Team PokerStars Pro Dag Palovic checked the final board of to Martin Finger. Finger fired a big bet of 75,000 and Palovic only had 110,000 behind. After two minutes in the tank, Palovic made the call. Finger rolled over the for aces and fours with the king kicker on board. Palovic couldn't beat it and mucked his hand.
On the paired board of , former EPT champion Anton Wigg checked to PokerStars qualifier Ignat Liviu. Liviu fired 26,500 and Wigg came back with a check-raise to 68,500. Liviu gave it up without much hesitation and Wigg won the pot to move back over half a million.
Action folded to Mauri Dorbek on the button and he raised to 10,000. In the big blind was Michaela Smrckova and she reraised all in for 49,000. Dorbek folded and Smrckova won the pot.
Mike Watson has just been eliminated and it wasn't without getting his money in good before getting sucked out on.
Watson was all in preflop with and up against the for Alexander Nudin. The poker gods decided to shine on Nudin for this hand when a jack flopped and he held from there.
From middle position, Martin Finger opened the pot with a raise, and Ari Engel three-bet on the button. Finger made the call, and the two of them took a flop heads-up. Finger checked, and Engel made a tiny continuation bet of 6,500. That drew a check-raise to 25,000, but Engel raised it right back up to 56,000 total. Now Finger flatted, and the two of them check-checked through the turn. On the river, the sprang Finger back into action, and he put out a leading bet of 80,000. Nope. Engel raised to 265,000, and Finger was forced to tank and fold.
The two men are now virtually even in chips, and theirs is a table we'll be keeping a close eye on. As you can see, it's been quite a productive level for Engel already.
Since this level began about 20 minutes ago, we've broken two full tables, and we're down around 92 players left. There's quite a line forming at the payout desk in front of us, and we've just seen Nicolas Chouity and Grayson Ramage joining up. They're standing around with six more recent busters-out, and we expect to see that line grow here as the level rockets along.
From early position, Mike McDonald opened to 11,000, and Max Silver three-bet shoved for about 55,000. McDonald quickly called, and Silver knew the news was likely not going to be good.
Showdown
McDonald:
Silver:
When the dealer burned and turned the first three cards, the was right in the door. As it turned out, though, the flop was a very sweaty . McDonald had picked up a flush draw, and he added another three outs when the paired the board on the turn. He needed any ten, queen, ace, or diamond to earn the knockout.
River:
That qualifies, and it sends Silver off to the payout desk for his check.
David Hrdlicka was all in for 19,000 with , and he was flipping against the of Gheorghe Sandulescu. The flop was pretty decent for Hrdlicka, and the turn locked up his double. The river was too little, too late for Sandalescu, and he's granted Hrdlicka a small double.
Marty Smyth got himself so short during the bubble level that he was essentially forced to sit on his hands and limp into a small cash.
On the first hand back from break, Smyth found a spot to commit his last 21,000 chips. It happened behind an Ari Engel raise to 11,500, and Engel quickly called the remainder to put the Irishman at risk. Engel showed , and Smyth said, "That's pretty good for me," as he rolled over .
He was right. The board came (sweat!) , and the pair of queens allow Smyth to double back into contention. He'll still need to do that twice more to get back to average.
![[user198936]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
to Martin Finger. Finger fired a big bet of 75,000 and Palovic only had 110,000 behind. After two minutes in the tank, Palovic made the call. Finger rolled over the 
for aces and fours with the king kicker on board. Palovic couldn't beat it and mucked his hand.
, former 
and up against the 
for Alexander Nudin. The poker gods decided to shine on Nudin for this hand when a jack flopped and he held from there.
flop heads-up. Finger checked, and Engel made a tiny continuation bet of 6,500. That drew a check-raise to 25,000, but Engel raised it right back up to 56,000 total. Now Finger flatted, and the two of them check-checked through the 
turn. On the river, the 
sprang Finger back into action, and he put out a leading bet of 80,000. Nope. Engel raised to 265,000, and Finger was forced to tank and fold.
was right in the door. As it turned out, though, the flop was a very sweaty 
paired the board on the turn. He needed any ten, queen, ace, or diamond to earn the knockout.
, and he was flipping against the 
of Gheorghe Sandulescu. The 
flop was pretty decent for Hrdlicka, and the turn 
locked up his double. The river 
.
(sweat!) 
