sent him packing too.
Bart Lybaert opened the cutoff for 900 with suited and got calls from both the button and big blind. Lybaert thought he flopped well on with a flush draw but would soon be in a world of pain.
Lybaert made a 1,900 continuation bet after the big blind checked. The player on the button folded but the big blind pushed all in for 9,000. Lybaert made the call with his top pair and top kicker but was up against pocket nines. Blanks on the turn and river severely crippled Lybaert who moved to a new table with just 3,500 in chips.
If PokerStars' plethora of regional tours are meant to be breeding grounds for players to step up to the EPT then step forward exhibit No. 723, also known as Daniel Stacey.
The Brit, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, is a 23-year-old professional poker player who finished fourth in the Sunday Million back in September. In October of 2013 he qualified to UKIPT London for $100 and turned that into £8,480 when he finished 11th. He knocked out Barry Greenstein but didn't get a copy of his book, however he did see him in Burger King the night after and shook his hand!
His performance at UKIPT London earned him a free seat to UKIPT Isle of Man and he did even better there, finishing sixth and earning a £21,250 pay day in November 2013.
He's playing today in Deauville having qualified online and he has dropped a bit from his starting stack to just 21,500. When he's not traveling the circuit he plays Omaha Zoom and tournaments.
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This is the fourth or fifth time that Jon Spinks has played EPT Deauville. However, this is the first year he has made it passed level four. That doesn't necessarily mean he's doing well though as he is struggling with around 8,000.
"It's pretty excruciating to be continually grinding 13 big blinds," he admitted, "at this point I'm not even sure what I want recover..."
So what would be the most likely scenario?
"I'll probably finish the day with my starting stack and burst first thing tomorrow..."
Victoria Coren, PokerStars player, journalist and broadcaster is playing today on table 12. She is down a little bit from her starting stack but still in the action. As we joined her table a big hand broke out between Martin Staszko from Czeh Republic and Sunny Chattha from the UK. Staszko raised to 900 from early position and was called on the button by Chattha. They saw a flop of and Chatta called a continuation bet of 1,000 from Staszko. The turn card was the which saw a bet of 2,300 from Staszko met by a raise to 5,300 from Chattha. Staszko contemplated the board and moved all in. This got a disbelieving look from Chatta, but in the end, a fold.
Matt Frankland has recently joined the table and had a brief chat with Chatta. After winning a pot preflop uncontested Frankland proclaimed that he wanted a stack high enough to use as a chin rest before the next level.
It was Coren’s turn to play a pot now. On the button she looked at her cards and gave a playful smile. Bodo Sbrzesny, a PokerStars player from Germany either didn’t notice or didn’t care as he opened for 800 in the cut off. Coren raised him to 1,700 and after the blinds folded he made the call. They both checked the flop of . The turn card came and Sbrzesny checked. A 2,000 bet from Coren and he folded.