[user140525]
Thomas Kremser counts Bassam Elnajjar's stack.
Arnaud Mattern raised to 95,000 under the gun, making it the third hand in a row he'd opened with a raise. Next to act, Mikko Jaatinen reraised to 265,000. Action folded to Bassam Elnajjar in the small blind, and he announced he was all in. Whoa! The room perked up at the day's first giant pot. Mattern asked for a count of Elnajjar's stack. It was 860,000 total. Then he asked the dealer to pull in Jaatinen's bet. He did an excellent job of acting stumped before moving all in himself. The act wasn't necessary. Jaatinen folded without a pause.
Elnajjar:
Mattern:
But it's never just that easy for Mattern. The flop came , bringing a flush draw for the Frenchman to sweat. He held his breath as the dealer turned over the on the turn and the on the river. The black cards were no help to Elnajjar, and he becomes the day's first casualty. Mattern moved up to nearly 5 million.
A couple hands later, all of them taken down by simple preflop raises, Arnaud Mattern raised again, and this time Konstantin Bilyauer called in the cutoff. They saw a flop, and the media all edged a little closer to the table.
The flop read and Mattern bet out 130,000. Bilyauer called, and the press edged in just a little more.
The press would soon back off again, though, as both players checked down the turn and river. Mattern revealed , but Bilyauer turned over for the second-tiniest full house, and took the pot.
Mattern has slipped down to 3.05 million, but that is still a quarter of the chips in play and good enough for the chip lead. Bilyauer meanwhile is gaining on him, with more than 2.6 million.
Early almost-action as Arnaud Mattern opened to 100,000 in the cutoff and it folded around to Steven van Zadelhoff in the big blind - who promptly announced all in. Mattern asked him how much it was, but in the he folded. Van Zadelhoff moved on up to around a million in chips.
We finished with about 15 minutes left in level 25 last night but Thomas Kremser has rolled back the clock and we will be playing the whole level once again.
Jaatinen has been playing poker for six years but just as a hobby. This is by far his biggest result to date so far. He is a post-graduate student studying for a PhD in Economics. Mikko was competing in Tallinn alongside his better-known brother Jussi who is a very successful player in his own right and will be able to offer more than ample support for the final. His studies are the main priority in his life right now so even if he manages to win EPT Tallinn, he says he will still be selective in how many EPTs he plays in the future.
Before taking up poker in 2004, Arnaud was a well-known backgammon player. His poker career started online with both cash games and tournaments, Limit and No Limit. By 2006, he was also enjoying success at live events including wins in London and Italy. He first came to international attention when he took down the inaugural EPT Prague event in Season 4 for €708,400. He came close to winning a second title the next season when he came fifth at EPT Warsaw. He has cashed at several EPTs since then and went deep in last year’s WSOP-E in London. In May this year he made the final of the WPT in Paris, finishing seventh for €82,000. He is known for his mathematical approach to the game and has been described as “disciplined, cold and calculating.”
Vitkind, who won his seat to EPT Tallinn in a $22 Rebuy satellite on PokerStars, has cashed three times on the EPT including 73rd at the EPT6 Grand Final in May for €25,000. He also came 10th in a PCA side event in January. His best live result though was third place in the $5,000 Bellagio Cup in Las Vegas in July for $97,000. He also came third at PokerStars Russian Poker Series side event in Riga last week for €7,000. He won his trip to Riga on PokerStars.
![[user140525]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, bringing a flush draw for the Frenchman to sweat. He held his breath as the dealer turned over the 
on the turn and the 
on the river. The black cards were no help to Elnajjar, and he becomes the day's first casualty. Mattern moved up to nearly 5 million.
and Mattern bet out 130,000. Bilyauer called, and the press edged in just a little more.
turn and 
river. Mattern revealed 
, but Bilyauer turned over 
