EPT Deauville: Day 2, level 14 live updates

Updates from day two, level 14 of EPT Deauville, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Blinds:
Level 14: 1,500-3,000 (300 ante)

7.40pm: Five down one to go
Level 14 is in the books. Be back in 15 minutes for the last level of the day.

7.35pm: A tale of two eliminations
There was already 17,000 in the pot with a flop reading 6♦ A♥ 8♣ . Javed Abrahams was in the cut-off and bet 9,000 when it was checked to him. Simon Cuq was his opponent in the big blind and he made a raise to 40,000. Abrahams took one more look at his cards and slid a big stack of chips over the line to cover his opponent who made the call.

Abrahams tabled A♠ 6♥ to Cuq’s 5♦ 7♦ and the turn came 3♠ and river 10♣ to miss Cuq’s draw. Abrahams up to 190,000.

Michael Abecassis fared little better on the neighboring table. Less than a minute after Cuq was eliminated he too was gone. All in with K♦ J♦ against an opponent’s 7♥ 7♠ it was all over after a seven fell on the flop.

Video interlude
Around 100 PokerStars qualifiers started this event, and one of them is having a nice run – Craig Bergeron from the USA. A little earlier he spoke to the video team about playing in Deauville, and a tricky hand with 3-3…

7.20pm: Action from table big stack
Andrew Teng and Goghan Soysal have been on the same table most of the day, and with the Belgian’s (Soysal) stack fluctuating between 300,000 and 400,000 and the Englishman’s (Teng) quivering between 250,000 and 300,000, it’s been a fun table to watch. Throw in the mix the unpredictable Henry Nowakowski and the solid Czech player Martin Kabrhel and the action has been pretty much non stop.

Take this hand: Kabrhel raised to 6,600 in early position and Sylvain Lanternier moved all in for his last 53,600. Teng was the first to get that count and called it, putting the decision now on Angelo Besnainou, recently moved to the table.

Besnainou eventually folded, but his role in the hand isn’t done. Kabrhel seemed very tempted to call too, but eventually passed, and it was Teng versus Lanternier to the flop.

Teng tabled J♦ J♥ to Lanternier’s A♥ A♦ and if Teng thought he was drawing thin, it got worse when Besnainou said: “I folded jacks.” Besnainou could still see his precise cards in the muck and showed Teng that he wasn’t lying. Teng rolled his eyes.

All very, very meagre hopes of an outdraw were quashed as the board only improved the best hand. It came A♣ 6♦ A♠ Q♣ 2♣ and, surprise surprise, quad aces were good.

Teng still has in the region of 250,000 reasons not to be too downhearted.

7.15pm: Blanco blanked
Pasi Heinanen opened for 8,000 and was re-raised by Peter Eastgate in the cut off. Waiting in the small blind was Cristiano Blanco who was ready to push all in for around 14,000. Heinanen called Eastgate’s raise for a flop of 3♠ J♥ 10♥ , then joined him in checking it down through the 9♥ and 10♦ river. 7♣ 7♥ for Heinanen while Eastgate mucked. Heinanen took the pot and eliminated Blanco who showed A♥ K♦ . Heinanen up to 145,000.

7.10pm: Pagano stalling
Luca Pagano was up to 330,000 a level or so ago, but has now sunk back to around 260,000 – still more than double the average.

On this hand it is folded around to Pagano on the button, and he limps, called by Antoine Amourette in the small blind while Patrick Bueno checks his option from the big. The flop comes J♦ A♠ 3♣ and it’s checked to Pagano, who bets 6,000. Only Bueno calls. Both check the 8♦ turn but on the 2♣ river Bueno makes a chunky 22,000 bet. Pagano looks aghast and makes a reluctant fold.

7.05pm: Quick fire all-ins
A flurry of all-ins on and around Peter Eastgate’s table, although none involving the former World Champion. Abdelaziz Bensidhoum moved in first for 48,700. He got no takers, making his pocket jacks useless. Then he tried again a hand later.

On a flop of Q♣ 2♦ 7♣ he moved all-in from the big blind. Patrice Verdier asked for a count in the small blind and called showing A♣ 3♣ . Bensidhoum had Q♥ 10♥ and needed to dodge a club, the same club that hit on the 8♣ turn. All over for Bensidhoum. Verdier meanwhile up to around 330,000.

Then, on the table alongside, Tristan Clemencon did his stack some good, doubling up to about 70,000 with aces against pocket tens.

Then back to Eastgate’s table where Philippe Ktorza moved all-in behind a bet of 9,000 from Verdier. 35,700 in total, which Verdier thought about but passed on, showing A♠ .

7pm: Cream rising
Mike McDonald has been buried away in the seething mass that is the centre of the tournament area today. But it hasn’t affected him adversely. He dipped to about 50,000 at one point but is now up to 220,000 and change.

This is the time that numerous big stacks start to appear as the cream starts rising to the top. No surprise to see ElkY now wielding about 240,000 (sharing a table with the day one chip leader Robert Cezarescu and his 260,000 stack). Davidi Kitai has about 210,000; Ramzi Jelassi has similar.

Luca Pagano has held firm in the highest bracket with around 260,000 still.

6.55pm: Wolf packs up
PokerStars qualifier Michael Wolf has been eliminated by Cathy Hong. All the chips went in pre-flop with Wolf holding 9♠ 9♦ to Hong’s 10♦ 10♥ . Wolf gave out a howl of sorts when he saw Hong’s holding and he was soon leaving the room when the board came Q♠ K♥ 6♦ 3♣ 3♠ . Hong up to 121,000 now which is about half her boyfriend’s (ElkY) stack right now. Who’s going to be bringing the bacon home this week?

6.45pm: Mighty Minieri
Dario Minieri has moved his stack closer to the 100,000 mark. Nothing major, just general attack, like his 7,100 raise from the cut off that was called by Oleh Okhotskyi on the button and Robert Cohen in the big blind. The flop came 3♣ K♦ 10♣ and all three checked for a 3♠ turn. Cohen checked and now Minieri made it 11,100. That tore it for Okhotskyi and Cohen who promptly mucked. On the next hand Minieri opened pre-flop and took the blinds and antes.

6.35pm: Sweet
The white powder scattered around the chair of Angelo Besnainou, and on the table in front of him, is not what you might fear. The Frenchman is of Turkish Jewish origin, where sugar is scattered as a lucky charm. (James McManus mentions the custom in Positively Fifth Street after playing with Besnainou deep in the 2000 World Series Main Event – thanks for Benjamin Gallen for the cultural info.)

It certainly worked its magic a few moments ago. Pedro Mendes Muller raised to 7,500 from early position and Besnainou moved all in for what was about 50,000 more. It was folded all the way back round to Muller, who asked for a count but said he was calling before he got the information. He tabled A♥ K♣ and was racing against Besnainou’s 10♣ 10♠ .

This time it was sugar sweet for Besnainou. He lives to fight another day, and with about 150,000 chips, after the board came Q♠ 7♠ 2♥ 2♦ 8♦ .

6.30pm: Hero call
The turn was already out to give a 7♥ 2♦ K♥ 9♣ board. Freddy Deeb was heads-up with Andras Nemeth and the former led for 18,000 from early position and was called by the latter from the cut-off. The river came A♠ and Deeb led for 30,000. Nemeth only had about twice that left and after he thought it through made the call with 7♠ 5♠ . An amazing call it was too as Deeb could only muster Q♦ 10♦ . The experienced pro recognized his opponent’s play by saying “Nice hand”.

6.25pm: Thater out, Fuchs up
The disappearance of the Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater is directly related to the emergence near the top of the leaderboard of Stefan Fuchs, who has just sent Thater to the rail.

Well, “just” is not quite right. It was the end of the last level when Thater called a raise of 6,500 in position (she was the second to call) and Fuchs made it 30,000 from the big blind.

The original raiser and the original caller got out the way, but Thater took a while before moving all in for what amounted to about 100,000. She was made to regret it pretty quickly. Fuchs showed K♠ K♣ to Thater’s J♠ J♣ and the board bricked.

Fuchs moves up to around 350,000.

6.20pm: Penultimate level
This is level 13 everybody, level 13.