Danny Dabbagh didn’t look in the mood to sit around as the blinds went up to 12k/24k – with just over 100k he was really in tough shape.  But his aggressive strategy of shoving pretty much every hand worked him back to 200k or so, before he was finally picked off by small blind Joachim Buch.  Big blind Dabba considered his good enough for another push (I have a feeling Buch just limped) but he was immediately called by Buch’s .  The board came out pairing Buch’s Ten but bringing a tantalising flush draw on the turn, but it was not to be: … .  Dabbagh wins €28,290.

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.

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.

Christian Kall (pictured) and Maksim Tyurin have been sort of chip-jousting this last level, with Tyurin threebetting Kall out of the way preflop at least once.  However, the last time this happened, when Kall raised under the gun to 23k and Tyurin made it 61k, Kall farily quickly reached for 164k total, which brought the hand to an end and some of those chips back to him.

Players are still deep enough to do this sort of thing, though by tomorrow they may be feeling the sting of the escalating blinds.  But for now, Anthon-Pieter Wink can get away with betting a flop, being check-raised by Claus Nielsen to 52k, then make it 110k (half his stack) and get a fold after an agonising-looking minute in the tank for Nielsen.

What a perfect matchup for Claus Nielsen’s – a short stacked Rene Bjoern Larsen shoving in early position with and Tuomas Ketola moving in over the top for roughly double with after he’d made the call.

A King on the board surrounded by rags was the icing on the cake – he busted both players from the TV table and increased his stack back to the top spot!

Mikael Johansson called a 40,000 bet from Claus Nielsen on a 2-9-2 flop before reraising all-in vs another 40,000 bet on a 6 turn. Nielsen was flummoxed, declaring that Johansson had to have a set. Finally Nielsen called with A-A and found Johansson’s A-T was drawing dead before the Queen was put on the river.

A huge pot goes back to the young Dane which might have pushed him over the 400,000 mark.

A preflop threeway all in tripled the short stack and kept the last three tables (as they now are) all in the game.  The money went in quickest from shortest stacked Anthon-Pieter Wink, who had picked up the when all it could win for him was a short stack back, however two players came along for the ride, Egmonts Grzibovskis, with and Patrick Bousquie with .  The flop brought a King, giving the second shortest stack the side pot, and leaving Bousquie short.

He duly shoved the next hand with (with 82k, though) and was quickly called by Christian Kall with which held to bust him in 27th – prize: €4,209.

Scandinavians hog the top ten, but there are still three tables to lose before the final…

Danny    Dabbagh    Denmark    343400
Gonzalo     Sanz Santos    Spain    337000
Mikael    Johansson    Sweden    297500
Maxim    Tiurin    Russia    287500
Christian    Kall    Denmark    263000
Claus    Bek Nielsen    Denmark    231000
Joachim    Buch    Norway    201200
Toumas    Ketola    Finland    200000
Peder    Skaj    Sweden    199500
Petar    Zografov    Bulgaria    190500
Zoltàn    Tòth    Hungary    180000
Konstantin    Tsonev    Bulgaria    138000
Gall    Zsombor    Hungary    134500
Radoslaw    Kopec    Poland    132900
Mats    Rahmn    Sweden    125900
Par    Lygren    Sweden    121000
Tapani    Miska Lahti        120000
Espen    Kristoffersen    Norway    119500
Patrick    Bousquie    France    113000
Micheael    Donteville    France    109500
Simeon    Naydenov    Bulgaria    108500
Nemeth    János    Hungary    102000
Nils    Ral    Belgium    90000
Roman    Shaposhnikov    Russia    65500
Rene Bjorn    Larsen    Denmark    56000
Lebor    Benjamin        49000
Yuliyan    Kolev    Bulgaria    46500
Egmonts    Grzibovskis    Latvia    46500
Mitrovics    Hrose        42500
Anthon-Pieter    Wink    Netherlands    26500

The river saw most of the action, on a board of .  Danny Dabbagh bet out 6k, and an in position Gonzalo Sanz Santos thought for a while before raising slowly to 15k.  Back to Dabbagh who took his turn to quietly consider the bet, before announcing, “Raise.”  He pushed some blue stacks forward, making the total bet 35k.  Santos called but mucked his hand when he saw Dabbagh’s .

Peder Skaj has doubled up racing his against Ujvari Balazs but had to dodge a fair few bullets on the board.

Tim Verbon has also doubled his stack, pushing with and getting called by Antti Ropponen’s but sweated out the board.

Rene Bjoern Larsen has doubled up with which held against an aggressor’s after a board of

Claus Nielsen, already a huge stack, just took out Raul Mestre to become chip leader, without a doubt.  His table started out as today’s early Table of Death:

Joachim Buch
Marine Jouaillec
Raul Mestre
Capitan Bogdan
Branmir Brunovic
Ling Wen Lee
Adrian Stan
Claus Neilsen
Fuat Can

Of course the initial lineup has already changed with three of them out, but with Buch another big, aggressive stack, the fireworks will certainly continue.

Anyway, back to the elimination hand:  On a flop of Nielsen had bet out, and in-position Mestre had moved all in for a further 48k.  Big bet; the pot was around 35k.  Nielsen took off his headphones and said, “I have a big pair.”  He deliberated for a while, looked frowning at the low cards, but finally called.

Nielsen: 
Mestre: 

Mestre was drawing dead with the Deuce turn and the Danish rail went nuts, shouting what sounded like, “SOREN!”

Claus Nielsen raised to 2,000 from the cutoff, Joachim Buch called on the button and Hans Eskilsson called in the small blind.

The flop was and it was checked to Nielsen who bet 3,000. Buch checked Eskilsson’s stack before calling and Eskilsson himself then folded.

On the turn, Nielsen now checked and Buch bet 5,200 which the young Dane called.

The river paired with the and now Nielsen bet 10,200 which Buch instantly folded to.

Claus Nielsen, who’s built a stack in big events before, is at it again.  He’s a frequent preflop raiser, and isn’t averse to giving others a spin either.  Watching his table for just two hands, he called one player’s early position raise only to fold on the flop, then raised the very next hand to 2,000.  The button re-raised to 5,000.  Back to Nielsen who chip shuffled relentlessly for about a minute, asked how much his opponent had behind (about 20k) before finally calling.

The flop came .  Nielsen checked.  His opponent bet another 5k.  “Now how much have you got left?” he asked, possibly less to know the numerical answer than to gauge his opponent’s reaction.  Whatever he saw, he sighed, then raised to 20k, effectively setting him in.  No call.

Nielsen now on 90k plus and a good bet to end the day in six figures.

A multiway raised pot was left with just two players by the turn of a board. Dejan Cukic moved all-in for his last 2,675 into a pot containing about 4,500. Claus Nielsen looked as though he might explode, annoyed as he was by the turn card. The Dane violently shrugged his shoulders a couple of times and threw in the call, Cukic showed him for nothing more than a gutshot. Nielsen flipped over for a flopped straight that he thought had been ruined by the turn. The changed nothing and for all his upsetness Nielsen still won the pot.

Threeway to a flop of , Unibet’s own Vera Kelleher fired out 700 and got called by both Christer Nordin Bjorn and Erdelyi Istvan.

The turn was the and Kelleher checked, Bjorn bet 1,000 and Istvan called, Kelleher folded.

Both Bjorn and Istvan checked the river and Istvan showed but Bjorn flipped to scoop the pot.