PokerStars European Poker Tour Vilamoura -- Day 4 Recap

With Anthony Lellouche [pictured right] and Jeff Sarwer heavily dominating most recaps of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Vilamoura due to their strong performance in the main event, day 4 proved that being chip leader with 24 to go doesn’t guarantee anything. Play would continue until the final table of eight was found, but 16 had to be lost before it could get there.

Among players to fall from grace throughout the day were Jude Ainsworth, Ruben Visser, Ricardo Sousa, Joao Barbosa, and, most dramatically, Anthony Lellouche.

Lellouche who went into the day as chip leader with 1,134,000 exploded early session and was out due to a few key hands. After the young Frenchman raised 20,500 from the hijack, Jan Skampa reraised to 57,000 from the cut-off, and Lellouche popped it up to 137,000 prompting Skampa to move all in. Lellouche let this one go, but the hand that put him on the other side of the rail went like this:

Lellouche raised from the cut-off and Antonio Matias called from the small blind. The flop was J 8 2 and Matias checked. Lellouche bet 45,000 and Matias made it 100,000. Lellouche made the call and the turn was dealt the Q. Matias checked and the Frenchman bet out again, this time for 145,000. Matias made the call, the river was the 2, and Matias checked yet again. Lellouche chose this moment to move all in but Matias called and Lellouche’s dreams were shattered. “You’re good,” he said as he revealed 9 7 for a busted draw, while Matias tabled A 2 for trip twos.

The chip leader was gone and a new one was created in Portuguese businessman Antonio Matias as he stacked up around 1,700,000 in chips after the hand.

Dutch Team PokerStars member Ruben Visser, who started the day fourth in chips with 749,000, also had his hopes squashed after getting a battering throughout the day via various unfortunate hands. A short-stacked Visser raised to 27,000 from the cut-off and Gino Gabriel made the call from the big blind. The flop came A 10 9 and Gabriel checked. Visser bet 24,000 and Gabriel called. The 7 was dealt on the turn and both players checked. The river was the A, Gabriel bet 45,000 and Visser called. Gabriel showed A 3 and Visser revealed pocket jacks.

The next time he moved all in, there were better consequences. A short-stacked Tome Moreira shoved from the small blind and Visser quickly called from the big blind. Moreira held A 7 and Visser was ahead with A 8. The board brought an 8 on the turn and Visser doubled up. His success was short-lived however as the next time he moved all in he had pocket fours and was called by Ryan Franklin and his pocket sixes. The board brought a six on the turn and Visser was crippled yet again.

Finally, he pushed all in from early position with Q 10 and found a caller in big blind Jeff Sarwer and his A K. The board fell 7 7 5 7 8 and Visser was put out of the event.

New PokerStars Team Pro player Jude Ainsworth was healthy enough chip-wise with 491,000 in seventh place on the leader board at start of play, but Lellouche’s slayer, Antonio Matias was out for fresh meat and he was about to get it with the Irishman. First, here is a PokerStars clip of Ainsworth before he took to the felt:

Watch EPT Vilamoura PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth talks about EPT Vilamoura and life as a PokerStars pro on PokerStars.tv

Early session, Matias bet 30,000 from the cut-off and Ainsworth called from the small blind. The flop fell J J 3, Ainsworth checked and Matias bet 60,000. Ainsworth called. The turn was dealt the 10 and both players checked. The river was the 10 and Ainsworth bet 100,000. Matias pumped it up to 300,000 and Ainsworth decided to fold. Matias showed a jack and later said he had quads.

Ainsworth then improved a little when he knocked out Ricardo Sousa (who, not to forget, was third in chips at start of play with 765,000). Ainsworth’s pocket tens beat Sousa’s A 4, but Matias had his sights on Ainsworth again shortly after this.

Michel Abecassis bet 24,000 from under the gun, Jude Ainsworth [pictured right] called from mid-position and Matias called from the big blind. The flop was dealt Q 9 2 and both Matias and Abecassis checked. Ainsworth bet 35,000, and only Matias called. Both players went on to check the 5 turn and A river. Ainsworth then revealed pocket eights but Matias had it on the river with A 10.

Down to 270,000, Ainsworth got involved with Claudio Coelho with unhealthy consequences, but it was Antonio Matias who had the worst impact on Ainsworth’s stack. Matias raised to 25,000 from the cut-off and Ainsworth called from the big blind. The flop was K J 2 and both players checked.

Ainsworth also checked the 5 turn and then called Matias’ bet of 25,000. The river fell the 4 and Ainsworth checked. Matias bet 71,000 and Ainsworth asked, “Did that four help you?” He also added, “I think I was ahead before that” and “I don’t like making hero calls”. Despite this he made the call and was proven right when Matias revealed A 3 for a rivered straight, while the Irish pro held 7 5.

Ainsworth’s final hand came when he raised to 38,000 from early position and was called by the blinds, Matias and Abecassis. The flop came K 10 9 and Matias bet 60,000. Abecassis insta-called, and Ainsworth moved all in for his last 278,000. Matias called and Abecassis shoved over the top for 428,000 in total. Matias made the call and the three showed their cards:

Ainsworth: K K
Matias: K J
Abecassis: Q J

Abecassis had flopped a straight, but the Q on the turn straightened out Matias also. Ainsworth needed to pair the board but he didn’t as the river was the 3. Matias and Abecassis split the pot and Ainsworth left in 13th place for €13,274.

Here are the payouts on day 4:

9th — Claudio Coelho (€23,426)
10th — Santiago Terrazas (€23,426)
11th — Tome Moreira (€17,180)
12th — Gino Gabriel (€17,180)
13th — Jude Ainsworth (€13,274)
14th — Ruben Visser (€13,274)
15th — Aurelien Guiglini (€11,713)
16th — Hugo Felix (€11,713)
17th — Javier Garcia (€10,151)
18th — Joao Barbosa (€10,151)
19th — Ricardo Sousa (€10,151)
20th — Antony Lellouche (€10,151)
21th — Guillaume Da Silva (€10,151)
22th — Jim Collopy (€10,151)
23th — Matt Johns (€10,151)
24th — Mohamed Razab, Holland, (€10,151)

Claudio Coelho just missed out on the final table when he shoved his short stack in the middle from the hijack position. Jeff Sarwer reraised from the small blind, making sure it was just the two of them to see a board. Sarwer showed A 7 and Coelho revealed A 6. The flop gave the chess-turned-poker pro the nut flush as it fell K 4 2, and with Coelho on the other side of the rail, the final table was decided.

Here are the final eight, their chip counts, and nationalities in seat order:

1 — Claudio Coelho (Portugal) 448,000
2 — Ryan Franklin (United States) 1,219,000
3 — Jan Skampa (Czech Republic) 682,000
4 — Jeff Sarwer (Canada) 2,353,000
5 — Antonio Matias (Portugal) 2,986,000
6 — Andrei Vlasenko (Russia) 379,000
7 — Joao Silva (Portugal) 303,000
8 — Michel Abecassis (France) 544,000
9 — Pierre Neuville (Belgium) 705,000

The final table will begin at noon (GMT) today. All the action can be followed at the PokerStars blog in the live tournaments section on CardPlayer.com as the eight finalists compete for a first prize of €404,793 ($601,171) from a total prize pool of €1,561,700 ($2,319,434), as well as a seat in the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final in April 2010.

Catch each bust out as it happens on the EPT Live video feed, but if you miss that, Card Player Europe will provide you with a summary of the action in tomorrow’s final recap.

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