We arrived at the table to see that Lasse Christiansen was all in and at risk preflop for 233,000 holding . He was dominated by Dashgyn Aliev's , and Aliev held on the flop (), and the turn (), but the spiked on the river.
A few hands later, Christiansen doubled with ace-king through Ramil Yusupov. Suddenly, Christiansen now has 1.06 million chips.
Theodoros Aidonopoulos opened to 40,000 from middle position and it folded to Alexander Helbig who three-bet to 110,00 from the small blind. Action came back around to Aidonopoulos and he flat called.
A flop was spread out on the felt and Helbig led for 80,000. Aidonopoulos made it 180,000 to go and Helbig cut out a three-bet to 400,000.
Aidonopoulos wasted absolutely no time announcing that he was all in for right around 1 million and Helbig snapped him right back.
Aidonopoulos:
Helbig:
According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, despite Aidonopoulos only having eight-high at the moment, this hand was virtually a coinflip. Aidonopoulos would make a hand to beat the pocket kings 48.79% of the time.
Unfortunately for Aidonopoulos, the open-ended straight flush draw did not come through as the turned and the rivered. He quickly got up from the table and exited the tournament area.
Helbig stacked his new chips and increased his chip lead even further. He's sitting on 4.3 million as of now.
We caught up with the action where a completed board of was spread out on the felt. There was at least 350,000 already sitting in the middle of the table and both Julian Thomas and Ramil Yusupov had cards in front of them.
Thomas checked on over to Yusupov who announced that he was all in for 439,000. Thomas went into the tank.
Thomas thought for quite some time and eventually announced a call that he did not seem happy about making.
His reaction quickly turned into one of jubilation when he showed for two pair and the best hand. A sullen Yusupov tried to muck his cards but the tournament staff made him show .
Thomas gathered his new found chips and is now sitting on 1.75 million.
Kevin Stani opened to 40,000 from under the gun, Robert Haigh called on the button, and Dashgyn Aliev called in the small blind. The flop fell , all three players checked, and the turn was the . Aliev checked, Stani fired 55,000, and only Haigh called.
The completed the board, both players checked, and Stani announced ace-high. Haigh showed , and raked in the pot.
A few hands later, Haigh and Stani were heads up on a board of . Stani check-called 30,000, then check-called another 37,000 when the turned.
The completed the board, and both players checked. Haigh showed , and won the pot.
There's been a particularly virulent strain of the EPT "Day Four Virus" doing the rounds this week, killing all the big-name players before they get to the final stretch. But it's not the first time it's happened, as PokerStars Blog investigates.
Robert Haigh opened to 50,000 on the button, Jose Maria Galindo defended in the big blind, and the dealer fanned . Galindo checked, Haigh continued for 60,000, and Galindo made the call.
The turn was the , Galindo checked again, and Haigh fired out another 150,000. Galindo tanked for more than a minute, then moved all in for 590,000.
"Call," Haigh said immediately.
Haigh:
Galindo
Galindo winced at the sight of Haigh's hand, seeing that he was drawing to just two outs, and his tournament ended when the completed the board.