UNIBET OPEN VALENCIA, 7-10 OCTOBER 2010

Heads up with the blinds so meaty it was unlikely that Thang and Hofmann would take long to tangle and that proved the case.

With Hofmann holding and Thang – the pair went to war pre-flop and a huge 4 million pot was in the offing.

The flop fell – an interesting flop, giving Hofmann two overs, a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw, making him a slim favourite over Thang’s overpair.

Thang needed to dodge lots of outs, but when the turn and river came the followed by the , he had done just that!

The Danish contingent cheered and whistled loudly and suddenly, we had our champion!

Thomas Thang wins the Unibet Valencia Open, collecting €138,080 whilst Andreas Hofmann finishes the runner-up with €89,350.

It’s been a great tournament for everyone involved at one of the nicest locales in Europe right now. Thanks for following – we’ll post up some winner shots shortly.

Jose Diez has played a great game to get so far, but crippled in that hand versus Hofmann, he was unable to make a miracle recovery.

Moments ago, he pushed preflop for his remaining 103k – just over one big blind at this stage – and when Hofmann folded, Thomas Thang couldn’t fold for the additional 23k, priced in to call with 5-4.

Diez looked happy to be slightly ahead – considering he had just .

The flop however looked bad for him, Thang spiking a pair of fours as it came and when the turned gave the Dane trips, it was all over for the plucky Spaniard.

Good game Jose Diez, he finishes up 3rd, collecting €59,560.

A huge round of applause and shouts of support ring out from his many home supporters here in the Casino but that elimination leaves us heads-up for the title.

Jose Ramon Diez, fervently supported, shortest in chips, pictured earlier and not shy of a confrontation now that it was double-or-die, is on the felt. It was Andreas Hoffman, who was out chipped by only 30k, who tackled him all in preflop with vs. Diez’ . Breath was held as the flop came but no flush arrived to bust Hoffman in 3rd.

Instead, Diez was all in for less than a big blind the next hand – and tripled up thanks to pairing an Ace. He now has to go on the 20 minute break with his stack on near life support!

Every time Jose Ramon Diez wins a pot, it seems another couple of his friends and supporters have joined the rail to clap him. His most recent chip gain was from the other short stack, Andreas Hofmann (pictured), who’d raised on the button but didn’t want to call all in. Diez is still out-chipped by Hofmann now, but if Hofmann doubles him up he’d shrink to a stack which would need a miracle to outlast either of the others. Probably conscious of this, he’s still looking for a spot to tangle with him, and doesn’t look like he’s going to find one this level as there are only five minutes remaining…

Jose Ramon Diez is showing some good old-fashioned fight-back, even though he’s outgunned chipwise by the towers of Thang to his right. He took down two pots in a row (no pot is small exactly, with the blinds at 30k/60k) – one betting Thang off a flop and the following one raising from the small blind and getting rewarded with a Hofmann instafold. His rail has sprouted a couple of enthusiastic supporters who would love their boy to make a full comeback and take down the top spot.

As it is, these are the top three prizes, none of them to be sneezed at:

1 €138,080
2 €89,350
3 €59,560

After a slight break to reposition the final three players, they’re off again, but with such a huge chip discrepancy between leader Thomas Thang and the other two they seem reluctant to clash.  Unless there are some fireworks this level, and multiple double-ups, Thang will be going heads-up with one of these shorter stacks and they’ll have some work to do to catch him…

Jose Ramon Diez – 900,000
Andreas Hofmann – 1,218,000
Thomas Thang – 3,315,000

HUGE pot alert, sending Gueorguiev to the rail and Thomas Thang, out of nowhere, into a massive chip lead.

Having just busted Grigoras, Thang was now the chip leader, and the small blind to Gueorguiev’s big blind.  A fold round sparked a preflop war between the two of them who both happened to have Aces, but Gueorguiev’s was while Thang’s was the mighty .  The crowd was hushed as the board came out sending the man many tipped for the win, and most had played with as the chip leader out in 4th place.

Spectacular ascent for Thang who is now on probably 2,800,000 or so!  Pause in play while (hopefully) the accurate stacks are counted down.

The most dramatic hands of the final seem to have all involved Andrei Grigoras, but the volatile player has met his match (and the cashier, who’ll give him his not inconsiderable payday) after getting it in preflop for around 680k with vs. Thomas Thang’s .  The on the flop pretty much sealed the deal, and Grigoras stood up ready to shake hands and exit before the full rest of the board was even out.

This has been an unbelievable level – we thought for sure with the blinds very chunky and action picking up before dinner that we’d see a lot more of it now, but it’s been a nearly flopless level and the two all in preflop situations resulted in doubles… So the chips are roughly:

Atanas Gueorguiev – 1,430,000
Thomas Thang – 1,150,000
Jose Ramon Diez – 1,140,000
Andreas Hofmann – 1,000,000
Andrei Grigoras – 690,000

Andrei vs. Atanas – and the former takes a big chunk out of the latter, doubling through.  Preflop Andrei Grigoras had moved in the hand before, with no callers, and decided to push it with another shove – this time with .  Hey, it’s worked for Hofmann…  Anyhow Gueorguiev decided to look him up with and he stood up nervously as the board was dealt out.  The flop hit his eight: , the turn was the and the river the giving him a nice double through off the impassive chip leader.

There has been some drama involving chips after the return from dinner break, but it’s all preflop aggression and backing down.  Hofmann (pictured) seems to have found the all-in button and had his finger stuck to it – he’s moved in four times already, and no call yet.  In fact he’s picked up quite a few chips, most recently from Jose Ramon Diez who made ti 120k to go but folded to yet another move all-in from the table short stack. If he keeps this up throughout the level he won’t be so short after all.

The others benefiting from preflop-won pots include Atanas Gueorguiev, who moved in over a rare Thomas Thang open (to 136k) and picked up that pot right there, and Diez, who got one raise through without being moved on by Hofmann…