EPT Copenhagen: Day 1B, levels 5 and 6 (200-400, 50 ante)

9.37pm: Level done
That’s the end of level six. Players are now taking a 15 minute break.

9.35pm: Thorson finished
William Thorson is out. “Many pots,” is the simple answer to how he went from about 50,000 to the rail, but the final hand involved king-ten on a Q-J-6 board versus an opponent’s Q-6. The open-ended straight draw didn’t get there for Thorson and he was gone.

9.30pm: PokerStars qualifier Richard Fohrenbach…
…. tells our video crew about his time so far in Copenhagen. Click the little white triangle below.

9.25pm: Collopy lets defences down
Jim Collopy is out, although as he said “It was against ElkY, so it’s all right.”

He nearly didn’t make it at all, arriving late today, waking up 48 minutes into the first level of the day, the result of a long trip here after he cancelled his original flight from Prague, where he’s studying, to take an optional seminar on ‘European Security’.

“It was worth it,” he said before departing to the cash games.

He and Grospellier had been tangling regularly since he arrived at the Frenchman’s table. After Grospellier bet Collopy raised to 2,850 which Grospellier re-raised to 6,600. Collopy promptly moved all-in for around 20,000 which Grospellier called in a flash.

K♥ K♦ for Grospellier
K♠ Q♥ for Collopy

The board ran: Q♦ 6♠ 8♠ K♣ 7♥ . Two pair for Collopy, a set for Grospellier.

“Damn,” said Collopy.
“No respect,” joked Grospellier and Collopy was gone.

9.20pm: Battle of champs
EPT6 London runner-up Peter Eastgate and EPT6 Kyiv winner Max Lykov just locked horns. Eastgate started it with a raise from late position that Lykov called from the big blind. Lykov then seized control on the 9♦ K♦ A♥ flop when he led for 1,300. Eastgate called and called a 3,200 bet on the 5♣ turn. The Russian slowed to a check on the K♣ and after some thought Eastgate mustered a 9,275 bet. It was too much for Lykov and he let it go to leave himself with 17,400. Eastgate meanwhile up to 84,000.

9.15pm: Pierre Neuville does it again
He’s not called the ‘Serial PokerStars Qualifier’ for nothing. Pierre Neuville has won his seat on PokerStars to just about every EPT event so far this season. But in recent weeks he’d been joking via email with Blog HQ that he kept busting on the bubble every time he tried to qualify for next month’s EPT Berlin.

So when he just got knocked out here in Copenhagen (for which, of course, he qualified online), we suggested he now had time to try and qualify again for Germany.

A big grin came across his face. “Since we last spoke I have now won my seat,” he said.

Anyone wanting to improve their satellite game should approach Mr P Neuville immediately for some advice.

9.10pm: Jelassi standing still
Ramzi Jelassi, the aggressive young Swede (perhaps one of those adjectives is unnecessary given the reputation of these Scandi players) is a little frustrated. He’s used to building up a nice big pile of chips early in a tournament, but today it’s just not happening. He’s stuck on around 22,000. Opening with a raise to 1,000 just now, he’s forced to let it go when faced with a re-raise to 2,200. We’ll see if patience is also part of his game.

9.05pm:Kyllonen back with a bang bang
There aren’t many players with a looser image than Jens Kyllonen – his five-bet shove with queen-three against ElkY in the deep stages in Barcelona springs to mind as evidence. But Kyllonen, who won here in Copenhagen last season, knows how to make the most of his image – and he can have a real hand sometimes.

There was about 3,000 in the pot pre-flop and a board of 2♥ 4♥ 7♦ down when Kyllonen bet 2,100 and was called by Nicolas Faure. The turn was 9♠ and Kyllonen bet again, this time 5,200. Again Faure called. The river was Q♣ and Kyllonen didn’t slow down, betting 12,500 this time.

Still Faure was a non-believer and called again. But he sat stunned for a moment when Kyllonen turned over A♥ A♠ , before mucking. Bang, bang: the bullets for Kyllonen take him to 73,000.

8.55pm: ‘I knew it!’
Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian Ruthenberg raised to 1,100 from mid-position before Martin Vallo three-bet to 3,600 from the button. Ruthenberg called to go to a 7♦ 10♣ 9♥ flop. Both players checked as they also did on the 6♠ turn. No more checking for the German on the 4♣ ; he led for 5,600 and found a call. Ruthenberg tabled 7♣ 8♣ for a straight. Vallo folded adding “I knew it!” Ruthenberg on 63,000 now.

8.50pm: Like a hometown cowboy
Alfonso Amendola. The spaghetti poker cowboy, from Italy but forever dressed in cowboy gear, complete with bootlace tie, clipped at the top with a gold horse shoe with what looks like a tiger’s head in the middle. No cowboy hat today but a gold ring, gold watch and gold rimmed sunglasses. No fat cigar either but this may be down to Denmark’s rigid anti-smoking laws that they don’t have way out west.

That’s the ballad of Alfonso Amendola out of the way. He just played a hand against Martin Skanborg and came out of it quite well.

Amendola opened from the cut off, making it 1,075. Skanborg was waiting to ambush him in the big blind, re-raising to 3,100. Now it was back with the Italian who was feeling lucky, calling for a flop of 9♠ 5♥ 2♠ . Skanborg came out shooting from the hip, 4,700 total. But Amendola was unafraid and, with ring, watch and tie pin glinting under the lights, announced “raise”, throwing out 11,000 in total. Skanborg got the hell out of Dodge, leaving the pot to Amendola.

8.45pm: When two Thors go to war
At the Nordic Poker Awards on the eve of this event, Kristoffer Thorsson collected his gong for Rookie of the Year from his near-namesake-but-not-actually William Thorson. Today the two of them are sitting next to one another – and both are chipping up nicely. William “William” Thorson has close to 60,000; Kristoffer “Sumpas” Thorsson has about 85,000.

The elder statesman (Thorson is 26; Thorsson is 19) is still capable of putting a few moves on the young pretender though, such as when the two of them went all the way to the river on a board of 3♠ 4♥ Q♠ 2♣ J♦ , Thorsson having called Thorson’s small pre-flop raise in the big blind.

Thorsson bet 1,000, Thorson raised to 3,600 and Thorsson folded.

8.40pm: Greco triples up
We were drawn to Michael Greco’s table where there was clearly something of interest going on (ie he was standing up and several onlookers were gawping). Turns out that Greco was all in on an A♦ 2♦ 3♥ flop, but two other players, Casper Toft and Michael Schulze, were still in the hand.

They built a side pot when Toft bet 12,000 on the A♠ turn and Schulze called. Then on the 7♥ river Toft moved all in for his last 16,000 and Schulze reluctantly called.

While all this was going on, Greco was whispering to his team mates who came over from neighbouring tables – Tony Cascarino and Marc Goodwin – but it was hard to tell if he was happy with the situation or not.

Turns out he was:

Greco: 2♠ 2♥
Toft: A♣ K♣
Schulze: A♥ Q♠

So Greco had the full house and tripled up to 26,000. Toft, though, won the nice side pot, eliminating Schulze in the process. He’s now up to around 50,000.

8.35pm: Into the black
Roberto Romanello is up to 35,000 chips after being below the 10,000 mark as early as the first level after a disastrous start. He managed to find pocket aces and managed to win with them this time and that got him back to 30,000. Then he got involved in a pot, which was the last of this level, with Team PokerStars Pro William Thorson:

Thorson raised to 600 from late position and was called by Romanello in the big blind. The flop came A♠ K♣ 2♥ and Romanello check-called a 1,200 bet before doing the same to a 2,700 bet on the 3♦ turn. Both checked the 2♣ river and Romanello took the pot with K♠ 5♠ as Thorson mucked. Thorson still going well on 52,000.

8.25pm: Battle of the blinds
A battle of the blinds just developed between Vasileios Petratos in the small and Bertrand Grospellier in the big. After some pre-flop betting they saw a flop of 4♦ 2♥ 9♠ . Petratos allowed 4,400 worth of chips to trickle into the middle. Grospellier called for a turn card A♦ . Both checked and found another ace, A♣ on the river. Another 2,200 this time from Petratos. Grospellier sat riffling, a perpetual motion that burns off the excess energy like the derrick flame on an oil rig. Grospellier call-folded, Petratos showing A♥ Q♠ . Grospellier down to 63,000, Petratos up to 52,000.

8.20pm: Dosh
The full prize structure for EPT Copenhagen has been announced. The winner will get 3,675,000DKK, approximately €493,700, from the total prize pool of 14,212,800DKK (approximately €1,909,000).

Head on over to the payout structure page for full details. And bookmark it because that’s where the prizewinners will also appear as and when they’re known.

8.16pm: Sassy Sasson
Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken opened the pot with a raise to 825 from mid-position and was called by Brynja Sasson in the next seat and Stephan Kjaerstad in the big blind. The flop came 3♣ 5♣ 8♦ and Boeken continued the aggression with a 2,500 bet that was quickly called by Sasson and quickly conceded by Kjaerstad. The turn came K♦ and Boeken kept his foot to the floor with a 5,600 bet. Sasson took a while longer this time but came to the same conclusion; call. Boeken made it 10,000 to go on the 2♣ river and once more he was called.

“You got it,” said the Dutchman and mucked when he saw Sasson’s A♥ 8♥ for a pair of eights. That leaves him with just 10,600 whereas Sasson’s up to 79,000.

8.05pm: Hands across the poker room
Two hands took place at the same time, a table apart, each fizzling out without much fanfare.

First to spend too long at the party was Peter Eastgate. On a board already showing [k][q][q][k] he and Martin Skanborg made their way towards some kind of conclusion. Skanborg checked to Eastgate who bet 1,850 before Skanborg called. The river was a third [q]. After much thought, Skanborg checked, as did Eastgate who then mucked, Skanborg showing a fourth queen to win the pot.

By now, on the table next to them, Bertrand Grospellier had just flung his cards into the muck.

He’d called a bet from Vasileios Petratos pre-flop as Jim Collopy arrived in the seat next to him and was told to take his plate of food elsewhere. Marius Olsvik in the big blind called and they saw a flop, J♦ 9♠ A♥ . Everyone checked for an A♦ turn and did the same for a 10♦ river card. Here Olsvik flipped in a red 1k chip. Only Grospellier called but, as mentioned, mucked fast when Olsvik showed 5♦ 6♦ .

8pm: Timely double
Jon Christensen was down in the dumps with only 6,325 chips to his name, but got a timely double up when he found K♣ K♠ and found a willing caller in the shape of Max Lykov with 10♠ 10♣ . The board ran a safe 3♠ J♦ 6♥ A♠ A♥ for Christensen. Lykov, winner at EPT Kyiv way back in August, still has 31,000 to play with.

7.57pm: Goodwin goes nuts
Marc Goodwin, who came second at EPT Barcelona earlier in the season, raised to 900 and got one caller in the shape of Stefan Raffey. Both checked the 6♠ J♦ 4♠ flop, but on the 2♠ turn Goodwin bet 1,800. Call. On the 4♦ river Goodwin made it 3,800 and again got a call. Raffey tabled 10♥ 10♦ but found he was a million miles behind Goodwin’s A♠ Q♠ – the nut flush.

7.56pm: Battleships!
There’s online battleships going on in the players lounge this week, including some brave souls taking on Team PokerStars Pro ElkY…

7.55pm: Welcome back Dennis Plejdrup
During the early seasons of the EPT, it really wasn’t a tournament unless Dennis Plejdrup was there. He used to qualify on PokerStars for just about every event going and although he’s given the tournament scene a rest for a few years – to focus on online cash games – he’s back today for his home tournament.

He’s not doing at all badly either and has just moved beyond 50,000, flopping a set of twos and betting every street (4,325 on the river), and getting the maximum from Daniel Gothberg’s pocket nines.

7.40pm: ‘Let’s gamble’
Kimmo Kurko raised to 1,050 from the cut-off and was called by Roberto Romanello in the small blind before Anders Langset three-bet to 3,050 in the big blind. Both players called to go to a A♠ 9♥ 5♦ flop. Langset continued his aggression with a 3,000 bet and was only called by the Finn Kurko. When the turn came 3♠ Kurko shoved the rest of his chips forward. It was 12,800 for Kurko to call and did so announcing “Let’s gamble.”

Langset revealed A♥ K♣ to Kurko’s 6♠ 5♠ . The river came 4♠ to make Kuko’s flush and eliminate Langset.

7.30pm: End of the dinner break
Players have returned from the dinner break and play will resume shortly. There will be four more one-hour levels tonight, with a 15-minute break after the first two. If you like to know how long you’ve got to keep reading, then figure on us finishing shortly before midnight local time (CET).

A quick run around the room just before they got up to eat revealed the following larger piles of chips around the tables:

Richard Grace, 92,000
ElkY, Team PokerStars Pro, 68,000
Luca Pagano, Team PokerStars Pro, 65,000
Stuart Rutther, 60,000

Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano