PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo: Day 4 - At A Glance

[danafish]

Double-up for Eric Liu on the TV table just now, as all you live feed junkies will already know. He pushed with and got himself called by (must confess, was only watching it with one eye while I used the other to look at what I has typing - so I can only 60% confirm that the dude with Sevens was Oyvind Riisem).

Board -

[snoopy1239]

Sadly, it looks like we're going to have to wait until next year before witnessing our first ever father and son final table as Pagano senior has just been eliminated. I was unable to fully battle through the assortment of onlookers, but I did manage to see that Denes Kalo was the assassin with A-Q all-in on the Turn of a 6-Q-K-A board. I believe Claudio had a weaker Ace, but I can't be sure. Either way, he's gone, and we're down to 21.

[Djinn]

Amit Makhija DOUBLES UP... to the delight of his very supportive (and critical of anyone whom they aren't railing sotto voce, but I can hear, most amusing) railers:

Henrik Gwinner raises to something like 30k preflop, called by big blind short stack Amit.  Actually, he overpaid by 5k, and Gwinner kindly pointed this out to the dealer, who returned the excess chip.

"Thank you," said Amit, before check-raising all in on a flop (from 25k to just over 100k).

After a bit of a think Henrik sighed and called, with .  He was only up against some value-maxing , though and the turn and the river bricked and gave him a new lease of life.

Amit Makhija - Are You Looking At Him?

[snoopy1239]

Chop chop... although it almost wasn't. All-in with , Stefan Geim almost toppled Isaac Baron's , the and, in particular, River leading to a rye smile and "oooooooh" from the German amateur.

[snoopy1239]

Over on the feature table, there was a mammoth hand between Antonio Esfandiari and Stig Top-Rasmussen of Denmark. On their backs, the Magician was in great shape with Pocket Queens against Rasmussen's inferior A-T of hearts. Stig looked resigned on the 7-3-4 Flop, but the Ace on the Turn was greeted by a gasp from the crowd and a gentle punch of the air in front of him from Stig. A Jack on the River would have made his heart flutter a tad, but he ultimately survived to take a huge dent out of Antonio's stack.

[danafish]

Mr Stefan Geim of Germany shoves from the cut-off for around 50 or 60k - Mr David Miari of France, who must have limped in/slightly raised before him, calls.

Mr Geim -
Mr Miara -

Board - (Geim still looking hopefully at board even though he's drawing dead)

Don't feel too bad for Mr Geim, though - Kristen from Pokernews tells me that he got in on a genuine, honest-to-God freeroll, and he's just made himself €46,300 out of nothing.

[danafish]

Joe Hachem makes it 30k from the cutoff, and Isaac Baron calls from the button. Robin Keston, on the small blind, goes and spoils the party - he makes it another 100k. Both Hachem and Baron fold. Slightly disturbingly, Hachem says, "One day, kid - I'll find you one day..." as he folds.

 

[snoopy1239]

Action on the feature table as Valeriy Ilikyan and Wallid Bou Habib find themselves coinflipping, Lebanon's Bou Habib making the final call with two red Eights, . Valeriy, meanwhile, flips over and quietly whispers sweet nothings into the ears of the Poker Gods. With announcer Lee Jones leaning over the shoulder of the dealer, Bou Habib rises from his chair in anticipation and is soon joined by Ilikyan who quickly follows suit.

The board itself is a rollercoaster, the Flop placing the Russian in the lead, but the Turn giving his opponent an extra nine outs. However, although some members of the pressroom were chanting diamond as if replicating the mind-numbingly annoying insurance advert, it was the straight that appeared, the River resulting in a chop chop and an understandable gesture of frustration from Ilikyan.

--------

Moments later, Ilikyan doubled through with K-Q versus Eric Liu's A-T, Q-Q-5--5K board.

[snoopy1239]

Latest chip counts from the last break courtesy of Mad Harper of PokerStars.com:

Stig Top-Rasmussen    Denmark     1,427,000    1    2
Robin Keston    UK      1,390,000    2    7
Isaac Baron    USA    Cash                   1,112,000    2    6
Denes Kalo    Hungary       1,040,000    3    6
Oyvind Riisem    Norway       993,000    1    6
Antonio Esfandiari    USA      975,000    1    4
Maxime Villemure    Canada    671,000    1    7
David Miria    France      660,000    2    1
Glen Chorny    Canada    Cash                     635,000    2    8
Joe Hachem    Australia    Team PokerStars Pro                     554,000    2    5
Luca Pagano    Italy    Team PokerStars Pro                     553,000    3    7
Michael Martin    USA       512,000    3    3
Thomas Boekhoff    Germany     448,000    2    4
Johnny Lodden    Norway    390,000    3    4
Amit Makhija    USA    Cash                     340,000    3    2
Henrik Gwinner    Denmark    340,000    3    5
Vincent Secher    France    Cash                     290,000    2    3
Eric Liu    USA  255,000    1    5
Walid Bou Habib    Lebanon     177,000    1    1
Valeriy Ilikyan    Russia      154,000    1    8

[Djinn]

EXIT – this time it is Amit Makhija, who falls in 20th spot, winning € 46,300…

It was a bit of a strange one.  Denes Kalo raised under the gun to what looked like 32k.  Over to Glen Chorny, who flat called.  Button Amit now put in a re-raise, making it an even 100k.  Back to the original raiser, who freezes in place and stares, before deciding he’s better off out of this one.*  But Chorny pretty much instantly moves all in – Amit is covered so he makes the call all in, and faster than we would have expected:

Glen Chorny shows: 
Amit Makhija shows: 

They stand, as is traditional, and pictured below.  The board comes out all rags with the on the river and thus busts Makhija.

*Thus would have won Denes Kalo, who passed, quite correctly, A-J.

[Djinn]

Dinner break - 1hr 15 mins

[snoopy1239]

Approximate chip counts:

David Miara -- 260,000
Vincent Secher -- 410,000
Thomas Boekhoff -- 215,000
Joseph Hachem -- 910,000
Isaac Baron -- 1,030,000
Robin Keston -- 1,535,000

Glen Chorny -- 935,000
Michael Martin -- 400,000
Johnny Lodden -- 430,000
Henrik Gwinner -- 340,000
Denes Kalo -- 815,000
Luca Pagano -- 830,000

[Djinn]

Double through for Thomas Boekhoff - much needed - with A-Q vs. K-Q (that of Isaac Baron) all in pre.
________________________________________

Innnnteresting 4-way flop News Now:

Glen Chorny raises to 32k in the cutoff, called by button Michael Martin and both small blind (Lodden) and big blind (Gwinner).
Flop:     Slow, deliberate check to Martin, who bet 80k.  As one might expect...no one was interested past this point, however, and he picked it up right there.

What do you reckon Michael had on the button there... this little bird told me...

[danafish]

There's about 200 or 300k in the pot by the river - the board is exactly and Isaac Baron bets 215k - almost half his remaining stack. Robin Keston deliberates. There is some huffing. He stands up. He puts one foot up on the chair (how come players are allowed to put their feet on the chairs when updaters get in trouble for standing on them to see what's going on? Oh, could be something to do with all the lovely money the players are about to win ).

Disappointingly, he passes.

[danafish]

Play has either slowed down a bit all round, or I run bad at this updating lark. Most of the action I caught on my last circuit of the Inner Rail Press Area involved nicking of blinds, and the occasional nicking attempt foiled by a re-raise. Loosen up, say I, like this unusual monkey thing! Have you no amazing Monte Carlo Bay suites to go to?