Pokerstars.com Barcelona EPT - Day 3 - At A Glance

[JungleCat03]

Davidi Kitai retains the chip lead at this point with roughly 550,000.

Here is a shot of Kitai's table...



And one of those hot on the Belgium's heels is German Sebastian Ruthemberg.

Here is his table...

[Djinn]

And here they are:

Daniele Mazzia   Italy   716,000
Dren Ukella   Germany   543,000
Davidi Kitai   Belgium   516,000
Jonas Klausen   Qualifier   Denmark   490,000
Jason Mercier   USA   481,000
Martin Nielsen   Denmark   322,000
Samuel Chartier   Canada   308,000
Mikael Lundell   Sweden   292,000
Cornelis Alblas   PokerStars player   Holland   227,000
Jose Vazquez Ortega   Spain   208,000
Jonas Molander   Sweden   200,000
Stephen Chidwick   Qualifier   UK   183,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg   Germany   180,000
Malte Strothmann   Germany   157,000
Fintan Gavin   Ireland   156,000
Mark Randal Flowers   USA   150,000
Henri Koivisto   Finland   143,000
Steven Weusten    Holland   136,000
Michael Keiner   Germany   122,000
Benianmino Speroni   Italy   120,000
Ronny Johansen   Norway   120,000
Salavatore Pengue   Italy   112,000
Voitto Rintala   Finland   102,000
Alessandro Longobardi   Italy   96,000
Claudio Cecchi   Italy   87,000
Ramzi Jelassi   Sweden   75,000

[Djinn]

Well I was aiming for the best shot I could get of Fintan Gavin, but it just so happens that the big hand I saw involved his neighbour Randal Flowers...
Ramzi Jelassi, finding himself the short stack after a bad couple of levels, took one of his spots to move in for 75k preflop with - unfortunately he found Flowers with who was happy to get it heads up and in the middle.

Flop: 
Turn:
River:   And quite a number of Swedes and others on the rail celebrated as their guy hit one of his two live ones at the last minute to stay alive, and reverse the position of short and almost-OK with Mark Flowers.



Here's Ramzi, just in front of Michael Keiner before it all went wrong.  Earlier one of his supportive supporters went to get him a drink, offering first "Vodkaredbull?" "No."  "White Russian."  "No."  Very restrained, going for just the caffeine.  A long day potentially ahead of him 

[JungleCat03]

At this crucial juncture of the tournament, it's a horrible time to be running bad, but that is exactly what is happening to Sebastian Ruthemberg at the moment.

After having his Aces cracked by A-8 for a 200k+ pot, he now called a shortstacked push from Salvatore Pengue with A-8 in the big blind.

It proved to be a good call, as Salvatore could only table K-J.

It hasn't been the young German's day so far and this continued as the Italian spiked a King on a board to leave the once dominant chip monster Ruthemberg now very short and looking for a required double through sooner rather than later...

His prone position, head bowed, speaks volumes about how his day has gone so far...

[Djinn]

It's all gone bananas - a player out every five minutes in the latter half of this level meaning we are just 18 left here at the EPT Barcelona...

Michael Keiner busted first (sorry no details) followed by Ramzi Jelassi, pictured wishing Jonas Molander luck (probably) and heading to cash in his €24,700.  "I hope I make at least €20k, he said earlier, so I can go straight on and play the next one."  I think a flight to London might be being booked as I type.  Another close call, but the cigar still eludes him.

Tougher still that this time he got it in ahead   with Q-Q vs. A-T.  No good.

[Djinn]

Then short stacked Ronny Johansen - the dangerously blonde dude pictured shaking hands with his table as a threeway all-in pot sends him to the rail in 19th place winning €24,700...



He was short, the guy in the foreground paying no attention to the departing Johansen - Salvatore Pengue - was short, and Sebastian Ruthenberg, somehow, still wasn't, and called them both as they got their stacks in preflop with these cards:

Ruthenberg:
Pengue:
Johansen: er... I am going to level with you and admit I don't know.  It was in the process of being mucked as I surfaced at the front.

The board was lying there A-Q-3-8-8 and the Italians on the rail supporting Pengue were going mental. 



Pengue wins a couple of other awards:



Largest Number of times being told off by a dealer for talking in Italian on the table and to the rail
Most heads turned when winning a big pot
Sunglasses which most resemble Paul Gourlay's

[Djinn]

18th and 17th places have just been awarded - to Voitto Rintala and Steven Weusten - €17,400 to them both...
Pictured earlier next to Fintan Gavin - the creepiest contact lens award goes to Rintala, who seems although somewhat unapproachable at first, a nice guy.  Who needs irises to make friends, eh?



Plus this was Weusten:



A moment of silence as 50% of the turquoise hoodies leave the tournament.  Here's a photo for you to recollect what it was like when they even shared a table (must have been like looking in a weird mirror)...

[JungleCat03]

With 16 players left, here are the chip counts from the two tables at the re-start.

Samuel Chartier     418000

Benianmino Speroni    383000
   
Salavatore Pengue    149000
   
Stephen Chidwick    230000
   
Jonas Molander    181000
   
Claudio Cecchi    172000
   
Gavin Fintan    240000

Sebastian Ruthenberg    142000
   
   
   
   
Mark Randall    63000
   
Davidi Kitai    662000
   
Martin Nielsen    473000
   
Jason Mercier    510000

Dren Ukella    830000
   
Daniele Mazzia    602000
   
Jonas Klausen    614000
   
Mikael Lundell    620300

[JungleCat03]

Good news for Mark Flowers fans. Though very short, he jsut shipped his stack into the middle with A-J and was called by K-5.

A flop of 7-6-T-T-3 meant his A high was the best hand and he doubles through to 144k. He hasn't shown too much emotion at the table so far but he allowed himself a big smile at this win...

Michael Lundell has been battling it out with Martin Nielsen.

First Nielsen moved all-in on a T-T-6 flop with 450k in the pot for 300k or so.

Lundell was strained at this and sat there sweating and fiddling with his chips and glasses as he clearly had a very tough decision to make.

After a few minutes in the tank he eventually made the call, creating the game's first 1,000,000 pot.

Nielsen looked upset at this and tapped the table as if in defeat, showing A-K and appearing to mouth "One Time."

He needn't have worried though, as Lundell flipped over the same hand in A-K and the two chopped the pot.

Next up Lundell called a raise in position versus Nielsen. The flop fell and Nielsen folded to a big bet from Lundell.

Lundell triumphantly flipped overr , the aggressive and unpredictable Swede giving his table a really hard time at the moment!

[Djinn]

Been watching the non-TV table on the rail for half a level nonstop, and eventually some cards saw the light of day face-up.  But to build up to the climactic near-felting of the perma-stacked (up til now) Sebastian Ruthenberg - here's EVERYTHING that happened leading up to it:

1.  Stephen Chidwick moves all-in for around 180k pre.  No call.
2.  Sebastian Ruthenberg moves all-in for around 160k pre.  No call.
3.  Salvatore Pengue moves all-in for around 120k pre.  No call.
4.  Chidwick makes it 51k to go - no call.
5.  Finton Gavin moves all in for what looks like 230k pre (possibly over a raise?) - no call.
6.  Chidwick makes it 51k to go again - no call.
7.  Chidwick gets a walk.
8.  Button Sebastian Ruthenberg moves in.  No call.
9.  Cut-off Ruthenberg moves in again - No call.  No, wait, CALL.

Had to happen eventually!  Ruthenberg tabled while small blind Pengue had found .  They both watch the board come down, somthing physically impossible for us at this moment, sadly, but at the end Ruthenberg gave all but 60k of his stack to Pengue, while he shouted, "Yes!" and then again, "Si! SI!" Just in case one of his monolingual fans had missed his double through to over 300k.

[JungleCat03]

Some shots of the action...

First up here is Stephen Chidwick getting miked up ready for the feature table.



Next we have Fintan Gavin, slightly blurred from my bustly vantage point but ready for action.

[JungleCat03]

Martin Nielsen has been smacked about a bit recently on the feature table, primarily by Mikael Lundell, and now it seems Davidi Kitai thought he would have a go at the Dane.

They saw a flop og and Nielsen called Davidi's bet of 60k or so.

The turn fell the and Davidi now upped the ante betting over 100k. Nielsen thought about it...before moving the rest of his stack in...

A disgusted looking Davidi folded and wandered off from the table, despite Nielsen desperately trying to show him his hand before he left.

Here are the current chip counts from the feature table as the players take a well earned dinner break.

Mark Flowers 173k
Davidi Kitai 404k
Martin Nielsen 588k
Jason Mercier 513k
Dren Ukella 771k
Daniele Mazzia 569k
Jonas Klausen 614k
Mikael Lundell 675k

[JungleCat03]

German Dren Ukella raises it up to 32k, but gets a call from both Jonas Klausen and Mikael Lundell.

A flop of is met by a just under pot size bet of 95k from Lundell and neither Ukella nor Klausen felt like taking him on so they threw away their hands and the big Swede takes down the pot uncontested...


Dren wasn't ready to slow down though, raising up the next hand, only for Klausen to re-raise him...Dren took little time to move all-in and Klausen looked like he had a tough decision on his hands.

After deliberating for some time...he made the call!!!

The Dane showed and Dren showed pocket sevens. A massive 1,100,000 pot was about to be played out!

The flop looked good fro Dren coming..

The tun was the ...still no Ace or King to rescue the Dane...

The river was.....the ! Sick coin flip to win at this stage for the German, and that pot has left Klausen, who has looked in good shape throughout, now short and looking in trouble...

[Djinn]

Fintan Gavin - here he is getting re-raised off preflop by Sebastian Ruthenberg, who shoved over his raise to 33k.  He said something like, "You'd call if you've got a hand," and then something like, "I wanted to be squeezed," - it really is impossible to catch anything they're saying and the cards are a good seven feet away.  Either way after a good long think he gave it up.

He got one back about five hands later betting 40k on a flop - the first one seen in 20 mins.  So no chip change really for the Irishman.

[Djinn]

Another big pot for Salvatore Pengue - this time with no (compulsory) showdown:  I saw him wave his hands in the international sign of all-in preflop, having raised 20k, been re-raised by the button Samuel Chartier(?probably).

He moved in almost instantly, prompting a long dwell from his opponent, and a tense silence from the expectant crowd.  Eventually he passed, the pot headed to Pengue, and he showed the mighty to a roar of "Salva-TO-RE!" from his supporters.