6.30pm: Dinner time
That’s the end of the level. We’re now taking a 60-minute dinner break. Join us again at around 7.30pm.
6.25pm: Romanello takes some of Langset’s run-good
Anders Langset had a spectacular tournament here last year, hardly putting a foot wrong en route to the final table and a payday of close to $370,000.
It’s not been so great this time around, however, and Langset just doubled up Roberto Romanello, who now has around 40,000. They got it all in on a flop of 5♥ 10♣ J♥ and Langset, who had shoved, was ahead with A♣ Kâ™ . Romanello had 7♥ 9♥ for the big draw.
The dealer didn’t prolong it unnecessarily and the 10♥ on the turn ended it. The 7♣ was irrelevant and Langset began counting out 16,925, the price of Romanello’s all in.
The young Norwegian still has about 20,000 to play with.
6.20pm: Tall man, tall stack
Lofty Richard Grace has soared to the top of the leader board (as far as we can tell) with 92,000 chips.
Firstly he took a bunch of chips of an opponent when he called a raise to 750 whilst sat in the big blind with 8♦ 10♦ . The flop came A♦ 8♥ 3♦ and he check-raised his opponent’s c-bet before leading out for 5,200 on the K♥ turn. His opponent called and then also called Grace’s 13,000 bet on the J♦ river. Grace tabled his flush and his opponent mucked.
Secondly he stacked a player when Grace put him all in on a K♣ 7â™ 9♣ 7♥ board. His opponent snap-called with A-8 but was drawing dead Grace’s ace-king. Grace commented that he might’ve misread his hand.
6.15pm: Neuville grinding
Pierre “Serial PokerStars Qualifier” Neuville was down to his last few thousand chips, but added a few more moving all in on a 6â™ Q♥ J♦ Aâ™ 3â™ board and getting no callers. The man from Belgium is back up to around 6,000.
6.10pm: Battle of De Betou
Magdalena Lorent-In De Betou is out, busted by Martin Skanborg who held aces to De Betou’s kings. She seemed to know her fate before the showdown and the board proved she was right: 5♣ 10♦ 7♦ 2♥ Q♦ .
6pm: Whether he IS or he ISn’t, he’s out
All of the whispers in the opening stages today centred on the arrival to EPT Copenhagen of Viktor Blom – IS he or ISn’t he you know who?*
Blom refused interview requests from about ten media outlets to discuss poker’s hottest topic, instead taking hIS seat among today’s field and going about his business with the minimum of fuss.
However, the latest news from level four IS that whether he IS or ISn’t you know who, Blom now has sufficient time to focus on his other hobbies. He’s out – running ace-king into Jakob Brekken’s kings.
*If you don’t understand any of this, that’s for the better. Trust me.
5.55pm: Turn of the two-outer
British player Marc Goodwin is feeling a little sick right now. His stack should be topping the 50,000 mark but instead he sits on 14,000. He limped from under-the-gun and then called Henrik “Lotto” Sorensen’s 1,600 raise from two seats along. It was heads-up to the 3-4-10 flop where all the chips went in. Goodwin’s pocket 3s for a set was looking good against Sorensen’s jacks but this is a cruel game sometimes. A jack came crashing down on the turn to wind Mr Goodwin.
Fellow Brit Michael Greco has made a semi-recovery as he is back up to 20,000 chips from a low of 5,000.
5.45pm: A bracelet of a different kind
William Thorson disappeared at the last break to fetch a bracelet given to him by his niece for Christmas. He hadn’t had it for the first two levels of the day and the magical powers this thing had already demonstrated were ineffective from the safety of a hotel room several flights up.
Since he began wearing this thing life has gone pretty well for the big Swede, everything from a limo upgrade to winning the Omaha side event at the PCA. Frankly, it’s hard to believe this bracelet isn’t permanently glued to his wrist. It’s much harder to leave your arm on a bedside table.
On a flop of 3♠9♦ 10♠Anders Langset checked the action to Thorson who made it 4,000 to go. Langset called for a 10♥ on the turn and then bet a yellow chip. Thorson, ever the hulking presence at the table, raised it up to 13,000. Again, Langset called.
A 7♣ on the river. Langset tapped the table. Slowly, Thorson moved all-in for around 25,000 more. There then came a long exhale from Langset, the same long noise you’d hear if you knifed a rubber life raft.
Langset leant forward, rested his elbows on the table and kind of gripped his own face, contorting it so as not to give anything away except his own sheer desperation. He folded, passing his cards to the dealer with disgust. They’d let him down and now he’d have to pay for their failure – enough to send Thorson up to 60,000.
5.40pm: Aces v kings, with a slight variation
All the money went in and it was kings against aces, with aces winning, but they at least got to a flop before it all kicked off. The players involved were Jakob Brekken, who had the aces, and Steen Jensen, who had the kings.
The flop was 5♣ 2â™ 6♥ and Jensen bet 4,000. Brekken moved all in, for 20,500 total, and Jensen agonised before calling. When Brekken showed the aces, Jensen’s wince seemed to suggest that was exactly the hand he feared the most.
The 2♣ 6â™ on turn and river didn’t help – and Jensen perhaps reminded himself to have the courage of his convictions next time.
END OF THE LEVEL – INTO LEVEL FOUR
5.30pm: Quads send ElkY to chip lead
ElkY has taken over the chip lead, up to around 80,000 – a menacing stack at this early stage of the day. If anyone doubted that ElkY runs good, then here’s further proof to help change their minds.
With around 8,000 in the pot already, the board was showing 5♦ 5♣ Jâ™ Q♥ . Fabrice Cosstikian checked, then ElkY reached for 4,400. Cosstikian thought for a few moments, then took his last 13,000 and put them over the line. ElkY could not have called quicker, and here’s why:
ElkY: Q♣ Q♦
Cosstikian: A♣ Aâ™
A full house for the Team PokerStars Pro, and the river just rubbed Cosstikian’s nose in it even more – Qâ™ for quads.
5.20pm: Fitzgerald gunned down
Alex Fitzgerald has been eliminated in unfortunate circumstances. He and Anders Langset saw a 2♣ 7♠Q♦ flop where all the chips went in. Fitzgerald tabled 2♣ 2♥ for bottom set but Langset tabled 7♦ 7♣ for middle set. The turn came 6♣ and river 4♣ to confirm Fitzgerald, as the all in player, was knocked out.
5.10pm: Nationalities
Well roll me up in a pig’s bladder and stuff me in a petrol station bap – it’s the player nationalities’ breakdown for EPT Copenhagen. There were 423 entrants, 154 of whom were Danes (and still are, probably). Three of them were/are Panamanian.
Here’s the full list:
Denmark – 154 players (36%)
Sweden – 44 players (10%)
France – 28 players (7%)
Norway – 28 players (7%)
Italy – 24 players (6%)
Holland – 22 players (5%)
Finland – 21 players (5%)
UK – 17 players (4%)
Russia – 14 players (3%)
USA – 12 players (3%)
Spain – 6 players (1%)
Romania – 4 players (1%)
Hungary, Iceland, Panama – 3 players each (1%)
Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania – 2 players each
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Faroe Islands, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Malta, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland – 1 player each
5.05pm: Bennedsen sees red
Luca Pagano, wearing a shock red shirt with a bright white collar, opened for 600. Coming along with him on this one was Mikkel Mulvad Bennedsen and they saw a flop of 10♠9♦ 4♦ .
Pagano checked to Bennedsen who was more than willing to lead the way, making it 850. Pagano, seated on his immediate right, seemed to know a better way though, and raised to 1,800. Bennedsen called for a Jâ™ turn.
Pagano used his check tactic once more, allowing Bennedsen to act first. He did, throwing out 2,150. But again Pagano called, getting an 8♥ on the river in return. He then checked, so too did S4. That was enough of that. One card at a time S4 showed A♦ K♦ . Pagano didn’t hesitate showing his K♣ 10♥ , taking the pot.
5pm: Deja vu
Poker tournaments can have a habit of rolling into one, but I’m fairly sure this isn’t just a delusion. Shortly before the break, a quick scan of the room yielded two hands: Jorn Walthaus bullying an opponent out of a pot, and Rune Olsen doing the same on a table nearby. This side of the interval, almost precisely the same two things were happening. Here are the details:
Simon Ravnsbaek raised to 475 and Rune Olsen called. Daren Woods, on the button, sensed an opportunity to squeeze and made it 2,100. The original raiser Ravnsbaek got out the way, but Olsen was going nowhere. He called and the two of them saw a flop of 4♣ 10♣ J♦ . Olsen checked, Woods bet 3,150 but Olsen sprang a trap, making it 8,200. Woods folded and that was that.
Onto Walthaus’ table. There was about 3,500 in the pot and the flop was out: Q♥ 6â™ 6♦ . Alberto Valenti bet 3,500 and Walthaus, from the button, re-raised to 7,600. Velenti folded. Job done.
4.55pm: Houugard feeling cold
Even though it’s very cold in Copenhagen this time of year it’s the deck and not the weather that’s giving Jesper Houugard the shivers. He was sat on the button and in battle with Thomas Holm in the big blind. There was raising and three-betting pre-flop and by the time they reached the river there was around 25,000 chips in the middle. Holm led out for 13,900 (12k back), a bet that Houugard would eventually call after a lot of deliberation but wouldn’t be happy with what he saw.
Holm opened K♦ K♠for a set and Hougaard opened A♣ K♣ for top-two. Houugaard left with 8,000 chips.
4.50pm: Great call from Ruthenberg
On a 7♦ 10♦ J♥ 4♣ 3â™ board, Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian Ruthenberg made it 2,700, but Henrik Junker re-raised to 9,125. Ruthenberg went into the tank but emerged with a call – a great one at that:
Ruthenberg: A♠Q♣
Junker: Q♠K♥
The ace-high call was good. Afterwards, the German explained to blog HQ that Junker had asked him on the turn: “How much do you have left?” In Ruthenberg’s books, that’s a sign a player is on a draw, and in this case the blank river could not have helped him.
Well played, sir.
4.45pm: Eastgate misses
Peter Eastgate check-called Mikhail Shakhnovich’s 2,750 bet on a 7♦ Aâ™ J♥ flop, and repeated the process to a 5,375 bet on the 9♥ turn. Both then checked the J♦ river. Shakhnovich showed K♣ Qâ™ , too good for Eastgate, who let out a sigh, presumably feeling he had missed a chance of taking down the pot on the river.
4.40pm: Stuart ‘The Nitter’ Rutter
Former EPT champ Will Fry is here railing his friend Stuart “The Nutter” Rutter. They’ve joked though that his name should be slightly altered – see headline – as he’s only played one hand so far today. It was a pretty good spot, though, as it enabled him to double-up to 60,000 chips.
He was holding pocket aces and found a customer in EPT serial qualifier Pierre Neuville who had pocket kings. All the chips went in and when Neuville came out the other side of the hand he had only 2,200 chips left.
4.27pm: And we’re back
Play resumes, or at least it will any second, with blinds at 100-200 in level three.
