EPT Prague Day Four: Martin Finger Chip Leader, Nicolas Levi Second As Final Table Is Set

The final table for the last event of the European Poker Tour in 2010 is set in Prague, the Czech Republic, as Martin Finger holds a slim lead over Nicolas Levi for tomorrow’s action.

31 players came back to the tables on Friday, looking to get down to the traditional eight handed EPT final table, with Patrick Renkers holding down the chip lead. There were several contenders looking to knock him off the top of the mountain, such as Canada’s Mike McDonald (looking to become the first player to ever win two EPT events), Ireland’s Jude Ainsworth and the United Kingdom’s Chris Moorman. Up for grabs for the combatants on Friday was a seat at the final table and a shot at the €775,000 first place prize.

Another early contender, Ari Engel, took it on the chin when Yann Brosolo hit a king high flush against him, knocking Engel out of the million chip club. Engel would donate some more chips to McDonald, but the Canadian couldn’t sustain his drive. In a key hand against Finger, McDonald reraised preflop, only to see Finger three bet the action to 152K. McDonald called to see the 10-8-8 flop and McDonald called another 105K bet from Finger. On the seven turn card, the chips would go to the center of the table.

Unfortunately for McDonald, he had run into a monster; Finger’s pocket Aces were ahead of McDonald’s A-10 and, although there were three diamonds on the board and McDonald held the Ace of diamonds, a dry river pushed the former EPT champion out of the tournament in 27th place. For his efforts, McDonald would take home €17,000.

Moorman could never gain any traction during play on Friday. Once action was down to three tables, the WSOP Europe runner up found himself with only 300K. Although he was able to double up twice, Moorman’s tournament would come to an end at the hands of Brosolo, whose pocket sixes outran Moorman’s suited K-Q of hearts to boot the Englishman from the felt in fifteenth place (€23,000).

Ainsworth would be the next to leave the festivities after a rollercoaster day that took him from the upper echelons of the leaderboard to out of the tournament. He would lose a considerable amount of chips to Andreas Wiese when, after Ainsworth had four bet pre-flop, he couldn’t find a call once Wiese pushed all in. The next hand, Ainsworth saw a 6-5-4 flop against Renkers and pushed his remaining chips in with A-6 for top pair. Renkers immediately made the call, tabling his pocket tens, and Ainsworth was looking for an Ace or a six on the final two streets. Once a saving card failed to fall, Ainsworth was out of the tournament in fourteenth place (€27,000).

Renkers, the Day Three chip leader, would fall short of the final table. Guillem Cavaller opened the final hand of the evening to 105K and Finger made the call. Renkers put the squeeze on to 185K, which was enough to get Cavalier out of the hand. Finger made the stand, however, pushing his stack to the center and receiving a call from Renkers. With the two men just about even in chips, someone would most likely emerge as the chip leader for the final table.

Finger’s A-K of hearts was racing against Renkers’ pocket Queens, but much of the drama was eliminated when an Ace showed in the window of the flop. After a Jack on the turn and a “salt in the wound” second Ace on the river, the chips were counted and Renkers was found to be the player all in. After an outstanding performance throughout the EPT Prague, Patrick Renkers would leave the tournament as the ninth place “bubble boy,” worth €48,000.

Tomorrow afternoon in Prague (the morning hours in the U. S.), the final table will line up like this:

Seat 1: Mads Wissing, 420,000
Seat 2: Guillem Cavaller, 1.405 million
Seat 3: Nicolas Levi, 5.69 million
Seat 4: Martin Finger, 5.8 million
Seat 5: Andreas Wiese, 1.615 million
Seat 6: Ari Engel, 1.67 million
Seat 7: Denys Drobyna, 1.18 million
Seat 8: Danyel Boyaciyan, 3.77 million

Levi and Engel have the experience edge at this final table (and Levi has the chips), but it will take a Herculean effort for someone other than Finger or Levi to take down this championship. By tomorrow evening, we will know who the final champion of 2010 is for the European Poker Tour.

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Poker lingo:

STRAIGHT - A hand consisting of 5 cards in sequence but not in suit.
RAIL - A barrier dividing the card playing area from a public area.
TRIPS - Three of a kind. In Hold'em the term SET is used when two of the three cards are hole cards.
ON THE COME - A situation where the player does not have a complete hand but hopes to make one if the right cards come up.
OPENERS - Cards in a hand that qualify a player to open the betting.
DRAWING DEAD - A draw in which it is impossible to obtain a winning hand for any of a variety of reasons: an opponent's hand is better than whatever you are drawing to, the card(s) that make your hand are out of play, or (in Hold'em) give an opponent a stronger hand even if it makes yours. Frequently used in the past tense, since one rarely knows it at the time.

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