February 03 2012, Marty Derbyshire

The PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event played down from 178 players to the final 54 on Friday night.

EPT London finalist Martins Adeniya came into play as the clear chip leader and a steady day kept him near the top of the counts throughout. A massive 1.5 million chip pot nearing the end of the night however, handed France’s Samphane Phomveha the overnight lead.

The 128-player money bubble was reached midway through the day’s third level and the only thing building faster than the line-up at the cash out cage following the bubble appeared to be Ondrej Vinklarek’s stack. The Czech national, who crushed the side events at EPT Prague in October, quickly became the first player over the one-million chip mark using an aggressive style of play and a little run-good. In the closing moments, he shoved king-five off-suit preflop into Phomveha’s pocket kings to hand him 1.471 million chips and the overnight chip lead.

Vinklarek wasn’t the only one with an up and down day. Frenchman Ludovic Lacay seemed to take the same line. At one point, he shot up to 950,000 and the top of the leaderboard by picking up aces against two shorter stacks with jacks and tens. But after Adeniya was moved to his table and took a chunk out of his stack, pushing him off a 200,000 pot on a four-flush board, Lacay seemed to spend the rest of the day hovering around the half million mark. That is until the late stages when Christopher Brammer rivered an ace against his pocket jacks to send him home.

Notables joining Lacay in cashing, but busting throughout the day included 2010 EPT Vilamoura winner Toby Lewis, WPT and WSOP title holder James Dempsey, French rap mogul Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes, and Lucille Cailly.

Making the money certainly meant something to that group, and to the handful of PokerStars qualifiers still in when the bubble burst, but it also marked another big occasion for the final Team PokerStars Pro left standing. Luca Pagano guaranteed a record 20th EPT cash by making the money here, but picked up aces to double up soon after the bubble burst to stay alive and ended with a 344,000 stack heading into Saturday’s Day 4.

Big stacks also still in contention for the “875,000 first-place prize include Brammer, France’s Olivier Rogez, and 2011 EPT San Remo sixth-place finisher Yorane Kerignard.

Top 10 Stacks Heading into Day 4

Play will resume at 1200 CET (0300 PST) Saturday with plans to play down to 24.

To follow all the action live, tune into PokerNews’ EPT Live Updates from start to finish. Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

October 26 2011, Donnie Peters

The final table was set on Wednesday night for the 2011 PokerStars.it European Poker Tour San Remo, Italy. It was another short day as the field of 24 players got down to eight in very little time.

At the end of the day, Australian Daniel Neilson led the way with 6.7 million in chips. He quietly chipped up throughout the day before ending the night by sending Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden home in ninth place. Neilson has been on a nice run in Europe recently. A few weeks ago, he placed 45th in the EPT London Main Event for £13,000 and is now set to make a lot more cash as he eyes the “800,000 top prize.

When the day began, Chris McClung had the lead with 3.148 million. Instead of writing about how he ran over the field, all we can do is wonder where all his chips went. McClung, with his ultra-aggressive style, had his foot on the gas all day. In fact, it seemed like he never slowed down from the start of play on Day 1. On Wednesday, that style seemed to get the best of him. It allowed him to grant numerous double-ups to his opponents before he was eliminated in 14th place.

One of the players McClung doubled was Kevin MacPhee. MacPhee was all-in before the flop for 1.742 million, and he was tangling with McClung. MacPhee showed and McClung turned over .

The flop reversed the outs for the two men, and now McClung was looking for one of MacPhee’s kings to make Broadway. The turn was a blank, though, and the river was even blanker.

Although that hand described above did give MacPhee the lead, he went on to lose a big one against Dimitar Danchev. MacPhee raised to 110,000 from under the gun with the blinds at 25K/50K/5K and Danchev called from the cutoff seat to see the flop come down . MacPhee stayed on the gas and bet 125,000. Danchev called.

The landed on the turn, but MacPhee didn’t slow down. He fired a bet of 275,000. Danchev stuck right with him and made the call. The river paired the board with the and MacPhee bet 460,000 rather quickly. Danchev double-handed a raise to 1.2 million. Only a few seconds passed before MacPhee announced a call.

Danchev tabled for a full house, queens full of aces. MacPhee sprung from his chair and slammed over the for a straight that was no longer good, losing about half of his chips in the hand.

MacPhee will enter the final table with 1.115 million in chips and has a shot at becoming the first two-time EPT champion. In 2010, MacPhee won EPT Berlin. His work will be cut out for him on Thursday, however, after he finished the day dead last in chips.

Fourteen other players fell short of this final table besides Lodden and McClung. Team Pro Lex Veldhuis hit the rail in 15th place, former EPT champion Mike McDonald went out in 18th and 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champion Elio Fox fell in 23rd.

Final Table Seating Assignments

Everyone left has locked up at least “63,694, but there’s still plenty more to play for. The title and first-place prize of “800,000 still hangs in the balance, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the live coverage starting Thursday at 1400 CET (0500 PDT).

Don’t forget to tune into the Live Reporting page on Wednesday to follow along with the action. And speaking of following things, our Twitter stream is the best place for up-to-the-minute poker news right in your timeline.

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters