Over at the featured table, Jeff Hakim got his last 57,100 chips into the pot preflop with , and he was in a fine spot to double as David Zampini gave him action with the inferior .
Things turned sour in a hurry, though, as the flop put Hakim in a huge hole with two to come. The turn and river did nothing to improve his situation. "Nice to meet you, Jen," he said as he stood up. "Good luck."
Hakim's 15 minutes of fame on the featured table is over.
Rifat Palevic is our chip leader and so we thought we would witness an orbit in the life of Palevic and the players who are seated at his table. Just prior to our arrival Sam Holden had lost a lot of his chips to Palevic and thus his grip on this tournament, albeit early, had tightened considerably. We reported earlier that the table was going to be a good one and even more so now Vadim Ifergan has sat down to the left of Palevic with 195,000 chips.
Hand #1
Ifergan raised to 3,000 under the gun and Sam Holden pulled 7,200 out from his considerably shorter stack and made the three-bet. The action folded around to Jake Cody, on the button, and he four-bet to 13,400 and both players folded.
Hand #2
Philippe Sintes raised to 3,100 in early position, Johnny Chan called and so did Ifergan in the big blind. The flop was and Ifergan bet 3,500 and only Sintes made the call. That was the end of the action as the and were both checked through and Ifergan won the pot holding .
Hand #3
Rifat Palevic raised to 3,200 on the button and took the blinds and antes.
Hand #4
Mohamed El Hamdi raised to 4,500 in early position and took the blinds and antes.
Hand #5
Sintes raised to 3,000 from middle position and took the blinds and antes.
Hand #6
Jake Cody raised to 2,400 under the gun, Sinter called in the cut-off and El Hamdi also called. The flop was and a 3,500 Cody c-bet took down the pot.
Hand #7
Sinter raised to 2,500 in the first position and won the blinds and antes.
Hand #8
Palevic raised to 3,400 in the first position and Jake Cody cold-called on the button. The flop was and Palevic checked to Cody who bet 3,700. The action returned back to our chip leader and he check-raised to 5,200 and Cody folded his hand.
From early position, Ricardo Tavares raised to 3,500. Action folded to Patrik Antonius on the button and he made the call. In the small blind, Chuc Hoang three-bet to 8,700. Michel Pomaret was in the big blind and tanked for awhile. He eventually called the clock on himself and then folded about 45 seconds into it. Tavares called and Antonius called.
The flop came down and Hoang bet 12,000. Tavares folded, but Antonius made the call to see the turn.
The turn was the and Hoang moved all in for right around 30,000. Antonius quickly said, "I call," and tabled the for quads fives. Hoang held the for an overpair.
The river card completed the board with the and Antonius won the hand. Hoang was eliminated and Antonius moved to 172,000 in chips.
One could be forgiven for underestimating Pierre Neuville. The fuzzy sweaters and the not-very-fashionable glasses he often wears speak much more of a semi-retired businessman with a golf habit than a poker grinder. And indeed, Neuville's prior business career was a very successful one, moving from Vice Chairman of a major international toy company to a consultant for several top celebrities and athletes.
But Neuville, from Belgium, has been playing poker for more than 50 years, and he certainly knows his way around the felt. In the last four years, he's made more than $1,000,000 on the live circuit, including a final table at EPT San Remo and a runner-up finish at EPT Vilamoura in the same year. Neuville has yet to taste a tournament victory, but he's doing what he can to change that this week in Cannes.
We picked up the last pot as Neuville opened to 3,000 under the gun, and Liv Boeree flatted in position. In the big blind, David Bach squeezed in a reraise to 11,700 total. Neuville called, Boeree folded, and it was heads up to the flop.
It came , and it went check-check to the turn. On a delayed continuation bet, Bach fired out with 7,500 more chips, and Neuville studied him carefully. The Belgian then raised to 17,000, and Bach mumbled to himself for a few moments before sending his cards into the muck.
Of our 199 surviving players, seven are women. We're pretty familiar with all of them except France's Rebecca Mordoff, and she's doing the best out of the bunch. Here's how she and the rest of the ladies stack up in the level before dinner.
Somehow Mohamed El Hamdi managed to get all of his chips into the middle of the table, on a board of , while holding . His opponent was Jake Cody and he now has 160,000 courtesy of his . Cody has just added El Hamdi to his Christmas list.
Martins Adeniya raised to 2,200 and Salman Behbehani called on the button. The flop was and Adeniya bet 3,600 and Bebehani called. The turn was and Adeniya bet 6,600 and Behbehani called. The final card was the and Adeniya bet 11,000 from a 30,000 stack and Behbehani called. When the cards were turned over it was a case of air versus air.
Showdown
Behbehani
Adeniya
With only 19,000 remaining in the Adeniya stack, he got it in against the button raise of Michael Pesek.