While Dario Minieri lost half of his stack back in level one his tablemates are proving to be running hot and cold. From the hot tap Soren Kongsgaard just flushed away Jean Luc Boulay, his nines no match for Kongsgaard's aces. Then from the cold tap Michael Fratty watches a film on a portable DVD player, possibly oblivious to the outside world, but showing no signs of getting involved in the action.
Dario Minieri
Two events ago one man was crowned the new king Wenceslas of Prague. Italian Salvatore Bonavena, unknown to the tour back in December, finished with a flourish, winning €774,000 the Prague throne and a dose of poker respect having been the first to do such a thing for Italy. His people went crazy while the rest of the world marked the moment as the start of an Italian era.
Salvatore Bonavera
Bonavena is trying to resurrect his Czech form on a table featuring Frenchman Thomas Fougeron and Englishman Jeff Duvall, who fired a warning raise across the bows of Bonavena a short time ago to push him off a pot. Bonavena is outside the realm of his fiefdom here though and even kings have to start at the beginning. He's down to 5,000 and out for a smoke. We play on with blinds at 50-100.
Stop press: The fightback starts here. Ten minutes ago Minieri doubled up, playing on with 5,000 and just now another hand went his way. Minieri's fours against pocket nines. A four hit the flop and the money went in on the turn. The Italian now up to 8,000.
