Day 3 was filled with incredible action, most at the hands of Andrew Black and Annette Obrestad. Just a few hands after the table redraw, Annette had found another victim, Arshad Hussain. This made him the 16th place finisher, the first to win €15,320. After his elimination, here is how the final two tables were drawn with their chip counts:
Table 1:
Seat 1 Kenneth Hicks Jr. – 92,000
Seat 2 Daan Ruiter – 245,000
Seat 3 Tronde Eidsvig – 172,000
Seat 4 Casper Hansen – 210,000
Seat 5 Ludovic Lacay – 460,000
Seat 6 Ziad Kaady – 140,000
Seat 7 Reuben Peters – 150,000
Seat 8 Michael Durrer – 180,000
Table 2:
Seat 1 Annette Obrestad – 510,000
Seat 2 Thierry Van Den Berg – 175,000
Seat 3 Martin Green – 130,000
Seat 4 Reifo Manninen – 102,000
Seat 5 Andy Black – 650,000
Seat 7 Noah Boeken – 75,000
Seat 8 Anders Pettersson – 100,000
The blinds were still at 2,500/5,000/500 with 15 players still left and the average stack at 221,000.
The last remaining Team PokerStars player Noah Boeken, found it was his time to go in 14th place. Guess who did the damage? Yep, Andy Black. It was folded to Black in the sb who made it 33,000 to go. This was about half of Boeken’s stack and decided to push with his AT. However, he was dominated by Black’s AJ. When Black flopped a Jack, it was over for Boeken.
Let the meltdown begin. Black has been known and criticized for having meltdowns in the past. Most of this came from the 2005 WSOP Main Event, where he was a massive chip leader with 5 to play and ended up finishing 5th. Well, add another chapter to the book. It all started when he played a pot with Annette. Annette opened from UTG to $16,000 (blinds 3,000/6,000/500) and Black called from the sb. The flop came down J
33
, and Black check/called an 18,000 chip bet. The turn fell the T
, and again Black check/called for 28,000. When the river came the Q, Black check/called once more, the last bet for 50,500. Annette then turned up JJ for the flopped full house and Black mucked.
After two more eliminations, Hicks in 13th and Kaddy in 12th, we were down to the final 11. Annette was on top with 520,000 with Ruiter and Black close behind, 500,000 and 490,000 respectively. Back to the meltdown.
At 4,000/8,000/1,000, Black finally started to run into problems; big problems. In two hands he lost over 200,000 chips. First off he doubled up Reijo Manninen when his AK could not improve to Manninen’s 88. Then, he lost another hand getting it all-in on the flop against Tronde Eidsvig. Black had flopped top pair, and Eidsvig a flush draw. Black’s hand did not hold up and he was then down under 300,000. Shortly thereafter, Black lost another massive pot to Trond Eidsvig. The board was K8287 and Eidsvig scooped it with KQ while Black had K5. This left him with just 90,000 chips.
With Ludovic Lacay out in 11th place, the players were now on the final table bubble. Sadly, the meltdown ends here. Black had risen back up to about 200,000 chips, but then played the final hand of the day. He raised from the CO and the aggressive Annette put him all-in from the sb. After some deliberation he called turning over 33, which was way behind Annette’s JJ. He did not improve, and became the final table bubble finisher, in 10th place. Black earned €30,630, but I bet is very disappointed with his finish.
With Black gone it is good news for the remaining 9 players, who will resume play on Day 4 tomorrow November 3. Here are the positions and chip counts of the final table:
Seat 1 Thierry Van Den Berg – 274,000*
Seat 2 Daan Ruiters – 646,000
Seat 3 Reuben Peters – 176,000*
Seat 4 Annette Obrestad – 788,000
Seat 5 Anders Pettersson – 166,000*
Seat 6 Casper Hansen – 360,000*
Seat 7 Trond Eidsvig – 184,000
Seat 8 Michael Durrer – 247,000*
Seat 9 Reijo Manninen – 487,000*
Incredibly, 6 of these players won their seats on PokerStars (the ones with * next to their name). Play resumes tomorrow at 4:00 PM GMT, and the final table is not going to be taped. Annette is definitely the clear favorite being the most experienced with a huge lead on everyone else, but anything can happen. I wish her and everyone else luck and be sure to check back tomorrow for big hands, eliminations, and final results!