PokerStars EPT Baden Day 3: Poleshchuk, Thew Head Tight Final Table
Anton Allemann rode his big stack all the way to the final table on Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Event in Baden, Austria, outlasting most of a field stacked with top name professionals and Internet superstars. Meanwhile, Vladimir Poleshchuk and Julian Thew moved from a bit lower in the pack to the top of the board heading into Wednesday's final. As Day 3 began, the top five chip stacks were as follows:
Anton Allemann — 140,000
Acar Mazlum — 136,000
Daniel Mangas — 134,500
Thomas Fuller — 128,800
Vladimir Poleshchuk — 122,600
40 players were still alive when Day 3 began, and when Hevad Khan ran into Manfred Hammer's pocket aces, that number became 39 very quickly. Khan, one of the newest members of Team PokerStars, headed to the rail just a few hands into play. Khan had plenty of company at the rail early, as Thor Hansen and Surinder Sunar also busted at the outset. Sunar found himself all in, drawing dead with A♠J♦ on a board of J♥10♠5♥8♣ against Julian Thew's 8♥8♦. The first hour of play was fast-moving, as 13 players went to the rail, leaving 27 to duke it out for 24 paying slots.
Play slowed once bubble time arrived, but finally Heimo Kramer busted in 25th place to burst the money bubble. In the bubble hand, David Sonelin raised pre-flop and Kramer re-raised all in for just a few more chips. Age Spets called the all-in, as did Sonelin. Spets and Sonelin checked it down to the river, when the board read A♣6♣3♣10♥8♥. Sonelin bet the river and took down the side pot with 8♠8♣ for trips. Spets tabled A♠Q♥, and Kramer showed A♦Q♠. Sonelin's trips were good to bust Kramer, and the money bubble was burst.
Dinner break followed shortly after the bubble burst, so play remained slow until players came back from dinner, but Daniel Mangas, Jiri Vacek and Andreas Hoivold all found themselves on the rail before dinner. All three men earned €12,860 for their efforts.
Once players returned from dinner, it only took a couple of hours to eliminate the last 13 players and set up the final table. Kalil Rahal, Alan Smurfit, Victor Goossens and Hector Fuentes were eliminated in short order. Russian tournament star Alex Kravchenko added yet another major cash to his 2007 resume, to go with his WSOP bracelet and his WSOP Main Event final table, busting in 17th place (€12,860). Kravchenko got all his chips in pre-flop with A♥J♣ against Pascal Perrault's A♠Q♣. The board brought A♣A♦10♠Q♠2♣ and a full house for Perrault, and Kravchenko went to the rail.
Perrault didn't get much use out of Kravchenko's chips, as he ran A♦Q♠ into Thew's pocket aces a half-hour later, and Perrault was out in 15th. As the final table neared, the pace of eliminations picked up, with Age Spets, Michael Durrer and David Sonelin all busting in quick succession as play neared one table. Sebastian Ruthenberg was eliminated in tenth after two rough hands, back to back. In the first, Ruthenberg called a pre-flop all in from Allemann with K♥Q♣. Allemann showed the A♥8♦, and the board read 7♥5♦Q♠A♣5♥ to give Allemann the better two pair and the double up. On the next hand, Ruthenberg ran 6♣6♠ into Thierry van den Berg's A♠A♣, and when no six materialized, Ruthenberg was out.
The final nine players consolidated to one table to play down to the final eight, the number at the televised final table, and it took only a few minutes before Gunnar Rabe was eliminated in ninth place to set the final table. Rabe moved all in pre-flop with pocket tens and found a caller in Manfred Hammer with Q-10. The flop of K♦8♠9♥ gave Hammer a gutshot straight draw, which the J♠ on the turn filled. The 3♣ on the river was irrelevant, and Rabe had bubbled the final table.
The players and chip counts for Wednesday's final table are as follows:
Vladimir Poleshchuk – 624,000
Julian Thew – 610,000
Denes Tamas Kalo – 468,000
Manfred Hammer - 369,000
Anton Allemann – 254,000
Thierry Van Den Berg – 227,000
Thomas Fuller – 190,000
Ted Lawson – 81,000
Join PokerNews beginning at 3PM Baden Austria time (9AM EST) for all the live updates from the final table of the PokerStars EPT Baden championship.
