European Poker Tour Snowfest -- Day 3Dane Carves His Way To The Top on Day 3 of Snowfest |
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Day 3 of the €3,500 buy-in PokerStars European Poker Tour Snowfest saw a handful of players fighting their way to the front and leading the charge. Those seated around these players felt their wrath, and many didn’t stand a chance on a day filled with casualties, suck outs, and hopes dashed.
With 86 players returning, the field needed to be reduced by six. However, it wasn’t long before 80 were in the money.
After waking up to two red aces, PokerStars player Alfio Battisti [pictured right] bet 11,500 and found himself reraised by Evgeniy Zaytsev. Battisti then shoved all in for around 140,000 and Zaytsev made the call, flipping over 3
3
.
The flop came down with something for both players – A J 2. The turn was the 10 giving Zaytsev the flush, and after making a set of aces on the flop, Battisti needed the board to pair as the 2 prevented a split pot if another spade dropped on the river. And it did – down came the 5 and Zaytsev took the pot, sending the Italian out on the bubble.
Another PokerStars player, who went down a different path during the day, was Allan Baekke. Baekke got an early double up when he hit a set on the flop versus Casper Toft. This moved him up to over the 700,000 mark. He soon finished Toft off with A A
versus A 5
. Toft was the first to receive funds from the prize pool, and left with a profit of €1,760.
It soon became clear who the players were to look out for, and who if possible, to avoid. Max Lykov, Allan Baekke [pictured left] and Team PokerStars Pro members Johannes Strassmann and Richard Toth sliced their way through the field throughout the day with Toth falling behind towards the end and American Brent Wheeler taking his place.
Jesper Hougaard managed to double up in the first level to give him a good boost. However he soon found himself at the hands of the well-stacked Dane, Baekke. Hougaard decided to just call a large bet from Baekke on a river which had made him a set of jacks, and lucky he did as the river had also given Baekke a flush. This moved Baekke over the million mark while Hougaard lasted a little while longer before busting out versus Canadian Russell Carson with A-Q versus aces respectively. The young Dane received €6,700 for 43rd place.
Others to hit the rail were Team PokerStars Pro players Alex Kravchenko in 65th for €5,500, and Lex Veldhuis in 54th for €6,300. Veldhuis returned after the break and found pocket aces before him. All in preflop, the board came down 9-8-7-10-J to give his opponent Simon Ehne, holding A-Q, the straight. He then shoved with pocket fours which were smashed by Samuel Miller’s pocket queens, and that was it for the Dutch pro.
Here are some other notables who also made the money:
32nd place – Christophe De Meulder Team PokerStars Pro (€8,400)
34th place – Ivo Donev (€7,400)
38th place – Aaron Lerner (€7,400)
42nd place – Konstantinos Alexiou (€6,700)
49th place – Julien Brecard PokerStars sponsored player (€6,300)
60th place – Zachary Hall PokerStars player (€5,900)
As the day drew to a close, Allan Baekke was at it again. Bernhard Perner bet 31,000 and Paul Valkenberg raised it to 81,000. It was then folded to Baekke who asked for a count of both players’ stacks. Perner had 200,000 and Valkenburg had 900,000. Baekke bet 200,000 and Perner went into the tank. Eventually he folded and Valkenburg shoved. Baekke insta-called. Valkenburg flipped over K K and Baekke revealed A A.
The flop was dealt A K 8 giving them both a set. The turn and river didn’t change anything and Valkenburg hit the rail, as the last casualty of the day, in 25th place for €8,400. The pot moved Baekke up over the 2 million mark, a good distance away from those also on the leader board.
The top 10 in chips are:
Allan Baekke (Denmark) PokerStars player 2,687,000
Brent Wheeler (USA) PokerStars player 1,361,000
Max Lykov (Russia) PokerStars player 1,205,000
Johannes Strassmann (Germany) Team PokerStars Pro 1,001,000
Alexander Debus (Germany) 908,000
Huub Verdonschot (Netherlands) 769,000
Jim Collopy (USA) PokerStars player 758,000
Marcel Koller (Switzerland) 752,000
Jonathan Schroer (USA) PokerStars qualifier 685,000
Johannes Holstege (Germany) PokerStars player 683,000
Day 4 will be a fiery one with 24 players remaining guaranteed at least €10,200 ($13,621). Baekke, Wheeler, Lykov, Strassmann, and even Debus, all have a firm grip of the upper planes of the leader board, but those trailing them are only a double up away. This time tomorrow the final table will be set in stone, so don’t forget to check back for tomorrow’s recap featuring photographs courtesy of Neil Stoddart and PokerStars. In the meantime you can have a look at the PokerStars blog feed or catch the event live as it happens today and tomorrow on the EPT live video feed.
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