World Series of Poker Euro Update: Day 42Europeans Mean Business On Day 3 Of The World Series Main Eventby Rebecca McAdam | Published: Jul 10, 2008 | |
 
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Day 3 was filled with eliminations as play made its way towards the money. When the bubble finally burst, players got down to business, pushing out the shorter stacks and getting rid of the weaker links. Many Europeans came on strong, proving themselves as a force to be reckoned with on day 3 of the main event.
Finn Patrik Antonius wasn’t one of them however, as his main event run came to an end early session. He started the day with a short stack, and moved all-in from the big blind after a button raise of 6,000 by Jim Dalessandro. The raise was 25,000 more to Dalessandro, and eventually he made the call. Antonius was behind with K
J
against A10. The flop was K6
2, a hit for Antonius. However, the running 4 turn and Q river gave Dalessandro an ace-high flush and Antonius headed for the rail.
French online player Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier held on strong throughout the day. Early session, four players saw a limped flop of Q2
2 and all of them checked. The turn was the 3. Scott Clements checked, the big blind bet 3,000, Grospellier and another player called, and the trio saw the 10 on the river. Again the big blind bet. The third player folded but Grospellier made the call. The big blind showed KJ for a botched bluff attempt, and Elky’s QJ took down the pot.
At this point Englishman John Duthie and Finn Voitto Rintala were pretty short-stacked. Duthie was sent to the other side of the rail later in the day in 483rd place with $25,090. Some notable Europeans who managed to stay alive were the two Russian Alexanders: Kravchenko and Kostritsyn, Norwegian Thor Hansen, Denmark’s Gus Hansen, and Finn Maya Antonius (Patrik Antonius’ wife). By level 11, Norwegian Sigurd Eskeland and Englishman Jeff Kimber were sitting up the top of the leader board. Geert Jans from the Netherlands joined them one level later.
Yde Van Deutekom from Holland was forced to stare down Victor Ramdin in a massive showdown as the final seconds counted down on level 12. Ramdin raised to 6,000 preflop and Van Deutekom made the reraise to 18,000. Play was folded back to Ramdin, who had one of the largest stacks in the field. He quickly reraised to 45,000. Van Deutekom had the clock called on him before he made the call. The flop came 865, and when Ramdin checked, Van Deutekom stepped out for 45,000. Ramdin called. The 2 was the turn card and Ramdin then announced all-in, having Van Deutekom covered. Van Deutekom tanked once more, and again the clock was called. With about four seconds remaining in the countdown, he announced call for his remaining 109,500 and showed his pocket kings. Ramdin was holding J4 for a double-gutter straight draw plus the flush draw. The river was a brick and Van Deutekom soared up the chip leaderboard.
Another European who flew up the ranks was Russian Alexander Kostritsyn. Mid-session, he limped from the hijack when action folded to him. It then folded around to the big blind who raised it to 20,000. Kostritsyn opted to call and they saw an eventful flop of KQJ. His opponent led out for 25,000 and Kostritsyn, who had him well-covered, moved all in. The decision was for an additional 75,000, and his opponent certainly took his time deciding. He sent a barrage of questions Kostritsyn’s way, but was met only with wry answers. After seven minutes of thought, the clock was called on him. With ten seconds remaining in the countdown, he made the call and showed AK. Kostritsyn was well ahead with pocket queens, which held when the turn and river were the 9 and K.
Gus Hansen was getting short-stacked, but managed a significant breakthrough with about 40 minutes remaining before the dinner break. Hansen was on the button and called a preflop raise from a player one from the cut-off. The flop came 953, and the first player bet 15,000. Hansen then moved all-in for his remaining 61,500. The player called. Hansen showed 55 for the flopped set, while his opponent held K9. The A and 7 completed the board and Hansen doubled up.
After dinner break, a short-stacked Alexander Kravchenko was eliminated, and Italian Vito Branciforte made his way on to the leader board.
Russian Sarkis Akopyan did well throughout the day, spending most of it among the top runners. He took Minh Nguyen’s pocket kings down with the rockets, pocket aces. The flop came A96, giving Akopyan top set and leaving Nguyen drawing slim. The J came on the turn and Nguyen was drawing dead. A useless K came on the river, filling Nguyen's losing set, and he made a heart-breaking exit.
Steve Chung then burst the bubble and went out in 667th place. However, he did not go home empty-handed as Milwaukee's Best gave him the $10,000 entry fee. The remaining field was then guaranteed at least $21,230.
Austrian Markus Golser got his opponent all in with a board of K1028 and 
showed down K10 for top two pair. However, his opponent showed AJ for the nut flush. Golser couldn not improve to a full house on the river and took a big hit to his fairly healthy chip stack.
The all-in motion was catching on, as on a board reading 9239, Gus Hansen moved all in and was called by his opponent in seat 2. Seat 2 turned over JJ for two pair, but Hansen showed down Q9 for a set on the turn. The river was the icing on the cake as the Q filled up Hansen. He doubled up to around 320,000 in chips, and got back in the game. “Wow, what a turn,” was Hansen’s response. "It was a piece of s#!% hand, but I was on tilt," Hansen added as the table moved on to the next hand.
By the end of play, the chip leader board had a European flair to it with Russian Alexander Kostritsyn (980,000), Norwegian Dag Mikkelsen (930,000), Romanian Cristian Dragomir (860,000), and Russian Sarkis Akopyan (850,000) doing the side proud. Who knows what tonight will bring with 474 players returning. Check back at CardPlayer.com tomorrow for the next main event instalment and all your news and updates from the 2008 World Series of Poker.