11.30pm: Play concludes for the day
Day 1b is done and dusted. Our overnight and overall chip leader is Perica Bukara with a mighty 210,600. Full chips counts and a wrap of the day’s play will be up shortly. Play starts again tomorrow at 12pm. Goodnight from Tallinn. –MC
11.15pm: Stop the clock!
Tournament director Thomas Kremser has stopped the clock for the day and announced the last four hands. Chip counts, confirmation of the chip leaders and end of day wrap to come but it’s looking like Perica Buraka is goimg to be our Day 1B big stack. — RD
11.10pm: New Chip leader?
We might have a new sheriff in town in the shape of Mattias Jorstedt, who just took his stack past 170,000 after winning a pot of around 65,000 against Andrej Vinogrodskij. There’s about 15 minutes of play left today. –NW
11pm: Power poker from Perica
Perica Bukara has sat a top or near the top of the leaderboard for most of the day and he’s just added to his stack by putting his opponent to the ultimate test. On a K♣ 10♥ 2♦ flop, Bukara check-raised Paul Pires-Trigo c-bet of 3,900 (into a pot of 7,000) to 10,500 total, Pires-Trigo called. On the 8â™ turn, Bukara slid out a big stack of yellow, 5,000 demonination chips which more than covered Pires-Trigo, who had around 32,000 back. Eventually he opted to preserve that stack. Percia now has around 165,000.–NW
10.55pm: Markushevski rises
Vadim Markushevski, the Team PokerStars Pro from Belarus, has rocketed to 93,000 after busting Claudio Cecchi from Italy. All the money went in on a Q♦ 8♥ 6♦ flop, with Cecchi on the flush draw with K♦ 10♦ and Markushevski with K♠K♣ .
The kings held up on the 8♣ turn and 6♥ river, and Cecchi was out. — SY
10.50pm: Handy for Hakim
Jeffrey Hakim, a PokerStars qualifier from Canada, more or less tripled up to 60,000 in dramatic fashion. He was all in with pocket queens, and Gregory Bucci was also all-in with A-10. But it was Dmitry Bezlepkin who had them both covered and was in the box seat with pocket kings.
The flop was 7♥ 3♦ 9♦ , keeping the Russian ahead, but the Q♦ turn sent Hakim into the lead. The 5♦ river kept him with none of the three players holding a diamond. Bucci left room the penniless. — SY
10.45pm: Local guy doubles
Estonian Janar Kiivramees has more than doubled to 65,000 with pocket aces. Max Lykov opened the pot with a raise to 2,300 from the hijack before Kiivramees three-bet to 7,000 from the next seat and Antoine Amourette four-bet to 18,000 from the seat after that. Lykov folded but Kiivramees moved all-in for 30,600 and was called. Showdown:
Kiivramees: A♦ Aâ™
Amourette: A♥ Kâ™
The board ran 9♥ 2â™ 10♥ A♣ 7â™ . Kiivramees had to sweat his opponent’s flush draw and managed to do so. –MC
10.40pm: Thater on the up
Katja Thater news now via our German blogger Robin Scherr, the Team PokerStars pro is now on 73,000. The key hand was when she had kings and re-raised pre-flop against someone she said was tilting. On the raggy flop she set her opponent all-in for his last 18,000 and he called with pocket threes. –NW/RS
10.35pm: Chop it up
Francesco Labate and David Sonelin got it all-in on a 10♠6♠8♦ flop.
Labate: Aâ™ 9â™
Sonelin: K♥ 10♥
Turn: 9♥
River: 7♥
Labate missed his huge draw, but did spike a chop on the river. –NW
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 500-1000, 100 ante
10.20pm: Break time
Level eight has come to an end and players are on a fifteen-minute break. Tournament staff are colouring up the green 25 denomination chips , blinds will be 500-1000, 100 ante when players return. –NW
10.15pm: Vaserfirer on fire
Oleksandr Vaserfirer has had a lot of deep runs at EPTs the last couple of years including a 3rd place finish at last season’s EPT Warsaw. He’s up to 120,000 now so he’s primed for another deep run. –MC
10.10pm: Scepi struck down
Raise, re-raise, all-in and call went the action between Fabio Scepi and Mattias Jorstedt, the former made it 2,400, Jorstedt made it 7,000, Scepi shoved for 23,550 total and Jorstedt called.
Jorstedt: J♥ J♦
Scepi: 6♥ 6♣
The board ran out 9♣ 5♦ A♦ 3â™ 7â™ . –NW
10.05pm: Bevand binks on Benjo
Manuel Bevand has eliminated friend and fellow countryman Benjamin Gallen. Gallen opened to 1,900 from under-the-gun and the action folded all the way around to Bevand in the SB who bumped it up to 6,300. Gallen went all-in for 20,500 with pocket kings and Bevand snapped him off with ace-king. An ace fell on the river – good game Benjo. –MC
10pm: Matthias de Meulder and Richard Ashby eliminated in the same hand
Kestutis Slankauskas did the damage. He opened to 2,125 from the hi-jack, Ashby called from the cut-off before de Meulder moved all-in for 11,775 from the button. Slankauskas flat called the bet, only for Ashby to move all-in behind him for 21,100 total, Slankauskas made the call.
Slankauskas: Aâ™ Kâ™
De Meulder: Q♥ Jâ™
Ashby: 9♥ 9♦
Flop: K♥ J♣ Qâ™
Something for everyone
Turn: A♥
Something for Slankauskas
River: 4♣
A total blank, Slankauskas now has 165,000. –NW
9.50pm: A stack as big as him
Juha Lauttamus is a tall chap and relatively speaking his stack is getting to be nearly as tall as him. He just forced Thomas Peterson off a hand to move to 128,000. Peterson raised to 2,000 from the button and then called Lauttamus’ three-bet to 5,200. The flop came A♣ 6♦ J♥ and Lauttmaus continued the aggressive line with a 5,700 bet. Call. The turn came 8♥ and there was no stopping the Finn who fired out 10,325 which was half of Peterson’s remaining stack. The Swede tanked for about three minuted before letting his hand go. He then asked Lauttmanus to show one of his cards who obliged by flashing 2♥ . –MC
9.45pm: Fearless Bukara
It may be possible to raise Percia Bukara off a hand but I’m yet to see it happen. It’s been an expensive lesson for Jeffrey Hakim who tried raising Bukara off a 7♥ K♦ J♥ flop from 2,300 to 7,100. Bukara made the call then led 6,000 into the 9♣ . Hakim decided to drop into chip preservation mode and passed. Bukara sits on 162,000. — RD
9.35pm: Kwaysser fakes the turn
Things almost couldn’t have worked out better for Valdemar Kwaysser there. Represent strength then feign weakness for a nice pay off on the river. A middle position raise to 800 had been called in three spots before it reached Kwaysser on the button. The Hungarian made a chunky is-it-genuine-or-is-it-a-squeeze raise to 4,000 which pushed out everyone but Marc Naalden. Kwaysser made the obligatory c-bet of 4,000 onto the high A♦ 3♦ Q♣ flop. Naalden called and both players checked the 8♥ turn before Kwaysser made a 12,000 value bet on the J♣ river. Naalden called and was shown a flopped set of queens with Q♥ Q♦ . Kwaysser is up to 55,000. — RD
9.32pm: Romanello crashes to a halt
Roberto Romanello is now out, as he walked past the media desk I asked him for some details on his exit hand. He told us that he flopped two pair holding A♥ 9♥ on a [A][9]Q♥ board but ran into Andrea Benelli’s Ace-Queen. Romanello turned the nut flush draw, but missed his outs on the river. –NW
9.30pm: Eight on the river-man
Laurence “rivermanl” Houghton has departed after losing a race. He got his short-stack in with ace-king pre-flop and found a caller with pocket eights. A eight fell on the river to make his opponent a set he didn’t need to make. –MC
9.20pm: Torment for Tureniec
Michael Tureniec is the latest Swede to be eliminated. There was a raise in front of him before he shoved for around 16,000. Fellow Swede Simon Persson smooth called behind and that was enough to scare off the original raiser. Tureniec tabled pocket eights and was racing Persson’s ace-king. All was looking good for Tureniec until a nasty looking ace fell on the river. –MC
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, 75 ante
9.15pm: Romanello in reverse
EPT regular Roberto Romanello has not had the best level, just now he was bet out of a pot by Iikka Tahkokallio. By the time they reached the turn on a Aâ™ 5♦ 3♦ 8♥ board there was roughly 14,000 in the pot. Romanello fired out a bet of 12,625, Tahkokallio asked the Welshman how much he had behind (about 24,000) and moved all-in, forcing a quick fold from Romanello. –NW
9.10pm: That’ll Lerner ya
Derek Lerner is up to 42,000 after winning a classic button versus BB battle with Greg Thompson. Lerner opened to 1,200 from the button and was called by Thompson to go to a 8♥ 9♣ 2â™ flop where they both checked. Lerner found his betting gear on the 6♣ but his 2,200 bet was called. The river fell A♥ and once again Thompson check-called a Lerner bet. The amount was 2,300 but Thompson soon mucked when Lerner revealed A♦ 10♦ . –MC
9.05pm: It takes four (limps) to Tengo
Andrew Teng was fairly short stacked with around 15,000 so when four players, including Richard Ashby and Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Meulder, limped into the hand ahead of him the 3,750 nustling on top of the felt must have looked very appealing. So appealing in fact that he put his whole stack over the line. No-one decided to test him on his shoving range in this spot attractive spot and Teng stacked back up to 19,000. — RD
9pm: Sam likes the snowmen
I was alerted to a big pot that was in progress by one of the many railbirds watching the event. On the river Sam Iola had bet 26,000 into a pot that contained a little over 30,000.
Fabrizio Ascari was his lone opponent and was staring intently at a board of 8♥ 6♥ 9â™ 4♣ 6♣ . Ascari eventually made the call but mucked when Iola showed 8♦ 8♣ , Ascari had just 125 left after the hand. –NW
8.45pm: More from Owston
Welshman Dan Owston is in a chirpy mood. Marc Naalden raised to 1,500 from under the gun, from the button, Owston made it 4,400 total, a bet Naalden called. The flop fell 3♦ 9♦ 10♥ , Naalden checked to Owston who fired a c-bet of 7,225 which was enough to force a fold from Naalden. –NW
8.45pm: Savelev saves himself
Aleksei Savelev is doing his best to pull himself back from the brink. Marc Naalden opened the pot for 1,500 and was called by Dan Owston in the small blind. Savelev made it 5,800 from the big blind leaving himself just 8,000 behind. It was a squeeze with intent and it did just enough to put both players off although Owston gave it some serious thought before telling the Russian that he was a ‘very lucky boy.’ — RD
8.40pm: Awards don’t guarantee success
Last season’s EPT Players’ Choice Award winner Kevin MacPhee has been eliminated. He was grinding a short stack for the two levels before dinner and soon moved all-in upon his return. He got it in very good too with ace-jack to a caller’s king-jack. A jack fell on the flop – no problem there. A king’s appearance on the turn however was not ideal at all. No ace on the river and he was out the door. –MC
8.30pm: Boberg is ice cool
I just watched Frederick Boberg win two pots in a row and in the process pass the 100,000 mark. In the first I joined the action pre-flop to see 25,000 in front of Boberg (button) and 11,300 in front of Jannick Wrang (small blind). Boberg sat impassively whilst Wrang tried to get a read (nothing) a twitch (nothing), Wrang waved a hand in front of Boberg’s face to try and get something but got, you guessd it, nothing, so he folded. The very next hand Boberg raised again, both Wrang and Richard Ashby put in 2,500 to call. On the flop of J♥ Aâ™ 10♥ Boberg c-bet to the tune of 4,800 both his opponent’s folded. He’s currently on around 110,500. –NW
8.25pm: Long dinner break for some
Two players of note busted just before we went to dinner; Randall Flowers was one and the other was a certain ElkY. We don’t have the details of Randall’s exit but apparently the Team PokerStars Pro ran ace-jack into an opponent’s ace-queen. He’d been nursing a short stack for some time and his last 4,900 went in pre-flop and never returned. –MC
8.20pm: Heard the one about twelve guys in a lift?
On the way back from the dinner break I squashed into a packed elevator alongside Team PokerStars Pro Matthias de Muelder and Canadian Ryan Hall. ‘Twelve people in an elevatoir and not one is a woman. Poker sucks,’ joked de Meulder. ‘Yeah, at least we’re not playing Magic cards,’ replied Hall making reference to the much-maligned and more than a little geeky Magic: The Gathering card game. Fair points aplenty. Both players are now in their seats with a little more space than they had moments ago. — RD
8.15pm: Back from the troughs
The 90-minute dinner break is over – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun working through dinner? Anyway, we have three levels left to play today. Percia Bukara is currently our runaway chip leader with approaching 170,000. No-one else looks remotely close to that at the moment.
While we wait for play to get under way, when they’ll be nine-handed, why not take a look at the chip count page? Or, feast your eyes on this photo of a dealer, which I selected completely at random from Neil Stoddart’s fine collection today. A coincidence, honest…
PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of times they have left the hotel): Nick Wright (3), Marc Convey (2), Rick Dacey (1), Simon Young (0)
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