Lehmann Leads Final Eight; Eljach Chases Third Bracelet in Event #3: �1,350 Mini Main Event
The official final table is set in Event #3: �1,350 Mini Main Event at the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe. Out of a field of 1,729 entries, only eight players remain in contention for the biggest share of the �2,000,000 prize pool. All of them have locked up at least �40,950 for their efforts along with a ticket for the 2023 WSOPE Main Event worth �10,350 here at the King's Resort in Rozvadov.
Leading the way is Daniel Lehmann with 49,325,000, which is good enough for 82 big blinds. The always jovial and talkative Norwegian came prepared for a big show with a jacket, not afraid to show successful bluffs almost every orbit. Second in chips is Jamel Ghizaoui with 35,200,000 followed by Sokratis Linaras (30,100,000).
There is a big gap to the other five contenders and included among them is also the 2022 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Omar Eljach. He will return with 14,500,000 in chips and aims to claim a third career bracelet after his victory in Event #2: �550 Pot Limit Omaha 8-max just three days ago.
Seat Draw for the Final Day
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Omar Eljach | Sweden | 14,500,000 | 24 |
| 2 | Georges Chehade | Lebanon | 5,200,000 | 9 |
| 3 | Daniel Lehmann | Norway | 49,325,000 | 82 |
| 4 | Aleksej Grenz | Germany | 16,300,000 | 27 |
| 5 | Francis Klar | Germany | 3,000,000 | 5 |
| 6 | Sokratis Linaras | Greece | 30,100,000 | 50 |
| 7 | [Removed:446] | Mongolia | 19,900,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Jamel Ghizaoui | France | 35,200,000 | 59 |
The dead button is on Linaras and [Removed:446] will be the single big blind when the action resumes on the live stream feature table. There are 15:34 minutes remaining in level 34, which features blinds of 300,000/600,000 and a big blind ante of 600,000.
Action of the Day
The penultimate tournament day recommenced with 58 hopefuls still in the mix and that field was cut down rapidly. During the first four hours of play, the final three tables were reached and notable casualties in the early stages included Petr Targa, Siarhei Chudapal, Vladimir Troyanovskiy as well as the WSOP bracelet winners Fabio Peluso and Sebastian Langrock.
Luigi Shehadeh saw his hopes of an even deeper run end when he three-bet jammed pocket sixes into pocket aces and found no fortunate escape. Shortly after that, Guy Goossens and Javier Francort were eliminated by Jamel Ghizaoui when the latter spiked a fortunate queen on the river to lead the way.
The final three tables brought no major action for a while until Day 1a chip leader Ihar Khursin lost a race with ace-queen versus pocket jacks. Shortly thereafter, a dramatic three-way all-in knocked out Mikael Hen and left De Han Kim short when his flopped flush couldn't hold against Francis Klar. Kim could't recover from that and became the next casualty.
Both remaining players from Georgia, Levan Rcheulishvili and Lazare Kalebashvili, bowed out next and Michele Tocci was flushed away by Omar Eljach. The action then slowed down when the field neared the Main Event ticket bubble, as only the top 14 finishers were guaranteed the ticket. Florian Kraft was the last contestant to take home a cash prize only when his dominated ace was beaten by Daniel Lehmann, who turned the nut flush and rivered a straight flush.
Day 2 chip leader Artiom Poddubnii put his hopes on an open-ended straight draw but Bayar prevailed with a set of kings. Elia Salerno then came up short with ace-queen versus pocket queens and the field was down to the 12 contenders. Romania's Marius Gicovanu first doubled through the red-hot running Lehmann only to then see his two pair crushed by the set of aces for Aleksej Grenz.
Sabri Neziri saw his flopped broadway straight go down in flames when Lehmann spiked a flush on the river and the Norwegian was also responsible for the next knockout. Eusebiu Jalba doubled through Grenz and then got it in as favorite with queens against the ace-jack suited of Lehmann. Two clubs on the flop spelled trouble but the Norwegian instead hit running cards to a straight.
One more player needed to bust to conclude the day and it was the UK's Matt Davenport who came up short. The Grosvenor sponsored pro was left with half a big blind after paying off a jack-high straight by Ghizaoui and could not overcome three opponents when forced all-in out of the big blind.
The final eight players will return to the live stream feature table at King's Resort at 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, November 4, 2023, to determine a champion. All PokerNews updates will then be published on a one-hour delay according to the cards-up coverage.