2016 EPT Dublin Main Event Day 3: Bubble Bursts, 45 Remain, and Alex Goulder Leads
Day 3 of the 2016 PokerStars European Poker Tour Dublin €5,300 Main Event started with the 605-player field already diminished to just 127 hopefuls. Some 40 of those would still leave empty handed, as there were just 87 checks to be handed out.
Some of the well-known players not to make it were Carlos Chadha, Michael Wang, Nick Abou Risk, Pratyush Buddiga, Fernando Brito, and Chris Moorman.
Another player that didn't make the cut was 2015 World Series of Poker November Nine member Zvi Stern, who had started the day with a very healthy 140,000-chip stack. He called a three-bet out of position with ace-nine and front shoved all in for a couple times the pot after flopping a flush draw. Unfortunately for him, his opponent, Jean-Noel Thorel, wasn't backing down with his unimproved ace-jack high, and he called. After both the turn and river blanked, Stern made his exit.
Despite collecting a big pot there, and winning several others, Thorel would not make the money. The Frenchman, known for not giving up in pots easily, moved in with an open-end straight and backdoor flush draws, only to run in to the set of former November Niner Antoine Saout.
The bubble loomed not much later after EPT Deauville champion Ognyan Dimov made his exit in 89th place. Hand-for-hand play started with 88 players remaining, a stage that took just a little while with Sven Magirius busting out soon after it began. He was down to just four big blinds and made his move with ace-king. Brazilian player Alexandre Rivero woke up with pocket tens and put the German at risk. Rivero flopped an open-end straight draw and turned his straight to send Rivero packing.
As one might expect, with the bubble out of the way, players busted out left and right. Christoph Vogelsang, David Vamplew, and Bart Lybaert were just a couple of the players signing for a min-cash worth €9,100.
Liv Boeree signed for the same payout, as she was unable to beat ace-nine suited with pocket sevens. Her opponent flopped an ace and turned a flush on a card that gave the British PokerStars Team Pro a set. The board failed to pair on the river, and Boeree made her exit in 74th place.
Well-known French rounder Fabrice Soulier was the first to bust out in a higher pay grade, receiving €10,270 after getting rivered with ace-jack against king-queen.
Andrew Chen (nines against jacks), Mike McDonald (ace-king against jack-ten), and Anthony Zinno (ace-king cracked by king-queen) busted out not much later, also receiving €10,270.
Where some fell, others thrived, with Alex Goulder as a prime example. He ended the day as chip leader with 1.02 million in his stack, good for 102 big blinds at the start of Day 4. PokerStars Team Pro Luca Pagano (470,000) — the only player with three EPT Dublin cashes to his name already — PokerStars Team Online member Jaime Staples (241,000), and British regular Scott Margereson (642,000) also collected healthy stacks on Day 3.
Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Goulder | 1,020,000 |
| 2 | Frank Williams | 881,000 |
| 3 | Christopher Kruk | 812,000 |
| 4 | Ivan Banic | 715,000 |
| 5 | Gilles Bernies | 657,000 |
| 6 | Scott Margereson | 642,000 |
| 7 | Adrian Mateos | 631,000 |
| 8 | Rhys Jones | 630,000 |
| 9 | James Akenhead | 626,000 |
| 10 | Kuljinder Sidhu | 613,000 |
Dzmitry Urbanovich will be making an appearance on Day 4 as well, though his 164,000 stack is on the low side. Same goes for two-time EPT Prague finalist David Boyaciyan (147,000), Russian karate expert Artem Litvinov (326,000), and 2015 November Niner Pierre Neuville (262,000).
Day 4 of the Main Event starts Thursday at 12 p.m. local time with another five 90-minute levels on the schedule. Besides the Main Event, the three-day €10,750 High Roller gets underway at 12:30. PokerNews.com will be on site for coverage, so check back to get updates from both big events in the Irish capital of Dublin.
In the meantime, check out Sasha Salinger's interview with then chip leader [Removed:412].
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