EPT Deauville - Live Updates

Andrea Benelli was exceptionally short, although he managed to quad up with a straight before facing this showdown.

He shipped his micro-stack into the middle and found both Tristan Clemencon and Arnaud Esquevin making the call in an effort to knock out the Italian.

The flop fell K♦ Q♥ T♣ and both active players checked it down.

The turn fell the K♠, leading Arnaud to now bet out $100,000.

Tristan passed, leaving Esquevin to expose K-6 for trips, while Benelli showed he was now drawing dead, his 8♠ 6♣ with no outs against the Frenchman's trips.

Once the formality of the river had been dealt - the 6♥ for those of you who are interested - we were one more player down and three-handed for the title.

Italian Andrea Benelli is knocked out out in fourth spot, winning €219,800 for his performance!

Following a preflop raise from Arnaud Esquevin and a call from Andrea Benelli, the two players went heads-up to a Q♥ J♠ 2♥.

Esquevin bet out, only for Benelli to set him in.

He instantly called, showing down jacks in the hole for trips, while a dejected Benelli looked about to endure another setback, as he could only table Q♦ 8♦.

The turn and river blanked out as the 4♠ and 7♠, meaning Esquevin had doubled through to over a million while the erstwhile chip leader, Italian Andrea Benelli, is heading rapidly downhill and set for a quick exit unless he can reverse his recent slump.

Andrea Benelli opens from the small blind and gets a call from Tristan Clemencon in the big blind. The flop comes down 7♥ 4♠ 3♣ and Benelli c-bets $181,000. Clemencon makes the call and the turn brings the K♦.

Benelli fires again, this time $400,000, and Clemencon calls again. The river is the 7♦ and Benelli checks. Clemencon reaches for chips and pushes $500,000 into the middle. Benelli makes a quick call and mucks when he sees Clemencon table 9-7 for the rivered trips.

With that pot Clemencon takes a big bite out of Benelli's stack.

Folded round to the relatively short-stacked Mortiz Kranich in the small blind, he open-shoved all-in on Italian Bonelli's big blind.

Bonelli suddenly announced call, and Moritz found himself battling for his tournament life!

Moritz: J♥ 8♥ 

Bonelli: A♠ K♥

Moritz was in trouble, but a flop of J♦ 4♣ 2♠ bailed the German out, and as the turn and river blanked Moritz had dodged a bullet and was back in contention for the title, his stack augmented to a healthy $1,300,000.

Bonelli fans, meanwhile, were somewhat disheartened as their hero was knocked back to $1,900,000.

Jonathan Azoulay must have been happy to see Jorn Walthaus hit the rail in sixth since he was just inches from the felt himself. Just minutes after Jorn's elimination, Azoulay shoved with J♥ 8♠. He got looked up by Andrea Benelli in the big blind, who turned over A♠ 2♣.

The flop brought both an ace and a jack, and after the turn and river failed to improve either hand, Azoulay was out in fifth place for €182,700. We'll get you the new chip counts in just a moment.

Jorn Walthaus was just caught with his fingers well and truly in the till, reshoving over the top of a Tristan raise only to find the Frenchman snap-calling with his powerful ace-king.

In contrast, Jorn could only show down A♠ 2♥, and was looking in great danger of being catapulted out of the competition.

A board of J♦ 8♣ 7♥ 9♣ 5♣ did nothing to change the status quo, meaning Tristan had finally got the man who made the cheeky resteal against him moments earlier.

Jorn Walthaus is out in sixth spot, winning €142,400 as a reward for his finish.

Bruno Launais was in danger, desperately short and in need of a quick boost to both his stack and his hopes, so when he looked down at A♣ 7♥, it probably looked like pocket kings to him.

He shoved all-in, but when it was passed to Arnaud Esquevin on the button and he reraised all-in off his short, but slightly larger stack, he must have feared the worst.

His fears were confirmed as Arnaud flipped up A♦ K♣, dominating Launais' hand, and a board of K♠ 6♥ 2♥ 3♦ T♠ brought Launais' tournament to a close.

Bruno Launais is eliminated in seventh spot, winning €108,300 for his deep run.

Tristan Clemencon continued his trend of aggressive play, raising it up to $100,000, only for Jorn Walthaus to reraise to $265,000, perhaps sick of being pushed around by the Frenchman.

Clemencon only took a few moments however to reraise all-in, and Jorn mucked so fast there were scorch marks on the felt.

Clemencon is looking every part a potential EPT champion here, and only Bonelli's meaty stack looks capable of providing him with any resistance at this point.

The young Frenchman Tristan Clemencon continues to impress, his latest coup seeing him three-betting Bruno Launais' opening raise, which was sufficient to set Launais all-in.

The pressure was too much to take for Bruno and he threw his hand away, enabling the highly competent Clemencon to pick up the pot and move closer to current chip leader Andrea Bonelli.

Arnaud Esquevin open-shoves from the cut-off for $251,000 and Jorn Walthaus folds his button. Moritz Kranich looks at his cards in the small blind and is more than happy to make the call with K♣ Q♣.

Esquevin is in the lead with A♣ J♦ and hits the flop like a ton of bricks when it comes A♥ A♦ 3♥. Moritz is drawing dead, rendering the turn and river irrelevant.

Tristan Clemencon has impressed us throughout this tournament and he continues to stack chips though solid play at this final table.

Bruno Launais opened to $105,000 and Clemencon called in position. The flop came down T♠ 9♥ 5♦ and after a check from Bruno, Tristan fired $140,000, and after one last look at his cards he tossed them in the muck.

The players have reached the end of the level, meaning there is a short hiatus while they get a well-earned break to smoke a cigarette, chat with their friends and avail themselves of the various facilities here in the Barrière.

We'll be back shortly for the resumption as the trail for EPT glory continues seven-handed.

Jonathan Azoulay was looking pretty short with $200,000 and finding A♦ 7♠ he was happy to make his stand, shipping it in preflop.

Arnaud Esquevin made what seemed to be his first good move of the final though, picking Azoulay off withA♥ J♣.

It looked like our second elimination of the day was on the cards, but we have already seen some suck-outs today, and one more was in the offing as a seven peeled off to turn the tables on a 7♣ 6♠ 2♥ board.

Only a jack could prevent Azoulay doubling at Esquevin's expense now, and as the turn and river ran out jack-less, in the form of the Q♥ and 4♣, we remain seven-handed, Azoulay with a much-improved stack and Esquevin looking critical.

From Bordeaux, Clemencon was studying economics before turning  to poker full time last March. So far it's proven a good decision, with the 19-year-old winning close to $100,000 in less than a year - and more is promised here.

Deauville is his third EPT following Prague and Budapest, where he cashed in 49th place. His previous biggest win came at the Aviation Club in Paris, but the guaranteed €77,000 will top that.

He made another good decision on Day 3 in a hand against Bruno Haddad, calling Haddad's all-in with jacks, with his own pocket queens. "I saw a bead of sweat on his face," said Clemencon. "I had to call."

For 21-year-old Thomas Delatte, this is not only his first EPT, but his first big live tournament. He qualified for the event last Friday in one of the €200 live satellites held at Trouville Casino just down the road from Deauville.

He normally plays cash games in cardrooms in northern France and Belgium, but has lately started playing tournaments and has cashed in the last five he has played. The former estate agent is currently unemployed and said: "I’m the short stack at the table so I’ve nothing to lose. Everything from now on is a bonus. I’m very happy to have made it this far.”

Bruno has been playing poker for four years - and virtually as a pro for the last year. He was studying at business school but decided to take the option of a year out to concentrate on poker. When he first started playing, he favored full-ring games, but now plays mainly heads-up online - four to five tables up to $10/$20 level.

He says he is known for his aggressive style. This is his first-ever live tournament. He won his package online and part of the deal if he made the final table was a professional contract - so we’re likely to see a lot more of Bruno at EPTs.

His girlfriend Victoria couldn’t make it to Deauville but he is being supported here by a group of friends - and more are arriving before the final table.

Former computer sales rep Andrea has been a professional poker player for about a year. He has competed in several EPTs - cashing in both London and Warsaw, where he made seventh place for €45,745. Andrea has not taken a break since then, competing at both EPT Prague and the PCA.

Unfortunately he did not make the money at either event, but this has simply made him more determined to succeed here.

Benelli just picked up a nice pot, slow-playing his A♥ 5♥ versus Arnaud Esquevin on a A♣ 7♦ 7♠ K♦ board, encouraging the Frenchman to bet out $130,000 on the turn.

Benelli snapped him off and the two checked the blank river, where Benelli's hand was good for the pot.

Arnaud looks like he's struggling to get the measure of this final table so far, having made several mistakes in the opening stages.

Hailing from Germany, Moritz Kranich first started playing poker four years ago, kicking off with freerolls, then progressing to $5 sit-and-gos. Within four months he was up to $100 SNGs. In August 2006, the 28-year-old IT student started focusing on MTTs and last September hit the big time – with third place in the $1,050 WCOOP Second Chance for $77,000.

He has also won the S109 Rebuy tournament. In live events, he has made three final tables, including the German Poker Championship. He had his biggest live cash two weeks ago in the $5k side event at the PCA, where he finished in 12th place for $19,100.

Jorn Walthaus, 25 and from Holland, is studying computer science at Amsterdam University, but admits that poker is slowing his studies down a bit! He qualified for EPT Deauville on PokerStars through a $800 satellite.

This is his second big tournament - the first one being the PCA a few weeks ago. Jorn started playing poker with friends three years ago and has been enjoying considerable online success since then, including a third place for $120,000 in a European championship.

He is here in Deauville with his friend Joep van den Bijgaart, who also cashed, coming 34th for €10,800.

Arnaud Esquevin of France, who celebrated his 21st birthday last Monday, is here in Deauville playing in his first major live tournament. The young business student lives in Paris and regularly plays in cash games at the Aviation Club de France, the most famous poker club in France.

If Arnaud wins tomorrow, he plans to buy a new house and use the rest of his money as a bankroll for higher-stakes games (he currently plays $5/$5). He starts the final table as a short stack but said “anything can happen.”

Thomas Delattre just raised to $120,000 from late position, only for Bruno Launais to move all-in. Delattre was very short and committed to call with his A♥ T♥, which looked in trouble once Bruno revealed A♣ K♠.

Needing to spike to save his tournament life, Thomas was to be disappointed, as the dealer spread a Q♠ 9♥ 8♠ 2♣ 6♦ board out.

We lose Thomas Delattre in eighth spot, the Frenchman picking up a healthy €77,400 for his efforts in this tournament.

It seems like getting in with the worst hand is little cause for alarm at this final table! Andrea Benelli opened from the button for $58,000 and Bruno Launais shoved from the small blind for $272,000.

After a few moments in the tank Benelli made the call and we saw he was in great shape with A♠ 8♠ to Bruno's A♦ 3♥. Things looked grim for the all-in Launais, but the dealer rolled out the flop A♣ K♥ 3♠!

Launais looked good for the double but the T♣ on the turn opened up some outs for the chop. The king on the river was one of them, and both players take their halves of the pot.

Arnaud Esquevin just called a preflop raise from Moritz Kranich and the pair went heads-up to a J♣ 4♠ 3♥ board.

Arnaud now moved all-in and was insta-called by the German, who was playing a pretty-looking pair of cowboys.

He was well ahead of Arnaud, who could only show down pocket eights.

The Frenchman's rash play looked likely to see him eliminated, and nothing changed as the 3♠ peeled on the turn.

The poker gods can never be second-guessed though, and Arnaud's poor judgment was rewarded as he spiked the 8♣ on the river to fill up and leave Moritz looking shell-shocked as he saw a large dent made in his stack.

Meanwhile, that hand moved Arnaud up to close to a million in chips.

The players have confounded our expectations by opening in cagey fashion here in Deauville.

Thus far we have only seen one flop - Andrea Benelli opening pre to $54,000, which was called by Johnathan Azoulay from the big blind.

A raggy flop of 7♥ 3♠ 2♣ was checked by Azoulay, allowing Benelli to c-bet a standard $72,000, which saw him pick up the pot and pad his stack accordingly.

Meanwhile Tristan made the first aggressive move of the final, raising it up to $53,000 - a slightly unusual amount.

When everyone passed, he comically showed 5♥ 3♥, to a muted ripple of laughter from the rail!

After a frenzied few minutes of photos the final-table players have made it to their seats for the announcement of shuffle up and deal. Here's a look at the money up for grabs.

This is the moment we've all been waiting for: 650 hopefuls have been whittled down, condensed and concentrated into a talent-packed final table of eight players.

These eight have the promise of riches and EPT glory dangling tantalizingly in front of them.

€851,400 is the first prize on offer for the man who can conquer the field, and Tristan Clemencon is the young man best placed to do so, as he is the current chip leader.

Here are the full chip counts. They can be accessed throughout the day by clicking the tab just beside these live updates.

Recent EPT finals have been pretty fast-paced affairs so we expect high drama from the get-go!

Hold tight as the final preparations are made to the cameras and final table. We'll be starting in just a few moments.