Chip leader Sotirios Koutoupas opened under the gun plus one to 80,000 a min raise. Koutoupas had been involved in several pots since the start of the 9 handed situation and he got a call from another active player; Harry Law.
Law, seated under the gun plus two, wasn't the one ending up being the most involved though. After Law called it was Florian Ribouchon shoving all in from the cutoff for 620,000 (almost 16 big blinds). Koutoupas made the call and after Law folded we had what could be the last showdown of the day.
Ribouchon had in front of him and needed to look for improvement as Koutoupas tabled .
No help for the Frenchman on a board and he exited in 9th place. He takes home €50,530. With that the final eight players are done for the day, they will return tomorrow to play the final table.
We'll be back shortly with an end of day recap and the official chip counts.
We're now down to the unofficial final table as JP Kelly has been eliminated in 10th place.
The action was folded to Eli Heath on the button, he raised to 45,000, Eugene Katchalov called from the small blind and JP Kelly then three-bet 190,000 from a stack of 1,046,000. Back on Heath he four-bet to 340,000, Katchalov folded but Kelly moved all-in for 1,046,000 and Heath said, "yeah I call."
Heath:
Kelly:
"What a brave four-bet call with eights" said Nicholas Levi in the commentary booth, "he's got to be happy to see ace-king," added Joe Stapleton. Heath was even happier after the board kept his pair of eights in front.
With Kelly's exit we're down to nine players and there will now be a short break whilst the final nine move to the feature table and the tournament staff do the final redraw of the tournament.
Following the early elimination of Bahram Chobineh in 16th, Day 5 has seen a rash of knockouts follow to trim the field quickly to 10 players. Meanwhile Sotirios Koutoupas has increased his lead as he tries to become the first Greek EPT champ, and Eugene Katchalov is still battling in his effort to win that elusive Triple Crown. Get up to speed on the PokerStars blog.
Another elimination from the outer table means just 10 players remain.
It folded to Alex Goulder in the small blind, he made it 75,000 to play, Oliver Price slid out a tower of T25K chips to signify he was all-in, Goulder shrugged his shoulders and called all-in for roughly 970,000.
Price:
Goulder:
"Ace-queen against eights," said Goulder to a friend who was railing him. "The board favoured the overcards in this particular race. Pot to Price, whilst Goulder was whisked off to the payouts table.
Down to around 600,000, Alexandre Amiel simply open-shoved from middle position with , it folded to Carlo De Benedittis and he called all-in with .
The board ran the stacks were very close, but after being cut down it was established that De Benedittis just had Amiel covered. The television producer was still smiling though as he exited the table.
Sotirios Koutoupas opened the button with a min raise to 60,000. The small blind quickly folded his hand and both two actions to follow were quick as well. Holdeew pushed his chips forward from the big blind, Koutoupas instantly called.
Holdeew had and was up against Koutoupas his .
The had no direct help in it for Holdeew. The on the turn brought some new outs for Holdeew but the on the river was a blank.
After winning the Eureka Poker Tour in Prague and a deep run in the EPT Main Event over there, another good showing for Dimitri Holdeew who takes home €34,350 for his 13th Place finish.
A huge pot just played out at the feature table between Tatu Maenpaa and Eugene Katchalov.
Pre-flop Maenpaa raised to 50,000 from under-the-gun, Katchalov three-bet to 125,000 from the hijack, Maenpaa responded with a four-bet to 235,000, Katchalov moved all-in for an effective 989,000 and Maenpaa called all-in.
Katchalov:
Maenpaa:
The Team PokerStars Pro was a 70% favourite to eliminate Maenpaa and on the flop that percentage increased to 83% although the remaining queen and the three aces gave Maenpaa four outs twice. The turn was a blank and made Katchalov a 91% favourite. The river was not one of Maenpaa's outs and he shook the hands of the table before exiting.
From under-the-gun Jean-Yves Malherbe moved all-in for 363,000, Alex Goulder requested a count, but passed, Sotirios Koutoupas moved all-in from the button and the blinds left them to it.
Koutoupas:
Malherbe:
It was looking grim for the Belgian and it didn't get any better on the board. With that coup Koutoupas increases his chip lead.
From the hijack position the likable Bahram Chobineh wanted to shove all in. That didn't go as planned as some chips fell of in the proces and it was declared a raise to 60,000. Chun Ho Law made the call from the big blind and check called the all in for 216,000 more on .
Law had outflopped the Iranian player with up against . The on the turn was no good for Chobineh and neither was the on the river.
The 16 players who've navigated their way through a field of 671 to make Day 5 of the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville have already outlasted over 96% of the field. But for 50% of them Day 5 will be as far as they go, for today 16 become eight. Amongst those 16 we have chip leader Sotirios Koutoupas (2.695.000), the Greek player will be hoping to go one better than his runner-up finish at EPT9 Prague. Then there's Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov, he enters the day 10th in chips with a below average 1,002,000 but with above average talent most would expect him to make the final table.
Above Katchalov, but below Koutoupas, you'll find five Brits, two Frenchman and a Finn. Chun Ho Law (2,579,000) leads the British charge, but is ably backed up by two-time bracelet winner JP Kelly (1,801,000) Alex Goulder (1,365,000), Oliver Price (1,275,000) and Eli Heath (1,191,000). Finnish player Tatu Maenpaa won the biggest pot of the tournament so far and will start the day with 1,921,000, whilst France's best chance of a home win lies with Florian Ribouchon (1,719,000) and Alexandre Amiel (1,174,000).
Everyone left in has already locked up €27,680, for a reminder of the entire payout structure click here. This is how the 16 remaining players will start the day, the average stack is 52.5 big blinds.
Table
Seat
Name
Country
Chips
1
1
Tatu Maenpaa
Finland
1.921.000
1
2
Eli Heath
UK
1.191.000
1
3
Eugene Katchalov
Ukraine
1.002.000
1
4
Bahram Chobineh
Iran
327.000
1
5
Anthony Lerust
France
839.000
1
6
JP Kelly
UK
1.807.000
1
7
Rustem Muratov
Russia
548.000
1
8
Chun Ho Law
UK
2.679.000
2
1
Alexandre Amiel
France
1.174.000
2
2
Sotirios Koutoupas
Greece
2.695.000
2
3
Carlo De Benedittis
Italy
417.000
2
4
Dimitri Holdeew
Germany
637.000
2
5
Jean-Yves Malherbe
Belgium
476.000
2
6
Florian Ribouchon
France
1.719.000
2
7
Alex Goulder
UK
1.365.000
2
8
Oliver Price
UK
1.275.000
And what a day it could be, some of the key storylines we'll be keeping an eye on include:
Can Eugene Katchalov keep his Triple Crown bid alive?
Will the curse of the chip leader strike again? On Day 2 and Day 4 the start of day chip leader failed to make it through the opening two levels of the day.
Can Dimitri Holdeew, the Eureka Prague champion and EPT Prague 15th place finisher keep his amazing live run going and make the final table?
Can Bahram Chobineh, who lost a bet to be here, turn that loss into even more gain and make the final table? He may be short on chips but he's big on heart.
Will the penultimate day last longer than Prague where it took just two hours to go from 16 to 8? Surely it can't be quicker?
in front of him and needed to look for improvement as Koutoupas tabled 
.
board and he exited in 9th place. He takes home €50,530. With that the final eight players are done for the day, they will return tomorrow to play the final table.
board kept his pair of eights in front.
![[user38338]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
board favoured the overcards in this particular race. Pot to Price, whilst Goulder was whisked off to the payouts table.
, it folded to Carlo De Benedittis and he called all-in with 
.
and was up against Koutoupas his 
had no direct help in it for Holdeew. The 
on the turn brought some new outs for Holdeew but the 
flop that percentage increased to 83% although the remaining queen and the three aces gave Maenpaa four outs twice. The 
up against 
. The 
on the turn was no good for Chobineh and neither was the 
