Robin Ylitalo and Eric Sfez won the first two small pots on the nine-handed table without showdown and then it was up to Ivan Luca, raising to 42,000 from early position. Sfez as well as Ylitalo both called out of the blinds and headed to the three-way flop of ??.
Only the Swede check-called a bet of 76,000 by Luca whereas Sfez folded. Both checked the turn and Ylitalo then faced a bet of 204,000 after the river. The Swede took a while before releasing his cards and dropped back below one million in chips.
Robin Ylitalo picked up the first pot on the unofficial final table after raising to 44,000 and getting called by Jean-Noel Thorel from the button. The Swede made a continuation bet on the ?? flop and that shut down all further action.
One hand later, Ivan Luca raised to 42,000 from the button and Thomas Butzhammer moved all in from the small blind. Josip Simunic called all in for 74,000 and Luca folded. The Austrian had found ? and Butzhammer's ? were no good after a board of ????.
Josip Simunic had been stealing the blinds and antes once more and then shoved out of the big blind when Joao Ribeiro min-raised to enforce a fold. Two hands later he limped from the button and Jean-Noel Thorel called to see the flop of ??. Garret Gruener in the big blind checked through as well and the three of them headed to the turn.
Gruener check-folded to a bet of 50,000 by Simunic and Thorel called. The river saw another check by Thorel and he called the 116,000-bet of the Austrian with ? for two pair, Simunic was caught bluffing with queen-high.
Gruener was forced all in the next hand for 10,000 chips after having forfeited his other 3,000 chips as ante. Ribeiro in the big blind turned over ? and the American at risk held ?. The ?? flop gave the Portuguese two pair and it was all over after the turn. A meaningless river completed the board and Gruener receives €25,190 for his 10th-place finish.
A redraw to the unofficial final table now takes place and new chip counts will be available shortly.
While the other hand takes a long time to play out on the other table Jean-Noel Thorel took a pot from Nikolay Komcharokov and they were on to the next hand where Garret Gruener was forced all in on his big blind.
Joao Ribeiro was in first position and limped as did Ivan Luca. Josip Simunic took a long time to think about it from the button as he too was short stacked but he folded. Jean-Noel Thorel in the small blind completed and four players saw the flop.
The dealer fanned the and a 40,000 bet from Luca saw the other players fold. The turn was the and the river the .
Luca showed . He had hit top pair on the flop but Gruener had been dealt and survived
The entire first hand on table 18 took more than eight minutes and Tobias Peters was forced all in out of the small blind for 2,000 after having forfeited 3,000 in ante. Robin Ylitalo had raised to 44,000 from under the gun and Davidi Kitai moved all in for 62,000 before the action got to Eric Sfez in the big blind. He could not raise anymore and instead called, so did Ylitalo.
On the ?? flop, Sfez check-called a bet of 79,000 and the turn was checked down. On the river, the Frenchman bet 105,000 and this got Ylitalo to fold his cards. Sfez showed ? and Kitai was eliminated with ?. Peters only had to have hit anything on the board to stay alive and indeed flipped over the ? for a pair of sixes to scoop the pot. "Show me the money," the Dutchman said and jumped up. He is guaranteed a higher payout already as of 11th place.
Only 12 players remain out of a field of record-breaking 128 entries in the PokerStars.fr €10,300 EPT Deauville High Roller event and Nikolay Komcharokov is in the lead with 1,145,000 in chips. Play resumes in one hour from now on at 12 p.m. local time in level 21 at blinds 10,000-20,000 with a running ante of 3,000. Four of the remaining participants are down to less than four big blinds after a dramatic last few hands the previous night.
One of them is Davidi Kitai (65,000) and the Belgian is third in the EPT player of the year ranking, which is now led by Vladimir Troyanovskiy after min-cashing the High Roller last night in 16th place. The other short stacks include Tobias Peters (5,000), Garret Gruener (16,000) and Josip Simunic (73,000) whereas Fady Kamar (218,000) begins the mission for High Roller fame with 11 big blinds.
Hot on the heels of Komcharokov are EPT 10 London champion Robin Ylitalo (998,000), Argentinian sensation Ivan Luca (944,000), Jean-Noel Thorel (912,000) and Joao Ribeiro (866,000). Furthermore, Day 2 chip leader Eric Sfez (619,000) and Thomas Butzhammer (475,000) are also still in contention for the first-place payout of €309,170 as well as the title, trophy and the exclusive watch worth more than €5,000 from luxury Swiss brand SLYDE.
Everyone is already guaranteed €22,210 for their efforts and with so many short stacks returning to the tables, plenty of action is guaranteed right from the start. Make sure to tune into PokerNews and follow the live reporting to find out who becomes the newest addition of the EPT High Roller champions club.
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turn and Ylitalo then faced a bet of 204,000 after the 
river. The Swede took a while before releasing his cards and dropped back below one million in chips.
?
?
?
and Butzhammer's 
?
were no good after a board of 
?
?
?
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turn.
?
for two pair, Simunic was caught bluffing with queen-high.
?
and the American at risk held 
?
. The 
?
?
turn. A meaningless 
river completed the board and Gruener receives €25,190 for his 10th-place finish.
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
while Peters had 
and even though Peters made two pair it wasn’t as good as the nut flush of Kamar.
.
, Ribeiro 
.
and a 40,000 bet from Luca saw the other players fold. The turn was the 
river, the Frenchman bet 105,000 and this got Ylitalo to fold his cards. Sfez showed 
?
