Day 5: The Race to the Final Table
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?