Hands #21-25: Messina With a Straight
Hand #21: Valentin Messina picked up 
for the second time in the first 21 hands and his raise scooped the blinds and antes.
Hand #22: Jean Montury raised to 200,000 and received a call from Messina in the big blind with 
. Montury made a continuation bet with his 
on the 
and Messina check-called the 255,000. On the 
turn, Messina checked again and Montury checked behind,
After the 
fell on the river, Messina was trying to get some value with his two pairs and bet 275,000 but Montury got out of the way.
Hand #23: Messina raised to 325,000 out of the small blind with his 
and won the big blind and antes.
Hand #24: Stefan Schillhabel opened to 225,000 from under the gun with 
and Messina three-bet to 510,000 from the button with 
. Montury glanced at his in the big blind and his four-bet of 1.24 million shut down all further action.
Hand #25: Messina opened to 210,000 with 
and Dominik Panka called on the button with 
, Schillhabel also tossed in the extra chips with 
.
On a flop of 
, Schillhabel check-called a continuation bet of 405,000 by Messina whereas Panka folded. The 
on the turn, the German checked and Messina bet 1.1 million into a pot of just over 1.6 million. Schillhabel opted to call and the on the river was a brick, changing nothing whatsoever.
Again the German checked and this time Messina's bet of 1.82 million didn't get called. The Frenchman increased his lead and is up to 40% of the total chips in play.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
10,720,000
2,380,000
|
2,380,000 |
|
3,400,000
-1,945,000
|
-1,945,000 |