Action folded to Tom "Middy" Middleton on the button and he raised to 320,000 holding . The small blind folded and then Luca Fiorini three-bet to 750,000 from the big blind with the . Middleton considered his options and then clicked it back with a four-bet to 1.2 million. Fiorini responded by instantly moving all in and Middleton snap-folded.
Kimmo Kurko opened for 320,000 with on the button. Tom Middleton, from the big blind, three bet him to 825,000. Interesting situation for Kurko as Middleton will often be aggressive in this spot, but Kurko saw no reason to tangle and laid it down.
With 1.66 million in the pot and a board reading , Daniel Nielsen checked with the from the big blind and Tom Middleton followed suit with in the cutoff. Nielsen checked once again on the river and then snap-called when Middleton took a stab at the pot for 800,000.
Nielsen showed his flush and won the pot to take over the chip lead.
Tom Middleton raised from the button to 320,000 with and Eduard Bhaggoe shoved from the small blind with . The big blind folded and Middleton quickly called. The board rand out. Bhaggoe got his pair right in the window and no queen appeared, so Bhaggoe came from behind to doubled up and put a minor dent in Middleton’s stack.
On Hand #17 of the final table, Kresten Nielsen opened for 335,000 from the hijack with the only to have Cyprus' Andreas Christoforou move all in for 1.65 million on the button holding the . Kimmo Kurko then looked down at the in the small blind and moved all in over the top for 2.985 million. Christoforou immediately got up out of his seat while Nielesen considered the action. He seemed a bit tortured as he sat in the tank, and eventually he released his pocket pair.
"Don't say what you folded," Christoforou requested when the cards were tabled. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Kurko was a 64.66% favorite while Christoforou would survivie 33.68% of the time. The flop extended Kurko to a 71.52% favorite while dropping Christoforou's chances to 25.86%. The turn knocked it down even further to 15.91%, which meant he needed either an ace or king on the river to stay alive. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't in the cards as the peeled off. Christoforou became the day's first elimination and took home €102,430 for his eighth-place finish.
Usury hasn’t been referred too much in the past 500 years of organized poker, but somehow Tom Middleton has brought it back, with devastating effect, as the PokerStars Blog reports here.
Kresten Nielsen opened for 255,000 from early position with , Benoit Gury folded and Andreas Christoforou three bet to 525,000 with . From the button Kimmo Kurko with moved all in for 216,500. That took down the pot.