Pokerstars.com EPT Dortmund: FINAL TABLE

[snoopy1239]

Did Johannes final in another EPT, he looks familiar?

[JungleCat03]

Diego Perez Marco

Lesser known Spaniard Diego Perez Marco started day 3 as the chip leader and maintained this advantage going into the final table. He has played professionally for 8 months and is a big fan of online strategy games Warcraft and Starcraft. His well placed compatriots Aniol Alcaraz and Raul Paez Corral fell before the final hurdle, but Diego will be flying the flag for Spain as he looks to use his big stack wisely to secure him his first EPT triumph.





Current chip counts...

Johannes Strassmann 981,000
Andreas Gulunay  821,000
Mike McDonald 740,000
Diego Perez  657,000
Thorsten Haase 594,000
Christian Rinaldi 265,000
Thibaut Durand 62,000


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We are on a 10 minute break. Back soon guys!
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[NoflopsHomer]

Did Johannes final in another EPT, he looks familiar?

Prague. Went out 7th or 8th. And Harder finalled the PCA. Sick guys.

[JungleCat03]

Back from the break and we have action already!

Thibaut shoves his microstack into the middle and Johannes re-raises to isolate, which is successful as everyone else gets out of the way.

Thibaut shows

Strassmann:


FLOP:

Thibaut needs an ace, a 4 or running spades...

TURN: ! This gives straussmann a set, ending Thibaut's chances of outdrawing him...

....meaning Thibaut Durand is OUT, eliminated in 7th place, winning €120,200

A great payday for the French player, who is applauded heartily from the rail...



Thorsten Haas riases and Claudio Rinaldi shoves his 250k ish stack into the middle.

Thorsten clearly isn't happy about this....and passes... letting the Swiss player Claudio sweep up the pot, pushing him past the 300k mark...


A quick reminder of the juicy payouts awaiting the final six players...

1    € 933,600
2    € 528,500
3    € 307,000
4    € 234,200
5    € 193,000
6    € 152,000
7   

[JungleCat03]

Claudio who has been quiet so far, but has increased his stack carefully without having to showdown a hand, gets yet a 2nd raise through in a row and chews his ever-present gum as he rakes in the pot...


Strassmann is now up to over a million chips after eliminating Durand...

...he wields his stack forcefully, re-raising a riase to 42k from Mike McDonald up to 100k...

Mike is not 100% happy about this, but he does pass and Strassmann marches on relentlessly...

[JungleCat03]

The Canadian Mcdonald is not having a great time of it recently.

He limps in from EP now, only to see Perez, who has been relatively tight so far, raising his limp to 100k. Mike looks a tad dejected as he passes.

I sense Mike may want to lay the hammer down on getting pushed around soon...

[JungleCat03]

A quick glimpse of the trophy and the money awaiting our lucky winner...




Barry Martin and EPT supremo john Duthie are doing the commentary on the EPT live feed and are amusing the press room with their comments.

"Don't you think Straussmann has the look of a Matt Damon about him?" Barry asks John...

......"No." is John's terse and fairly accurate response!

"Well Thorsten looks like Christopher Biggins!" comments Barry, desperate to get validation for one of his lookylikeys.

[JungleCat03]

Diego Perez raises from the cut off and Strassmann lays the hammer down yet again, reraising from the button to 130k.  Perez considers for a while, looking at Strassmann calmly leaning back and sipping his water....before announcing ALLIN!

WOW...2 big stacks going at it here...

BUT....Strassmann passes...


So far Strassmann has been the most verbal player at the table and he has some words for Perez after being shoved off his hand ....."I can't call you this time, but next time I will..... very very probably" comments Strausmann looking directly at Perez as he lays down!

[JungleCat03]

Almost to prove a point, Strassmann raises the very next hand from the cut off aggressively.

All pass to Rinaldi who....PUSHES ALLIN for 300k!

Strassmann is NOT happy about this, but again quickly passes, wrinkling his brow in annoyance and Rinaldi's strategy of re-shoving versus the aggressive players' raises is working beautifully at the moment!

[NoflopsHomer]

It wouldn't be a bad idea for the EPT to actually ask random pros to come and do some commentary as some of the guys doing it often put all the players on very narrow ranges, (like that K-9 vs A-7 hand yesterday LOL). At the PCA, Ricky Fohrenbach who finished 7th or 8th (and actually cashed in Dortmund) and Ryan Daut (the PCA's previous winner) both came in and did excellent commentary.

[JungleCat03]

There's a riase from Andreas, and he is re-raised by Thorsten to 170k or so.

Andreas is very unorthodox and he FLAT CALLS oop to Thorsten's big raise...

The flop comes ...

...Andreas checks the flop, prompting Thorsten to push allin for 350k or so...

Andreas is not happy and thinks for a while before passing K-Q face up.


Thorsten shows Q-T!!!

Superbly timed bluff from Thorsten has moved him up to 700k or so and into contention. Well played Christopher Biggins sir!

[JungleCat03]

Mike McDonald raises to 70k or so...

And Thorsten, perhaps bhoyed by the last hand RERAISES ALLIN!!!!


Mike is being shoved about so much, but if he calls it will be for all his chips...He blinks and blinks and thinks and blinks some more...BUT he passes...

You can sense the steam building within the youngster and it won't be long before he makes a stand I sense...

[JungleCat03]

McDonald raises to 42k and Johannes Strassmann chews  his gum before flat calling in position...

The flop comes

Mike bets out 65k and Johannes re-raises to 150k, Mike considers for a while before finally laying the smack down as he was surely going to sooner or later and pushing allin!

Insta-pass from Johannes, showing he was making a move and Mike McDonald moves above Johannes in the leaderboard...

This actually means the chip lead is now with Thorsten Haase who has timed his few moves very welll so far.

Johannes has had a bad time of it recently and is now under 600k after hitting the million mark earlier...


There's a raise from Andreas now, which is called by Thorsten. Claudio Rinaldi now moves ALLIN for 350k, not for the first time today!

The blinds pass, as does Andreas and Thorsten now tanks for a few minutes.....

Illuminating commentary from the live EPT feed ..."Thorsten has a pair here...minimum" lol. It's keeping everyone entertained!

....but ultimately Thorsten folds face up, enabling Rinaldi's squeeze-looking manoevre to get through!

Incredibly Rinaldi gets yet another re-shove past the initial raisers...


The play thus far has been exceptional. Very aggressive, chock full of steals and re-steals, it has made for very exciting viewiing...

[JungleCat03]

Claudio Rinaldi




Claudio Rinaldi, 22 from Rancate in Switzerland is a former croupier who has been semi-professional for the last 3 years. This is his third big tournament, his only previous cash of note in the 2007 Pokerstars Caribbean adventure where he finished 18th for $36,000. He is assured a much bigger payday on this occasion and if he continues to build on his early success on the final table and wins, who knows, he could be nicknamed the Federer of Swiss poker!

[JungleCat03]

Andreas raises to 55k preflop and Thorsten, in position, calls as he has done several times now when Andreas has raised...

The flop comes ks

There is roughly 150k in the pot and Andreas bets close to a pot size bet, but is met by an allin bet from Thorsten!

Andreas has 450k or so back....but he passes!

Another big pot for Thorsten who is in control at the moment, leading the way with what is now close to the one million mark...