Manuel O'Shea and Braz Borges were heads-up to the river of a 7?2?9?J?2? runout. Borges led out from the big blind for 475,000, representing about a third of his remaining stack.
O'Shea did not take long to announce a raise, moving all in and putting Borges to the test. Borges went into the tank for several minutes before another player at the table called the clock.
Facing a countdown and a bet for his tournament life, Borges eventually found the fold and asked O'Shea to show the bluff. O'Shea obliged, revealing Q?3? for a missed flush draw before raking in the pot.
Theodoros Ampelikiotis moved his stack of 1,725,000 into the middle from middle position and was quickly called by Louis Nyberg to his left. Mykyta Andrusiak then announced all in from the small blind for 2,725,000 and Nyberg called that bet as well.
Theodoros Ampelikiotis: K?Q?
Mykyta Andrusiak: A?K?
Louis Nyberg: A?10?
Andrusaik was in great shape to begin the hand, but the 5?8?10? flop left Nyberg in the lead. The 4? turn brought Andrusiak the nut flush draw, but the 2? river was a blank.
Nyberg took down a massive pot, eliminating both Ampelikiotis and Andrusiak in the process.
With the board reading 5?4?Q?K?J? and about 2,500,000 already in the middle, Kevin Clement checked and was faced with a 1,600,000 bet from Diogo Ferreira, sending Clement deep into the tank.
Eventually the clock was called and shortly afterwards Clement made the call. Ferreira tabled K?J? for two pair and Clement mucked his hand, leaving himself short-stacked.
Not long afterwards, Clement moved all in for his last 2,000,000 chips and was called by Luc Lafontaine who was slightly covered by Clement.
Luc Lafontaine: 9?9?
Kevin Clement: A?K?
The board ran out J?3?3?7?6? and Lafontaine received a full double up while Clement was left with just under two big blinds.
The very next hand, Clement moved all in again for his last 375,000 and was called once again by Lafontaine who this time had a covering stack to put Clement at risk.
Kevin Clement: Q?Q?
Luc Lafontaine: Q?J?
Clement seemed poised to double up but the 9?5?6? flop gave Lafontaine tons of equity in the form of a flush draw. The flush came in on the A? turn leaving Clement drawing dead to the 7? river. Lafontaine collected another decent pot while Clement's deep run came to an end.
Andrew Hinrichsen moved his short stack all in from early position and found a call from Petros Karadimos in the big blind.
Andrew Hinrichsen: A?K?
Petros Karadimos: 9?9?
Hinrichsen was in a classic flip for his tournament life, but his odds dwindled after the 2?5?6? flop. Karadimos held the lead with his pocket pair after the 3? turn and 6? river, ending Hinrichsen's deep run.
With the board reading K?3?J? and about 1,200,000 in the pot, Tommy Nguyen checked and Peter Tordai bet 300,000. Nguyen check-raised to 800,000 and Tordai made the call.
The turn came the 4? and Nguyen bet 1,675,000, once again receiving a call from Tordai.
On the 9? river Nguyen moved all in, covering Tordai's remaining stack of 3,800,000 and sending Tordai into the tank.
"Queen-Ten?" Tordai asked his opponent, who remained silent while Tordai weighed his options.
Ultimately Tordai flicked in the call. Nguyen tabled 3?3? for a set of threes while Tordai revealed J?J? for a set of jacks to take down a massive pot towards the end of the night.
The third day of the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona has come to an end and Ferdinando D'Alessio leads a field of 26 that will return on Sunday for Day 4.
The record-breaking event drew a field of 7,398 and built a prize pool of €7,102,080, from which €676,230 will eventually go to the winner.
D’Alessio is the only player with over 20,000,000 chips, and he is followed by Avihai Smadga and Joshua James on the leaderboard. Ankit Ahuja and Eduard Barsegyan round out the top five chip counts.
Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Name
Country
Chips
Day 4 Big Blinds
1
Ferdinando D'Alessio
Belgium
22,225,000
89
2
Avihai Smadga
Israel
19,875,000
80
3
Joshua James
Canada
15,525,000
62
4
Ankit Ahuja
India
15,325,000
61
5
Eduard Barsegyan
Russia
14,175,000
57
6
Diogo Ferreira
Brazil
12,350,000
49
7
Petros Karadimos
Greece
10,300,000
41
8
Marcos Diego
Spain
9,900,000
40
9
Lucas Silva Rocha
Brazil
8,925,000
36
10
Louis Nyberg
Sweden
8,725,000
35
Igor Kaufman
Day 3 Highlights
Igor Kaufman started Day 3 as the chip leader and he was joined near the top of the leaderboard by PokerStars Ambassador Parker Talbot. Talbot continued his run for part of the day – at one point crossing 7,000,000 in chips – but he fell back to the pack throughout the later parts of the day and before he bounced back to finish with a bag of 6,475,000 for Day 4.
Kaufman also remains in the tournament thanks to a run that started early when he took out Dionysios Kartsampas in Level 26. The Day 2 chip leader was behind after Kartsampas flopped a better pair of aces, but the turn brought two pair for Kaufman – sparking a run that ended with a bag of 7,675,000 for Day 4.
Among the other big stacks at the end of Day 3 are Ahuja, Smadga, and James. Smadga was the Day 1e chip leader and he continued to climb on Day 2 before his big Day 3 left 19,875,000 in the bag. Ahuja built his stack steadily throughout the day before a big run in the late levels gave him 15,325,000 for Day 4.
Parker Talbot
James also went on a late run, capped off with the elimination of Rolando Camardese in the last level of the night. He will return for Day 4 with 15,525,000. Carmardese had a run of his own throughout the day, thanks in part to a big pot in a hand with Catalin Pop. Pop called all three streets just to see Carmardese turn over a turned straight to take a bit pot.
Others that will return include Louis Nyberg, Tommy Nguyen, Hanseok Ko, Lucien Cohen, Lucas Silva Rocha, Kimmo Kurko, Mathias Haugen, and Day 1g chip leader Benjamin Tessier.
Action will continue on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in Level 33 with blinds at 125,000/250,000/250,000. The plan is to play down to a final table and bag up to return for a live-streamed finale on Monday.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor of your favorite tournaments at the 2023 EPT Barcelona.
