Pokerstars.com EPT Warsaw: FINAL TABLE

[Djinn]

Weird Hand of the Day (so far):

Christian Öman raises preflop and gets a caller in the form of Michael Schulze in the blind. 
Flop:    Michael checks, Christian bets 47k.  Michael calls.
Turn:    Michael checks.  Christian re-checks his cards and considers for a moment before checking behind.
River:    Michael bets out 120k, only to find Christian moving all in.  There's a quick call there too - on their backs.

Michael shows: 
Christian shows.....    "Where are my hearts?" he laments as they chop the pot.

Pictured, Christian thinking, all serious-like, and Neil and Kara in the background not all serious-like.

[Djinn]

What is that weird bracelet Christian is wearing? 

You might well ask, it's a kind of orange googly-eyed thingy with legs and an elastic band, many of which were floating around the card room on the first day.  Also featured around William Thorson's ear, in one of the Pokerstars EPT videos on Poker Fashion (well worth finding).  No idea why these were popular, but they are.

[Djinn]

We're starting to get a few more raise-preflop-then-pass-to-re-raise hands now.  Ricardo Sousa, having won an 80k pot off Christian Öman, just had it happen to him: he made it 45k to go and Mathias Viberg put in 150k.  Ricardo did the old re-check, bunched his cards a little (I've never seen anyone do this and then raise, incidentally) and passed.  Pictured:  Ricardo



Mehdi Ouakhir also got some chips with a preflop re-raise, this time off Christian Öman.  Ever so slight caginess creeping into play.

[NoflopsHomer]

Mattias raises to 45k on the button, Christian and Medha call from the blinds.



Check check check.



Christian bets 70k, the other two players fold. Christian shows , "I show because it's the best hand..."

[lucky_scrote]

Iiiiiin Seat One:
Trond Erik Eidsvig -- 220,000

[NoflopsHomer]

Ricardo, who is raising a lot, but getting pushed around a bit, raises to 42k UTG.

Michael Schulze calls from the big blind very fast.



Check check



Michael checks, Ricardo bets 65k. Call



Michael checks, Ricardo thinks, looks at his cards, thinks, looks at his cards, thinks, then says, "You have a Jack. I check." He turns over . Schulze wins with .

Mattias raises again to 45k, Schulze calls from the small blind.



Check check.



This times Schulze fires out, which means he has something better than marginal this time. Mattias calls.



Scary river saves Mattias some chips as it goes check check and the German shows , Mattias shows the .

[NoflopsHomer]

Iiiiiin Seat One:
Trond Erik Eidsvig -- 220,000

[Mango99]

Iiiiiin Seat One:
Trond Erik Eidsvig -- 220,000

[lucky_scrote]

AHAHHAHAHA mango no way.

[NoflopsHomer]

Ricardo raises from the button and takes the blinds, next hand he raises from the cut-off too. Mehdi calls in the big blind.



Medhi checks, Ricardo throws out 55k, Medhi quickly stamps down a large stack of pink 10k chips (200k) in a 'Hah, I know you have nothing and I caught you. I caught you!' sort of way. Ricardo folds.

Rough chip counts (Proper ones to follow at the break):

Christian Öman -- 430k
Mehdi Ouakhir -- 675k
Michael Schulze -- 1.6 million
Ricardo Sousa -- 340k
Mattias Svensson -- 540k

[NoflopsHomer]

The pressroom is beginning to crack...

They just broke into a chorus of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing"...

[Mango99]

Iiiiiin Seat One:
Trond Erik Eidsvig -- 220,000

[Djinn]

Mehdi Ouakhir wins some all in a bunch, then loses some back little bit by little bit...

The one he wins: 

It passes to small blind Christian Öman who limps in - check from Mehdi. 
Flop:    Christian bets out 22k, Mehdi makes it 42k, and Christian's having none of it: he ups it by a further 100k.  Mehdi thinks for a moment, and makes the call.
Turn:    Both players check.
River:    Christian checks, and Mehdi plays with a stack of pink 10k chips, before suddenly lunging the whole thing over the line.  It looks like there's no big card in Christian's hand, because he now passes.

The ones he loses:

Dwindling Ricardo Sousa raises from the big blind after Mehdi limps on the button - he gives him a spin.  He (Mehdi) also bets out 45k when it's checked to him on a flop of but passes immediately when Ricardo pounces with an all-in. 

Mehdi limps on the small blind, Michael Schulze checks.  Flop:    at which point Schulze bets him off with 50k.

Mehdi raises on the button to 45k and again Michael takes the pot with a preflop re-raise to 116k.

[Djinn]

So, one hour off, and while we wait like vultures near the area where we've been accustomed to finding sandwiches around now, here are the most recent counts:

Christian Öman -- 228,000
Mehdi Ouakhir -- 747,000
Michael Schulze -- 1,526,000
Ricardo Sousa -- 510,000
Mathias Viberg -- 581,000

[Djinn]

Here's Pokerstars' bio of that man - Mr. Ouakhir, with some explanation about our confusion about his nationality:

Seat 3: Mehdi Ouakhir, 22, Montpellier, France - PokerStars qualifier –
Business school student Mehdi is having the best tournament of his career so far. He mainly plays tournaments and Sit and Goes online, but the most he’s won so far is $10k. Yesterday was sweet revenge for the former chess player – he busted Sebastian Ruthenberg , payback for when Sebastian busted him at EPT Dortmund in January. Although a French national, Medhi now lives and studies in Agadir, Morocco.