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Home / Uncategorized / EPT Snowfest: Final table levels 26, 27 and 28 updates (40,000-80,000, 5,000 ante)
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10.10pm: Has Strassman taken the chip lead?
The board is 4â™  J♦ 4♥ 4♦ 10â™  and Strassmann bets 1,600,000 on the river. What would you need to call here? Well, whatever it is that Allan Baekke would have called with he didn’t have. The Dane had check-called on the flop and the turn but couldn’t hold on for the final bet. Small pocket pair perhaps? Strassmann claims the 2,465,000 pot and isn’t far ebhind the chip leader now. We’re going into a five minute break so hang on in there. The finale is just around the corner. — RD

10pm: Strassmann aggression
Johannes Strassmann seems to have found an extra gear and is taking a few chunks out of Allan Baekke’s stack. — SY

9.50pm: Baekke too good for Strassmann’s trap
Carson button raises to 185,000 and is called by Strassmann. Baekke makes a three-bet raise to 605,000 and is called by Strassmann. MONSTER ALERT. Both players check all the way through the 6♥ 8â™  J♦ J♥ 9♣ board for Strassmann to show A♣ Aâ™  . Baekke looked very suspicious all the way through the hand. Could Strassmann have got more chips any other way? — RD

9.45pm: Hand blast
1. Baekke gets a walk in the big blind.

2. Baekke limps the small blind. Carson checks. Flop J♠ 3♥ K♣ . Carson bets 125,000 and wins the pot.

3. Strassmann gets a walk in the big blind.

4. Strassmann raises from the small blind to 235,000. Baekke raises in the big blind to 525,000. Strassmann passes. Baekke up to over 8,100,000.

We’ve just heard that a break is due to take place in a couple of minutes. — RD

9.35pm: Carson takes a bite, too
Russell Carson raised from the small blind to 200,000 and Johannes Strassmann called from the big. On the 9♦ K♥ 4♦ flop Carson bet 285,000 and that was enough to send Strassmann packing. — SY

9.30pm: Strassmann starting to open?
Johannes Strassmann has played this final table pretty snug and hasn’t seemed to get out of line too often but is he now shifting gears? Carson raises on the button to 175,000 and Strassmann three-bets to 585,000 from the small blind. Baekke and Carson pass. — RD

9.25pm: Here they are again
And they’re back.

Here are their chip stacks:
Allan Baekke 7,330,000
Russell Carson 5,420,000
Johannes Strassmann 3,720,000

And you can click here or there (to the right on Latest chip count) for updated chip counts.

9pm: Er, calling all players
The player have done one. I don’t know where they are. I’m guessing they’ll be back soon, but for the moment we’re looking at an empty table. — HS

8.45pm: Alain Medesan out in 4th place winning €111,000
Alain Medesan’s comeback has come to a brutal end. The Romanian moves all-in from the button with K♥ 10♣ and is called by Allan Baekke with A♣ 10♥ .

Flop: 5♣ 6♠ 6♦
Turn: 9â™ 
River: Q♣

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Alain Medesan busts from Snowfest

Medesan’s attempt to become the first ever Romanian EPT winner is over… for this tournament at least. We’re now taking a small break as we go to play three-handed. — RD

8.40pm: Medesan starts the comeback
On the very next hand after the big coup against Russell Carson, Alain Medesan was all in for about 300,000. Both Allan Baekke and Carson called and then checked the flop all the way.

By the end of it, Medesan’s pocket eights were good, and he tripled back up to 1.5 million. He’s still in this one. — HS

8.35pm: Medesan in bad shape
Alain Medesan is down to just 370,000 after running his pocket jacks into Russell Carson’s pocket kings. Carson had raised, Medesan made it 515,000, Carson moved all in and Medesan insta-called. The board ran a jack-dry 4♣ 8♥ A♣ 2♦ 6♦ , and Carson raked in a huge pot. — SY

8.25pm: The tale of Baekke and the button
You’ve probably realised that not every single hand is reported here. Blind steals don’t tend to make the cut. With Allan Baekke raising about 90 percent of hands when it’s folded to his button, a lot is not making it.

Just recently, though, Alain Medesan three-bet from the small blind and Baekke was persuaded out of it. — HS

8.20pm: Back
Yes we are.

8pm: Battle of the blinds
Russell Carson has often been attacking Allan Baekke’s small blind raises and this time was no exception . Baekke made it 155,000 to go and Carson three-bet to 440,000. Now remember that these are the two largest stacks at the table, Baekke makes the four-bet to a cool one million. The Canadian instantly looks a little unhappy with life and tosses his hand into the muck. Two minutes away from a 15-minute break. — RD

7.50pm: Baekke pulling away
There’s now about two million between Allan Baekke and his closest challenger, Russell Carson. This is the time to turn the screw, and Baekke is doing precisely that. He’s picking up numerous small pots. — HS

7.40pm: Medesan mucks on the river
Allan Baekke has just caught Alain Medesan at it. Both players had checked the A♦ J♣ 4â™  flop when Medesan bet 200,000 on the 5♦ turn. Baekke calls 425,000 on the 2♦ river and Medesan instantly mucks his hand. Good call by Baekke who is stretching his chip lead at this final table. — RD

7.30pm: Hand 100 claimed by Strassmann
Alain Medesan raises to 150,000 from the cut-off and is three-bet to 465,000 by Johannes Strassmann. Medesan passes. The German is picking his spots really well. Obviously getting Kings in against Jonathan Schroer’s King-Jack helped him along. — RD

7.20pm: Pre-flop poker
Pick the bones out of this one. Allan Baekke raised to 125,000 under-the-gun and Russell Carson three bet to 370,000. Alain Medesan attempted to four bet and puches forward a tower of orange chips, but it was only 500,000, which wasn’t enough for a min-raise. It was deemed a call by the tournament staff.

That was fine. Baekke, knowing that his Romanian opponent had intended to four-bet, did it for him, moving in a million chips. Carson gave up. And then Medesan gave up too.

That puts Baekke back into the chip lead and through the 500,000 mark.– HS

7.15pm: Carson takes the chip lead
Russell Carson takes the chip lead for the first time. Carson raises to 140,000 from the cut-off and Allan Baekke calls in the big blind. Carson bets 205,000 on the 4♦ 2♣ 3♦ flop and is called by Baekke. Both players check the 8♦ turn. Baekke quickly check-calls 370,000 on the 5♥ river. Carson shows A♦ 6♥ for the six-high straight. — RD

7.10pm: We’re back
Players have had their dinner – and I can exclusively reveal that at least Allan Baekke and Russell Carson availed themselves of the really quite amazingly sumptuous buffet here. I can’t speak for either Alain Medesan or Johannes Strassmann. I didn’t see them. (PokerStars Blog’s Rick Dacey had four helpings. Yes, four.)

Enough of that. Here are the four players and their counts. See the captions.

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Allan Baekke: 4,825,000

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Alain Medesan: 4,300,000

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Russell Carson: 4,105,000

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Johannes Strassmann: 3,285,000

And that is dinner
We’ll be back refreshed/bloated in an hour. The full counts are over there on the chip count page. There are four of them still involved.

5.55pm: Plans
Word has reached us that a dinner break is planned for 6pm. That’s five minutes from now. — HS

5.50pm: Medesan fights fire with fire
Alain Medesan raises to 125,000 from the button and Allan Baekke three-bets to 360,000. Medesan reaches for his chips and makes it a cool 1m four-bet. Baekke studies the action and then mucks his hand. Baekke has been three-betting a lot but this is the first time he’s been four bet. The other players aren’t looking like they want to mess with him unnecessarily. — RD

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 30,000-60,000, 5,000 ante

5.40pm: Carson gets aggressive… then passes
Allan Baekke button raises to 125,000 and is three-bet by Russell Carson to 330,000. Baekke calls with position and stabs 275,000 on the 7â™  2♣ 10♥ flop when Carson decides not to make a continuation bet. — RD

5.35pm: Medesan takes another one down
Allan Baekke raises from the cut-off to 125,000 and is reraised to 250,000 from the small blind by Alain Medesan. Baekke calls but folds on the A♣ 9♥ 5♦ flop when Medesan pushes 325,000 forward. — RD

5.30pm: Lull
Yes. It’s all gone quiet. Oh so quiet.

5.25pm: 72 hands in
We’re down to just four players after 72 hands in this final table. There are no radical short stacks and Medesan seems to have recovered from tossing his straight away. Baekke is chip leader with 5,265,000. — RD

5.20pm: Baekke bats Strassmann away
Strassmann raises from the small blind and is called by Baekke in the big blind. Strassmann leads 200,000 into the Q♥ 5♦ 8♥ flop and is called by Baekke. Strassmann check-folds the 3♦ on the turn. — RD

5.05pm: Huge fold from Medesan
Baekke raises from the button to 105,000 and is called by Medesan in the big blind. Medesan check-calls 160,000 on the 8♣ 6♥ 2♥ flop before leading 365,000 on the 9♠ turn. The Romanian quickly checks the 3♥ river allowing Baekke to bet 725,000. Medesan then folds 5♠ 7♠ face-up showing the straight. Great read or bad lay down? You decide.

Baekke has taken back the chip lead. — RD

4.55pm: Medesan chip leader; Wheeler departs
Brent Wheeler out in fifth winning €88,000

Alain Medesan has just pulled off a massive double up through Brent Wheeler that has left the American with a bowl of rice and made the Romanian the chip leader. This was a very strange one, but here’s how it happened.

Wheeler raised pre-flop and Medesan called from the big blind. Medesan checked in the dark as the dealer dealt out 2♠ 5♣ Q♦ . Wheeler bet 140,000 and Medesan min-raised to 280,000. Wheeler called.

The turn was the 7♦ and then it all went in. Medesan led for 500,000 and Wheeler shoved. Medesan insta-called.

Medsan showed pocket fives for a flopped set. Wheeler had Q♣ 2♣ for a flopped two pair. The 8♦ river didn’t help anyone but Medesan.

Wheeler’s last 150,000 was all in on the very next hand, with pocket eights, but Allan Baekke’s Q♦ 9â™  beat him on a board 7♣ 6♦ 9♥ 6♣ 2♣ . — HS

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A delighted Alain Medesan…

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…and a dejected Brent Wheeler

4.40pm: Jonathan Schroer out in sixth winning €65,000
Russell Carson raises to 120,000 and is called by Jonathan Schroer in the cut-off. Johannes Strassmann three-bets to 380,000 from the button and Schroer moves all-in for 1.4m. The Team PokerStars Pro instantly calls.

Strassmann: K♦ K♣
Schroer: Kâ™  Jâ™ 

It’s a terrible spot for Schroer who blanks out but considering this has been Schroer’s first ever live poker tournament he’s got to be given some kudos and, as it happens, €65,000. — RD

4.30pm: Carson flushes chunk from Baekke, takes chip lead
Allan Baekke is out of the chip lead for the first time in two days. Russell Carson now has that mantle, and here’s how he got it.

Baekke made a standard pre-flop raise and Carson called in position. Johannes Strassmann came from the big blind too. The flop was Q♦ 6♣ 5♠ and when it was checked to Carson, he bet 165,000, which only Baekke called.

The turn was 9â™  and both players checked. The river was 8â™  and Baekke checked. Carson bet 415,000 and that was sufficiently small to get Baekke to call.

Carson showed: Aâ™  Qâ™  for flopped top pair and a rivered flush. Carson moves to more than four million and Baekke dips below. — HS

4.35pm: Schroer still moving it in
Jonathan Schroer’s all-in routine appears to be irritating and amusing players in equal measure. The American, not a regular live player, puts on his glasses, pulls up his hood and shoves his chips across the line – literally. Russell Carson appears to be giggling about it while Alain Medesan certainly isn’t. Allan Baekke is the one looking most annoyed as it’s the sixth time that Schroer has moved in on him. — RD

4.25pm: Back with Baekke and Co.
Righto, the six remaining players at Snowfest have re-taken their seats and we’re all set for level 26. Allan Baekke is still bossing this one and has more than four million. Russell Carson and Brent Wheeler are still the closest chasers.

You know where to find the chip counts. Yep, it’s the chip count page.

Don’t forget you can also follow this on EPT Live provided you have a lenient enough boss to allow you to watch live poker all day. Or you’re your own boss. Or you’re unemployed. Whatever. EPT Live is the place.

This is the Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann, still smiling despite a slight slide in chips today.

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Johannes Strassmann

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