No Guts No Glory (No Hand Either) for Boujenah

Level 20: 6,000-12,000, 2,000 ante

Ilan Boujenah just risked the lot on the turn in an interesting pot which quietened the tournament area as it looked like the first million+ one could be on the cards...

As seems to often be the case, the action was kicked off by an under the gun Arnaud Mattern (29 to go), called by Boujenah and big blind Mickael Guenni. All three players checked the 3 5 8 flop and then it all went bananas when the K hit the turn.

Guenni bet out 54k. Mattern raised to 129k. Boujenah hurled his sunglasses to the side on the table, sat with his head resting on his arms (his chair being backwards at this point) and tanked for a good few minutes before announcing all-in. Guenni passed immediately, but Mattern got a count (400+) before finally giving up the hand.

Boujenah showed A 2 for the turned flush draw and looked very pleased with himself all round.

Mattern Makes 300k Without A Flop

Level 20: 6,000-12,000, 2,000 ante

Ilan Boujedah raised to 30,000 preflop from UTG/Hijack and Nourredine Aïtaleb flat-called from the cutoff. It was passed to Arnaud Mattern in the small blind who came in for a reraise to 125,000 with about 700,000.

Back to Boujedah who clearly was not a believer and thought Mattern was squeezing because he made it 285,000. Aïtaleb thought something was up and got out of the way, Mattern recounted his stack once more and thought for several minutes as the players on the other table suddenly became very interested.

Mattern then moved all-in and Boujdeah instantly passed, giving almost 300,000 of his own chips up without even seeing a board.

Afterwards Boujedah said, "You will have to tell me what you had, after the tournament."

Mattern replied, "I've already forgotten about it."

All In for Aitaleb...

Level 20: 6,000-12,000, 2,000 ante

But no call. The short stack in the tournament just made his preflop move in a spot where Arnaud Mattern had raised under the gun to 28k and Antoine Amourette had threebet (70k). The all-in for 243 total looked like it might well get called here, but Mattern folded quicker than the champion of the speed origami championships and that left only Amourette as the potential caller.

Bearing in mind the tightness of Aitaleb and the fact that he's patiently been waiting all day and shown down no rubbish, the prospect of calling another 180k wasn't floating Amourette's boat. I overheard a player from the other table saying, "His range is Aces and Aces," but when Amourette passed he actually showed A K.

Jacque Talks with Steven van Zadelhoff Shortly Before His Elimination

Level 20: 6,000-12,000, 2,000 ante

Amourette Makes A Good Call

Level 20: 6,000-12,000, 2,000 ante

Antoine Amourette opened to 30,000 from the button and Ilan Boujedah made the call from the small blind.

The flop came 9 7 4 and Boujedah decided to take the initiative by firing out 40,000. Amourette gave him the stare-down as Boujedah sat impassively on, however Amourette decided to still make the call.

Both players then checked the 2 turn and found an equally large brick in the 2 river. Now Boujedah fired out again, to the tune of 100,000 and Amourette counted out five stacks of yellow 1k chips, fixating his stare on Boujedah once more. He may or may not have picked up on something but made the called and Boujedah showed a complete airball K 10.

Amourette showed A K, not much more but enough to scoop the pot.

Restart

Level 19: 5,000-10,000, 1,000 ante

That's enough time to guzzle on Croque Monsieurs! Back to the action.

Big Preflop Laydown May Leave Touil With Bad Taste Over Dinner

Level 19: 5,000-10,000, 1,000 ante

A weird one ran down the hand-for-hand clock as preflop raiser Jimmy Ostensson set the wheels in motion with a raise to 25k. Per Linde called, and then small blind Fabrice Touil decided to make it 150k. Ostensson lost all interest but Linde mused, "150? Wow. Can I get a count on his remaining chips?" This turned out to be 470k, and Linde's decision turned out to be All In.

Back to Touil who had to hear everyone else going off on dinner break as he looked unhappily at his stack, counted it down, shook his head, had the clock called on him ("I'm hungry," Linde said as his reason) and finally passed.

He showed Queens, and the table's eyes widened as Linde flipped Jacks!

Sivage Cuts For Ostensson

Level 19: 5,000-10,000, 1,000 ante

Quinn Sivage led out for 40,000 an A 6 A flop in the small blind against Jimmy Ostensson. The Swede called and they saw a 4 turn, Sivage now checked and Ostensson bet 55,000. Sivage now called and quietly checked the river, Ostensson gave up and checked behind, mucking when he saw Sivage's A 9

Fabrice Touil piped up, "You had three Aces and a flush raw and you didn't raise?"

Per Linde failed to stifle a giggle at this.

Boujenah Menace

Level 19: 5,000-10,000, 1,000 ante

Having dispatched Bruel earlier Ilan Boujenah has probably given his short-handed table a good idea that he's not a huge fan of folding. A bit of a wildcard, he gives the impression that he's capable of suddenly snapping at any time, which may work to his advantage, or may get him into trouble. Earlier today he was threebet preflop and just moved all in. The two others still involved in the hand folded after thinking for a while and he showed pocket Deuces saying, "Never raise me!"

He's taken 50k+ off of Mickael Guenni this orbit, reraising his 29k preflop to 80k and taking that one down, then betting him off a 9 T 6 flop moments later.

The only hand he's really let go of was a sb vs. bb one against Nourredine Aitaleb, where he quickly check-folded when Aittaleb bet 45k. He was shown K J for a flopped two pair to put his mind at ease.

Hand for Hand to the Dinner Break?

Level 19: 5,000-10,000, 1,000 ante

With 10 players still remaining it looks like they might all make the dinner break and have to come back and fight to the final eight at the speed of mopeds in stop-and-go bumper to bumper traffic. There have been hints at big decisions, but the big pots never quite developed. An example: threeway to a 5 k 9 flop Mickael Guenni checked, and Antoine Amourette bet 40k. Nourredine Aittaleb folded here, but Guenni took a couple of minutes to consider his stack before pushing all in. As soon as it was obvious that this was what he was doing, Amourette saved the stack-moving time and just immediately passed. Guenni now has around half a million.