Christer Johansson raised to 100,000 and then called a reraise to 250,000 from Kara Scott.
The flop:
Scott bet out 300,000 and Johansson was sighing before her chips had even crossed the line. Call.
Turn:
Scott paused, and then bet out 600,000. A pause from Johansson, and then a call.
River:
Scott now checked it, and Johansson bet 800,000. Everyone in the room held their breath. Eventually, Scott called -- but mucked when Johansson turned over for a small house.
Scott is now down to around 1,800,000 as Johansson takes a convincing chip lead.
The pace of the final table has been phenomenal. Andrew Pantling, chip leader for so long and aggressor extraordinaire, couldn't quite seal the deal on the title despite starting the final on top. His final hand saw another preflop raising war, this time with Christer Johansson, who appears to have woken up rather sharply in recent minutes.
Johansson, having reraised Pantling to 500,000, was in no mood for folding for the rest of his stack to the shortest player on the table when holding . Called, Pantling flipped .
He, like Gueorguiev, faded all the way to the river: ... and a ripple of sympathy for the erstwhile leader came just before the round of applause for his winning over €200,000.
A preflop raising war saw the beginning of the end for Bulgarian star Atanas Gueorguiev. Kara Scott raised, was re-popped to 230,000, and quickly made it 560,000. In a heartbeat, Gueorguiev's stack was across the line and it only took Scott a minute to make the call. For the first time someone threatened her chip ascendancy -- she had but Gueorguiev had !
The flop: . The turn: . The crowd held its breath...
The river was the . So close to a double-through and Gueorguiev's all-in river brings the overcard. Could Kara Scott, on the other hand, be well on her way to an Irish Open title?
Aggro Andrew Pantling raised an esoteric 103,000 from the button and got called by both Kara Scott and Christer Johansson in the blinds.
Come the flop, it checked around to Pantling who bet 160,000. Scott passed, but Johansson fancied giving Pantling a spin, and called. They saw the turn and now Johansson bet out -- at which Pantling decided not to take it any further, and folded.
This one wasn't tournament life-saving, though. Kara Scott made it 100,000 to go preflop, called by Andrew Pantling. They checked the flop (Scott in position), the turn, and the river. Scott showed which no longer had any advantage over Pantling's .
Atanas Gueorguiev and Kara Scott saw a flop, which both players checked.
They saw a turn as well, and Gueorguiev bet 105,000. Scott called and they moved on to the river.
The river was another and Gueorguiev bet another 105,000. A short pause later and Scott called -- and took down the pot with while Gueorguiev could only boast .
Andrew Pantling's preflop raise frequency is far higher than the others', but that hasn't stopped him dropping at one point into last place from his commanding start-of-day lead. It has, however, built his stack back up little by little. Just now he made it 101,000 to go on the button, called by big blind Christer Johansson (who I think is currently being announced as "Christof", but is too polite to say anything).
They checked it down until the board read . No bet on the river either, but Johansson's was good.
Kara Scott raised to 100,000 under the gun, only for Christer Johansson to make it 300,000 on the button to her immediate left. Gueorguiev and Pantling quickly got out of their way, Scott called, and they saw a flop.
Flop:
Scott paused for a moment, before betting 350,000. Johansson announced all in, Scott swiftly called, and they were on their backs.
Johansson: for a nice overpair.
Scott: for the nut straight.
Turn:
River:
A lucky chop for Johansson kept him in the game, and only a little disappointment was evident on Scott's face as the two took back their chips.
Confident, as calm as can be expected, and rising further in the chip lead, Kara Scott just took 200,000 off Christer Johansson with a 500,000 check-raise on the turn just now, and she shows no sign of slowing down. The stream of the board cards we can see is a couple of minutes behind the actual live action but a gasp from the crowd indicates these two players are at it again...