9pm: Dmitri Holdeew wins Eureka3 Prague (€226,400); Ami Barer second (€131,400)
It's all over here in Prague and wouldn't you know it another German poker player has won a massive poker tournament as Dmitri Holdeew is the Eureka3 Prague winner, whilst Ami Barer finishes as runner-up.
In the final hand Holdeew raised it up to 600,000 from the button and Barer smooth called from the big blind. On the [10d][3h][7c] flop Holdeew continued for 475,000 and Barer made the call.
The [9h] turn was where the fireworks happened, Barer checked it over to Holdeew, he bet 1,500,000 only for Barer to check-raise all-in. The German stood up to look at Barer's chips and then requested a count.. It was established that Barer was all-in for 7,915,000 in total. Holdeew picked up a handful of green 100k chips and dropped them over the line to signify a call.
Holdeew: [10s][9d] - for top two
Barer - [Kh][4h] - the flush draw
The river was the [Kd] and although Barer made a pair it wasn't enough. "F*** yeah," said Holdeew when he'd realised he'd won the pot and the tournament. A disconsolate Barer stood there taking it all-in before being whisked away to the payouts desk.
A full wrap of today's Final table is on the way.
8.40pm: No you have the lead
Like a bad dog walker no one seems to be able to hang onto the lead. No longer have they claimed it then they lose it again. Yet again the chip lead has changed hands, but it doesn't take much momentum or swings for that to happen when each million in chips is less than four big blinds.
Dmitri Holdeew now has more of them though as he's up to 14.5m and Ami Barer is down to 11.5m. No massive pots to cause that swing just small to medium ones.
8.25pm: Barer back in the lead
Ami Barer is up to 17,500,000 and back in the chip lead after winning a few pots. One of those saw Dmitri raise to 600,000, Barer three-bet to 1,275,000 and Holdeew smooth call.
On the [2s][5h][7d] flop Barer went to bet but now sooner did he then Holdeew mucked his hand.
In another Holdeew raised to 600,000 and Barer smooth called. On the [4s][8s][Ad] flop Barer checked, Holdeew bet 475,000 and Barer smooth called. The [8d] turn and [6s] river checked through and Barer showed [Jc][10s] which was good.
Holdeew's down to 8,550,000.
8.10pm: Stacks flip flop
Since the break the stacks have flip flopped and Dmitri Holdeew has taken the lead. The biggest pot that went his way happened when he bet 2,000,000 on the river of a [jh][2s][Js][3h][7d] board, Barer called but mucked when Holdeew showed [jc][4c] for trip jacks.
The stacks now roughly 14,500,000 to Holdeew and 11,400,000 to Barer.
8pm: Chip counts
Ami Barer is still in the lead he's got 15,400,000 to Dmitri Holdeew's 10,550,000.
Blinds up: 150,000/300,000, ante 40,000
7.40pm: Break time
The players are now on a 20 minute break.
7.35pm: Barer getting on top
No major skirmishes have occurred in the past 20 minutes but a few hands went to showdown.
The biggest pot went the way of Ami Barer, he called from the big blind after Dmitry Holdeew raised to 480,000 from the button. On the [10c][4c][As] flop Holdeew c-bet 375,000, Barer raised to 860,000 and Holdeew smooth called.
The [5h] turn and [2h] river were checked down and Barer took the pot with [10s][8s].
7.15pm: Back to evens
No big pots in the last 20 minutes but the majority of the small and medium ones have gone the way of Dmitri Holdeew. As a result the stacks are pretty much even at 13m each.
At the end of this level the players were scheduled to take a dinner break, but if it reaches that stage then both players have agreed to just take 15 minutes instead.
6.55pm: Ami Barer doubles through Dmitri Holdeew
"Damn it I knew it," said Dmitri Holdeew when he saw the bad news. "Only I didn't know it," he added.
He had raised to 480,000 from the button, Barer three-bet to 1,140,000, Holdeew moved all-in and Barer called all-in for 8,805,000.
Barer: [8c][8h]
Holdeew: [4h][4s]
The [9h][Kd][6c][10d][8d] board gave Barer a double up to 16,610,000 whilst Holdeew is down to 9,800,000.
6.50pm: Holdeew extends chip lead
The first big pot of heads-up play has gone to Dmitri Holdeew. From the big blind he called Ami Barer's min-raise and the two of them took a [7s][8s][7c] flop, Barer c-bet 325,000 and Holdeew called. The [5h] fell on the turn, bet of 775,000 from Barer, check-call from Holdeew.
The [7d] fell on fifth street, both players checked and Holdeew showed [Kc][5c] to win the pot.
Blinds up: 120,000/240,000, ante 30,000
6.40pm: Heads-up chip counts
No respite we're straight into heads-up play with the chip counts as follows:
Dmitri Holdeew: 14m
Ami Barer: 11.9m
6.35pm: Stephen Chidwick eliminated in third place (€92,500)
We're heads-up here in Prague and it's Stephen Chidwick who has fallen just short of that stage.
He open shoved for around 20 big blinds from the small blind with [Kh][10c], Dmitri Holdeew called from the big blind with [7h][7s] and we were off to the races. The [Qs][2d][9c] flop gave Chidwick straight outs to go with his pair outs, the [7d] turn took the pair outs away and, for Holdeew at least, it was a a good thing they did as the river was the [10h].
Chidwick wished his opponents good luck as he left.
6.15pm: Barer wins a big one
An incredibly interesting hand just played out between Ami Barer and Stephen Chidwick and it was the biggest non all-in pot we've seen so far.
It didn't look like that would be the case when Barer limped from the small blind, Chidwick then raised to 400,000 and Barer smooth called.
The [Qs][Qh][8s] flop was where it got interesting, Barer checked, Chidwick bet 330,000, Barer check-raised to 675,000, Chidwick re-raised to 1,230,000, Barer then re-re-raised to 1,785,000 and Chidwick decided he best see a turn at this point and flat called.
So there was around 4,500,000 in the pot as they went to the [Ks] turn, there then followed a swift check from Barer, a bet of 925,000 from Chidwick and a call from Barer. The [10d] filled out the board, again Barer checked, but there would be no bet from Chidwick as he checked behind. First to show Barer slammed over [Qc][10h] for a full-house and Chidwick mucked his hand.
A big pot to Barer then who climbs to xx, whilst Chidwick drops to 4,800,000 whilst Barer climbs to around 10,000,000.
5.55pm: Holdeew takes big pot from both to claim chip lead
Dmitri Holdeew now has around half the chips in play after winning a sizeable pot against Stephen Chidwick and an even bigger one against Ami Barer. I only caught the end of the Chidwick pot, Holdeew had fired out a bet of 1.3m on the turn of a [8h][6c][8c][Kd] board and Chidwick folded. That pot dropped Chidwick to around 7,600,000 and boosted Holdeew to around 9,300,000.
Then came the pot against Barer, on the button Holdeew raised to 425,000 and then called after Barer three-bet to 900,000 from the small blind. On the [jc][kh][5c] flop Barer c-bet 725,000 and Holdeew smooth called. The [8s] turn didn't slow Barer down, he barrelled for 1,625,000 and again Holdeew called.
The [5d] completed the board, Barer slowed down as he checked and Holdeew did likewise. First to show was Barer, he opened [4s][4c] but Holdeew had [Ks][7s] and took the pot. After that hand he's up to 12,600,000, whilst Barer drops to 5,000,000.
5.35pm: Chidwick leads the final three
The final three are now back in their seats and this is how it stands:
Seat four: Dmitri Holdeew, Germany, PokerStars player, 7,540,000
Seat five: Ami Barer, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 9,400,000
Seat seven: Stephen Chidwick, UK, PokerStars player, 9,480,000
It's very close between Chidwick and Barer but even Holdeew has almost 40 big blinds.
All photos are copyright of Tomas Stacha