Pokerstars.com EPT London: Day 3 - At A Glance

[JungleCat03]

And we are down to one table!

Not the final table as such as the final will begin once we are 8 handed but with just 9 competitors left nursing hopes of EPT glory, the players are going to be re-shuffled into a single table with one more elimination to bring the day to a halt...

This hand precipitated the re-draw...

Norwegian Frode Gjesdal made a big raise preflop, only to see fellow Scandinavian, Swede Michael Tureniec shipping it over the top of him. He had put in half his stack, so couldn't really fold and made the call with 6-6, Michael turning up .

The flop was disastrous for Gjesdal, coming out to give Michael overs and a flush draw...

Bad as the flop was, it just got worse for the Norwegian on the turn, the spiking to give the jubilant Swede the nut flush and leave Gjesdal drawing thinner than Patrick Stewart's hair...

Click to see full-size image.

The Norwegian crashes out in 10th spot, and with the organisers rushing around to make everything rosy for the multitude of cameras that will be trained on the "October Nine", we are on a short, temporary break.

Back shortly!

[NoflopsHomer]

Chip counts. Yes, we're that lazy.

[JungleCat03]

There's a little bit of caginess afflicting the players, who understandably don't want to miss out on the final table berths.

Such cautious play has not afflicted Johannes Strassman and Anthony Lellouche though, the two going to war preflop.

Strassman popped it up, only for Lellouche to put in a decent re-raise and pressurise the German player.

Whether Strassman didn't beleive the French players' raise, or had a blockbuster hand, we'll never know, but he shoved all-in for another 360k and Lellouche made a pretty quick pass...

Strassman has been a classic variance junky today going from 450k down to 90k up to his present stack of 600k or so.

The German's pedigree and increasing stack means he will be a big threat to win this tournament, especially if he shows the courage and abililty that has been his hallmark in their tournament so far...

[JungleCat03]

A quick reminder of the current prizes on offer.

1st - £1,000,000
2nd - £525,314
3rd - £303,439
4th - £234,920
5th - £195,766
6th - £153,351
7th - £120,723
8th - £81,569

[JungleCat03]

And of course, 9 - £50,574.

[NoflopsHomer]

is the flop that both Antony Lellouche and Michael Martin check. They also check the on the turn, before Lellouche bets 70k on the river , Martin makes a reluctant call. Lellouche showed a very slowly played to win a small pot.

[JungleCat03]

Alan Smurfit raises it up under the gun to 50k.

Based on the Irish player's extremely tight play, the commentators joke about his range being Aces+

But then!

Swede Erik Sjodin moves allin for anohter 182k!

Surely Smurfit will call and we will have a showdown to decide who will finish ninth!

Alan fiddles with his glasses and looks uncomfortable, which doesn't bode well for a call and indeed he eventually passes, perhaps thinking his pocket Kings just couldn't cut the mustard...

[NoflopsHomer]

Blinds are now 15k/30k with a 3k ante which is a bit odd as I'm sure last year we had a 12k/24k level...Oh well. Officially the structure only goes up to 25k/50k, though I'm sure we'll be going to higher than that tomorrow.

[NoflopsHomer]

Marcin Horecki moves all-in and gets snapped by Johannes Strassman's , the Pole can only show . He's doomed, Doomed, DOOMED*!!!



Still doomed.



Still doomed, but not so much.



Horecki is Lazarus reborn.

"Sho shick!" shouts the pressroom.

*Added for extra tension.

[NoflopsHomer]

A bit of consternation as Alan Smurfit shoves in early position for about 10BB's and Antony Lellouche passes A-J in the big blind. Smurfit shows A-7...

[JungleCat03]

Shortstacked Eric Sjoden ships it in and...he's called!

Eric Liu makes the call, unsurprisingly as he had been dealt those pocket cowboys, .

In dominant shape then versus Sjoden's , all Liu had to do was to fade an Ace and we would have our final table...

The board came out a raggedy and the light was fading on Sjoden's tournament hopes.

The turn and river finally extinguished all his hope, giving Liu a chunky 500k+ pot to elevate him into 2nd place, but Liu is OUT, eliminated in 9th, winning £50,574...

He shakes hands with the table, gets a consolatory hug from his executioner Liu, and departs to applause...


That elimination means we have our final eight, Homer is just posting up the chip counts.

 Hold onto your hats people!

[NoflopsHomer]

Final Chip Counts:



Play restarts at the final table tomorrow at 1.30pm. We'll see you there!