We have a decision! For the fourth time already this final, Ben went for the limp / reraise from the button - this time, for 900K total. When it did look a lot like Ben had been setting up this situation and had a real hand this time, Thang thought differently and called him with pocket fours. He was right: Ben had just a K 3 . The flop came AQ3 with two hearts, and then on the turn came the 4. A card that seemed to clich things as it gave Thang a set, but also a card that gave Ben a live flush draw. A total blank came on the river though, meaning that a new Nguyen has presented itself to the poker world. The winner of the EPT Baden is Thang Duc Nguyen!

2. Ben Johnson EUR 251,560

1. Thang Duc Nguyen EUR 487,397

Anyway, what does this all mean for you - is the Baden coverage now over? The answer is: No, it's not. Tomorrow, the PokerEM will start over here, the biggest annual 7 card stud tournament in Europe. I will cover this event for you as well - and I hope you will enjoy following this tournament as much as the EPT. Bye for now, and see you all tomorrow.

Just when it seemed it was all over, it looks like we are starting over again. Right after the huge pot just mentioned, Thang simply took every pot away from Ben, and had him down to 400,000. Then, Ben took a stand, reraising all-in with an 8 7. Thang quickly called with a Q T though and was a fairly large favorite to end the tournament - but the final board 55785 kept the American alive.

Blinds now 20K-40K with a 5K ante.

A very strange hand, in fact the biggest hand of the tournament, and one that has definitely turned things around. At the beginning of the hand, Thang had 1.8 million in chips, and after the hand, he had 2.7 million. So, what happened?

Well, first it was Ben to flatcall on the small blind / button. Out of the big blind, Thang then raised 100K more. Ben took some time and went out of his way to act very weak, to then suddenly raise 220K more - a limp / reraise, if you will. Then it was Thang's turn to think, and in what I viewed to be a reraise or fold situation, he decided what to me seemed like a bad choice: Calling a large reraise out of position.

Either way, the flop came J65 rainbow. Thang checked, and Ben then bet 450K. After some delibertaion, Thang then check-raised all-in. Now it was Ben's turn to go into the tank once again, when it seemed to me that if he would have just the semblance of a hand, this would be a call (considering the stange betting, and the fact that Ben had just 650K behind in a very large pot). But folding he did, giving Thang a huge pot, and leaving yours truly confused - not having a clue as to what either one of them could have had.

Things go very fast now. Thang has also eliminated Dario Mineiri, meaning he's got close to 2 million now. Thang raised to 84K, and Dario immediately said "All-in", followed by another insta-call from the Vietnamese German. 670K total, and Thang had the dominating hand: AQ vs. AJ. A final board A8592 meant that his kicker played - and that Dario finished this tournament in an, in the end somewhat disappointing, third place.

Blinds still 15K-30K with a 3K ante, and the following chip count:

• Thang Duc Nguyen (Germany) 1.98 million
• Ben Johnson (USA) 1.32 million

3. Dario Minieri EUR 125,780

A 1 million + pot for Thang. Again with an 87, the same hand that earned him such a big pot a few hours ago, he again made the nut straight. Thang had called the preflop raise from Daniel Dodet, and then saw the Belgian move all-in on a flop 654 with two hearts. As before, Thang insta-called, as before exclaiming "Yes!" - and also as before, his straight would indeed hold up. Daniel had a lot of outs though with the nut flush draw in hearts, but two blanks came. Daniel had just 4K left after this pot, and was eliminated on the very next hand.

4. Daniel Dodet EUR 110,058 

Play has resumed, with the chip counts as follows:

• Ben 1,210,000
• Dario 720,000
• Daniel 680,000
• Thang 600,000

It is quite clear that Ben Johnson has moved into a different gear. Not just did he win the last two hands before dinner, he also won the first three hands after this break.

Dario Minieri, while good at accumulating chips, is also good at losing them. On a board 5427J where it had been checked on all streets, he paid off Daniel Dodet's 120K river bet, but couldn't beat his opponent's QJ.

Just before the dinner break, Ben Johnson has won two important pots. First, he came over the top of a 200K reraise by Daniel Dodet, and as before in the Dario hand, the Belgian was unable to stand the heat. And Ben also won the last pot before the break, when Dario had raised preflop to 60K, had bet 60K on the Q76 rainbow flop, but then folded against Ben's small 80K raise. So all in all, it looks like American Ben Johnson has gone into the dinner break with a slight chiplead over the man who seemed to be on such a roll - Dario Minieri. 

Dario's good run continues. When the Italian got reraised by Sasa Diorac for about 300K all-in, he insta-called with pocket sixes. Sasa had A2, but was practically dead when a six flopped. The turn left him with no outs anymore - meaning yet another big pot for the young Italian.

And he continues to dictate the action, being involved in just about every hand. Holding just an A5, he came over the top of a 165K total reraise by Daniel Dodet to make him fold there and there - a daring play, to say the least. But right after that, Dario immediately lost the same chips when he had raised to 60K preflop, had bet 100K on the flop, but then had to check-fold on the turn A 9 4 A. All in all, with blinds 10K-20K and a 2K ante, the chips are now divided like this:

• Ben Johnson 880K
• Tang Duc Nguyen 470K
• Daniel Dodet 770K
• Dario Minieri 1,170K 

7. Jonas Molander EUR 62,890

6. Rodion Cherednichenko EUR 78,613

5. Sasa Diorac EUR 94,355

Dario Minieri seems to be well on  his way to becoming the next EPT champion. He is the most aggressive player at this table, always a good thing in tournaments. On top of that, he was the chipleader with over a million in chips - and after successfully bluffing out Thang on the river 98655 with nothing more than a JT for a missed draw, he has increased this chiplead even further.

The biggest pot of the tournament so far has put Tang Duc Nguyen in pole position for this event. In a raised pot, he held 87 and flopped the nut straight with a T96 flop - a flop that gave Ben Johnson a decent second-best hand for a heads up pot, A9 for middle pair / top kicker. With 112K in the middle, Ben check-called 50K, and then after the turn 2 he check-raised Thang's 120K bet all-in. Thang instantly called, exclaiming "Yes!", and when Ben opened his hand, it was clear to him that his opponent was even drawing dead. A 700K+ total pot for the Vietnamese German, while Ben is down to about 500,000 now.

And in a 400K+ pot not much later, we even had our next elimination. Holding J T in a raised pot, he was faced with a big 100K+ bet on a flop T 8 5. After some delibertation, he concluded that his top pair was good, and went all-in for a very small raise. Daniel called with 9 9, meaning that any diamond or heart would give the man from Belgium the pot. This indeed happened: The Q appeared on the river, eliminating the Russian.

In the meantime, Ben has lost another pot. Holding K Q, he doubled the short stack Sasa Biorac who had AQ. Estimated chip counts:

• Daniel 900K
• Sasa 320K
• Dario 1050K
• Ben 460K
• Tang 720K

Down to 6. The likeable young man Jonas Molander has been eliminated when Ben Johnson caught him on a steal. Jonas had moved in for about 170K more, if I had counted correctly, and Ben decided that his A J was good. It was: Jonas had a Q 8 and found no help.

In the meantime, Daniel Dodet has added some more chips to his stack. In yet another unraised pot, Daniel reluctantly check-called from the small blind against limper Ben Johnson's 40K bet. The board: A J 9 8. On the river, Daniel checked once again with what turned out to be K 3. But Ben didn't bite and checked it back, forcing Daniel to sheepishly open his hand - the stone cold nuts that he had been trying to slowplay. 

Just when it seemed young Italian Dario Minieri was starting to run over the table (winning a couple of pots uncontested with aggressive plays), his rise has been put to an abrupt end. In an unraised three-way pot, small blind Daniel bet out 40K into the 43K pot, and after big blind Sasa Biorac folded, Dario instantly, and loudly, announced: "200,000." But just as instantly as Dario had raised, it was Daniel who reraised all-in for 280K more. It seemed like Dario had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar - and after some deliberation that may or may not have been a show, he decided to fold.

By the way, it is remarkable how many pots don't get raised preflop. While in most EPT finals it is raise or fold, here we have had a relatively high percentage of pots with limpers. Maybe this will change now that the blinds have gone up. They are now 8,000-16,000 with a 2,000 ante.

We are down to 7. After Dario Mineiri had first been moved off a hand by Daniel Dodet, the second hand that Dario played was successful. With blinds of 6K-12K and a 1000 ante, Peter Eichhardt moved all-in with a K Q , and Dario called with 88. A classic coin flip, and even after Dario had flopped a set things were not over. The flop A 8 T gave the Italian a set of eights, but also gave Peter a gutshot, and the turn 5 even provided the Swede with a live flush draw. However, a blank came on the river - meaning that the first final table player has been eliminated. 

8. Peter Eichhardt EUR 47,168

Some background on the final 8 players, as provided by the sponsor:

Seat 1.  Rodion Cherednichenko (Russia)  238,000 chips

Rodion Cherednichenko, 38, has only been playing poker for a year and has restricted himself to smallish live tournaments in his local casinos in Moscow. Nevertheless, the married father-of-three is used to stiff competition – he’s a former wake board and water-skiing champion, and is also a keen snow boarder and motorbiker as well.  Rodion is a software developer for computer games and also runs a refinery to recycle motor oil.

Seat 2. Daniel Dodet (Belgium) 452,000 chips

PokerStars qualifier Daniel, 41, is from Liege in French-speaking Belgium. He works in the insurance business and has only been playing poker for a year, but he caught the poker bug big time after finishing in the last 300 players in the WSOP main event (he qualified on PokerStars). Daniel is a regular on the growing Belgian tournament circuit and is planning on playing all remaining events on the EPT calendar.

Seat 3. Sasa Biorac (Germany) 194,000 chips

Sasa Biorac, 31, from Wiesbaden has been playing poker for 10 years but, until very recently, stuck to live high-limit cash games, especially Pot Limit Omaha.  He combines poker playing with running his own import business … but even if he wins here in Baden, he says he won’t be giving up his day job. “I really have two professions – poker and my business. But to be honest, unless I won every EPT from now on, I wouldn’t make as much as I do from my job.”

Seat 4. Peter Eichhardt (Sweden) – 91,000 chips

Former card dealer Peter Eichhardt, a pro for 11 years, has cashed in dozens of tournaments across Europe and in Vegas with his biggest prize so far being €77,400 after coming 2^nd to Jonas Molander at the Helsinki Freezeout in December. His best EPT result was 7^th at Deauville in 2005. A keen practitioner of the Japanese martial art Bujinkan, Peter, 40, lives in Stockholm with wife Lena. She will miss his progress on the final table though – she’s flying home this afternoon to care for the daughter Emma.

Seat 5. Jonas Molander (Sweden) – 358,000 chips

Molander from Stockholm, Sweden, has only been playing poker since March, 2004. Already, though, he has proved he is one of the best new talents to emerge out of Scandinavia. He plays online at PokerStars, where he qualified for the EPT Baden in a cash satellite tournament. He has also had great success playing live, after beating Peter Eichhardt heads-up the Helsinki Freezeout last December for $110,522, coming 12th in the EPT London last month for $18,830, and 9th in the EPT Dublin last year for $24,013.

Seat 6. Dario Minieri (Italy) – 652,000 chips

A prolifiic online player with PokerStars, Dario, 22, is no stranger to live tournaments either - finishing 22nd in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo last March for $16,800, and 543rd in this year’s WSOP for $22,266. He plays so much online - often up to nine tournaments at once for seven hours a day - that he gathered enough Frequent Player Points on PokerStars to become the first player to buy a car with them - a Porsche Cayman. He lives in Rome, Italy, where he takes delivery of his shiny free motor in January. 

Seat 7.  Ben Johnson (USA) 828,000 chips

PokerStars qualifier Ben, from Brooklyn, New York, was a keen player on the NYC chess scene before he switched his attention to poker full-time two years ago. He prefers the science of cash limit games to tournament poker, but he has a useful tourney record having cashed high in WPT and WSOP events (33rd in 2005). Ben, 29, was 'brow-beaten' into travelling to Baden after his buddy Yakov (AKA 'sacker') qualified in the 'last chance' qualifier for Baden. 'sacker' finished 40th, but Ben could go all the way.

Seat 8. Thang Duc Nguyen (Germany) – 506,000 chips

Originally from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Thang Duc Nguyen, 42, now lives in Hamburg, Germany. Married with ten-year-old twins, Thang Duc has had some impressive wins including two final tables in last month’s PokerStars.com World Cup of Online Poker, picking up a total of €35,000, not to mention 8^th place in the 2004 WPT in Paris where he won €50,990. Yet despite these successes, Thang Duc says he’s “not ready yet” to give up his day job as a chef.

One of our final nine players is Daniel Dodet from Belgium. We have already mentioned him before in this report: He was the one who eliminated Jin Cai Lin while holding just A9 on the flop KKT against Jin's TT for a flopped full house. (You think this is impossible to do? Well, then just go to my day 1A reports - you will see that it can be done.) Either way, this same Daniel Dodet has just doubled through, having his kings hold up against Peter Eichhardt's queens. As a result, Dodet now has 400,000, while the former chipleader is down to just 100,000 now.

Chip counts at the start of the final (in this seating order):

Daniel Dodet well on his way to a first-ever Belgian EPT victory

And as I am writing this, we have actually lost the ninth player - someone who can consider himself to be very unlucky. When Ben Johnson raised, Andrea Balla correctly chose to make a big reraise with an AQ. As it happened, Ben decided to call the Italian with a dominated hand, AT. But the flop came AJT, giving the American aces up. And when Balla couldn't catch either a queen or a king, he ended up as Bubble Boy for the TV-table.

10. Argyris Argyrou EUR 18,867

9. Andrea Balla EUR 31,445

Tuesday, 10th of October 2006 01:57 PM

Man from Cyprus puts a smile on everyone's face - and succeeds in affecting even EPT host Nathalie Pinkham

The televised table will have to do without the colorful appearance of Argyris Argyrou from Cyprus. A guy who likes to laugh and talk a lot, and has the rare characteristic (for a poker player) of also being nice & talkative after losing a pot. In no-time, he went from a decent-sized stack to the rail - both time in situations where he had a dominated hand. First, his A9 doubled up Rodion Cherednichenko's A K, earning the Russian a 270K pot. (While this may seeme like an awful lot, at the time the average stack was already 330K. Now that we are down to nine, it will be close to 370K.)  And ten minutes later, it was over for Argyris when again he was dominated with an A7 versus Dario Mineiri's AJ. Despite flopping the seven he wanted, the best hand would hold up, as the T on the turn gave Dario a flush. 

Nine players now on one table, and then when we lose one more player it will be TV-table time. Chip counts:

1. Rodin Cherednichenko 296,500
2. Daniel Dodet 241,500
3. Sasa Biorac 184,000
4. Peter Eichhardt 400,000
5. Jonas Molander 428,000
6. Dario Minieri 545,000
7. Ben Johnson 445,000
8. Andrea Balla 292,000
9. Thang Duc Nguyen 488,500

Tuesday, 10th of October 2006 12:45 PM

Down to 10! The short stacks to Peter Eichhardt's left haven't lasted long - not in the last place because he personally busted one out. With blinds 6K-12K and a 1K ante, the chipleader made it 40K to go on the button. Big blind Peter Gould analyzed that this could very well be a steal, and correctly moved all-in to 170K with a QT. However, Peter had a real hand (real hand for shorthanded setting, that is), an A9, and didn't need to improve to eliminate the Englishman.

Markus Golser awaiting his fate

Two hands later, we also lost Markus Golser at this same table. Moving all-in on the button to about 150K with pocket tens, big blind Thang Duc Nguyen called him with AJ - and snatched an ace on the flop. All in all, so far things over here seem to be just like in real life: The poor getting poorer, the rich getting richer. Eichhardt has about 600K now, followed by Nguyen with almost 500K - and the two short stacks are out.

12. Peter Gould (England) EUR 18,867

11. Markus Golser (Austria) EUR 18,867

Tuesday, 10th of October 2006 12:31 PM

As you can see from the table seatings below, the draw seems to have favored chip leader Peter Eichhardt tremendously. Not just does he have the three shortest stacks to his left, he also has the dangerous Thang Duc Nguyen to his immediate right. Thang is an experienced player when it comes to large, multitable tournaments. For instance, he has won the Sunday Tournament at Party two times already, and at the recent WCOOP he is said to have cashed no less than five times.

At the other table, I guess we can expect quite a bit of firework with the unpredictable Dario Mineiri and the talkative Argyris Argyrou seated next to each other - especially with the loose / aggressive Rodion Cherednichenko & Jonas Molander in their backs, all of them with decent stacks.

Tuesday, 10th of October 2006 11:53 AM

We are about to start the final day of the EPT Baden. 12 players will start playing soon on two tables at the regular gaming room. Once we get down to 8, play will go on at the televised stage in a separate room.

Players in action / results so far:

Name	Surname	Nation	Table	Seat	Ranking	ChipCount	€uro
Eichhardt	Peter	SWE	40	3		439,500
Argyrou	Argyris	CYP	39	7		392,000
Johnson	Ben	USA	40	7		352,000
Minieri	Dario	ITA	39	5		339,000
Nguyen	Thang Duc	D	40	1		308,000
Balla	Andrea	ITA	39	4		287,000
Molander	Jonas	SWE	39	1		272,500
Biorac	Sasa	D	39	3		228,000
Cherednichenko	Rodion	RUS	39	8		218,000
Gould	Peter	GBR	40	5		190,000
Dodet	Daniel	BEL	40	4		167,000
Golser	Markus	AUT	40	6		125,000
Schuler	Thorsten	D			13		15,722.50
Kuremszki	Csaba	HUN			14		15,722.50
Black	Andrew	IRE			15		15,722.50
Grospellier	Bertrand	FRA			16		12,578.00
Togsverd	Christian	DK			17		12,578.00
Johansson	Birgitta	SWE			18		12,578.00
Wendt	Martin	DK			19		9,433.50
Storakers	Johan	SWE			20		9,433.50
Martinsson	Tomas	SWE			21		9,433.50
Judah	Melvyn	AUS			22		9,433.50
Spets	Age	NOR			23		9,433.50
Vivet	Nicolai	DK			24		9,433.50
Jelassi	Ramzi Alexander	SWE			25		9,433.50
Pirooti	Azad	SWE			26		9,433.50
Magan Tier	Miguel	ESP			27		9,433.50
Goodwin	Marc	GBR			28		6,289.00
Bolliger	Mark	CH			29		6,289.00
Hollink	Rob	NL			30		6,289.00
Klein	Jürgen	D			31		6,289.00
Stieger	Matthias	D			32		6,289.00
Hansen	Askild	NOR			33		6,289.00
Tighe	David	GBR			34		6,289.00
Nygaard	Vegard	NOR			35		6,289.00
Kjondaln	Kristian	NOR			36		6,289.00

Players by table:

Molander	Jonas	Sweden	39	1	272,500
Biorac	Sasa	Germany	39	3	228,000
Balla	Andrea	Italy	39	4	287,000
Minieri	Dario	Italy	39	5	339,000
Argyrou	Argyris	Cyprus	39	7	392,000
Cherednichenko	Rodion	Russia	39	8	218,000
Nguyen	Thang Duc	Germany	40	1	308,000
Eichhardt	Peter	Sweden	40	3	439,500
Dodet	Daniel	Belgium	40	4	167,000
Gould	Peter	UK	40	5	190,000
Golser	Markus	Austria	40	6	125,000
Johnson	Ben	United States	40	7	352,000