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Kevin MacPhee is second heading into Day 3 in Deauville
Two starting days and yesterday's Day 2 have reduced the field of 592 entrants of the €5,300 PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville Main Event to 138 hopefuls and 87 of them will be at least €8,810 richer. That's only a temporary goal though as everybody's eyes are set on the €543,700 first-place payout and opportunity to engrave the own name into the history books of the European Poker Tour.
In about two hours from now on at 12 p.m. local time, the action will resume in level 15 with blinds at 1,500 - 3,000 and a running ante of 400. As of today and until the winner gets crowned on Saturday February 7th, the level duration increases to 90 minutes each. Day 3 is foreseen to play a total of five levels with a 20 minute break after each level and the money will be reached during that time. Bagging and tagging should occur around 20:45 local time (CET), as there is no dinner break.
Leading the field is Ireland's Alex Tikhoniouk 312,600 chips in his maiden participation of an EPT Main Event. Not far behind is a much bigger name of the international poker circuit in former EPT champion and EPT 11 London runner-up Kevin MacPhee (308,300) whereas Robert Schulz completes the podium with 296,900 in chips. It wouldn't be a surprise to see yet another deep run of a German as the first two titles in Season 11 went to the host country of the upcoming World Series of Poker Europe later this year.
Big stacks include such stellar names as PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (281,500), Benjamin Pollak (275,000), Nicolau Villa-Lobos (230,600), Simon Ravnsbaek (197,600), PokerStars Team Pro Jan Heitmann (199,000) and Day 2 chip leader Guillaume Darcourt (172,600). Remi Castaignon won this very event in 2013 and is still in with 175,600 chips, EPT London champion Ruben Visser (158,200), Sergio Aido (146,000) and Eugene Katchalov (137,000) will all return with above-average stacks as well.
Day 3 blind levels:
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
15
1,500
3,000
400
break
16
2,000
4,000
500
break
17
2,500
5,000
500
break
18
3,000
6,000
1,000
break
19
4,000
8,000
1,000
PokerNews will bring you all the key hands on the way to crown yet another EPT champion, so check back regularly!
Dominik Panka started out short today, and got busy soon enough. He had already shoved twice, but received no calls those times. The third time wasn't going to be the charm, it would spell doom for him.
Panka shoved under the gun. Nobody asked for a count but it looked like about 40,000. Action folded to Pierre Peretti in the cutoff and the Frenchman called without inquiring about the size of the all in. The button and both blinds folded and they put their cards on their backs.
Pierre Peretti:
Dominik Panka:
The coin flip wouldn't end well for Panka: . Tomorrow the €10,000 High Roller starts, maybe Panka will try his luck in that tournament. Panka won that event last year, let's see if he can go back to back.
Tatiana Barausova moved all in for her last 55,000 from late position and found a call from France's Pascal Aznar in the big blind. The hands were revealed to show that Barausova was in need of some help.
Barausova:
Aznar:
Barausova found a glimmer of hope when she flopped an open-ended straight draw with , but ultimately nothing materialized as the and the finished off the board. She was eliminated from play and Aznar's stack increased to about 190,000.
Remi Castaignon opened to 9,000 and Georgios Kapalas three-bet to 22,000 before Sören Ingwart Vöhrs four-bet shoved for 69,000. The former EPT Deauville champion Castaignon now five-bet shoved for 160,000 with pocket kings and Kapalas had an easy call with the only hand in No Limit Hold'em that had the Frenchman crushed: Pocket Aces. Vöhrs was doomed with jacks and neither player hit anything on the board to send the chips to Kapalas.
Kevin MacPhee and Robert Schulz were heads up on a board of . MacPhee checked the turn over to Schulz who fired 17,500 from the button. MacPhee came over the top with a check-raise to 57,500 and Schulz came along to see a river.
The paired the board on the river and MacPhee wasted little time organizing a bet of 87,500. Schulz went into the tank, first cutting out the proper bet amount before staring down MacPhee. After about two minutes, Schulz reached for the calling chips and dropped them forward.
MacPhee confidently rolled over for a straight flush, prompting an instant muck from Schulz. MacPhee scooped the massive pot and has retaken the chip lead with 596,000.
Jan Heitmann has been eliminated from the tournament and we saw him busy updating his twitter in the hall way.
Heitmann was down to 57,000 he told us, and limped in from early position with . A French player on the button isolated to 10,000 and both blinds folded. Action was back on Heitmann who pushed all in. The button tanked for about a minute and a half before calling with .
The board favored the button and Heitmann hit the rail.
Dimitar Danchev was all in and at risk for his short stack of 10 big blinds with and Andrius Bielskis one seat over had him dominated with the . The two outer didn't come on a board of and that was it for the Bulgarian.
Ruben Visser opened for 11,000 from middle position and next door neighbor Vladimir Troyanoskiy made the call in the hijack. All other players opted to fold and Visser and Troyanoskiy saw a flop heads up: .
Visser kept his foot on the pedal and fired 8,000. Troyanoskiy made the call. The same was seen on the turn with Visser firing 14,000 this time and Troyanoskiy again calling.
The river was another ten to make a board of . Visser pushed a stack of 75,000 forward, more than enough to put Troyanoskiy all in.
The Russian high roller, who won the €2,000 FPS High Roller for €141,000 late last night, thought for some time before eventually mucking. Visser didn't show. The EPT London champion is up to over half a million, quite the improvement on the 160,000 he started the day with.
Jannick Wrang moved all in from the button, or at least that was his intention as he had left a few chips behind as he moved his stack in.
David Jaoui was in the small blind and made the call. The big blind folded.
There was a pause of some minutes before the tournament director could arrive at the feature table and instruct that the hands be turned over. During that time they agreed to go all in in in the dark before the flop so Wrang was finally all in.
Wrang was the player at risk and he showed .
Jaoui had the pair .
The board ran out .
A set right on the flop for Jaoui meant the river ace was irrelevant for Wrang. The 2012 EPT Campione, Campione d'Italia Main Event winner was to be the unfortunate bubble of the tournament.
The remaining players are all now guaranteed at least €8,810.
. Tomorrow the €10,000 High Roller starts, maybe Panka will try his luck in that tournament. Panka won that event last year, let's see if he can go back to back.
, but ultimately nothing materialized as the 
and the 
finished off the board. She was eliminated from play and Aznar's stack increased to about 190,000.
for a straight flush, prompting an instant muck from Schulz. MacPhee scooped the massive pot and has retaken the chip lead with 596,000.
. The two outer didn't come on a board of 
and that was it for the Bulgarian.
and Schulz check-called a bet of 14,000 from Darcourt.
and Schulz moved all in for around 60,000.
for runner-runner quads.
fell face up on the felt to gasps.
turn with Visser firing 14,000 this time and Troyanoskiy again calling.
