Westmorland Keeps the Lead at EPT Sanremo Main Event Final Eight
Jordan Westmorland leads going into the final day of the PokerStars.it EPT Season 10 Sanremo as eight players remain.
Westmorland from the United States started the day with a significant chip lead and never looked like relinquishing his advantage, ending up with 3,300,000 chips. By the close of play however the Italian Giacomo Fundaro would be hot on his heels with 3,100,000, courtesy of knocking out three players.
Vicky Coren-Mitchell is still in contention as the only surviving Team PokerStars Pro and is vying to become the first time two times EPT Champion, having been victorious way back in season 3 at EPT London. She'll return as the short stack of the table with 910,000 chips though.
Play resumed today with 16 players looking to make the final table and the first to fall was short stack Vincenzo Scarcella from Italy. Westmorland opened with 
and then called Scarcella who shoved with 
. The final board of 
saw the Italian head for the exit with €22,575 in his pocket.
Before the next exit, Finn Jorma Nuutinen was crippled when his kings were out flopped by Bruno Stefanelli’s set of jacks, and Nuutinen spent most of the day grinding the short stack.
Not long after that there was a three-way all-in involving Jeffrey Hakim, Giacomo Fundaro and the other Team PokerStars Pro in the field, Alex Kravchenko. Hakim open-shoved, was called by Fundaro and when Kravchenko then moved all in over the top, Fundaro made the call once more. Hakim had 
, Fundaro 
and Kravchenko tabled 
. The board ran out 
and one of the two remaining aces in the deck appeared to eliminate two players in one fell swoop. It also gave Fundaro a crucial big pot that would see him remain in contention throughout the day. Hakim finished 15th and Kravchenko 14th, both for €25,550.
It was the UK’s Stephen Chidwick who exited in 13th place, on the money jump, taking home €29,275. Chidwick open shoved from the button with 
but big blind Giacomo Fundaro wasted no time in calling with 
. The cards fell 
and Fundaro claimed his third scalp in short order.
Next to go was Ariel Celestino in 12th. Andrea Benelli opened for 60,000 and the Brazilian wonder kid moved over the top all in for 489,000. Benelli made the call to put at him at risk. Celestino’s 
was poised to double him up against the Benelli's 
, but the 
board duly delivered the ace to send Celestino out of the tournament.
On to level 26 and Lukas Berglund quickly suffered a bad beat at the hands of Emmanuel Pariset. Not long after that he would be eliminated in 11th place when he shoved from the cutoff and Coren-Mitchell reshoved from the small blind. Berglund tabled versus the 
of Coren-Mitchell. Fortunes changed as the cards ran out 
but in the end Berglund hit the rail short of glory but €34,480 better off.
Raul Mestre had just given Andrija Martic a big double up and that meant when his under the gun shove with 
was called by small blind Andreas Goeller with 
and the cards came 
, he was the player to go in 10th. He too walked away with €34,480.
There was a seat redraw for the unofficial final table of nine, meaning one player would be the final day bubble before play closed, and it didn’t take very long to happen.
The first hand of the final nine saw Westmorland open for 80,000 and Emmanuel Pariset, who had just been shoving all day pre flop, shoved all in for 890,000. Nuutinen was in the small blind and thought about it for a while. He hadn’t been on Pariset’s table until now and eventually made the call with . Westmorland got out of the way. Paristet slammed down his adding a fist pump for good measure. It was pretty much a done deal on the flop as the final board showed with Nuutinen’s one remaining jack failing to appear on the river to leave him on fumes.
Shortly after that Nuutinen put the last of his change in with and Coren-Mitchell in the big blind was priced in to make the call with her 
. The board in the end showed 
with the river delivering the fatal blow to Nuutinen and bringing play to a close for the day. Nuutinen took home €41,930 for his trouble.
Tomorrow's winner is set to receive the €476,100 first prize, as well as the EPT champion's trophy and a stunning watch made by luxury Swiss brand SLYDE, the Official Watch Sponsor for EPT Season 10 Main Events.
With four Italians left on the final table will it bring a victory on home soil for one of them? Can Westmorland keep his chip lead to take a victory for the USA? Or can Coren-Mitchell end the hoodoo and finally deliver a two time EPT Champion?
The players are back at noon local time tomorrow but coverage will be on a one hour delay as the final table will be streamed with hole cards. Join the PokerNews live reporting team for all the action as the EPT Sanremo main event draws to a close.