Today is the day the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Vienna Main Event will play down till its final eight players. Still seventeen players remain on this penultimate day so nine players will leave the tournament today with a disappointed attitude.
The tournament is set to start at noon local time. German player Timo Pfutzenreuter is the chip leader with 3,837,000 in chips, closely followed by Spanish player Pablo Gordillo who has 3,582,000 in chips. Oleksii Khoroshenin, who has 437,000 in chips, is the short stack, but even that stack converts to almost 15 big blinds.
With seventeen players remaining late last night there was a redraw. When one player is eliminated today the tournament will get down to two tables of eight and another redraw will be done.
Starting blinds will be 15,000/30,000 as the tournament played exactly five levels yesterday. There's no set amount of levels to be played today, they'll play as long as it takes to get down to eight players. During the last EPT event in Deauville the fifth day of play took a little under six hours to complete. The PCA this year took just under two hours. The more hours it takes today to get down to eight, the shorter the final table will be, and vice versa.
PokerNews will bring you updates from start to finish, no matter how the day will be. We'll bring you photos from all the players, videos to recap the day and you'll of course will once again find the live stream right here! See you in about 90 minutes!
Patrick Fasching opened the button for 56,000 and the small blind quickly folded. [Removed:40] in the big blind moved all in, effectively putting Fasching to the decision for his tournament life. Fasching made the call and again a big showdown, this time at the feature table.
[Removed:40]:
Patrick Fasching:
The flop would come as good for Faschling as it could: . Faschling was now the clear favorite to double up as he flopped top pair and a flush draw. The royal he wouldn't make though, his Italian opponent had the missing .
The on the turn was a blank but the on the river wasn't.
"I knew it!" said Vitagliano who now has 2.2 million in chips, "I knew it!"
With the elimination of Patrick Fasching all remaining 15 players are guaranteed €40,550.
Gavin O'Rourke raised to 65,000 from the hijack and Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden responded with a three-bet to 157,000 from the button. Marko Neummann tanked for quite a while from the big blind, but ultimately he folded and O'Rourke moved all in.
Lodden called for his tournament life worth 1,035,000 and the showdown went as following.
Lodden:
O'Rourke:
The flop brought and O'Rourke hit a set to crush Lodden's flopped pair of aces.
The turn brought the securing a win for O'Rourke and on the river,the , it was Lodden who exited the feature table stage.
We are now down to 14 players, as one of the best and most accomplished has left the EPT Vienna Main Event.
Roman Korenev raised to 60,000 from the hijack and Sebastian Panny proceeded to move all in from the button for 556,000. Frei Dilling moved all in over the top from the small blind and Korenev folded his face up.
Dilling:
Panny:
The board ran out and Panny was knocked out in 14th place. Just 13 players remain and Dilling is now among the big stacks as well.
Dan Murariu opened the cut off to 60,000 and got a three bet from next door neighbor Frei Dilling on the button who made it 145,000. Both blinds folded but Murariu put in a four bet to 345,000. Dilling made the call and they saw a flop in an already huge pot.
Murariu made a 265,000 continuation bet and Dilling called again.
The on the turn really got things going. Murariu, with about 750,000 behind, thought for a minute or two and then announced all in. Dilling didn't need much time, though he didn't look like the happiest person in the world, and called.
Dilling would be pretty happy a second later though as he saw Murariu turned over . Murariu had just two outs as Dilling was the proud owner of .
Murariu wouldn't hit; on the river. This cooler situation eliminated Murariu in 13th place, good for just little under €45,000.
Gavin O'Rourke raised to 85,000 from the cutoff and Oleksii Khoroshenin three-bet from the button to 225,000. Timo Pfutzenreuter went into the tank for a long time before making it 405,000 from the small blind.
Both Marko Neumann, from the big blind, and the initial raiser folded putting the action back on Khoroshenin. The Ukrainian pro tanked for over six minutes, with about 1.1 million left behind, and he finally opted to move all in for 1,140,000 and his opponent snap-called.
Khoroshenin:
Pfutzenreuter:
The board ran out and Khoroshenin raked in a big double up. Pfutzenreuter has now lost his chip lead and the short-handed pre final table action gets that much more interesting all of a sudden.
Andras Kovacs open shoved the button for the remaining 600,000 he had. Simeon Naydenov in the small blind asked for a count, and then announced all in himself. Roman Korenev quickly folded his big blind and the cards were tabled.
Andras Kovacs:
Simeon Naydenov:
Naydenov was the favorite but not by much, Kovacs cards were live.
The in the window hurt for Kovacs though, and the and didn't help either. The on the turn and on the river were blanks and Kovacs was needed to be heading for the exit.
Andras Kovacs returns home with a cheque for €50,250.
Anthony Ghamrawi raised under the gun and Gavin O'Rourke three-bet from his immediate left to 190,000. The action folded back to Ghamrawi and he four-bet to 465,000. O'Rourke tanked for a bit and made it 775,000 after which Ghamrawi moved all in.
O'Rourke called and the biggest all-in confrontation of the tournament was upon us.
Ghamrawi:
O'Rourke:
The board ran out and Ghamrawi notched up a massive double up. O'Rourke is now among the short stacks.
In back to back hands Roman Korenev just lost his entire stack, twice with the same hand and twice against the same player.
By shoving, reshoving, stealing and three betting Korenev hard worked his stack up to 2.1 million. It would do him no good though, before he knew it all of his chips were in front of Rumen Nanev.
In the first hand it was Frei Dilling who opened to 80,000 under the gun. Right next to him was Rumen Nanev and he declared all in for 845,000. Action folded to Korenev in the small blind who pushed all in himself. The big blind folded, and so did Dilling.
Rumen Nanev:
Roman Korenev:
The flop didn't improve anyone directly with . The gave Nanev a gutshot next to the three outs he already had. The river was the and Nanev doubled through Korenev.
The next hand would be a similar scenario. The two ended up all in pre flop again, this time it was a coin flip:
Rumen Nanev:
Roman Korenev:
No improvement for Korenev, while he did need it this time. on the board and Korenev left for the exit.
The remaining nine players are now reseated to the feature table where they'll play till a final table of eight. One more player has to bust, then this day will be in the books.
And just like that we have our ninth place finisher and the final table is set.
Frei Dilling opened the button to 80,000 and from the small blind it was Gavin O'Rourke who pushed his remaining 655,000 to the middle. The big blind folded but Dilling instantly called.
Gavin O'Rourke:
Frei Dilling:
O'Rourke needed some help but didn't get it on the flop: . O'Rourke was in need of runner runner something, or simply a queen or jack.
The turn was the which brought just one more out for O'Rourke. The would now make for quads on the board which would make O'Rourke's queen play.
It wasn't meant to be though as the hit and O'Rourke's hand didn't improve. The Irishman bubbles the final table but gets €60,800 for his effort.
The remaining eight players come back tomorrow at noon to battle it out for that first place prize of €816,000.
. Faschling was now the clear favorite to double up as he flopped top pair and a flush draw. The royal he wouldn't make though, his Italian opponent had the missing 
on the turn was a blank but the 
on the river wasn't.
![[Removed:40]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and O'Rourke hit a set to crush Lodden's flopped pair of aces.
securing a win for O'Rourke and on the river,the 
, it was Lodden who exited the feature table stage.
and Panny was knocked out in 14th place. Just 13 players remain and Dilling is now among the big stacks as well.
on the river. This cooler situation eliminated Murariu in 13th place, good for just little under €45,000.
and Khoroshenin raked in a big double up. Pfutzenreuter has now lost his chip lead and the short-handed pre final table action gets that much more interesting all of a sudden.
in the window hurt for Kovacs though, and the 
and 
didn't help either. The 
and Ghamrawi notched up a massive double up. O'Rourke is now among the short stacks.
on the board and Korenev left for the exit.
