Carlino Leads Final 15; MacPhee Still in Contention for Second EPT Title
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On Thursday, Day 4 of the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Season 11 Deauville Main Event drew to a close. The day began with 36 hopefuls returning to the tournament felt. After four full 90-minute levels, just 15 players remain in contention for the title, trophy, and €543,700 in first-place prize money. At the end of the day it was France's Joseph Carlino who was closest to the championship, bagging a chip lead stack of 2.757 million.
While Carlino holds the biggest stack in the room, others are hot on his heels heading into Day 5 play. Italy's Carlo Savinelli holds the second biggest stack in the room with 2.565 million. Benjamin Buhr is the only other player with a stack over two million and rounds out the top three with 2.01 million.
Also in the hunt is EPT Season 6 Berlin Main Event champion Kevin MacPhee. MacPhee is the only former EPT Main Event champion to survive Day 4 and looks to join Vicky Coren-Mitchell as the only two-time champion. MacPhee came close a few months back, finishing runner-up to Sebastian Pauli in the EPT London Main Event for £308,500. MacPhee came into Day 4 as one of the top stacks but had a relatively quiet four levels. He will have his work cut out on Day 5 as he brings a stack of 581,000, which is good for the 12th overall chip position.
Eliminations came at a rapid pace to start the day with the likes of Saoud Mnahi, Omar Dahmani, Aliaksei Boika, and Matthieu Lamagnere all hitting the rail early in the first level. Team PokerStars Pro lost its final representative in the EPT Deauville Main Event when a short-stacked Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier fell in 31st place at the hands of Joseph El Khoury. Shortly after Grospellier's elimination, fellow EPT champion Ruben Visser hit the rail as a victim of an insane double elimination. In the end, both Visser and Lucas Monnier were eliminated at the hands of David Van Den Berg.
Once the final three tables were reached, Day 2 chip leader Alex Tikhoniouk was the first player to fall. Following him to the rail were the likes of Lionel Rozenberg, Miroslav Alilovic, Sergio Aido, and Jeremy Ciup. Day 1 overall chip leader Guillaume Darcourt saw his run come an end in 19th place after two unfortunate hands. In the end, Darcourt collected €22,160 in tournament winnings.
The final two tables were reached with 70 minutes to go in the fourth level of the day. Tournament staff opted to continue play through the end of the level. During that time, the field saw one elimination which occurred during the final three hands of the night. Adrien Guyon hit the rail in 16th place after getting it in with a flush draw against Matas Cimbolas' flopped trips. Guyon did not receive a proper sweat, however, as Cimbolas instantly hit quad jacks on the turn to eliminate Guyon from play.
Here's what the chip leader, Carlino, had to say at the end of the day.
Play resumes at 12 p.m. on Friday where the field will return to play down to the final six. As always, PokerNews will be on hand to provide all of the bad beats, bust outs, big pots from the tournament floor. Until tomorrow!