blonde poker forum

Once more unto the breach... Welcome to Day 4, 32 players remain. We're playing down to 8 players. Errr, that's it in a nutshell. Come join us. Chip counts and names to follow.

Hi all.... i have maxed out on all my email accounts, so rather than keep blondes waiting, i am posting chip counts for the surviving 32 here.... (Mad Harper, EPT web person/media carer!)

1 Andy Black (Ireland) 709500
2 Dean Sanders (UK) 695600
3 Antony Lellouche (France) 651300
4 Gavin Griffin (USA) 629200
5 Christian Neirinck (Belgium) 549800
6 Alexander Davd Kim (USA) 502400
7 Pete Giordano (USA) 501200
8 Jan Veit (Germany) 420500
9 Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) 416500
10 Ram Vaswani (UK) 410700
11 Carlos Mortensen (Spain) 385000
12 Steve Jelinek (UK) 363100
13 David Peters (USA) 352600
14 Simon Johansson (Sweden) 339700
15 Kristof De Smedt (Belgium) 337300
16 Samir Rahal (France) 292900
17 Josh Arieh (USA) 286500
18 Eric Van Der Berg (Holland) 280700
19 Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 262700
20 Marc Karam (Canada) 260500
21 Christopher Ulsrud (Norway) 219000
22 Ben Callinan (UK) 192600
23 Philip Hilm (Denmark) 188200
24 Herman Zango (Costa Rica) 170200
25 Jacob Larsson (Sweden) 166800
26 Josh Prager (USA) 166700
27 Johannes Strassmann (Germany) 164400
28 Cristinel Dumitru (Romania) 157600
29 Roi Elmaliah (Israel) 146200
30 Richard Waters (UK) 141800
31 David Mobbs (UK) 140600
32 Lars Eidissen (Norway) 132400

Just read yesterdays updates while sipping a coffee in rain soaked Monte, great stuff, you guys really work hard .

Good luck Richard Waters today.

2 of my 3 picks still in - GL to all the UK players still left in...
Nice prize money indeed.

superb money...
my 3 picks to final,
black
lellouch
griffin

(& i'm gonna win the 1000 today, cough, cough)

ANDY BLACK
CARLOS MORTENSEN
RAM VASWANI

my boks/picks

Nice payday Mr Steve Jelink...... now go and win it!! ;)

Good luck today sir

Send my best to Richard Waters (Kingtut). He won his seat online and has done fantastic - I am really chuffed for you.

He's quite short stacked going in today but hopefully will get a double up early.

Gavin Griffin and Pete 'the beat' Giordano for me.

and gl in the 1000 today Julian and congrats to Steve Vlad on his 46k coup yesterday.

anyone seen any betting on this anywhere?

GL DEAN (& Nick) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Aspades Ac

aye, a lovely finish for them both,
cu soon phil

Thanks for all the support and good wishes - its surprising how much it still means (sniff...!)

Best of luck to all the Brits (and Irish!) still in the last 32, with a special mention for Steve Jelinek (what a fantastic payday this could be - go Steve) and Ram...baby needs new shoes!

 :hello:

Slightly sore ed, but I've made it. Bizarrely, not too many people in the media room at the moment, I wonder why that could be...  ;carlocitrone;

The journey from room to cardroom is always a short but interesting one because you see so many recognisable faces on the way. Most were hiding their shame from last night, but I couldn't help but notice Roland and Jeff Lisando playing cards, probably for money, and then Lee Nelson (what a gent!), not to mention little known Richard Waters, who was very confident in the lobby a few moments ago.

"I'm really happy with my table, it appears as though I'm with most of the shortstacks, which is big relief as I've had big stacked aggressive players to my right up 'til now. I'm freerolling at the moment."

Good luck to him! The people's favorite, surely?

Nev,

Please wish Richard all the best for today.

Big Davemac

We would like to post a quick thank you to William Hill for a wonderful three years as two of their sponsored players. This was our last event under their banner - it will not be the same without one of their trademark shirts on the next time we play.

We would like to specially thank Dan Taylor, who started the ball rolling all those years ago, and Phil Quayle, who's presence in the poker team was inspirational and is almost impossible to replace.

Finally, the best of luck to Julian for the coming year.

Smokin Steve and Badgirl Pham.

Many thanks to Mad Harper for staying up late and posting the chip counts on blonde. What a star.  *g

My 3 pics/boks to make it to the final table are:

Andy Black
Ram Vaswani
Carlos Mortensen

If all 3 make it would make for an amazing aggressive final table imo.

Good luck to the all the Brits since left in.

Good luck to you both, and a big congratulations to Steve for coming 2nd in yesterdays side event.  ;applause;

Snoopy.............any party pics from last night?

Hi Snoopy

It's a pity I'm not over there doing the updates for AWOP!!!!

Please give Richard and great big "good luck" from Sally and everyone else at AWOP.

He got through on a freeroll and is in the money.  I'm sure he's going to get to the final table.

Sally TheSAS

Yes, lots of blackmailing tools at my disposal. I forgot my camera, but I was able to nab Floppy's and go and find enough norkage for you to drown in. Hopefully Floppy will consider posting them pictures when he arrives.

Hello, Sally. I'll be sure to pass that message on and ensure that he is aware of the pressure of everyone watching his progress. Okay, maybe I'll leave that last bit out.  :)

I very, very rarely use smileys, but Mad - you deserve the most eye-catching one of all - awesome looking out for your friends at blonde!

 ;mexicanwave;

2 my picks still in ram and carlos

a big shout to ben and the mobster (dave mobs) wish them the best of luck today/

gr8 udates guys i got to say this has been the best update ever by a long way..

Lookey-likey.

EPT Dortmund Winner Andreas Hoivold and Woodstock from Peanuts.

(http://www.snoopy.hu/screen/szereplok/nagyszereplok/woodstock_nagy.gif)

And we've restarted, 35 minutes remaining at this level (4k/8k/800) before we colour up the 100 chips and go to 5k/10k/1k.

nice YOYO there sir, very nice

i think u were just 1  4s 7h shy of the final table badgirl

can we have some pics of todays tables plz

Reminder of the payout for our last 32:

1   1,825,010
2   1,061,820
3   610,550
4   471,180
5   391,550
6   305,270
7   238,910
8   159,270
9   99,550
10   99,550
11   66,360
12   66,360
13   49,770
14   49,770
15   39,820
16   39,820
17-24   33,180
25-32   26,550

Sigh, look at the crazies I found at the party...

Dave Mobbs is OUT in 32nd

I joined the action on the 2h 2c 9d Flop.

Dave was one off the cut-off and Christopher Ulsrud was on the big blind, so I assume Dave raised it up pre-flop and was smooth called.

Anyhow, Dave pushed with Ks Js and was quickly called by Ulsrud's Pocket Sevens.

Turn = Aspades

River = 9s

 :hello:

2 of my picks still in Mr Black & Mr Ram, & Good Luck any Brits still in  :)up

 ;hattip; to the Blonde Triumverate, .....legends

tell dave hard luck nice payday tho

We never thought it would happen, Russ Cawley has decided to move out of Bolton and take up residence in Monte Carlo. He plans to take over the place and has already made a start by opening a pavement cafe. Well done with the new business venture Russ!!

It's difficult for us to see, so clarification from out viewers and any further details would be handy, but it looks as though Josh Arieh has just doubled Philip Hilm up on the feature table with K-5 suited versus Aces. 2-2-6-J-Q Flop.

Hi Guys

Tell Ben Callinan that Danny from walsall says hi and good luck
I'm off to work now boo hoo

I hear Thomas Kremser is now worried that they may not get down to the final table in time for tomorrow. Apparently they are going to be reducing the clock from 90-mins to 1 hour after the dinner break.

Is andy black the best tournament player in europe?

thanks Snoopy... ! i am "working from home" right now (!) but do let me know if anything ghastly happens in the media room eg internet goes down, Devilfish comes in etc (only kidding, Dave)

This guy is Jeff Garza more commonly known as ActionJeff, now known as all round piss head.

How fitting - in Ancient Greek "Ariston" means both "best," and "breakfast."

Yeah, Philip raised with AA, Josh bluff-raised him with K5 and when Philip went all-in Josh realised he had to call for the pot odds. He wasn't happy about having to show a move that went so wrong.

the first person to realise that ariston translates to the best. I didnt know it meant breakfast as well though lol.

Ulsrud isn't shy about seeing flops especially after adding 50% to his stack courtesy of Mobbs - limping in early he called David Peters' preflop raise of around 40k (which he made from the big blind).  The flop came Ad Ks 5h and a 65k bet won that one for David...

Then he called Dean Sanders' preflop raise from the big blind, and saw an 8d Qc Tc flop.  Checking, Dean bet 48k and Chris passed showing the Ts.  I reckon eventually some raising might start to occur from the young Norwegian...

Josh Arieh finishes 29th (€26,550) -

A TV table elimination - we saw some shots of Hilm stacking so we think he was the victor....that one's our weak link, though - up on a stage apart from the rest of the room, we need to catch it on the press room feed to give details.

Josh Ariah all-in with  9s 9c against Philip Hilm's  Jh Ts

Flop bring's Josh's wanted 9, but also a Queen to give Philip the straight redraw, which hits with the 8 on the turn. The board doesn't pair on the river so Josh wanders off (but not before asking Big TK where he goes to get his money).

hilm raised with the TJ and josh pushed with 99- hilm had pot odds to call the extra. Hes now up to around 500k

Christinel Dumitru is OUT in 31st place

On a Kh 7c 9s Jh 9c board, Eric Van Der Berg put him all-in and Christinel eventually called, he was shown Jd JC and mucked his hand. Here's the conqueror.

Richard Waters is OUT in 30th place

He pushed with Ad Jc from the blinds (I think) against Kristof De Smedt's raise with Ahrt Kc and got a caller.

Board:

Ac Td 8s Qd (a few more outs now) 6s

De Smedt is now stacking the freerolling qualifier's chips.

Gavin Griffin bets 55k into a board of Tc Kc 2d Kh Ad.

Herman Zango calls with Ace Rag.

Griffin shows Q-J to add yet more chips to his ever increasing stack.

15 Minute break for Colour Up

Blinds are going up to 5,000 and 10,000 with a running ante of 1,000.

The average stack is 378,214.

28 players remaining.

Snoops any idea who won the 15k sit and go last nite way lodden thorsson raymer?

Ok, while we are on a break, imagine some elevator type music and here's Micky boogeying to it...

 :dontask:

706 Players @  €10K

Total prize money €6636400

€600 of Juice for each player  :o

Seems alot to take from the players

Regards

M

Passed Jerome Bradpiece on the way here this morning (well, afternoon). He was unusually dressed in a suit.

"What's with the suit?" I asked.

"It's all I've got left to wear."

We asked Ali Masterman if he was drunk and he gave us the thumbs down signal.

Herman Zango is OUT in 28th -

Short stacked move-in preflop with Ad Td over the top of Ram Vaswani's 35k early position raise got him heads up, in the end, against Eric Van der Berg, whose Ac Qc looked in pretty good shape against Herman, who prayed, "No Queen.  Diamonds.  Ten."
Flop:  Qd  Jc 6h  Herman:  "King."
Turn:  8d  Herman:  "King or diamond, any diamond..."
River:  2c  A black Deuce, the ultimate blank, and he shook hands with his eliminator and headed for the rail (which is already packed with press and spectators).

Can you wish Ben the very best of luck please, Id love to see him take this down. Great guy deserves a big payday.

Here's Dean Sanders, British terror of the last two levels yesterday, next to Soren Kongsgard - he is wearing a shirt which can only be described as pink (no arguments, Snoopy) which I mentioned to Nik who's glued to the rail.  He replied, "I dressed him - [the mind boggles] pink are the high denomination chips, we want to attract them..."

Shane Reihill -- 260k
Johanes Strassmann -- 65k
Josh Prager -- 165k
Christoffe De Smedt -- 500k
Kristian Kjondal -- 350k
Simon Johansson -- 335k
Jacob Larsson -- 120k
Antony Lellouche -- 460k
Eric Van Der Berg -- 520k
Gavin Griffin -- 650k
Jan Veit -- 375k
Ram Vaswani -- 335k
David Peters -- 385k
Steve Jelinek -- 590k
Pete Giordano -- 315k
Christian Neirinck -- 625k
Chrisopher Ulsrud -- 235k
Carlos Mortensen -- 720k
Dean Sanders -- 595k
Soren Kongsgaard -- 245k

Steve Jelinek and stripey neighbour David Peters - one might be hesitant to read the paper while playing for a top prize of nearly two million Euros, with only 27 players left, but not Steve. 

Chip counts missing (because they're on the TV table) are those of:

Alex Kim
Ben Callinan
Andy Black
Lars Eidissen
Marc Karam
Philip Hilm
Roi Elmaliah

is steves lovely wife there? if so norkage time

Jacob Larrsson is OUT in 27th place.

Josh Prager pushed in early position, Simon Johansson raised, but Jacob pushed from the blinds. Simon eventually called.

Josh:

Js Th

Simon:

8d 8s

Jacob:

Ad Kd

Board:

3h 2h Td 6s 3d

Josh trebles up and Simon's Eights take the side pot.

Van Der Berg has taken a big pot off Antony Lellouche, the latter seeing his button raise with Eights moved over the top of by Van Der Berg's Queens. Lellouche called, but couldn't improve on the 9-3-5-2-6 board, the 6h giving the Dutchman a flush.

Van Der Berg had a couple of hundred thousand less though at that point, so Lellouche is still in.

Yes, she is present, although I'm not sure she'll approve of shouts of norkage time.

Anyone picks running well? All of mine from yesterday failed to make it into Day 4.

I am going for a Belgian winner.
 :)up

TV table news
Ben Callinan all-in for about 70,000 with Th 9h.

Marc Caram looks him up with Qs Qh

Board comes 2s Td 5d 8d Ahrt and Ben leaves us.

This hand moves Van De Berg up to the chip lead as he becomes the first player to break into seven figures.

Great job from Ben. Top lad too!  :respect:

dont tell her its norkage time snoop be subtle about about it and tell her blonde wants to see the jelinek rail

Dusk Till Dawn's Kevin 'Whiskey' O'Connell

"I was at the airport once when Late Night Poker was at its peak and Trevor McDonald was there. A young lad approached looking for an autograph and Trevor said, 'I won't be a moment, I'll just sign this for the young chap'. At that point, the kid bypassed Trevor and came straight to me with his paper and pen. It was a great moment."

"Are sure he didn't think you were Kevin O'Donnell" I asked.

No comment.  ;hide;

Andy Black raises pre-flop and Alex Kim calls from the blinds.

The flop brings an Ace and a couple of rags, and is checked. The turn is another low card and Alex bets out, only to be insta-called by Andy. The river is another Ace and, despite (to me) obviously looking like someone considering whether to bluff or give up on the hand, and not someone who actually had anything, Alex bets out again and once more Andy insta-calls.

Alex insta-mucks his hand and Andy shows Ace-Ten, picking up a pot of, ooh, let's say 300,000.

Pete Giordano and Soren Kongsgaard split a pot with Big Slick squared. Irrelevant 8-6-5-5-9 board.

This is why we're relying on AndrewT for feature table updates...

Zoom in though and you might be able to spot a sandal, white sock, beige trouser wearing former World Champ on the mike.

I know what Alex had, mwahahahahaahah. How do I know? I've just been on a quick tour of the TV Van and Camera system, an impressive operation in itself. So many cameras, two people watching all the players on the feature table's hole-cams and writing down all their hands. Fascinating stuff how it's all connected together, you wouldn't want to work in the van if you were claustrophobic though, I can tell you. Thanks to Jon Raab and the EPT guy for getting me the quick tour.  ;hattip;

Josh Prager takes the brakes off News Now -

Starting the day on 166k, he's up to over 500k now, and picked up the last couple of pots on his table thusly:

He raised under the gun to 30k (blinds 5k/10k) and big blind Johannes Strassmann gave him a spin.  Flop:  Th Jh Jc  Johannes checked, Josh checked.
Turn:  Qd  Check, Josh bets 34k, call.
River:  3c  Check, Josh bets a stack of brown 5k chips - looked like 80k, and after a brief pause Johannes called.  He saw the Ahrt Ks and flipped his cards as the pot was awarded to the American - it looked like a slowplayed Jack which had fallen behind on the Broadway-creating turn.


Two hands later, Simon Johansson raised to 28k preflop, button Samir Rahal called, and it got round to Josh Prager again on the big blind.  He looked at Simon's bet, asked the "Can I see how much you have left?" question, and then just announced "All in."  Quick pass by Simon, but Samir gave it a good think before allowing himself to be successfully squeezed.  Perhaps a Final dark horse?

Day 4 shots...

What happend to Ulsrud?

Down a Norwegian - Christopher Ulsrud finishes in 25th place (€26,550):

Blind vs. Blind - Steve Jelinek called the small blind and big blind Christopher raised it somewhat (25k), which Steve also called.
Flop:  5c 3h Qc  Steve check-called Christopher's bet of 50k
Turn:  Jc  Check from Steve, 90k bet, and then within three seconds Jelinek had check-raised all-in and Christopher had called.
Steve had turned two pair with his Jh 5h, sprinting in front of Christopher's Aspades Qh.
River:  6c

Norwegian blogger Kjetil says that Ulsrud, under the nick LuckyUlsa was the biggest online earner for January...and a chip leader in this for much of the three days' run up to his elimination.  Will probably be seeing a lot more of him.  The details of the story filled in by Ulsrud himself - some rather miffed Norwegians next to us in the press room...

We seem to be on a short break for the three-table redraw. I missed when this actually happened as I decided that 3.15pm probably meant it was time for me to get out of my pyjamas and have a shower.

From a technical perspective I have to say the EPT live table TV feed has been spectacular. Superb definition, no breaks in broadcast due to buffering - rock solid. From a critical viewpoint I'm not wholly convinced by Barry Martin's commentary - he sometimes wades too far into the lake marked 'Hyperbole and Sycophancy' and gets more than his knees wet. At times it gets a bit corporate, and we have a few minutes hearing about how great the EPT is, how great Pokerstars is and how wonderful this whole thing is for poker.

Which it is (don't get me wrong) but a little understatement goes a long way. Also the amount players bet is often unclear - the commentators sometimes can't hear the amounts being called and they're too far away to visually ascertain the bets.

These are only small criticisms though - overall it's good stuff.

It really suprises me that they allow anyone else but the actual tv crew in the van, as the information which could be passed on to players still in the tourny could be priceless. I think its totally wrong

Fair point, but you don't get to sit there for an hour, just check out the technology and you're out the door.  Not enough time to get actually valuable betting pattern infomation etc. - you might know one instance of one type of hand being played by one player, but I don't reckon that gives anyone an advantage.

I wasnt actually talking about floppys tour, but even the 1 hand could be a critical one. Just my opinion.
What did he have by the way ;)

Antony Lellouche -- 410k
Jan Veit -- 195k
Johanes Strassmann -- 120k
Simon Johansson -- 85k
Andy Black -- 515k
Alex Kim -- 560k
Ram Vaswani -- 215k
Philip Hilm -- 300k

Chip count anyone?


Ok then, there are 13.

Incredibly, we have just lost two players from the aforementioned table. Details to follow...

I can't possibly say. I'd be giving out valuable betting pattern information... ;)

Johanes Strassmann and Simon Johansson are both OUT.  Prize money €33,180 each.

Hilm raises, Strassmann moves all-in, Johansson calls and so does Hilm (not too much more for him).

Hilm = Aspades 6s

Strassmann = 5d 5c

Johansson = Jc Jh

Flop = 2s 4s Qs

Turn = Kc

River = Ad

Not all the photos from the DTD party were by any means of drunken people looking funny, here's a pretty good one of JP and Vicky.

craig ur totally right

when the gukpt was at walsall one of the staff from j10 was in the van for about half hour

they was telling me about it and i thought it was wrong. as u said craig they could tel  people hand info

i would say that it is possible to get on the same tv signal if u had the right equipment outside by the tv van

when such stakes are being played for i wudnt put it passed some one to do so.

But most of them were....

I would imagine it's all done by cables and not broadcast over the air, so you wouldn't be able to just tune into the feed on a TV nearby.


From the look on her face in that photo, if no wine had passed Vicky's lips I'll eat my hat.

After the totally unneccessary three-table redraw, here's the other table we can see's counts:

Carlos Mortensen    520k
Marc Karam            500k
Josh Prager           530k
Roi Elmaliah            170k
Lars Eidissen           110k
Steve Jelinek          950k
Pete Giordano        450k

Latex ears and everything?

There was a brief 10 minute break, but the players are back now and play has recommenced.

Blinds are now 6,000 and 12,000 with a 1,000 ante.

They're the best bit. Yum yum.

Finally, (for now) here's Mr Raab and Lena (who writes the Swedish Pokerstars blog)

Correct, there's about 30 cables passing from the Hotel to the Van parked outside.

Josh Prager makes what must have been a minimum pre-flop raise from under the gun - Carlo Mortensen calls from the big blind.

Flop = Jc Ac Kd

Mortensen bets 30k, Josh moves all-in, Mortensen folds in a jiffy.

Anthony Lellouche is OUT in 21st place.

He pushed his short stack in with Qh 8s, got called by Alexander Kim's Ad Kh

Board:

Kc 3d 8c Ahrt Ac

On the same table, Christian Neirinck raises to 50k, Jash Prager moves all-in for 550k and Neirinck folds.

The feature table is now made up of:

Dean Sanders
Marc Karam
Eric Van Der Berg
David Peters
Gavin Griffin
Soren Kongsgaard
Jacob Larsson

As those of you watching the feature table will already be aware, the action has slowed down slighty... so, whilst we await it to pick up again as it inevitably will, take a butchers at this piccy from last night's DTD party.

Have you ever seen so little hair in one photo? Raab, Shipley and Mobbs could easily pass as triplets.

Eric Van Der Berg is areally nice guy and a really clear thinking player.

He won't piss his chips away that's for sure. I am funking for him.

The two short stacks on Table Two are sat side by side - but one of them is now not so short - Roi Elmaliah just doubled through:

He made it 36k (out of his 145k total) preflop, and big blind Pete Giordano checked his cards, warning, "If I go all in now I've got a big hand.  All in."
"Call," said Roi, and saw his 3h 3c racing, at least, the Ad Qd.
Flop:  Ahrt 9s 9h  By now the floor is announcing every called all in for the cameras - big TK himself saying, "He needs a Three to stay in the tournament..."
Turn:  3s   Just like that.
River:  4s 

And now Pete is relatively short while 300k is a less desperate stack for Roi.

The action has indeed slowed considerably.  But once I make the walk from pressroom to tableside, I feel obliged to write stuff down until a hand with some cards shown gets played.  Since Snoopy and Homer are now watching from the rail - here are the standard bits, in descending order of interestingness:

Ram Vaswani (with a 430k stack) raised preflop but let it go when Andy Black made it 120k from the small blind...
Jan Veit makes the same move (except this time all in for his 160k or so) and absorbs a button raise...
Lars Eidissen moves in twice in a row, once on the button for just 78k, then from the cutoff, uncalled both times...
Carlos Mortensen nicks the blinds twice; Jelinek once.

How many left please?

18 left now because Lars Eidessen is OUT in 19th. Carlos made it 36k in late position, Josh Praegers re-raised and a short stacked Lars pushed. Carlos got out of the way and Josh called.

Lars:

Ahrt Kh

Josh:

7h 7s

Board:

Js 2d 4h 6c 4s

We have action!!!

;as;

Andy Black raises it up pre-flop, Ram smooth calls and Phil Hilm re-raises. Black pushed, Ram gets out of the way and Hilm calls, although there is so much in the pot by now I don't think he had much of a decision.

Black = Aspades Ts

Hilm = Ad 9h

Flop = 4d Th 7d

"Philip still needs a 9," explains Big TK in that familiar monotone 'I've done this a squillion times' voice.

Turn = Jc

Andy Black turns away from the table and peers into the distance.

River = Td

Black swivels round as Kremser announces the River, punches the air and shouts "Yes' uncontrollably.

"That's poker," he says, "He's been making those kind of moves all day. What a play!"

"Nice hand," says a meek Hilm in defeat.

"Thanks," responds a more relaxed, yet still highly relieved Irishman.

How much was in that pot snoops?

Dean Sanders is OUT in 18th, only just got a bit of the action coming back to report the previous exit, but he apparently got it all in with 7-8 on a T-9-6 board against Marc Karam's T-9, turn and river came running sixes to send the gutted gutshot player home. Ouch, that's going to hurt. :(

Jan Veit -- 230k
Kristof De Smedt -- 480k
Andy Black -- 800-900k
Alex Kim -- 855k
Ram Vaswani -- 350k
Philip Hilm -- 220k

I don't think I have ever seen Andy more animated or proud of himself, he kept saying "What a read..."

Kristof De Smedt is OUT.

Shortstacked with around 100k in the small blind, Kristof found himself in uncomfortable surroundings when both Ram Vaswani and Andy Black saw an  Ac 9c 8h Flop.

Andy bet 100k, Ram made it 300k and Andy folded, allowing Ram to pick up a smallish side pot.

Ram = Aspades 4h

Kristof = Qc Qd

Turn = 6d

River = 5c

Down to 16 and a resulting redraw.

it was a spondoolithon.

He's in shock.  Consoled by Jerome, with JJ suddenly popping up in the photo too.  Even after such a bitter defeat (taking €33k in prize instead of getting a 1.1 mil stack and a shot at the top spot), he made sure that he put his sunglasses back on before getting his picture taken:

Suddenly there's an all-in every couple of minutes - just prior to the 17th place elimination of Kristof de Smedt, Ram Vaswani got it all in on a 9-2-8 flop against him.  Ram held 8d 8c for the set, while Kristof had 9-7.

Fresh from the Dean Knockout, we held our breath on the 5d turn, but the 9s river housed him up and gave Ram a decent stack back (700k?).

Pictured:  de Smedt getting the long sidelong glance from neighbour Jan Veit

I would like to add that I doubt there are harder working pro's in the game than Steve, Badgirl and Julian. It was a pleasure to work with all three.

How is Christian Neirinck doing?
 :dontask:

excellent updates guys.

andy black is on the live feed now so we might get some entertainment.

I had an email read out by colin murray which was quite funny.

He just got it all in with Ahrt Kc against Pete Giordano's Ad Kh.  "Spades!" wishes Pete, generously, and although three clubs came by the turn, there was no sad four-flush and they're right where they were before the cameras crowded round.

Here's a picture too - next to the Stack Of Mortensen

Steve Jelinek is on 900k as they reseat, but, on a sidenote, he was keen to tell me that not only are they taking 9% out of prizepool, but the dealer's also tried to tap him up for a tip.

I tried to prise some railer's tax out of him, but he wasn't having any of it.  :'(

Cheers.
 :)up

Meanwhile, I passed Dean Sanders and Nik Persaud (who had a piece) in the hallway. Neither spoke to me, and I didn't think it best to pester after that beat, but what I did observe is that both looked as sick as a dog, parrot or whatever spieces in renowned for being ill.

Here's most of table two, Jelinek in foreground moving just at the wrong moment, the cap brim of Pete Giordano, and left to right Carlos Mortensen, Cristian Neirinck and Josh Prager.  Plus a separate picture of the rest of Giordano.

Chip counts, from when they redrew the tables:

Kristian Kjondal -- 518k
Steve Jelinek -- 900k
Christian Neirinck -- 520k
Soren Kongsgaard -- 440k
Jan Veit -- 290k
Josh Praeger -- 685k
Carlos Mortensen -- 480k
Pete Giordano -- 580k
Gavin Griffin -- 1.327 million
Ram Vaswani -- 1.1 million
Andy Black -- 582k
Philip Hilm -- 126k
Marc Karam -- 1.15 million
Eric Van Der Berg -- 620k
Dave Peters -- 335k
Alexander Kim -- 820k

A couple of these stacks have changed though...

COme on Andyyyyyyyyyyyy

Andy Black on the TV table must be pretty fun to commentate on - and this hand is perhaps the biggest of the tournament so far...

Eric Van der Berg raised preflop (I only started paying attention when the live feed said, "Andy moves all in for something like 650k.") and Andy moved all in for something like 650k.  See, I paid attention.

Anyway, the dwell before the call (with Eights) was pretty tense, and Van der Berg can't have been happy to see the Ad Ac which Andy had managed to portray as weaker through that large all-in.
The flop brought 9-2-Q rainbow, but it wasn't until the Aspades came on the turn that Andy allowed himself a quick pace around the table and to settle back to count his newly-regenerated stack.  Meanwhile Van der Berg drops to 230k.

I tipped him at the beginning of yesterday, remember...

Just before the break, Josh Prager won a couple of pots to move up to around 700k. First he re-raised Jan Veit's 60k raise to 210k on a Qs 7s Td Flop before taking Steve Jelinek (called 36k in bb) off a 6d 8s 5s Flop by betting 65k, the American showing Jacks afterwards.

90 minute dinner break, back at 7.30pm GMT (half 8 here).

Mark Karem has got to be one of the luckiest players in the EPT finals. Wasn't this the same guy who caught runner runner to eliminate Marcel Luske in last years EPT final in Monte Carlo, after he moved all in pre flop, on a bluff.

seems to be a pattern emerging, black gets a stck then loses it probably to snapped off raises, then finds a big double up. Hold onto them ANDY FFS

If poker was purely a skill game Mick, Me and you would be busto mate ;)   long live luck !!!

lucksack kev

2 of my pics still in but agree that Marc Karam was lucky on making that boat - but you need at least 1 suckout or major piece of luck to go deep.

Ramtastic coverage guys, oh yeah and ship it Ram.

It's been a while since we've uploaded a DTD party pick, so here's another one for you to take a gander at...

Introducing a WSOP bracelet winner (I think) in Australia's Mark Vos, clearly intoxicating after finishing off his bottle of vodka in double quick time.

This is the final I'd like to see...

Kristian Kjondal
Steve Jelinek
Carlos Mortensen
Gavin Griffin
Ram Vaswani
Andy Black
Marc Karam
Eric Van Der Berg

FYP

Poor Eric. Replaced by a numpty.

Nork alert!

(http://operationiraqifreedom.com/POLICE-SIREN-ANIMATED.gif)

Here's a mixture of the a few Hendon Mob members,Simon Trumper and Paul Zimbler. And some ladies.

Joe Hachem enjoying himself too.

this is the one andy, take it down

During the lunch break, a certain Mr Steve Jelinek popped in to thank Mr Neville for his support. Also, he mentioned that Alex Kim was by far the most impressive player he's witnessed today, especially considering he's too young to play live events in America. "He's been on tables with some of the best players in Europe, but he's not afraid to re-raise them when he smells weakness... and he always seems to be right. He's making some great reads and is riding high even though he suffered a bad beat earlier on."

They'll be restarting in a few minutes, with one table televised and one on the floor surrounded by curious onlookers and the occasional member of the press.  BA pointed out that this is a change from the previous setup, where the last two tables play down off camera, and the Feature is used again for the final.  It is, as he noted, unfair on the TV tablers - it's always slower on there, even with this kind of lineup, and with such a lot to play for everything should probably be kept as even and fair as possible - like in science experiments where you keep base conditions identical.  I can see that they're on to a good thing with the live streaming and commentary, but still...

Speak for yourself Kev. I went bust long ago

London-based Frenchmen, Arnaud Mattern and Nicholas Levi with Nic's girlfriend (I think) whose name I can't remember!  ;oopsy; ;hide;

Ram lost a decent sized pot the last hand before the break to Gavin Griffin he bluffed on the end representin a flush Griffin made a great call way 77.

Any idea of rams chip count now?

GO ON STEVE ,if i remember he won about 4 seats for the world series last year .

hes no mug ,and hes in form ,he seems to have got more aggressive live

We don't have access to the TV table - Homer has gone to ask the TV people if they took some in the break.  From looking at the feed, I think Ram has around 600k.  Meanwhile Gavin Griffin is the chip leader after the end of the last level propelled him to 1,600,000(!).

Just said on live feed Ram still at 1.1 million.

Geo

Christian Neirinck is OUT in 16th place, winning €39,820, in a nasty way.

Steve Jelinek had Kc Kh in the small blind, Neirinck had Ahrt Ac in the big.

Flop:

4h 3d 2d

Turn:

Ks

A clap of the hands from Steve, "Pair the board," he says.

River:

3h

A shake of the hands with the Belgian and pushes Jelinek to around 1.3 million

Shots from the outside table...

FULL COUNTS!

Christian Kjondal      485,000
Steve Jelinek          1,376,000
Chris Neirinck           OUT
Soren Kongsgaard    658,000
Jan Veit                 177,000
Josh Prager             675,000
Carlos Mortensen     494,000
Pete Giordano         648,000

Ram Vaswani           887,000
Gavin Griffin            1,610,000
Marc Karam             977,000
Andy Black              779,000
Eric Van der Berg     321,000
David Peters            550,000
Philip Hilm                  OUT
Alex Kim                   791,000

From harmless Flop to...

King on the turn!

Eric Van Der Berg has doubled up with Ts Tc against Alex Kim's Jc Js with the board coming 3-T-8-5-K.

Philip Hilm exited almost immediately after Christian Neirinck:  Short stack A (him) holding A-8 against short stack B (David Peters) holding A-9 all in preflop.
Flop:  2d Td Jh
Turn:  9c  The straight outs arrived with the pair for Peters, but departed on the Deuce river.

That was quick; Philip Hilm becomes the 15th place finisher, winning €39,820.

After Christian Kjondal, Josh Prager and Carlo Mortensen had all take turns at taking the blinds, Jan Veit made a stand with Sevens, re-raising all-in to Kjondal's 46 pre-flop raise. Kjondal called and showed Kd Qd.

"King!" shouted someone from the rail, and the Poker Gods duly obliged... but with two of the buggers!

Flop = Kh Ks Ac

A dejected, but still smiling Jan began to rise from his seat, but still realising that a Seven could save him.

Turn = Ad

The announcer said that there were no cards that could help him, but I think an Ace would chop it... however, it failed to arriver.

River = 2h

Another one gone.

Jan Veit becomes the 14th place finisher, winning €49,770.

Adam/Jen if you get a chance wish Soren Kongsgard all the best and ask him if he is coming to Dublin this week.

You got the chipcount of the norwegian?

As far as I know he is going to Dublin

Cheers mate. Sorry Adam l never seen it mate what did he say?

Half way down.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=22009.135 (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=22009.135)

Gavin just took a big pot off Eric.

Eric check/called the 65k on the Kd 5d 9s flop, 95k on the 6s turn but on the Jh river Gavin bet 225k and Eric folded.

Cheers Adam, l missed it mate.

Watching the webcast, Gavin Griffen is gonna take some beating. Hes playing great poker

Well, decisions are big at the moment, and taking a decent amount of time to make them is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.  But it does mean that our hands per hour have dropped right down, and it's slow going around the 'regular' table.  Several people have pulled up chairs just outside the rope to spectate through the lengthy  Final Bubble, which is fair enough, except they get excited whenever anyone they're supporting (or pretty much anyone) puts a raise in and all stand up at once, thereby making my view erratic at best. 

Nevertheless, I saw some chips change hands, from Carlos Mortensen to Pete Giordano - Carlos raised to 48k preflop, and neighbour Pete re-raised to 110k.  Call.  Carlos checked the 4s 9d 7c flop, and Pete announced, "All in."  A very very long think, lots of staring back and forth, but no chat, and Pete Giordano was the one stacking the pot at the end.

Steve Jelinek also concedes a 160k pot on the turn to Josh Prager, the board standing 6-5-8-K...not sure what was going on there but caught it from the point that Josh bet at least another 100k in brown 5k chips.

could Lee Jones be anymore annoying in the Live feed? Some of the stuff he says....arghhhhhhhh.

could be worse , could be Colin Murray

He was sayin ram is gettin short in chips would love to see him win it.
Def in top 3players in europe!

i stand corrected ;) pls pls pls don't put those two on the mike together.

no worries bud, he seems pretty solid this guy. Wouldn't be surprised to see him final.

He was on earlier

I actually think he's very good. He is unfortunate in that his accent is slightly whiney but I think his analysis is good.

Anyway, big TV table news.

When Ram gets his close-up there is a very pretty girl sat in the seating behind him with fabulously long red hair. She has now tied her hair back into a ponytail instead of having it cascading over her shoulders.

I now return you to your scheduled programme.

yes , i was very close to slashing my wrists

Off the subject abit but has any1 read hellmuths recent blog? The man has totally lost it he thinks hes god lol.... O aye and ivey took 500k off him at chinese poker in monte carlo this week

DN did a good  ;m3boy;  ;ifm; in his blog as well.

Hey guys, here's some news from the other table.

Soren raises, Josh re-raises, Soren pushes, Josh eventually folds.
Carlos raises to 60k, takes the blinds.
Soren min-raises utg, takes the blinds.
Josh raises to 55k utg, takes the blinds.
Carlos raises to 62k utg, takes the blinds. (Liking the pattern...?)
SB/BB action between Carlos and Josh, they check a Ks 8d 7s flop before Carlos bets 20k on the Kd turn when Josh checks to him, to take down the pot.
Christian Kjandal raises utg, Jelinek re-raises utg+1, Kjandal calls. Flop Td Ac 2d, Kjandal checks, Jelinek bets about 80k, Kjandal c/raises all-in. Steve dwells for a second (1st picture) before passing and saying, "Nice hand."
Josh raises to 55k, Carlos moves all-in, Josh asks for a count, (2nd picture) but eventually folds.
Soren raises, takes the blinds.
Pete raises to 53k utg, Jelinek re-raises to 153k. Soren dwells and passes. (3rd picture) Pete , eventually passes Jc Jd face up, Steve flashes Ad Ac.

Yes he did brilliant lol

I like Lee Jones, he always has the enthusiasm of a five year-old child on a crazy sugar rush.

anyone else having problems with the live feed constantly rebuffering?

can someone please tell me where i can view the streaming please...

Perfect for me all day.

*boks feed*

www.eptlive.com SOXY

As you might expect, the lightening pace from earlier on has unlightened of late, the last two hands I witnessed being one in which Carlos bluffed Giordano with Q-6 on a 7-4-J-A board (he cheekily showed) and Steve Jelinek calling off Christian Kjundal's 50k river bet (pre-flop raise was 48k from small blind) on a board of 8c Jc Td Ts 7s. Steve mucked, Christian had Nines.

This is a real nice fella, him and his two travelling buddies and he plays good Poker. Good Luck to him and all the rest of the players remaining, LUCKY BASTARDS.

Micko, how u doing mate. Hows u and your mate Brian Wilson getting on? And have you finished with that Crack Pipe yet? ;nanana;

thank you sig

We're about to go on yet another 15 minute break. Still 13 players left. When we return, blinds will be 10k/20k with a 2k ante.

15 Minute Break...

One report-worthy hand - a multi limp pot, checked by Soren Kongsgard in the big blind got a four-way flop of 4d Ts 3c.  Small blind Jelinek checked, Carlos Mortensen bet 40k, called by neighbour Pete Giordano.  Pass from Steve - Soren then made it 160k when action returned to him.  A quick pass from Mortensen, a slow one from Giordano...

Other than that it's raise-foldx5 or raise, re-raise all in, pass (that one from Josh Prager over the top of Steve Jelinek, who's been standard raising preflop a fair whack in the last 15 minutes).

lolololololol Im doing good... Na think he was the 1 usin the crack pipe!

Get ure blog updated. I thought u had bought in to mc?

Any news on the redhead with her hair tied back ?

Sadly not - seems the cameraman who shoots Ram's close-up has moved so she's not in shot anymore.

Guests, remember you can only see the photos if you register for free, like this one of John Duthie, Vicky Coren and Paul Zimbler with the DTD girls.

The players are back and play is about to start.

Do you have a chipcount for Kristian Kjøndal?

Great coverage as always from you guys, even with the eptlive-feed, you're still invaluable.

Oh, and I just wanna say hello to Noflopshomer! We had a good poker chat during breakfast in Warsaw :)up

Snoops has them now.

p.s How good were those omlettes? :D

TV Table:

(1) Kristian Kjondal -- 1,000,000
(2) Steve Jelinek -- 950,000
(4) Soren Kongsgaard -- 910,000
(6) Josh Prager -- 550,000
(7) Carlos Mortensen -- 450,000
(8) Peter Giordano -- 600,000

Table Commoners:

(1) Ram Vaswani -- 499,000
(2) Eric Van Der Berg -- 235,000
(3) Alex Kim -- 343,000
(4) David Peters -- 400,000
(5) Gavin Griffin -- 2,356,000
(6) Andy Black -- 1,169,000
(7) Mark Karam -- 1,160,000

Lee Jones is attempting to beat-box.

I think I'm tripping, is this real?  ;gobsmacked;

I can confirm that Ram looks bored and unsurprisingly unfazed at the chance of winning 1.8 million.

Well worth going back to Warsaw for :D

He's probably wondering what sports event he could bet €1.8m on.

Alex Kim has doubled up, all-in with A-K vs. Marc Karam's J-T on a J-K-T Flop, Turn came 9, but the River brought a crowd gasping Ace.

Marc put his hands on his head in frustration/despair, whilst Alex seemed to take it all in his stride as if he'd picked up the blinds.

I have placed a last longer bet on with Pauly of Poker News on Steve Jelinek, he's got the Americans.

If Steve takes the title, he'll win 1.8 million Euros and I'll win €20.

hmm

Or what time the golf course opens in the morning.

I had mate, but lack of results and form bud forced me to pull out last Thursday. Its alot of doe, and after the Paddy Power l will have a break to concentrate on Sports Betting. Last night in Walsall £300, my AA busted by Lawrences QQ just highlighted how bad its going at the mo. mate.

Good luck with your bet, Snoopy! When we made the bet at the start of the day, there were six Brits and six Yanks left in the field. By the way, you forgot about Ram...

I told you, I always forget about Ram because he's English AND good. A rare combination indeed.

Pictures of Table Commoner:

Seat 1 and 2 - Ram Vaswani and Gavin Griffin
Seat 3 Marc Karam
Seat 4 Eric Van der Berg
Seat 5 Andy Black
Seat 6 David Peters
Seat 7 Alex Kim

Here's something else English and good.

(http://www.anab.in/yeartwo/rsa/finalppt/English-Breakfast.jpg)

To be fair u have had afair turn mick some great results just the poker gods playin tricks!!

Pity about not playin sounds a unbelievable tourney but ure right alot of snow!!

Talked to Ram...he is not bored, its just that he has had trouble sleeping. The missus and his daughter are with him and the little one doesn't want to let daddy get any sleep.

Let's hope he's not so drowsy he forgets which way round to sit at the table...

pete Giordano has arms like Popeye and a face like Bluto  ;marks;

He was also my dark horse bok/tip  ::)

Steve Jelinek has struggling to add to his stack since his double up with Kings, last seen being taken off a hand pre-flop by Kongsgaard.

Then, the hand after, Giordano raised it up in the small blind only for Kristian Kjondal to re-pop for 160k.

Giordano had around 400k left, and was definitely mulling it up, but after Kristian pulled a face at the camea (which I believe went unseen by Pete), the American did indeed fold.

Who are the blondes watching the TV table?

good effort guys & sorry to see that you have both decided to move on...gl in the future.

& unbelievably, i didn't win the win the 1000, kinda finishing around the bubble which qualifies as 'damned annoying'.
...so much for self prophecy

gl jelly!

Pete Giordano is OUT in 13th.

Josh Prager raised 50k, Giordano made it 150k (I think), Prager moved all-in and Giordano called.

Prager = Ac Qc

Giordano = Kd Kh

Board = Qd 5c 4c 2d 9c

Not been a good day for Kings.

For real


[edit:  I know this is Lee Nelson, but his head was so much the right shape]

How Poker can change in a few weeks, Eric Van Der Berg was telling me in Austria that he was doing his bollocks at the minute, but God Bless him he should get a few pennys here. Hes off to Reno for a WPT or something he won online soon, which he said it would be his last tourney for a while if he didn't get a cash soon.

ITS A STRANGE OLD GAME.............................

Black moving back to TV table, how do they determine who goes to the TV table? Is it still the big blind they move, or some kind of draw?

Geo

It's the big blind, or, meant to be.  There does seem to a trend that certain players always seem to get pinched on their big blind and moved though...sometimes it can take ten minutes to walk over to the chosen table...

Thanks Jen, as usual great work by the team.

Geo

Snoops, it looks like there is a couple of top looking swedish type birds watching the TV table. Your mission should you wish to accept is to get some decent pics for us.

 ;kev;

I know I am a bit behind as been out for a few beers in advance of a Belgian win and he gets this. Jelinek was only 7.58% to win after the flop, that sucks.
 ;smackedbottom;

Couple of hands here:

Marc Karam makes it 75k from the SB, Andy Black in the BB (before he got moved) made it 250k. Marc passed, Andy showed Ad Qs.

Short stacked Eric Van Der Berg (pictured) pushed for 181k, Ram called from the button.

Eric:

Ahrt 9s

Ram:

Kh Qs

Board:

4s 4h 2s 8h 2c

Ram down to 360k, Eric up to over 400k

Been a short break to move the big blind (Andy Black) to the feature table to replace Pete Giordano. During which Ram went for a ciggy break with Kevin O'Connell, and from what I heard, I don't think Ram rates his own chances.

The Betsson girls? They're Norwegian.

Get us Norwegians some phone numbers then!

Its Mick McCool Turk and l dont know who won buddy. See u in Ireland this week.

Kristian Kjöndal is known online at FullTilt as PokerKong and Kris85 on Prima, he plays 200/400 NL and other nosebleed online no limit games

  Back home after a fantastic 5 days playing in Monte Carlo,...dissappointed in the end to go out in 90th ish.....but loved every minute!!

  will post an account of it in a couple of weeks, as I'm shooting off on holiday.

 Just read through the brilliant updates.......I have to say Jen, Snoops and Floppy work bloody hard , and its a big ;hattip; to them.

 

 

 

As always great updates.

Thanks a lot.

Slight foot in mouth experience for Lee Jones imo...........

ok m8  see u there  gl

David Peters is OUT in 12th winning €66,360

Interesting hand.

David makes up the small blind, Alex Kim makes it 60k and David, after a dwell might I add, flat calls.

Flop = Ad Td 9h

David checks, Alex Kim bets 100k and David moves all-in, once again, following a spell in the think tank.

Alex Kim, laid back as ever, shrugs his shoulders, points towards the board and nonchalantly announces call.

Alex = Aspades Qh

David = Kh Kd

Turn = Js

River = 8s

And after an all American collision, we have lost our 13th man - a quiet and reserved young gent in 19-year old David Peters who was perfectly well behaved throughout.

Yeah, PokerKong_1 on Laddies too, great cash player at the highest levels and a nice bloke too. Fearless, which at this stage could come in handy

Severely short-stacked Ram was on all-in watch by us, and sure enough, pushed in just now from the small blind after Alex Kim raised on the button.  It was 192k in total - Call.
Ram showed:  Ac 2s
Alex showed:  Jc 9c

Flop:  Aspades Kc Td  (Big TK tells the assembled crowd that Ram doesn't want to see a Queen)
Turn and river:  4h Ad  and back up to 400k, tired or not...

Prior to the Peters exit, it was all looking rather bleak for Ram, and I was sure it would be him who stick it all-in first.

(1) Peters takes blinds with 60k raise
(2) Griffin takes blinds with 55k raise
(3) Karam takes blinds with 60k raise
(4) Griffin takes blinds
(5) Kim raises to 50k from the button, Griffin makes it 200k, Kim folds
(6) Battle of the blinds, Griffin limps, Karam bets 60k, Griffin folds
(7) Peters takes blinds utg with 70k raise
(8) Ram raises to 55k, Karam moves all-in, Ram folds instantly

and then...

BAM! Peters OUT.

Carlsberg don't do updates, but if they did, they probably wouldn't be as good as these.

Any details on rams recent doubl up?

How lucky is Carlos Mortensen? *shakes head*

Three posts up, sir

i play with pokerkong1   and he s not that high stake player   but he s good10/20 most

Another quick snap from the DTD party, this time my good self with whacko Azad Pirooti.

For anyone not currently streaming - Carlos Mortensen just had his tournament on the line with Aspades Qc, all-in preflop against 9d 9h (Kristian Kjondal).
The Ace waited to the river to come (at which point the Spanish press went bananas in here) but to be honest it was a straight race when the money went in.

also nof note djinn is the flop was all hearts... carlos had only 4 outs on the river

Not Particularly, he won a 50-50.

Yes, but when the money's all in preflop, you might as well just pick five random cards from the remainder of the deck and flip them all over at the same time.  Effectively, the order is irrelevant as all action has already been completed.  But yes, it must suck to lose to what has become such a longshot on the river.

Only 4 outs on the river though...thats what I meant by lucky.

well, yes, knew that, i just felt the need to help & add thats why the spanish media exploded...  =)

Aha - all makes sense now. If he's there, then it most be someone else playing his account on Lads. I was tad surprised to play 'him' over the last few days at $2/$4 and $5/$10...

Come on Rambo!

Gavin Griffin makes it 60k and Eric pushes for 200k more, Gavin passes the Ad, Eric shows Queens.

A few hands later, Alex Kim makes it 60k from UTG, Gavin calls on the button, Marc makes it 200k from the small blind, Eric passes. Alex moves in, Gavin passes and Marc calls, saying "Please have Queens!" as he flips over Kd Ks. Alex shows 6h 6s. The usual hubub starts and Alex just has Marc covered.

Board:

Qs Kc 3c 2d Ac

This leaves Alex with 52k and he's BB so the 30k extra goes in the next hand of Th 4h against small blind Eric's Qs 2h

Board:

Ac Aspades 3h 4s Jh

Still very short, Snoopy is ready like a vulture....

Andy Black and Steve Jelinek's cards are on their backs on the TV table a minute ago - A-Q vs. A-Q. 

;kc;

It's really hard to tell counts from 25 feet away or from the TV screen, but the stacks have been altered quite drastically.

Oh, it's a 15 minute break.  Time to go renew my friendship with the nice TV lady who also happens to have a clipboard of the current chip counts on it...

We're now on the 15 minute break, but the last several hands on Table Ram made for highly intriguing viewing for little ol' me at ringside.

There's definitely a contrast in strategies - whilst Gavin Griffin has decided to sit on his stack and wait for Ram or Kim to depart, the aggressor of the table is Marc Karam, who is clearly trying to take advantage of Gavin's approach over these last several hands by bullying the smaller stacks. However, although Kim and Van Der Berg (the latter in particular) are playing patient poker, Ram Vaswani is quite happy to shovel it all in, whether Kim is down to the wire or not, and this was on full display when he re-raised Mark Karam's 60k bet all-in for 462k. Laid back with the Top Gun shades, Ram twitched his foot underneath the table, but above was as a cool as a cucumber, seemingly giving off no signs of a tell.

The very next hand, these two locked horns once again (I swear, Karam is either going to remove or double up Ram at some stage within the next 20 minutes), only for Karam to return the favour, moving all-in to Ram's 40k bet (Ram had limped on the button) on a 9s 2s 8c Flop. As is the way with this table, no amateur dramatics and Ram folded instantly, with no real sign of remorse. Simply an 'okay, you got me, next hand' kind of attitude which is a joy to watch and perfect for the flow of the game.

Then, with recent double-upper (but still very short) Alex Kim allowing himself to land on the big blind with just 70k and blinds of 10k and 20k, he decides to take a gamble with Tc 9c after Karam had made an inevitable button raise with Kc Th.

Of course, Karam called the extra shrapnel in a jiffy, but was chagrined and understandably frustrated to see his opponent make trip Nines on a 9h Jc 9s Flop. "Queen," demands Kim in a reverse psychology (or Gusology) moment. But, with Karam looking on quietly, although anxiously out of his seat, no Nine or miracle runner runner arrives with the Turn bringing a 2 of spades and the River a harmless 5 of clubs.

"Alex is up to 200k," adds Big TK, and after Gavin Griffin takes the small blind away from Ram with a 60k bet from the big, the dum dum sounded and we moved into the 15 minute break.

Hey, I don't normally quote myself, but I reckon my wish of the above line-up could well be on the cards, especially if Ram finds another double-up.

Any news from the side event? how many left?

sry m8, owuld love to cover both but...

we'd die.

Speaking of Jeff and Tim....Here they are with Jen.

couldn't work out how to upload photo...and now wish i didn't bother. My grandfather looks good on that tho (for his age)

 :hello:

Hey Jen and Snoopy. Great Job as usual!! See you guys in Dublin next weekend.

the new mr cools, strummer (right) and tim t8mml

For those of you watching the live feed, you will have seen a recent hand where Kristian Kjondal and Josh Prager checked a hand down, the latter winning with J-8 on a 6-2-9-5-8 board.

Not an interesting hand per se, but what was intriguing was Prager's gesticulations - touching his cap, wiping his nose, glancing down at his chips before checking, gawking in that Ivey-esque manner - he's an odd one this lad, and I wonder if any of this is intentional...

Well, been tableside for a while, and have to say that Gavin Griffin has now taken over the role of aggressor, and quite convincingly too.  Raising from the small blind, button, and cutoff in a row, skipping two and then raising the next three, he might have been pushed off two of these pots by Marc Karam (once on the flop, once preflop; Karam showed Kc Kh) he seems absolutely undaunted, calm, confident, and still pretty much awake. 

So, that's six of the last nine hands he's been putting pressure on short stacks Kim and Van der Berg (the latter with just 150k or so).  No rivers; no showdowns.  It looked like the Dutchman was pretty tempted to push preflop the last time (Gavin button raising, him on B.B. with just 120k behind) but he decided to wait for a better opportunity.

Carlos Mortensen is OUT in 11th winning €66,360

Very hard to see the hands here, but it looked like Carlos was eliminated by Josh Prager. I distinctly heard the comment, "straight on the Turn" which sounded pretty decisive.

Can you live feed watchers fill us in, you have a better view than me of that table?

Looks like Alex Kim is all in...in a 3 way pot with Ram and Gavin.

And he's out in 10th. 99,570 Euros to take home...nice!

 6s 7s vs  Qc 3c straight on the turn for Carlos, flush on river for Josh.. all in preflop

Folded to Josh in the small blind. He raises Carlos; Carlos pushes back over the top. Just over 110k back to Josh. He dwells forever before eventually making a reluctant call.

Josh:  Qc 3c // Carlos:  6s 7s

Flop brings a six and two clubs. Turn hits Carlos completing a gutshot straight. A cruel  2c on the river finishes his day though.

Interestingly, it was about this time that the players seemed to notice what I mentioned earlier - the hands per hour discrepancy between the TV table and the 'normal' one.  Thomas Kremser had a sympathetic ear, as not only is that clearly the case regularly, but the TV table at the time had six players, the regular one five.  Instead of complaining about the set-up in general, however, they asked that they be put hand for hand.  It must have been really bad, the hph lag, if playing hand-for-hand with an odd number seemed like a good idea to the table with the short stacks on it...

And almost immediately we lose our 10th place finisher and we have our final table.

It was on the 'other' table, so our in situ updaters will have the news soon no doubt.

*think I've got away with not knowing who got knocked out*

Alex Kim has gone in 10th place winning €99,550

Gavin and Marc Karam (pictured) called his push in the blinds and checked the 5d 3c 3s flop before Marc bet 100k on the Td turn and Gavin folded.

Marc:

Jc Th

Alex:

Ac 9c

River:

6h

And the talented internet qualifier has gone and we are on one table. Eric Van Der Berg is REALLY short though, so we don't expect it too last too much longer.

Tales around the campfire...

It's bigger than his head!...

Fork time!

Jen has the details...

That's some smart updating...  ;tightend;

Erik Van Der Berg is OUT in 9th position, winning €99,550.

Erik pushed with  Ad Qh, and was called by Soren with   Aspades 5x   .

Flop:  Qs  3s Ks

Turn:   9d

River:   2s (I think)

That's just harsh...

And in one hand, we lose the Ninth place -

An almost compulsory move in in the first six hands, Eric Van der Berg found a more than reasonable hand with Ac Qd, moving in over the top of Soren Kongsgard's preflop raise.  Soren called with Aspades 5c. 
Flop:  Qs 3s Ks
Turn: 9d
River:  2s

And the Ace-high flush on the river makes this the quickest TV-table bubble we've ever seen, ever.

Eric Van der Berg finishes 9th, winning €99,550

Almost got my wish.

Soren Kongsgaard and Josh Prager ruining near perfection.

Superb day of updating people.

The big news is that the redhead girl was still there at the end, and was still in ponytail mode.

Ram, Andy Black plus the big stack of the very impressive Gavin Griffin - should be a great table tomorrow (especially if Ram gets chips early).

And by that, I add quickly, he probably doesn't think they're a poor calibre of player - just that he likes that smugness which comes with guessing correctly...

:)up thanks again for another day of brilliant updates.

               Neves.

great updating again folks, absolute top notch.

Really good line up for the final table with the likes of Ram and Andy Black, and i sincerely hope the two of them manage to double up and get some sort of a stack because then we really would be in for a treat.

Tomorrow's final will therefore look like this...

Kristian Kjondal
Steve Jelinek
Soren Kongsgaard
Josh Prager
Ram Vaswani
Gavin Griffin
Andy Black
Mark Karam

My guess is there will be a redraw tomorrow.

Seat 1: Ram Vaswani (UK) 432,000
Seat 2: Steve Jelinek (UK) 758,000
Seat 3: Marc Karam (Canada) 1,742,000
Seat 4: Andy Black (Ireland) 683,000
Seat 5: Soren Kongsgaard (Denmark) 1,612,000
Seat 5: Josh Prager (USA) 1,593,000
Seat 7: Gavin Griffin (USA) 2,597,000
Seat 8: Kristian Kjondal (Norway) 1,203,000

Excellent updates , as usual  ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause; ;applause;

not bad one pick and hes in the final ,gl steve .

So, it's goodbye from me...

;stickaforkinme;

And it's goodbye from her...

 ;stickaforkinme;

excelant updates guys .get your head down you deserve it

And it's goodbye from them...

This gotta be the best picture ever. Look at all those secrets hidden on it, reminds me of the Abbey Road album cover...

What a STUNNING Update.

As ever, a huge "thank you" to Jen, snoppy & floppy. They are just THE best.