Sergey Sergeev and Dominik Panka got it all in on a board. It was Sergeev who was at risked with his last 265,000 in the middle. Panka did cover him but only slightly.
Sergeev tabled for trip three's and he crushed Panka's . The Russian needed to dodge an ace on the river to score a huge double up.
The river was the and while Sergeev was stacking his chips, Panka was left with only a few big blinds.
"I raise without the nuts", said Panka. "That was not the best idea, my mom told me, I can fold", he continued. Not following his mothers advice can be costly as he is now serverely short-stacked.
Frederik Jensen opened from the small blind to 33,000. Sarah Herzali three-bet to 97,000 from the big blind. Jensen, a former EPT winner, four-bet shoved for 544,000. It was for nearly Herzali's entire stack, who had 557,000 total.
Herzali seized up her opponent, but Jensen sat stoically in his seat. If Herzali called, it would be the biggest pot of the tournament so far. After spending two minutes in the tank, she decided to go for it, but was aghast when the hands were flipped open.
Frederik Jensen:
Sarah Herzali:
"What a cooler," remarked Jensen, whose ace-king held up on a board. The massive double launched Jensen to the chiplead and left Herzali with just one big blind behind.
The players wrapped up level 19 and are now on a 20-minute break. We lost five players in this first 90-minute level of the day. Today's play will finish after level 23 or when there are only 16 players remaining. There will be a redraw after the next bust out.
Update: the break will be a bit longer, as a massive pot is brewing over at table 4. To give all the players a long enough break, the clock has been paused while the hand plays out.
Right before, of actually most of it in, the break. Aliaksei Boika and Sergey Sergeev got involved in a huge hand. There was already a huge amount of chips in the middle when Boika slid out an 180,000-bet on the river.
The board was very draw heavy and Sergeev reckoned that when he was thinking about his river decision.
"Eight, nine, ten, jack. Do you have a straight or a flush?", asked Sergeev to his neighbor on the right.
Boika wasn't replying and Sergeev looked like he didn't knew what to do. He tanked for another couple of minutes before asking the floor staff over.
The Russian wanted to ask a question but he wanted to do that in private. So he and the floor man stepped away from the table chatted for a few seconds and then came back.
Sergeev thought about it for another four minutes or so before he folded.
Benjamin Pollak raised to 28,000 from the cutoff. Herzali, crippled after that last hand, called for 11,000 all in from the small blind. Tomas Macnamara called to see a flop as well.
Macnamara and Pollak checked the flop. Macnamara bet 30,000 on the turn and Pollak folded.
Tomas Macnamara:
Sarah Herzali:
Herzali was drawing to a four to stay alive, but the river ended her run in 25th place.
Right before the redraw, Dominik Panka was all in for his last 41,000 in chips. He got called by big blind Konrad Abela.
Panka had and was happy to see he was live and had a flip against Abela's .
"I take that", said Panka. "Let's win the flip, come on dealer one time."
The camera's gathered around the table and Panka started to joke. "Come on, it's only three big blinds, nothing to worry about."
But Panka needed to worry because his handed hardly connected with the flop. The turn gave him a straight draw and the was good for him.
Abela hit his set but it wasn't the right time to do so because Panka made a straight and doubled up through the local hero.
Panka is still short and Abela isn't sitting on many chips either. The Maltese player is aiming for the seventh place or better here which will make him top the all-time money list ranking for Malta on the Hendon Mob. Currently, Abela is fourth on that list.