We mentioned earlier in the day that Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov was a runner up in the Main Event here last year. Also in the field today is Giacomo Fundaro from Italy who finished second to Victoria Coren-Mitchell at EPT San Remo Main Event last year enabling the first two-times winner to be crowned.
Fundaro’s hunt for that elusive first EPT title has just suffered a major setback. The under-the-gun player opened for 900 and Fundaro, next to act, made it 3,000. Action folded round to Dimitrios Ballas who had a look at Fundaro’s stack and then moved all in for just shy of 13,000.
The initial raiser got out of the way and Fundaro made the call, turning over . Ballas was at risk with his .
The flop of shot Ballas into the lead andhe would retain it as the turn and river put a big dent in Fundaro’s stack and doubled up Ballas.
Poland's most successful tournament player, EPT High Roller and Main Event winner Dominik Panka, discusses the state of poker in Poland and reflects on his successful 2014.
The 200th player just registered for the event. That makes for 6,000,000 chips in play. Devided by 158 remaining players, that makes for an average of almost 38,000.
We picked up with the action to find PokerStars Team Online Pro Ronan Monfort and Dominique Franchi looking down at a completed board of . With a sizable pot already in the middle, Franchi checked over to Monfort. Monfort flicked out a single T5,000 chip, announcing a bet of what sounded like 4,100.
Franchi called the bet, prompting the two to show down their hands. Monfort confidently rolled over for a full house of jacks full of sevens. Franchi mucked his cards and Monfort was pushed a pot that brought his stack up to 59,500.
David Pecheur opened before the flop and Matti Konttinen from Finland made the call from the hijack. Josy Laurent Benhayoun in the small blind pushed all in for 3,450 and his neighbor Viacheslav Goryachev in the big blind cold called. Pecheur and Konttinen made the call as well and the four of them were to see a flop.
Everyone checked on and so the on the turn was for free. Action checked to Konttinen and he bet out 5,025. Both Goryachev and Pecheur folded and Kontinnen showed for the turned set.
Goryachev wasn't drawing dead just yet though, with he had some split pot and full house outs. Neither would come with the and the tournament lost another player.
Frederik Jensen opened from the cut-off for 900 and Mathew Frankland made the call from the button. The blinds folded and they went heads-up to a flop of .
Frankland check-called a bet of 900 to see what developed on the turn. What developed was the and a further bet from Jensen of 1,900. Frankland mucked his hand.
Omar Dahmani checked it over to David Vamplew on the river of a board reading .
Vamplew bet 4,400 which was close to pot and left him just over 3,000 behind. Dahmani took a minute to think about it, eventually asking Vamplew to raise his arms so he could clearly see his remaining stack. A few more moments though and Dahmani made the call.
Vamplew revealed his turned set holding . Could this be the hand that he needed to regain some momentum after a difficult few hours? The answer was no as Dahmani turned over his rivered straight.
Vamplew was crippled and open shoved the next two hands without picking up any callers. The third time it was folded to him he mucked but it will take a mighty effort to survive just Day 1a from here.
On a board of there was already 6,425 in the pot and Gilles Huet from France checked from the big blind. Nitsche bet 4,200 from the cutoff and Huet raised to 9,500. Nitsche called.
The on the river made Huet bet out 6,500 with 4,925 behind. Nitsche announced all in and Huet almost instantly called.
Nitsche showed but would soon land that hand in the muck as Huet tabled .
We arrived in time to find Anton Wigg, Andrew Leathem, and David Balazuc looking down at a board of . Wigg had first action and he led out into the middle for 3,800. Leathem called and action fell over to Balazuc in late position. He announced a raise all in for his last 12,350 total.
Wigg went into the tank for right around 90 seconds before ultimately opting to kick his cards into the muck. Suddenly the action was back on Leathem and after a moment of pondering he flung out calling chips.
Leathem:
Balazuc:
Balazuc was in a dominating position with his flopped full house of tens full of sevens. The river completed the board with the and Balazuc scored the double. His stack now sits around 47,000 while Leathem has dropped to around 31,000.