Daniel El Keslassy just gathered some more chips, busting Benjamin Pollak to move up to 315,000. He's right there with chip leaders Sebastian Homann and Nicolas Levi, all three of whom continue to hover above the 300,000-chip mark.
Tristan Clemencon is distinctly in the danger zone now after doubling up Banwari Narendra when Clemencon's failed to hit against Narendra's . Narendra doubled to 50,000, switching stacks with Clemencon, who now sits with less than 25,000.
Dominik Nitsche opened with a small raise to 4,500 from middle position, and it folded back around to Erik Tamm in the small blind. Tamm thought about a half-minute, then reraised to 12,500. The big blind folded, then Nitsche immediately set his remaining chips out before him, reraising all in for about 55,000 total. Tamm considered the situation further, then made the call.
Nitsche turned over , eliciting an "ah-ha!" from his neighbors on that side of the table. Nitsche smiled a little, but not too much, as he knew he still had to sweat the possibility of Tamm improving his . The board came , and Nitsche survived with a nice double-up.
Nitsche moves to about 110,000, while Tamm slips to the same area of the chip count page with 115,000.
Antonin Teisseire's stack is only a third of average, but what it lacks in substance he is making up for in height. Teisseire had all of his chips, including several thousand in T100 chips, in one tower reaching well over his head. But something caused a breeze, and the stack teetered toward the edge of the table. Thinking fast, Teisseire used his body to block the chips from hitting the floor, deflecting them onto the felt instead. They were quickly separated from the pot and no harm was done, but the rail gave a hearty hoot. Even Matt Savage got in on the fun, telling Teisseire he was all in.
Down to just 11,500, Farag Fadhil pushed all in from early position, and the table folded around to Marvin Rettenmaier who called from the button. Then Santiago Terrazas reshoved all in over the top with his 130,000-plus chip stack, causing Rettenmaier to step aside. Cards on their backs…
Fadhil
Terrazas
Fadhil needed help, but the community cards -- -- failed to provide any. Fadhil is out, and Terrazas is now reorganizing a stack of about 155,000.
Mohammed Ravai raised to 4,100, and big blind Bruno Lopes (aka French rapper Kool Shen) smoothly raised to 12,300. Ravai called. The flop came a raggy . Kool Shen bet 15,000, and Ravai made the call. The turn connected solidly with the flop, but our resident rap star checked this time. Ravai took the opportunity to bet 36,000. "All in," Lopes said as soon as Ravai released his chips over the line. Ravai gave what can only be described as a yelp. It was another 22,000 for him to call, but he declined, sending the pot to a pleased Lopes.
Petre Ionescu opened to 3,800, and when action folded to him in the blinds, Roger Hairabedian raised to 9,800. Ionescu froze for several minutes, then pulled his bet back and made it 30,000 total. Hairabedian sighed and mucked his face up. "Good hand," said Ionescu, keeping his cards to himself. Hairabedian is down to 87,000 from a start-of-day stack of just over 100,000.
Andrei One began today near the top of the chip counts, but just lost a number of chips following an all-in confrontation with Guillaume de la Gorce. One held , while de la Gorce had . As a certain WPT announcer would say, we were looking at a race situation, Vince.
The flop came , putting de la Gorce in front, and the turn and river sealed it. De la Gorce moves up to 228,000, taking one of those spots near the top of the counts vacated by One, while One falls back a bit to 133,000.
Marvin Rettenmaier checked the bloody flop to Fadhil Farag, who bet at it. Rettenmaier called to see a fourth heart hit the board with the turn. He checked again, then called a bet of 5,000. The river brought the . Rettenmaier checked a third time. Farag tried the same bet. Rettenmaier grimaced but tossed a T5,000 pink chip into the middle with a shrug. Farag tapped the table, turning over for a heartless nut straight. Rettenmaier laughed as he showed . "I hit my gutshot," he said, but it was the heart that played, giving him the pot.