Well, that’s something you don’t see every day. Inge Forsmo, the chip leader at the end of Day 2 at the 2012 European Poker Tour (EPT) San Remo Main Event, was also the chip leader at the end of Day 3. And he didn’t just barely hang on to the lead or anything; he moved from 606,100 to over one million chips over the course of the day, extending his lead over second place by about 100,000 chips.
One of the bigger names remaining in the field of 66 is Isaac Haxton, who sits in 18th place going into Tuesday’s action. Normally, a player would be happy to be holding 488,000 chips and be near the top of the leaderboard, but Haxton was likely quite disappointed with where he finished the night. Throughout Day 3, he grabbed sizable chunks of chips from his opponents, taking his chip stack up to around 900,000, a sum that was good enough for the chip lead.
But just as the night was coming to an end, disaster struck. It was the very last hand for the table and Haxton raised pre-flop. Eric Nhouyvanisvong re-raised to 34,000, a move which prompted Haxton to four-bet to 85,000. Nhouyvanisvong then went all-in for 375,000 and Haxton made the call.
Both men had good reason to be confident. Haxton held A♦-K♦ while Nhouyvanisvong had Q♠-Q♣. The race was on. The flop of Q♥-7♦-4♦ raised eyebrows. On the one hand, Nhouyvanisvong struck gold, flopping top set. But on the other, Haxton flopped the nut flush draw, making the turn and river quite the sweat. The turn produced the 6♠, keeping things as is. Haxton needed a non-Queen or Six diamond to eliminate Nhouyvanisvong and take a commanding chip lead. But it wasn’t to be, as the river was the 2♣, allowing Nhouyvanisvong to double-up and jump up to 5th place, while cutting Haxton’s chip stack almost in half.
Other notables still holding chips going into Day 4 are Shaun Deeb (402,000 chips), Justin Bonomo (350,000), and Yevgeniy Timoshenko (194,000).
Monday was the day the bubble burst in the EPT San Remo Main Event, as 120 players made the money. With one elimination to go before the payouts, three different players were all-in with pocket Aces and, as one might expect, all survived. The bubble boy, unfortunately for him, did not have Aces when he risked his remaining 72,000 chips. Renaud Desferet’s A♦-T♥ was no match for Michael Benvenuti’s A♥-K♥. Desferet did have the tease of seeing a Ten flop, but Benvenuti was able to spike a King on the river to eliminate Desferet and make everyone else in the tourney very happy.
Day 3 was fairly short as far as major poker tournaments go, clocking in at about seven hours. Day 4 very well might be shorter, as the plan is to play down to 24 players before calling it a night. Check back tomorrow to see how Tuesday’s action shook out.
2012 European Poker Tour San Remo Main Event – Day 3 Chip Leaders
1. Inge Forsmo – 1,021,000
2. Angelo Recchia – 851,000
3. Carmelo Vasta – 844,000
4. Giuseppe Ottaviani – 810,000
5. Eric Nhouyvanisvong – 763,000
6. Michele Di Lauro – 721,000
7. Laurent Polito – 717,000
8. Jason Tompkins – 681,000
9. Michele Bianchi – 614,000
10. Charly Maracchione – 596,000
