Dan Dabbagh raised to 35,000 before giving it up when Claus Nielsen made it 85,000.

Joachim Buch made it 38,000 from the button but folded to Zsombor Gall’s all-in shove.

Undeterred the Norwegian raised the next hand as well, ths time it got through though and he picked up the blinds and antes.

Seemingly invigorated by the 15 minute break, at the very start of the 8k/16k level we found ourselves with an all-in preflop situation.

Christian Kall re-raised Peder Skaj’s opening bet preflop, then got it in with the live K-Q vs. Skaj’s A-J.  The flop paired Skaj’s Ace, making it very unlikely Kall would be able to win it, and with the on the turn and river we are down to eight, Kall taking home €12,075 for his troubles.

Just as we head on to a 15 minute break, very little has happened. Not many flops happening, it’s quiet.

Seat 1: Nils Ral (Belgium) – 473,000
Seat 3: Zsombor Gall (Hungary) – 360,000
Seat 4: Danny Dabbagh (Denmark) – 510,000
Seat 5: Peder Skaj (Sweden) – 359,000
Seat 6: Christian Kall (Denmark) – 245,000
Seat 7: Claus Bek Nielsen (Denmark) – 468,000
Seat 8: Maksim Tyurin (Russia) – 1,152,000
Seat 9: Anthon-Pieter Wink (Holland) – 680,000
Seat 10: Joachim Buch (Norway) – 354,000

I don’t think I’ve ever written those two words next to each other before.  Button Claus Bek Nielsen raised to 30k preflop (the blinds at 6k/12k ante 1k) and after an intense peer at something at table height (Nielsen’s stack?  The dealer button?) small blind Maksim Tyurin called.  Then big blind Anthon-Pieter Wink (pictured) reached for a few more – it looked like 105k in total from where I was in the spectator stands.  Both other players folded and it was game on.

A pot which could have seen the end of Nils Ral just played out against Maksim Tyurin.  The board had come out with two Aces, and after a 31k bet on the turn the final card was dealt:  … .  This brought a bet from Tyurin, and perhaps because of its suit just a call from Ral, whose was no good against Tyurin’s !

Pictured is Maksim Tyurin, who’s coming out ahead on this final table.

Danny Dabbagh made it 30,000 but open-folded 4-4 when Maksim Tyurin raised to 85,000.

Zsombor Gall pushed for 132,000 but received no callers.

Anthon-Pieter Wink raised to 25,000 on the button but folded when Joachim Buch shoved for 170,000.

Nils Ral raised to 31,000 on the button and Zsombor Gall moved all-in and was immediately called by Ral’s racing against Gall’s . The short stack won out though after a board, doubling up to around 350,000.

Pictured:  Nils Ral, riding the rollercoaster with the crowd of spectators (on two levels, no less) peering on.

There’s definite wrangling for chips going on here, but it’s all preflop at the moment and it would be very interesting to see who’s had the goods and who hasn’t.  The middle part of the level belonged to Maksim Tyurin, whose raise to 80k over the top of Kall’s open (24k) won him some chips and a table tap-fold from Kall, and then the next hand against Nils Ral won him another 50k:

Tyurin raised to 24k this time, and button Nils Ral made it 48k.  Back to Tyurin who took a pretty long time to think about it before he pushed in 130k and received a very fast fold, the only fast decision made in this hand.

Players are taking their time here, which is understandable – plus they have the luxury of being really deepstacked for a final table and the first hour’s blinds are 5k/10k as they were last night.

The two cards I was talking about were both Aces – one was in the hand of button raiser Danny Dabbagh (the ) and one in the hand of smallblind shover Christian Kall (the ) – Dabbagh decided not to call his all-in move, but we got to see a glimpse of their hands…

Claus Nielsen raised to 25,000 but folded when Danny Dabbagh repopped him to 100,000 from the blinds.

Joachim Buch raised to 25,000 from early position but gave up when Maksim Tyurin made it 70,000 from the small blind.

Nils Ral opened to 24,000 and Claus Nielsen made the call, but the latter folded to a bet on the flop.

Danny Dabbagh made it 30,000 to play in early position and Nielsen agan flat-called in position. The flop came and Dabbagh checked, Nielsen bet 35,000 but then Dabbagh check-raised to 105,000. Nielsen looked really annoyed but then folded.

The short stack at the final, Mitrovic Hvroje still managed to get his last 125k or so in with a premium type , right off the bat (second hand, I think it was) but was called immediately by Peder Skaj who held .  An unfortunate spot really for Mitrovic, who missed on a nine-high board and resignedly made his exit.

The final ten players still in the running for the Unibet Open Budapest title are convening just outside the final table area, milling around, doing interviews, and preparing for this last hurdle.  One of them will be the new champion when today’s play is done…

Seat 1: Nils Ral (Belgium) – 898,000
Seat 2: Mitrovic Hrvoje (Croatia) – 139,000
Seat 3: Zsombor Gall (Hungary) – 222,000
Seat 4: Danny Dabbagh (Denmark) – 464,000
Seat 5: Peder Skaj (Sweden) – 309,000
Seat 6: Christian Kall (Denmark) – 235,000
Seat 7: Claus Bek Nielsen (Denmark) – 576,000
Seat 8: Maksim Tyurin (Russia) – 758,000
Seat 9: Anthon-Pieter Wink (Holland) – 730,000
Seat 10: Joachim Buch (Norway) – 270,000

Their prizes waiting to be awarded:

1 €172,500
2 €110,400
3  €74,175
4  €53,475
5  €41,400
6  €28,290
7  €21,045
8  €14,835
9  €12,075
10  €8,970

Anthon-Pieter Wink    730000
Christian Kall    235000
Claus Bek Nielsen    576000
Danny Dabbagh    464000
Gáll Zsombor    222000
Joachim Buch    270000
Maksim Tyurin    758000
Mitrovics Hrvoje    139000
Nils Ral    898000
Peder Skaj    309000

And we have a final table after Maksim Tyurin and Mikael Johansson got involved in a 3-bet pot.

Johansson shoved all-in for about 188,000 on a board of , Tyurin tanked for ages before he had the clock called on him. That spurred Tyurin on and he made the call with a speculative miles behind Johansson’s but the turn was the and Tyurin jumped in front, avoiding the remaining aces in the deck on the :2h river.

And with that we now have our final table set for a 2pm CET start tomorrow.

Chip counts and seating plans to follow!

See you soon!