Max Heinzelmann raised to 160,000 from early position and Xuan Liu three-bet to 385,000. When the action came back around to Heinzelmann he decided to call and play a pot out of position against the Canadian.
Flop:
Heinzelmann checked to Liu and she continued her pre flop aggression with a bet of 428,000 and Heinzelmann called.
The turn of was checked by both parties and we saw the river. Heinzelmann liked it and fired out a bet of 428,000 and Liu snap-called. It turns out that the German was going for a thin value bet but Liu was much stronger than he imagined.
Costantino Russo raised to 220,000 before Max Heinzelmann made it 380,000 from the small blind and Russo folded.
Russo tried again the next hand from UTG and this time he won the blinds and antes.
Rupert Elder raised to 160,000 from the hijack and Russo called in the big blind to see a flop which both players checked. The came on the turn and Russo checked again, Elder fired 160,000 on the turn and Russo made the call to see the river. Russo now checked for a third time and Elder fired 275,000 this time, Russo tanked for a minute before folding.
Reduced to just 480,000 after doubling up Xuan Liu twice, Roberto Spada wasted little time in getting his last few big blinds in. Fellow short stack Max Lykov reshoved from the button, the blinds both folded, and they were on their backs.
Spada: a desperate
Lykov: a slightly less desperate
Board:
It was a disappointing end to the tournament for Spada, who had been chip leader at the end of Day 3 and came into the final today in third place behind our two monster stacks, Rupert Elder and Max Heinzelmann. Nevertheless he has 81,950 reasons to celebrate his run at EPT San Remo as he heads home to Ostia. Team PokerStars Pro Lykov, meanwhile, is back in the running on around 1.5 million, and still in with a chance at making EPT history by becoming the first ever double winner.
Xuan Liu raised to 160,000 from early position and the action folded around to Rupert Elder in the big blind and he three-bet to 420,000. Xuan Liu made the call and we saw a flop of and a 920,000 pot. Elder bet 325,000 and Liu folded her hand.
It folded around to Xuan Liu in the small blind and she raised to 215,000. Roberto Spada flat called in the big blind and they saw a flop.
Flop:
Liu bet out 235,000 but soon faced a raise to 560,000 from Spada. Liu paused for a few moments before announcing all in. Spada called immediately.
Spada: for top pair
Liu: very ahead with for an overpair
Turn:
River: a completely unnecessary but rather pretty
From extreme short stackage just a few minutes ago, Liu is now in third place on 5.39 million - 18% of the chips in play. Our chances of seeing back to back female winners here in San Remo just improved significantly.
Just minutes after Liu lost her all-in battle against Francesco de Vivo she found herself in her second all-in and again is was against an Italian - Roberto Spada.
Spada raised to 205,000 from under the gun and Xuan Liu moved 1,100,000 into the middle from the big blind and it represented her entire stack. The action moved back onto Spada who made the call.
Liu
Spada
Liu was in a fantastic situation.
Board:
The jacks held up and Liu was right back into the game but what a terrible start for Spada.
Xuan Liu opened three hands in a row to 160,000 winning the first two sets of blinds and antes. The third saw Francecso De Vivo move all in over the top for about 600,000 more, the Canadian made the call after dwelling for about 30 seconds.
Liu:
De Vivo:
The board came and De Vivo doubled up yet again. Liu dropped to 1.3 million while De Vivo moved up to 1.7 million.