Day Four of the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Barcelona had absolutely everything. It had former champions battling for their lives, back-to-back final table possibilities and life changing river cards; but when the smoked cleared, and the tournament area was vacated, Tom Middleton was still leading the final 24 players.
The Full Tilt Poker (FTP) Ambassador, Dermot Blain, doubled through Jacek Markowski, in a scrap straight out of the playground. Pocket aces bullying the hell out of the pocket fours of Markowski; but Blain was unable to gain any traction and was eliminated a few levels later.
The short-stacked Kevin Iacofano had a similar ride. He too doubled when his [Kc] [3d], found a three on the flop to double through the [Ah] [5h] of Pasi Sormunen. Then, just to prove it was no fluke, he did it again, this time against the EPT7 Barcelona Champion, Kent Lundmark, when his [Ks] [Jd] found a king on the flop to double through the [Th] [9c] of the former champion. However, Lundmark would have the last laugh when the pair tangled for the last time with the ace-ten of the Swede proving too strong for the ace-eight of Iacofano and the American was out.
For large stretches of this competition, the man from Lebanon, Albert Daher, looked like he could be a real force; but that ended when he ran pocket nines into the pocket aces of Madis Muur – an ace on the flop ending Daher’s hopes of back-to-back major final tables, after his runner-up performance at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Merit Cyprus Classic a fortnight ago.
Anara Alekberovas was looking good for back-to-back EPT Barcelona final tables after eliminating Jacques Torbey. Torbey making a move with [8h] [7h] and Alekberovas calling with pocket nines, to send another Lebanese competitor to the rail. Alekberovas finished in fourth place last year.
Then we lost the EPT7 Barcelona Champion Kent Lundmark. The Swede shared a flop of [Th] [7c] [2d] with his fellow Scandinavian Pasi Sormunen. The chips went into the middle like two sets of car keys and two cards later Lundmark was gone. [Qd] [Td] not good enough to beat the set of deuces for the Fin.
The PokerStars Team Pro, Christophe De Meulder, found aces to dispose of the mighty [7c] [5d] of Sean Wilson. An ace on the flop making life nice an easy for De Meulder, but the last remaining red spade pro would be eliminated shortly after in a hand against Eduard Bhaggoe. The Belgian got it in good with [Ah] [Th] looking stronger than the [Kh] [Qh] of Bhaggoe; but a cruel king on the river demanding it was time that De Meulder lost his head.
Then some movement from the big boys at the top of the charts. Tim Middleton eliminated Douglas Souza: kings versus tens, to take the chip lead; but Kimmo Kurko went one better when he eliminated Yakov Nuchin: aces versus ace-queen-suited to overtake him at the top.
Three extremely dangerous predators were next to fall. The in-form Mike Watson got it in with [Ah] [3h], but was rivered against the [Kd] [5d] of Dikovic Dejan; the final former EPT Champion Dimitar Danchev followed him to the rail and then Kevin Vandersmissen lost out when his queens ran into the ace-jack of Kurko – an ace on the river sending the much fancied Belgian to the rail
Jamila Von Perger was the last remaining female, and that very nearly changed when she got it in holding pocket fours against the ace-nine of the Day 1B chip leader Florian-Dimitrie Duta. An ace on the flop leaving Von Perger with just two outs and she found one on the river to bust Duta in one of the hands of the day.
Ole Schemion Leads the High Roller
The €10,000 High Roller has seen 168 entrants and only 90 of them remain after the first day’s play. The chip leader is Ole Schemion with 393,600 chips after winning a three way all-in that saw Vincent Verdickt and the €50k Super High Roller champion, Vitaly Lunkin, eliminated. Schemion holding kings against the ace-king of Lunkin and pocket fives of Verdickt. The cowboys held and Schemion was able to sail through the rest of the day.
Igor Kurganov (315,300), Gerard Pique (308,500), Eugene Katchalov (260,400) and Philipp Gruissem (205,00) a taste of the talent left in that competition.
Alain Roy Picks Up a Nice €2k Win
The former Partouche Poker Tour (PPT) winner, Alain Roy, has picked up €118,200 in a very difficult €2k field that saw the three way action come down between the Frenchman, former WSOP world champion Jonathan Duhamel and the highly talented Martin Czuczor; Roy beating Czuczor heads-up, whilst Duhamel finished third.
