Maria Lampropulos opened to 20,000 from the button and Paulina Loeliger in the small blind peeled her cards horizontally one at a time in trademark fashion.
Loeliger then three-bet jammed a stack of around 200,000. Giuliano Bendinelli then re-shoved a bigger stack from the big blind and Lampropulos folded.
Paulina Loeliger:
Giuliano Bendinelli:
Bendinelli took a massive lead as the flop came to give him a set and Loeliger couldn't improve on the runout of to mark the elimination of "Poker Bunny."
"You have something good?" Bendinelli asked Lampropulos after the hand.
Chino Rheem was just moved to a new table with Michael Wang, Jack Salter, and Ben Diebold.
"This is one tough table," Rheem said upon taking his seat.
"Me? I don't know how to play this game," Diebold joked as Rheem got involved in one of his first hands dealt from the big blind, calling a raise to 23,000 from Remigiusz Wyrzykiewicz.
Both players checked the flop before Rheem led out for 35,000 on the turn. Wyrzykiewicz called, then called another bet of 80,000 on the river.
"Tens are good. Jacks are good. Whatever you have," Rheem said as he showed . Wyrzykiewicz turned over to take the pot.
"I just set myself up to give it away to my friend, whatever your name is. How are you supposed to pronounce that," Rheem said as he took a look at Wyrzykiewicz's player ID. "That's the longest name I've ever seen. I'm just going to call you Remi."
The next hand at this table, Igor Pihela got his last 117,000 in the middle against Salter with against .
Salter paired his ace on the flop and Pihela stood up and prepared to make his exit, but the on the turn improved him to a straight and he secured the double up on the river.
Emmanuel Lopez opened from the cutoff and a player flat-called before Gaelle Baumann three-bet to 90,000 from the big blind. Lopez then four-bet jammed to get the hand heads-up and Baumann called with her stack of 527,000.
Gaelle Baumann:
Emmanuel Lopez:
Baumann had Lopez by a few pips and nothing changed as the board ran out to earn the French pro a double.
The very next hand, Gonzalo Pro opened to 20,000 in middle position and Lopez flat-called as the player next to act. Artur Martirosian then three-bet jammed a stack of 234,000 from the button and Pro re-shoved behind him as the table chip leader. Lopez snapped with a smaller stack.
Artur Martirosian:
Emmanuel Lopez:
Gonzalo Pro:
Neither Martirosian nor Pro could hit as the board ran out for the queens of Lopez to stay ahead to earn him a massive pot for the chip lead and send the Russian on his bike.
"Good for me, good for you," Lopez laughed to Baumann. "It's a gift."
Action picked up when Chino Rheem opened the cutoff to 23,000 and only Jack Salter came along in the big blind.
The flop came and both players checked their options to the turn. Salter elected to lead for more than full pot to 75,000 and Rheem took some time deciding what to do.
"That's more than the pot buddy," said Rheem as he was in the tank. After roughly a minute, Rheem folded and the pot was sent to Salter.
"Can I look at one?" asked Rheem while Salter was about to send his cards to the dealer. Salter grabbed his cards back and gave them a look before smiling and saying "nope".
Two hands later Salter opened to 23,000 on the button and Michael Wang in the small blind cut out a three-bet to 77,000, which Salter called.
On the flop of both players checked to the turn. Wang bet out 60,000 and without much thought, Salter announced raise and pushed out 140,000. Wang took some time but eventually folded and another pot was sent to the Englishman.
Chino Rheem opened to 22,000 in middle position and Igor Pihela defended out of the big blind.
Pihela checked on the flop of and Rheem quickly checked back. Pihela checked again on the turn and Rheem bet 25,000. Pihela put in the check-min-raised to 50,000 and an unphased Rheem made a nonchalant call.
The river brought the and Pihela bet a small 40,000. Rheem took a moment before announcing "all in" with Pihela well covered. The Estonian decided to hold onto his remaining stack of around 310,000 and folded.
Mateusz Moolhuizen moved all in from early position and it folded around to Wojciech Szczytkowski in the big blind who looked down at one card and quickly made the call.
Mateusz Moolhuizen:
Wojciech Szczytkowski:
"Next one will be expensive guys," said Moolhuizen as he foreshadowed a double up. Unfortunately for him his wish didn't come true when the board ran out , and he exited in 108th place.
Peterson Machado raised to 25,000 in early position and was called by Ramiro Petrone on the button. In the small blind, Claudio Di Giacomo three-bet to 140,000 and Machado called, while Petrone got out of the way.
The flop came and Di Giacomo continued for 55,000. Machado put in a raise to 140,000 and Di Giacomo called as the turn came the .
Di Giacomo shoved all in for 760,000 and Machado snap-called with for the straight. Di Giacomo could only show for a smaller straight and was drawing to a chop but couldn't connect with the river and headed to the rail.
Machado raked in the biggest pot of the tournament and is now sitting on more than 3,000,000.
"He wants the tournament to end today. He has a plane to catch," a tablemate joked.
Xuan Liu is one of the last women standing in the €5,300 EPT Main Event, so PokerNews spent an orbit with the accomplished pro, who made history a decade ago by becoming the first woman to make the final table of a PCA Main Event.
Hand #1 (UTG+1): Liu was second to act and opened to 25,000 before Alexandre Vuilleumier three-bet jammed a stack of around 400,000 from the big blind. Liu laid it down.
Hand #2 (Under the Gun): Liu was first to act and folded.
Hand #3 (Big Blind): Sergi Panella Navarro raised to 25,000 in early position and Liu defended to see a flop heads-up. Liu checked on the flop of and Navarro continued for 18,000. Liu folded.
Hand #4 (Small Blind): Day 2 chip leader Kayhan Mokri opened to 25,000 from the hijack and everyone folded, including Liu.
Hand #5 (Button): Navarro opened to 24,000 from under the gun and Vuilleumier three-bet jammed before Liu folded.
Hand #6 (Cutoff): Da Silva raised to 24,000 from under the gun. Mokri three-bet to 60,000 and Liu folded. Da Silva ended up four-bet jamming with and getting called by the of Mokri before the two chopped the pot.
Hand #7 (Hijack): The action folded to Liu and she followed suit.
Hand #8 (Lojack): Vuilleumier opened to 24,000 from under the gun and Liu flat-called, while Mokri also called from the big blind. The flop landed and Mokri and Vuilleumier both checked. Liu took a stab with a bet of 20,000 and both opponents folded.
An enormous pile of chips was in the middle as Michel Dattani was all in for around 950,000 from the cutoff and up against Gaelle Baumann in early position, who had him covered.
Michel Dattani:
Gaelle Baumann:
The board ran out and Baumann was the beneficiary of the massive cooler as she now sits with more than 2,000,000 chips. Dattani, meanwhile, saw his tournament come to an end in a cruel fashion.