Friday, 29th March 2024 05:25
Home / Uncategorized / EPT12 Malta: Andler and Gelich just miss the money

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Christopher Andler
If Day 2 of an EPT is moving day then Day 3 is bubble day, and today was no different. Normally hand for hand play begins when on the direct bubble but the tournament director’s hand was forced to bring that forward one hand due to the amount of stalling going on at several tables.

“Stalling is the new black,” joked PokerStars Blog photographer Rene Velli.

The extra hand of hand for hand play had a huge effect on the length of time it took to get in the money. It took the last 45 minutes of level 16 and another 45 minutes of level 17 to finally get there, and the unfortunate player to leave in 96th place was Christopher Andler from Sweden.

Before the actual bubble hand took place three players put their tournament at risk, but with good reason. Paul Berende, Dara O’Kearney and Ludovic Geilich were all below average but could’ve folded to the money if they hadn’t found the nut pre flop hand.

Berende and O’Kearney were both up on the feature table and had stacks of 73,000 and 95,500 respectively. Dan Smith and his pocket kings couldn’t come from behind to defeat Berende and Alen Bilic’s queens were second best after a 6♥ K♥ 4â™  10♥ 8♦ board came down. O’Kearney breathed a sigh of relief after his opponent missed the flush draw he picked up on the turn.

Geilich was not so fortunate. He was down to around 35,000 when he three-bet all in from the small blind with A♦ A♣ . Pierre Chevalier had opened from mid position and made the call with 10♣ 9♣ . TD Luca Vivaldi announced the action to the room and there were some giggles when they heard what Geilich was up against and their reaction was even louder when the flop fanned 8♣ 7♠ 2♣ . Chevalier had flopped the world and had his Scottish opponent drawing dead when the J♥ turn made him a straight.

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Good game Ludo
Gelich nodded and said, “Good game everyone.” He may have just missed out on the money but at least he has a dry bum. Oh wait ….

Once Geilch was out of the way the tension was ramped up to 11. As the bubble period was so long, word spread around the room that two players were seriously short and both would be forced all in the next time they were in the big blind. Christopher Andler thought he had the advantage over Andrew Atkinson but after wandering over to check, he realised that it was he who be at risk first.

Andler, being Swedish, seemed very chilled out about the predicament he found himself in, whereas Atkinson was anything but. His shoulders were tense and he was heard muttering, “Oh jeez!” to himself. A min cash is worth €9,320 and the Brit qualified for just €32.40 so you can understand his tension now.

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Christopher Andler bubbling EPT Malta
The bubble hand duly came around when Andler was in the big blind. He paid the 500 ante and was all in for his last 1,500. Daniel Dvoress raised to 10,000 and was called by Giulio Spampinato in the small blind. The flop came 3♣ A♦ 4♥ and Spampinato check-called 6,500 before leading for 13,000 on the 10♣ turn. Dvoress looked confused but flicked in the call and quickly checked behind on the K♣ river.

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Andre Atkinson going to work on his nails
The three players had to wait for all other hands to be completed before their hands could be opened. The EPTLive cameras were already in position and Atkinson lingered behind one of them, shoulder ramped up with tension. The winner of the side pot had to be determined first and it went to Dvoress as his A♣ J♦ beat out Spampinato’s 5♣ 5♥ . Andler hadn’t looked at his cards this whole time and he decided to open one at time but he knew he was out after the first one was the 8â™  . The other one was the 4â™  and Andler received condolences from his tablemates and made a swift exit. The rest of the room cheered with delight and Atkinson soaked up the congratulations from his supportive tablemates and allowed the tension to release from his body.

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And relax
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