February 05 2012, Marc Convey

It took a little more than six hours to reduce the field from 24 players to eight, and set Monday’s final table for the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville.

Sunday mostly belonged to Paul Guichard. He will enter the final table as the chip leader with 5,955,000 in chips. He won a big pot off of Olivier Rogez, when he made the nut flush with on a board. Guichard took over the chip lead, and hardly looked back. He is followed closely by Vadzim Kursevich, who has impressively made his second EPT final table within a year (he finished third at EPT7 Berlin).

Luca Pagano came into play on Sunday as the chip leader but didn’t have things go his own way like they did on Day 4. He still made the final table, back in the pack in fifth with 2,010,000 in chips. We were lauding over Pagano after he made the money, his 20th in all. This is the Team PokerStars Pro’s seventh final table, yet another record extending bar set higher. We are running out of superlatives to describe his achievements on this tour. All he needs now is that elusive title, and then he can change his name to Mr. EPT.

The unfortunate player who finished in ninth place and will miss out on Monday’s festivities is Sergey Baburin. His journey came to an end when he got his chips in with on the turn of a board, only for Bruno Jais to call with . Baburin was drawing dead and the final table was set.

Chris Brammer, Kevin Vandersmissen, Marc Inizan, and Ignat Liviu were among the players who came into play on Sunday, but had their hopes dashed short of the final table.

This is how the final table will line up on Monday:

Play will begin at 1200 CET (0300 PST) on Monday. The minimum a player will take home is “67,200 for eighth, whereas the winner will take home “875,000. French gaming law states that no deals can be agreed between the players, so the life-changing jumps in the payouts will cause a few jangling nerves.

Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team back here and we’ll bring you every major hand and every bust out throughout the day. Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

February 04 2012, Mickey Doft

The PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event resumed on Saturday with 54 players remaining from the starting field of 889. After three levels and change, the final three tables were reached. Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano began the day in 36th place, but finished on top of the chip counts with 3,561,000.

Pagano began the day with 344,000, but chipped up nicely to about 700,000 before things really took off. It started when he picked up and eliminated Balazs Botond who held . That put Pagano at about the million chip mark, leading to the hand that changed everything.

Pagano tangled with Samphane Phomveha, the chip leader at the start of Day 4, toward the end of the day’s first level. After raising under the gun to 28,000, Pagano called Phomveha’s three-bet to see an flop. Pagano bet 125,000 Phomheva called, and the hit the turn. That didn’t slow Pagano down as and made it 325,000 to play. Phomheva called and the dealer delivered the river, where once again Pagano fired – this time 600,000. Phomheva called, but could not beat Pagano’s with his .

Shortly thereafter, Phomheva busted. Joining him on the rail were Mohsin Charania, Koen De Visscher, Martins Adeniya, and many others.

Following Pagano in the chip counts are Olivier Rogez (2,668,000), Vadim Kursevich (1,815,000), and Paul Guichard (1,700,000). Here is the table and seat draw for the 24 returning players Sunday.

Play will resume at 1200 CET (0300 PST) Sunday and will continue until the final table is reached.

To follow all the action, check out our PokerNews’ EPT Live Updates from start to finish. Also, follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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