EPT Budapest -- Day 3 Update

Day 3 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Hungarian Open got off to a flying start with four players busting out in the first twenty minutes of the day. But Severin Walser from Switzerland, Hungarian Szabolcs Attila Saskoy, Irishman George McKeever, and Symeon Pyrakis from Greece were not alone as players continued to drop like flies during the very early stages.

Johnny Lodden was all in just once when he got involved in a pretty big pot with Robin Keston. On a flop of J104, the two checked to each other. The turn came the 3 and Lodden checked again. Keston bet 100,000 and Lodden check raised all-in for a further 24,000, Keston called. Keston revealed A3 for the flush draw and second pair and Lodden showed A-10 for a pair of tens. The river was the 7 and Lodden took a huge leap forward. He later took another large pot down when he knocked out Simeon Tsonev. Tsonev opened from late position and Lodden reraised to 90,000 from a later position. It folded back to Tsonev who moved all in. Lodden insta-called with A-Q and Simeon revealed A-J. The board fell Q7329 and Lodden’s stack improved further.

Albert Iversen was up to his usual tricks. He managed to maintain his large stack, aided by taking out Greek man Pantelis Pavlis in a monster pot. Iversen’s queens got lucky and made a set on the flop, turning Pavlis' pocket aces into muck in the blink of an eye.

The players who got knocked out, or cashed, if you will, in 20th to 43rd were:

20th: Offer Golko (Israel) €10,640
21st: Denis Volkov (Russia) €10,640
22nd: Tibor Tolnai (Hungary) €10,640
23rd: Alexander Kravchenko (Russia) €10,640
24th: Nicolo Calia (Italy) €10,640
25th: Pantelis Pavlis (Greece) €8,512
26th: Pasquale Braco (Italy) €8,512
27th: Dwayne Stacey (UK) €8,512
28th: Mauro Corsetti (Italy) €8,512
29th: Tommi Etelapera (Finland) €8,512
30th: Christophe Wemebelke (France) €8,512
31st: Janek Schleicher (Germany) €8,512
32nd: Nicholas Maieritsch (USA) €8,512
33rd: Ofir Abramovivi (Israel) €7,448
34th: Dave Hardy (UK) €7,448
35th: Robert Firestone (USA) €7,448
36th: Jacek Ladny (Poland) €7,448
37th: Brice Cournut (France) €7,448
38th:Rikard Englund (Sweden) €7,448
39th: Milan Andrejkovics (Hungary) €7,448
40th: Severin Walser (Switzerland) €7,448
41st: Szabolcs Attila Saskoy (Hungary) €6,384
42nd: George McKeever (Ireland) €6,384
43rd: Symeon Pyrakis (Greece) €6,384

Baby-faced Albert Iversen continued to make his opponents suffer. He took out Robin Keston with pocket queens, which managed to stay well ahead of Keston’s pocket tens. PokerStars qualifier Sebastian Saffari was crippled by a smiling Gino Alacqua when his two pair were no force for Alacqua's trip sevens. On the next hand Saffari went all in with his short stack holding K-8 and was called by Toth who had K-Q, and eventually also a flush.

After a rapid first few hours of day 3, the game finally slowed down. With one more player to go it looked like play was going to be drawn out as short stacks continuously doubled up and players made fearless all-in moves but with no one to take the bate.

Finally, the last hand of the night came when Ivo Donev bet 48,000 preflop with blinds at 10,000/20,000, and Ciprian Hrisca raised it to 150,000. Donev called and the flop fell 1076. Donev moved all in and Hrisca called. The two revealed their cards:

Hrisca: A-A
Donev: AK

The turn came the K and the river the J,and with that the final eight emerged.

Those who cashed from 19th to ninth were:

19th: Micha Hoedemaker €10,640
18th: Jari-Pekka Juhola €10,640
17th: Lukas Benkovic €10,640
16th: Christophe Haller €12,768
15th: Casey Kastle €12,768
14th: Oleg Korotkov €17,024
13th: Simeon Tsonev €17,024
12th: Menno Antonius Bussinik €23,408
11th: Robin Keston €23,408
10th: Sebastian Saffari €32,984
9th: Ivo Donev €32,984

There are some monster stacks waiting in bags to be placed on the final table which will take place tomorrow. The chip counts currently stand at:

Zoltan Toth: 1,059,000
Cyprian Hriska: 1,038,000
Albert Iversen: 1,017,000
William Fry: 572,000
Johnny Lodden: 500,000
Gino Alacqua: 466,000
Marino Serenelli: 357,000
Martin Jacobson: 306,000

Even though there is a mix of short stacks and monsters, no one knows what tomorrow will bring, as no player can be discounted. Lodden is on form and fit for his first EPT final table, he only needs one all-in to travel in the right direction, Alacqua has held on and made many right moves at the right time, and Fry has a magical way of taking chances and surviving. Whatever happens, it will be an interesting battle of wills, so join CardPlayer.com tomorrow for more live updates and an interview with Johnny Lodden as Europe gets ready for the final table of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Hungarian Open at the Sofitel Hotel in Budapest.

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