Joining the action on the turn, Gilles Bernies checked the small blind and Adrian Mateos bet 4,600. Bernies asked his opponent how much he started with and then check-raised to 11,500. Mateos called and the appeared on the river. Bernies led for 18,500 and Mateos tanked for a minute before making the call.
Bernies flipped over for the nut flush and the Spaniard mucked. Other notables on the table include Paul-Francois Tedeschi and Georgios Zisimopoulos as well as Jeremy Nock.
While the chip tower of Artem Litvinov cannot necessarily be counted to the exact amount, it definitely contains more chips than fellow big stack Kamran Aliyev on the same table. The Azerbaijani just opened to 1,400 and Litvinov flat-called on the cutoff.
On the flop , Aliyev continued for 2,300 and was called before giving up the pot when the turn saw him check-fold to a bet of 5,775 by Litvinov.
There might be a late contender for day 1a chipleader after this hand at Ian Hunter's table.
Joel Micka opened to 1,500 and Ian Hunter called. Matthew Davenport raised to 5,300 from the button and Espen Solaas jammed from the small. It folded round to Micka, who let his hand go, before Hunter rejammed. Davenport went into the tank before finally calling and each player's hand was turned over.
Hunter:
Davenport:
Solaas:
Hunter was in great shape to eliminate two players and the board came to ensure he did so and add a sizeable portion of chips to his stack
It was a bad start into the last level of the night with Andrew Hulme, Davidi Kitai, Rasmus Agerskov and Mike Watson all bowing out. This included two former Main Event champions with Watson having taken down the PCA trophy in January.
On the four-way turn , Fabrice Soulier bet 2,700 into three opponents and Chan Pelton as well as Thomas Finneran called. Pelton pretended to be drunk and asked the dealer twice how much it was to call. "You gotta help me out there," the American said. Then, the fell on the river and both his opponents checked.
"What you have, king seven?" Pelton asked and the dealer reminded him that he cannot talk about the specific hand. Pelton apologized, again seemingly drunk while taking a sip from his beer, then moved all in for 5,600. Finneran called and Soulier folded, Pelton flipped over for the straight and Finneran only had .
Sven Magirius joked to his opponent "now your cover is blown", because Pelton was just pretending to be drunk and got the desired outcome - a double up.
On a river of Anthony Zinno had raised Tuna's bet of 9,500 into a pot of 20,000 to 21,000 and Tuna was pondering the call. The former back-to-back WPT title winner Zinno had taken his earbuds out especially to eye Tuna as he pondered his call.
Eventually Tuna threw out the chips and Zinno tabled . A bemused expression filled Tuna's face, but he eventually mucked, meaning Zinno scoops a big pot late on day 1a
Among the recent eliminations were Balazs Botond and Akin Tuna with the latter sending his short stack over to Nicholas Palma. The big stack on Palma's table is Anthony Zinno while EPT10 London champion Sebastian Pauli lost a small pot to Jeff Rossiter on a table that also includes Kyle Frey and Charlie Carrel.
On the flop, Pauli check-called a bet of 3,600 by Rossiter whereas Carrel folded. The turn and river were checked through and Rossiter's won the pot.
On a flop of , Daniel Shapiro moved all-in for his last 25,000. Artem Litvinov, in the small blind, leant forward and asked Mike McDonald how much he had left. The answer was 46,000 and Litvinov moved all-in. McDonald called.
Shapiro:
Litvinov:
McDonald:
The turn was the and river the . Shapiro busted just short of bagging up for the day. Meanwhile Litvinov slipped to 130,000 and McDonald moved to around 150,000
In one of the last hands of the day, Jeremy Nock faced the all in of Adrian Mateos on the turn and told his opponent "I don't believe you" before calling it off with the . It was followed by an "oh damn" when Mateos flipped over his and the river blanked.
The same table also includes Gilles Bernies and the young German will most likely be the chip leader with around 190,000 chips. He won a bigger pot with flopped bottom two pair on against Paul-Francois Tedeschi and got value on three streets to soar up in the counts.