Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2013 PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville
Main Event
Day: 1a
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
It’s Northern Europe in the middle of winter; we’re in a town in semi-hibernation and famed for horse race meets and film festivals during warmer months of the year. Did we mention it’s hard to get to? Can someone enlighten us why we came here again? Ah yes, it’s to return to one of the best value tournaments on the poker calendar – the PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville! To be fair the town is chocolate box beautiful as well.
The French Poker Series (FPS) kicked off this poker festival a few days ago and boasted record-breaking numbers in their events. Today Day 1a of the main event drew 307 players, which is a little less than hoped for. Seeing as its Sunday for those who can play on PokerStars.fr and the fact that some small sporting event is taking place in New Orleans we expect tomorrow’s field to be nearly twice as big.
This didn’t mean there wasn’t lots of talent on show today. Leading the way for most of the second half of day was Patrick Schuhl, who bagged up 142,700 chips. His biggest pot win of the day saw his pocket queens help him to eliminate two players - holding pocket aces and ace-king respectively – after he made a set on the river. He was pipped to the chip-leading post by Jesper Feddersen who finished clear of the field with 188,900. The PokerStars qualifier finished with a flourish, eliminating Stelyan Georgiev right at play’s death. The Bulgarian called off his stack over three streets with 
on a 
board only to find Feddersen had back-doored into quads with 
.
Afterwards Feddersen informed us this was only his third live tournament having played one last year as practice and the FPS a couple of days ago. Mainly an online player, he qualified on PokerStars after accidentally registering but now he's top of the pack after Day 1a!
Other players who will enjoy tomorrow’s rest day knowing they have a good day’s work in the books are: Zimnan Ziiyard (121,000), Christophe Lesage (115,700), Jeff Hakim (114,700), Sergii Baranov (103,800), James Mitchell (102,700) and Team PokerStars Pro Matthias De Meulder 98,300.
Life’s all about equilibrium though, right? Poker life is like that too - for those to gain others have to lose. Dimitar Danchev could tell you all about that. The most recent EPT winner – from PCA a couple of weeks ago – saw the other side of the variance that exists in this beautiful yet painful game. He lost a chip-leading pot, and subsequently his tournament life, when his pocket aces were cracked by the pocket kings of Antoine Saout.
He was joined in the locker room by Jon Spinks, Martin Staszko, Nocholas Chouity, David Vamplew, Eugene Katchalov and Marcin Horecki.
The last two on this list were the other two Team PokerStars Pros in action today. Katchalov’s stack headed south from the off and never made its way back up to Normandy. Horecki had a very up and down day. He dropped to 6,000 chips early on before making a great recovery. Then he played a pot with the larger than life character of Baranov where the latter three-bet pre flop and bet every street on a 
board. Horecki confidently called all the way down only to be shown 
by Baranov! His fate was sealed soon after.
We do the same all over again tomorrow when a bumper and star-studded field will take to the baize for eight 75-minute levels. As per normal the play will start at 12pm CET and the PokerNews reporting team will be there throughout 12 more hours of poker action. Until its goodnight from France. Enjoy the Super Bowl!
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
188,900 | |
|
142,700 | |
|
131,800
131,800
|
131,800 |
|
127,200
127,200
|
127,200 |
|
124,100
124,100
|
124,100 |
|
118,200
118,200
|
118,200 |
|
||
|
117,600
117,600
|
117,600 |
|
115,700
53,700
|
53,700 |
|
||
|
115,700 | |
|
114,900
114,900
|
114,900 |
|
114,700 | |
|
||
|
112,600
-8,400
|
-8,400 |
|
|
||
|
112,200 | |
|
|
110,900
110,900
|
110,900 |
|
108,800
108,800
|
108,800 |
|
|
||
|
|
108,600
108,600
|
108,600 |
|
107,100 | |
|
103,800 | |
|
|
103,000
103,000
|
103,000 |
|
102,700 | |
|
|
99,700 | |
|
|
99,400
99,400
|
99,400 |
|
98,300 | |
|
|
||
|
96,300
96,300
|
96,300 |
|
|
96,000
96,000
|
96,000 |
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
142,700
-43,950
|
-43,950 |
|
|
114,700
31,600
|
31,600 |
|
|
||
|
|
102,700
-11,300
|
-11,300 |
|
|
98,300
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
|
||
|
79,900
15,900
|
15,900 |
|
45,400
8,800
|
8,800 |
|
29,900
4,400
|
4,400 |
|
21,500
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Un deux trois quatre cinq…
The tourney clock has been stopped and the announcement has come that five more hands will be played before the bagging and tagging commences.
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
A couple of hands to report involving Herve David and Zimnan Ziyard. In both we came upon the hands on the river, at which point significant action occurred in both instances.
In the first a medium-sized pot had developed between Steen and Ziyard with both playing from late position and the board showing 
. Steen checked, and when Ziyard pushed out a bet Steen thought a bit before calling.
Ziyard moved to muck his cards, but was made to show his 
. Steen then turned over 
and claimed the pot.
A few hands later a bigger pot had developed between the pair. Again both were in late position, and this time the board read 
. David checked again, and Ziyard once more bet — this time about 20,000 (about two-thirds of the pot). David thought a while once more, then called. Ziyard quickly showed his 
for a full house, and David mucked.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
121,000
38,000
|
38,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
21,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Patrik Schuhl has just been informing one of his Facebook friends that he is very tired and that it is a battle to last the distance of this long Day 1a. Despite fatigue setting in, Schuhl has just added another decent chunk to his already impressive stack.
We joined the action on a 
flop where there were three active players. Fabrice Fort checked from the big blind, Stephane Bourson checked in middle position and Schuhl bet 1,800 from the cutoff. Only Fort called this bet, so it was heads-up to the turn.
Fort check-called again, this time a larger bet of 3,000 from Schuhl, leading the dealer to burn a card then put the 
into play. Fort checked for a third time, but instead of calling as he had on previous streets, he folded to a 4,250 bet from Schuhl.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
186,650
31,650
|
31,650 |
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Ruud van Lanen has just eliminated Bernard Hery with the old case of 
besting 
all in preflop with the board coming 
.
Elsewhere, we've lost Paul Berende who flopped a set but lost to a straight-flush draw that managed to spike.
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
Vincent Fouret has just busted Pierre Cecco in a battle of the short stacks.
The chips went into the middle with Fouret holding and Cecco 
, Cecco being all in and at risk. The board ran out and Cecco busted out.
Level 8
: 300/600, 75 ante
James Mitchell opened with a raise to 1,200 from the cutoff seat and got two callers from the blinds, including Sinel Anton in the small blind. The flop came 
and it checked around to Mitchell who bet 2,600. Only Anton called. Both remaining players then checked the turn card.
The river brought the . Anton quickly picked chips off his stack and tossed them forward for a bet of 3,100. Then Mitchell, moving more deliberately, carved out a substantial stack to raise and instantly Anton tossed his cards away.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
114,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
58,000
58,000
|
58,000 |