At the start of the day on Saturday in the confines of the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, 32 players still had dreams of a European Poker Tour championship in their heads. At the least, some of the runners on Day Three would walk away with a minimum payout of $23,137, which led to spirited action throughout the day’s play.
2008 World Series of Poker HORSE champion Scotty Nguyen and American professional Beth Shak were the first notables who could take advantage of heading back to sleep as they departed in 32nd and 31st, respectively. Following in the footsteps of fellow “November Nine” participant Ivan Demidov (who made the final table at the WSOP Europe earlier this week), Peter Eastgate demonstrated that his poker game will be in fine shape when the WSOP Main Event final table reconvenes next month by earning a very healthy $28,923 for his 19th place finish in London.
Taking the worst beat of the tournament had to be “The Italian Pirate,” Max Pescatori. On an A-K-x flop, a deep-stacked Pescatori was thrilled to get his chips in the middle with pocket kings. That elation turned to despair, however, when his opponent in the hand and the only player to have him out-chipped at the table, Michael Martin, called and revealed pocket aces for a cooler of a better set. The tough break sent Pescatori to the rail in 15th place; maybe the $34,695 can soothe Max’s pain.
David Benyamine, who has been having potentially his best tournament year ever, drove deep in London before succumbing to PokerStars qualifier Michael Tureniec. Benyamine got his chips to the center with a flush draw that didn’t hit, finishing in 12th place for $63,466. Even with Benyamine out, there were still other top flight players who fought it out for a seat at the final table.
Down to nine players, 2008 EPT San Remo runner-up Anthony Lellouche and the aforementioned Martin were the chip leaders, but challengers abounded as they played on to the final eight. PokerStars Pro and EPT veteran Johannes Strassmann held the flag high for Germany and 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Alan Smurfit kept the Irish in the battle.
The nine men fought for over an hour and a half without much change as cautious play became the norm and with no one wanting to bubble off the official final table. Even as the blinds rose to where some players had barely more than ten times the big blind, an all in move or re-raise was enough to take down many pots. It took the pocket kings of Eric Liu to survive the onslaught of eventual ninth place finisher Erik Sjodin’s A-J before the final table was determined.
Come Sunday afternoon at the Vic, these men will battle it out at the final table for the EPT London title:
Seat 1: American Eric Liu – 1,308,000
Seat 2: German Johannes Strassmann – 434,000
Seat 3: Canadian Philippe D’Auteuil – 476,000
Seat 4: Frenchman Anthony Lellouche – 1,022,000
Seat 5: Swedish PokerStars qualifier and chip leader Michael Tureniec – 1,331,000
Seat 6: 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Alan Smurfit – 396,000
Seat 7: Polish Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki – 309,000
Seat 8: American Michael Martin – 718,000
With the blinds at a difficult 15,000/30,000 with a 3,000 chip ante, it is obvious that the shorter stacks at the table are going to be looking for an early double up to get back in the competition. Tureniec, Liu and Lellouche could be prohibitive favorites, but there is plenty of quality at this final table. The European Poker Tour will broadcast the final table on its website live at 8:30am ET in what should be a lively conclusion for the prestigious London championship.
