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40 players remain including 4 Brits, Matt Tyler, Julian Thew, Surinder Sunar and Peter Gould. Also still around are WSOP finalists Hevad Khan and Alex Kravchenko, bracelet winner Alan Smurfit and Dortmund EPT winner Andreas Hoivold. Today, we play down to the final table of 8. Also, the feature table begins today, so feel free to comment about anything that you see there on the interactive thread. http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=28003.0

Play restarts in roughly 1 hour at 3pm, 2pm GMT.

Prize Money, (in euros - I will translate it into Palladium Ounces, should anyone ask):

1   670,800
2   375,000
3   225,000
4   160,800
5   132,900
6   105,000
7   83,600
8   60,000
9   38,620
10   38,600
11   30,000
12   30,000
13   25,700
14   25,700
15   19,300
16   19,300
17   12,860
18   12,860
19   12,860
20   12,860
21   12,860
22   12,860
23   12,860
24   12,860

Table Redraw:

Peter   Gould   1   1   65800
Hevad   Khan   1   2   21300
Acar   Mazlum   1   3   136000
Andreas   Hoivold   1   4   48900
Daniel   Mangas   1   5   134500
Manfred   Hammer   1   6   47200
Jiri   Vacek   1   7   78100
Soraya   Homam   1   8   25000

Age   Spets   2   1   68500
Roman   Yitzhaki   2   2   69800
Matthew   Tyler   2   3   45600
Victor   Goossens   2   4   108900
Dennis Naci   Hansen   2   5   54400
Thor   Hansen   2   6   14400
David   Sonelin   2   7   115500
Heimo   Krainer   2   8   73500

Hector   Fuentes   3   1   77400
Sebastian   Ruthenberg   3   2   97400
Johann   Fest   3   3   28000
Thomas   Fuller   3   4   128800
Andreas   Fluri   3   5   23300
Christophe   Benzimra   3   6   37500
Kalil   Rahal   3   7   48900
Gunnar   Rabe   3   8   81300

Alan Peter   Smurfit   4   1   49700
Julian   Thew   4   2   114700
Michael   Durrer   4   3   116000
Pascal   Perrault   4   4   95700
Surinder   Sunar   4   5   36300
Carlo   Di Renzo    4   6   16200
Vladimir   Poleshchuk   4   7   122600
Harald   Poeschl   4   8   33800

Thierry   Van Den Berg   5   1   69800
Anton   Allemann   5   2   140000
Hans Vimmo   Eskilsson   5   3   96800
Christophe   Defforey   5   4   81200
Alexander   Kravchenko   5   5   34800
Gyoergy   Moger   5   6   56500
Denes Tamas   Kalo   5   7   102200
Edward   Lawson   5   8   25300

Hello! I have made it to the casino and I am full of coffee. Nothing is happening just yet, but I have every confidence that this incredibly well-run tournament will once again start on time.

If you have anyone you'd like a-following, aside from the already-mentioned Matt Tyler and Julian Thew, let us know. Incidentally I just had an accidental kasetoast breakfast with Matt and Julian after we found ourselves in the same cafe, and both of them seem pretty cheerful. Matt managed to spend about an hour and a half getting back to his hotel last night, after attempting to take a short cut through the park and walking round in a big circle for ages instead. Yay Matt! Anyway, he made it back eventually, and I think he actually got some sleep too before hitting the Indian down the road for his daily Breakfast Curry. Good luck all...

I can see shuffling, although no actual dealing as yet. We have a giant screen in the press room here with a very pale slanty view of the feature table, currently Table 4 on our seating plan (Table Thewy, Sunar et al). Floppy's wandered up there to get some photos. There is now a big close-up of Alan Smurfit gesticulating.

Incidentally at this point I should add how grateful we are that today the action has moved from the second floor to the first. Our lovely press room is of course situated on the ground floor, and courtesy of Mike Lacey, who really cares about these things, we know that every time we went up to the second floor over the past two days, we climbed no less than 77 stairs. I feel that I have really worked off the first day's giant buffet...

Shuffling, and dealing too!

Play has now started.

First hand, Hedvad Khan pushes with K-8 from the cut-off, and BANG! It's Hammertime as Manfred calls with Aces, Khaaaaaaaaaaaaan! gone in 40th place. Here is your man, snoops.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2072&g2_serialNumber=1)

Also, first hand on the feature table, Alan Smurfit takes out Carlo Di Renzo with Aces against Kh Td, Pascal Perrault Nines were forced out, and he was none too pleased by the board.

Js 4d 9c 7d Th

38 left with about 5 minutes remaining of the 1k/2k level before we go to 1.5k/3k.

Here, meanwhile is the tournament area, everything has been moved to the first floor, reducing our stairs climbing exploits by 50%.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2070&g2_serialNumber=1)

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2074&g2_serialNumber=1)

Meanwhile, on a non-Hammer note, on Table Tyler, formerly remaining Young North American Roman (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=728) Yitzhaki (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=728) is OUT. David Sonelin raises to 6k. Roman re-raises a big chunky bit from the button, to which Sonelin moves all in. Roman calls.

Roman -  Ahrt Kc

David - Kd Kh

Board - 4h Jc 8c 5s 2h

Yes, Thewy got a bit of luck there, most of the money in on the flop and Julian catching his two outer for the last few thousand on the turn of the Jh 4d Tc 8h 4s board with his 8c 8s vs Aspades Jc.

I'm afraid however, Matt Tyler is out. A couple of limpers, Matt pushes on the button with Jacks, except the small blind Victor Goossens had Aces.

Also out is Roman Yitzhaki, Ace King against David Sonelin's Kings.

Finally, Jiri Vacek has knocked out Soraya Homam with K-T against A-3.

Thor Hansen from the small blind moves all in, forcing David Sonelin to fold his Q-2 face up. "But I didn't even look!" protests Hansen. Nevertheless he's glad of the fold, showing 7 high.

And then a double up for Hansen.

Victor Goossens raises to 8k, and Hansen shoves. Heimo Kraner in seat 8 re-shoves, and Victor folds.

Hansen - Ad Qc

Kraner - Ac Ts

Board - 7d 2d 9c 6d 2h

Thor is triumphant!

David Sonnelin has just knocked out Thor Hansen, four-flushing his Jacks against Hansen's two red Aces. Sonnelin, a quiet Swedish Stars qualifier is now chip leader with around 175k.

Also gone is Christophe Defforey, his Ad 4d, not seemingly much good vs 3d 3s on a 2d 3h 8h board.

Also OUT is Harald Poeschl. All in from relatively early position for I think not very much, he found a caller in Mr Rock N Roll Anton Allemann.

Poeschl - Kc 5h

Allemann -  Aspades 4s

Board - a 3, a 4, a 9, a Jack and a Queen, and Poeschl is OUT.

Another OUTage is Johann Fest. Kalil Rahal raises it to 6.2k preflop. Fest reraises, and Rahal thinks about it for a brief moment before calling.

Flop - Qh 6c Tc

And Fest insta-all-ins, and Rahal instacalls with a resigned "OK".

Fest - 7s 7h

Rahal - Ac 9c

Turn - 8h - giving Rahal a variety of interesting straight draws as well as his flush draw

River - 3c and the flush comes in, knocking out Johann Fest.

Former chip leader Acar Mazlum has dropped a good few chips to Jiri Vacek.

With a bunch of preflop raising and calling, the flop came down Kc Td 7s with three players in. Daniel Mangas checked, and Vacek bet 20k. Acar raised - I believe he intended to raise a bunch more than he did, but failed to announce the amount so it was taken as a min raise. Vacek now moves all in for another 44.6k, and Acar calls.

Vacek - Kh Th - "Oh, very nice," murmurs Acar as he turns over his

Acar -  Ad Aspades

Turn - 8c

River - 4d

And Vacek beats the table in an ungentlemanly manner. He apologises afterwards though. Acar is unconsoled.

It wasn't actually Vacek but Denes Tamas Galo of Hungary who had the King Ten and benefitted from the string-re-raise. He has over 200k and is vying with Sonnelin for the chip lead.

27 left, 24 get paid, 100k average stack, blinds still 1.5k/3k with a 300 ante.

Our friend Mr Hammer is unlikely to go out on the bubble now - he just took out Acar Mazlum, who had another accident with Aces.

I'm guessing the money went in after the flop as Hammer was holding, er, 9-4. It looked like two Nines on the flop, and another one on the river for QUAAAAADS!!!!! (ahem) has put him in a not-bad position with 26 left and hand-for-hand now in place until we reach the money.

No! Stop!

(http://www.market-racket.com/images/bubble.jpg)

And the bubble is over after just two hands, we had lost previously Gyoergy Moger in 26th before Heimo Krainer pushed all in for his last 16k over the top of David Sonnelin's 10k raise, Age (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=456) Spets (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=456) called and he and David checked down an Ad 7h 2c 3c 8c board before David bet 15k on the river, Spets mucked his Ace Queen face up and David flipped a rivered set of Eights to take out the bubble boy (who also had Ace Queen).

Shortest. Bubble. Ever.

And now a short break.

Prize money.

1   670,800
2   375,000
3   225,000
4   160,800
5   132,900
6   105,000
7   83,600
8   60,000
9   38,620
10   38,600
11   30,000
12   30,000
13   25,700
14   25,700
15   19,300
16   19,300
17   12,860
18   12,860
19   12,860
20   12,860
21   12,860
22   12,860
23   12,860
24   12,860

Meanwhile a slight delay to the restart as the feature table area is being completely gassed with fly spray. There are absolutely THOUSANDS of them around.

Julian Thew is on 145k.

Peter Gould, the other Brit still in has about 70k when last checked.

"A bit of deja vu here," I said, (he cashed in 12th last year here).

"I'm just hoping to go one better this time," he replied

Daniel Mangas is all in against Julian, Kings against Jacks. A Jack on the turn and Mangas is OUT. And Julian is UP. I think he might even be chip leader.

Barry Greenstein's comments about Jules not being best suited to tournaments because he always has a hand...

Bless him. He doesn't know, does he? :D

On a flop that reads 8h Qd 7c, Daniel Sonelin bets 5k. Age Spets, who's been short for a while, immediately moves all in for 23.7k total. Sonelin folds pretty quickly.

A tablemate enquires, "Aces?" "You think?" says Spets, turning over Ac 6c. "Next time I have Aces."

"That looks very strong, sir," replies the tablemate. "Where did you learn that?"

Guffawing ensues.

Yes, I'm afraid he's just taken a big hit. Thierry Van Der Berg makes it 10k under the gun, and Gould reraises another 25k. Thierry now goes all in for another 30k or so, and Gould calls.

Someone is already saying to Van Der Berg, you have Aces? Indeed he does.

Van Der Berg - Ad Ac

Gould -  Ahrt Ks

"Good luck," says Gould, resignedly.

Board - Td Qd 6h - "Any old jack!" says Gould - 3h 3s

And Thierry Van Der Berg has doubled up, and Gould is now relatively short, well below the 122k average.

Jiri Vacek is OUT, he doubled through David Sonnelin with Kings against Queen Ten, then a few hands later he raised to 11k from the cut-off with Ahrt 2h. Big blind Victor Goossen made it 35k with only about 16k behind with his 5c 5s and Jiri went for it.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2090&g2_serialNumber=1)

Board:

Js Jd 3d Jc 9s.

Shortly afterwards Vacek was all-in blind with 9-3 again Thierry Van Der Berg's K-Q and was out soon after.

Anton 'Ramone' Allenman

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2084&g2_serialNumber=1)

Our remaining other two tables

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2086&g2_serialNumber=1)

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2088&g2_serialNumber=1)

And as you might have seen from the live feed, Andreas Hoivold is OUT with his A-4 being gunned down by Gunnar Rabe's Cowboys.

The small blind actually just called the big blind when Vacek raised himself all in with his remaining 4200 chips (blinds 2000/4000), and Age Spets had to point out to him that there had been a raise, such as it was. Bless. But BB Hans Vimmo Eskilsson (gotta love that name, and he looks like Tom Waits too!) raises 15k and the small blind folded. "Is it good?" asks Vacek, showing his crappy hand." "No," replies Eskilsson, and the Td 8d Ts 6h 6d board proves it.

And with that, we are on a **************1 hour dinner break**********************

A couple of double ups on the outer tables.

First Edward Lawson doubles up his short stack to 80k through Hector Fuentes.

Flop:

6c 5d Qc

Lawson's Kc 6h holding against the Ac 9c of the Unibet player after a Jh turn and a 2d river.

Then on the table next door, Denes Tamas Kalo button raises with Ac Jc the big blind Kalil Rahal moves all-in with Th Ts and Kalo calls.

Board:

2s Td Qd 9d Qh.

The remaining Hungarian just had his stack severly dented.

BTW, we had steak for dinner. Possibly the greatest steak ever. I'll let Dana wax lyrical about how good it was.

Rough outer table chip counts:

Denes Tamas Kalo -- 340k (Dana has the news)
Alan Smurfit -- 60k
Kalil Rahal -- OUT (As above)
Manfred (C) Hammer -- 125k
Sebastian Ruthenberg -- 220k
Julian Thew -- 160k
Gunnar Rabe -- 125k

Anton Allemann -- 200k
Hector Fuentes -- 85k
Pascal Perrault -- 78k
Edward Lawson -- 72k
Michael Durrer -- 121k
Alex Kravchenko -- 77k
Thomas Fuller -- 105k

Kalil Rahal is OUT, and it happened thus.

He raises to 13 utg. Small blind Denes Tamas Kalo reraises to 50k, and Kalil calls with relative alacrity.

Flop - 2h Tc 6d and Kalo insta-shoves; Kalil instacalls, and giggles when Kalo reveals Kh Kd to Kalil's own Qc Qh.

Turn - 2d

River - 5d

And Kalo is rather less gentlemanly about the whole thing, banging the table and shouting "YESSSSS" as Kalil makes his dignified exit, but fair enough, I guess, he did wi a big ol' pile of those good chips there...

Julian Thew is continuing to have a good time. He takes the blinds with an utg raise. "Lot of respect," says Smurfit, "Lot of respect." "I'm pleased to hear that," says Julian.

The next hand it folds around to Sebastian Ruthenberg on the small blind. "Ah, a friendly neighbour," says Smurfit. Ruthenberg looks at Julian and says, "You want a walk?" "Of course," is the reply. He gets the walk.

A lot of respect, you see.

Peter Gould doubles through Hans Vimmo Eskilsson with Nines against Ad Kd on a 8h Jh 7d 8c 8d board.

Meanwhile over on the outer table, Alan Smurfit moves all-in for his last 55k or so. Julian makes the call from the big blind with Ac Jd against Alan Smurfit's Kc Ks.

But before you can say, "LOL Thewyments" the board comes:

2s 8h Ad 3d Td

And we are now down to 19 players.

Vladmir Poleshchuk has just doubled through Victor Goossen with Ad Aspades vs Qc Qh with the board coming 3c Td 8d 4h Tc, crippling the Dutchman in the process.

Soon after he is all in with Ad 7s against his countryman Thierry Van Der Berg's Ks Jc.

The board comes:

Ac 4h 8c 4c Kc

Meaning there is 18 left.

The final hand of Alan Smurfit.

(http://www.blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2096&g2_serialNumber=1)

Meanwhile, Dana has news of two more exits while we are on a 5 minute break.

The Great Kalo, not to be confused with the Great Kali, but similarly towering over his rivals, continues to dominate his table. Now he knocks out Hector Fuentes - Fuentes shoves on a bluff on the river with Q-K, but Kalo happily calls and turns over T-J for two pair.

Meanwhile, Pascal Perrault has taken out Alex Krevchenko - all in preflop, Krevchenko with the Ad Jh, Perrault holding  Aspades Qs. The board absolutely no help to the dominated Krevchenko, coming out Ac 6c Ahrt Qc Kc.

Chip Counts and new table draw:

Anton Allermann -- 186k
Julian Thew -- 311k
Pascal Perrault -- 193.5k
Denes Kalo -- 440k
Edward Lawson -- 130.5k
Michael Durrer -- 76.5k
Gunnar Rabe -- 130k
Thomas Fuller -- 106k

Age Spets -- 65k
Vladmir Poleshchuk -- 200k(?) - TV Crew didn't have a count for him
Hans Eskilsson -- 57k
Thierry Van Der Berg -- 230k
Sebastian Ruthenberg -- 212k
David Sonelin -- 202k
Peter Gould -- 105k
Manfred Hammer -- 101k

And as we restart Peter Gould goes out, all-in on a 7-2-3 board with A-9 against the Kings of Sebastian Ruthenberg. The German, who constantly takes cigarette breaks when not on the feature table, (perhaps he is addicted?), is now on around 317k.

Thewy took a decent pot as well before the redraw, he raised Ace Queen on the button, and Gunnar Rabe called in the big blind and then checked called Julian's 25k bet on the Q-9-x one club flop, when a second club arrived on the turn, Rabe bet 40k and Julian moved all-in. Rabe folded, saying he had Ac 9c, which Julian was quite happy to take it down there and then.

BREAKING NEWS - JULIAN GETS IT ALL IN WITH THE BEST HAND

Julian (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=225) Thew (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=225) in the small blind raises to 16k. Pascal (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=691) Perrault (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=691) in the big blind reraises it another 20k. Julian now makes a big chunky re-reraise, and Perrault announces all in; instacall!

Thew -  Aspades Ad

Perrault -  Ahrt Qh

Board - Ts Jc 3c Jd 5s

And the Famous Frenchman is fini.

Shortly before, the Pokerstars lady asked me if I thought Julian had more chips than Kalo, and I said I thought not. I suspect he is now monstrous chip leader. I suspect.

Hans Eskilsson is OUT. He shoved with K-4 from late position and was called by David Sonelin with A-Q. A Four on the flop, but an Ace on the turn, and he's gone.

Chip Counts:

Anton Allermann -- 143k
Julian Thew -- 536k
Denes Kalo -- 385k
Edward Lawson -- 132.5k
Michael Durrer -- 121k
Gunnar Rabe -- 104k
Thomas Fuller -- 84k

Age Spets -- 30k
Vladmir Poleshchuk -- 247k
Thierry Van Der Berg -- 248k
Sebastian Ruthenberg -- 372k
David Sonelin -- 198k
Manfred Hammer -- 155k

Age Spets is OUT. Last 30k going the way of Vladmir Poleshchuk, but we were unable to see the hands, as always though, Spets leaves smiling.

Manfred Hammer has, it seems, just one move now. Everytime someone raise, if Manfred likes his hand, he just moves all-in. No re-raising for a percentage of a stack. Just a pushbot move into the middle. This action seems to be winding up Thierry Van Der Berg a little, he's suffered this occurence twice, whilst it's also happened to Sebastian Ruthenberg too. Perhaps it's only a matter of time before someone gets him with a real hand.

David Sonelin is OUT to Vladimir Poleshchuck. All in on the turn of a 7c Td Qc Ace-of-something board, David's A-5 was no match for Vladimir's nut-straighting K-J.

Michael Durrer is OUT in 12th place, before Sonelin went out. He pushed with Ac Js after Kalo had button raised with Kc Qc, the Hungarian making the call.

Board:

Qd 2s 4h 9s 8h

The happy tale of the fall and rise of Gunnar Rabe now.

Thomas Fuller raises and BB Gunnar calls. The flop comes 9s 9d Qs, and Gunnar shoves; Fuller calls. Gunnar shows Ac Qc for two pair, and Fuller shows Ks Js for the flush draw. The 3s on the turn and 6h on the river, and the dealer counts the stacks. Gunnar is left with one chip. One, one-thousand chip chip. If you understand me. Oh, and, of course, his chair. The blinds are now at 4k/8k with a 1k ante.

The next hand he's all in for the ante from the small blind; an Ace on the board pairs with the Ace in his hand (paired with a Five, but no-one else has one), and now he has 6k.

A few hands later, under the gun, he shoves his remaining 3k. Ed Lawson in the small blind doesn't want to call with his 3-5 off, but he does; Michael Durrer in the BB checks. The board comes down 6s Kh Ks Kd (at which point Durrer turns to Lawson and says, "you have a King?"), and then the river come Tc. Now Durrer bets and Lawson folds. He turns over Th 8d for the full house, but Gunnar Rabe has Td Jh to split the pot. What with all the antes, Gunnar is still up on the hand.

Ok, next hand Gunnar is all in for 7k total including his ante on the big blind; there are four callers. Thomas Fuller bets 10k which scares off all but Denes Kalo, but they both check the 8d Kh that then comes down. Fuller shows  Ahrt 5h, Kalo mucks, but Gunnar blows them all out of the water with 2d 3d for the flush. Go Gunnar! Now on about 30k, even minus his small blind.

Some hands later (I am now beginning to get bored of waiting for him to exit), Micahel Durrer raises to 24k utg. Gunnar tries to go all in but accidentally calls. Oops. Oh well, it's only 4k difference. So all in on the 7h 6s 7d flop, Gunnar shows  Aspades Td and Durrer shows Qh Ks. "That's what I had," moans Lawson about the Q-K - it's true, I snuck a peek before he folded from the SB. Anyway, the turn and river come Ts 2d, and Gunnar doubles up again! To about 70k! Ah ha ha!

At this point I decide he's not going out any time soon and come back downstairs. Floppy informs me that he's on about 100k now, although he's got a very steal-y Julian Thew on his table, taking down more pots than anyone else. But still. Comeback of the century. Just goes to show. Never give up.

Sebastian Ruthenberg is OUT, pocket Sixes versus Thierry Van Der Berg's pocket Aces with an Ace on the river, although most of the damage was done the previous hand when Ruthenberg called Anton Allemann's preflop A-6 shove with K-Q suited, an Ace on the turn sealing it.

And as you've probably seen, Sebastian Ruthenberg has gone OUT in 10th place winning €38,600

Perhaps a little tilted by that previous hand, he got his remaining stack in with 6d 6c against Thierry Van Der Berg's Ahrt Aspades.

Board:

8s Qh 5s 5h Ad

They've all been moved to one table:

Thierry Van Der Berg -- 224k
Manfred C. Hammer -- 305k
Gunnar Rabe -- 74k
Julian Thew -- 602k
Vladmir Poleshchuk -- 627k
Ted Lawson -- 84k
Thomas Fuller -- 113k
Denes Kalo -- 447k
Anton Allemann -- 144k

Climber Of, Like, The Millennium Gunnar Rabe is OUT in 9th place, smashed by the Hammer!

All in preflop, Gunnar was miles ahead with pocket Tens against Manfred Hammer's Qs Ts.

But the board came down Kc 8s 9d Jd 3s for a cruel gutshot, and Gunnar's luck is down, and he is out.

We are Done For The Night.

Ok guys, The final starts at 3pm (2pm GMT) tomorrow, I guess you best be there...

We're off to the bar.

;stickaforkinme; and LOL Thewyments.