EPT Deauville Bubble Bursts as Finale Looms

EPT Deauville Bubble Bursts as Finale Looms

Thursday, 30 January 2014

Day 3 at EPT Deauville saw the bubble burst in dramatic fashion and 41 players move one step closer to claiming the latest European Poker Tour title.

At the start of the session the main focus of the returning players was the bubble and within a couple hours of the start those who'd survived for long enough found themselves facing the money jump.

Having knocked back the clock and implemented a hand-for-hand scenario, the staff inside Casino Barrière waited for someone to break and it wasn't long before that happened. After looking down to find pocket kings had been flung his way, Stephen Chidwick decided the time was right to make a bold move.

Raising and putting all his chips across the line, Chidwick watched in hope as his tablemates pondered whether to call and face bubbling or fold and fight another day. Eventually Tobias Wagner plucked up the courage to match Chidwick's bet and when the cards were turned over he saw his Ad Kh was in need of some help from the dealer.

Fortunately for him, the one card he needed arrived without hesitation after the flop rolled out: 6d Ac 9s. With that Wagner had taken control and after the 5d and 6c landed on the turn and river it was all over for Chidwick who made a quiet exit while the rest of the room congratulated themselves on making it into the money.

With at least €9,500 now locked up the remaining 95 players wasted little time in resuming their quest for the title and after a flurry of exits the day was brought to a close during Level 19.

Sitting in the hot seat with the largest stack at this point was French amateur Ekrem Sanioglu, but when Day 4 gets underway today he'll find himself under threat almost immediately from the likes of Alex Goulder, JP Kelly, Oliver Price, Zimnan Ziyard and a host of other Brits.

Today's session will play down to a final table before a handful of players return on Friday to make their penultimate push for this year's EPT Deauville title.

EPT Deauville Chip Counts:
1. Ekrem Sanioglu - 1,300,000
2. Eugene Katchalov - 1,194,000
3. Norbert Szecsi - 1,184,000
4. Sotirios Koutoupas - 1,129,000
5. Tatu Maenpaa - 926,000
6. Anthony Lerust - 837,000
7. Andrew Sweeney - 775,000
8. Dimitri Holdeew - 774,000
9. Alexander Goulder - 696,000
10. Konstantin Tolokno - 684,000



Tags: EPT Deauville, Ekrem Sanioglu