Check Mate; Pavel Novak Eliminated in 6th Place (€25,150)

Pavel Novak, whose chips have been in and out more than the hokey-cokey, pushed all in UTG for around 330,000, but this time was looked up by Aksnes in the small blind. As Novak flipped Ad-6d, Aksnes apologised for stalling, but highlighted that there was still a player behind him. Of course, he tabled a monster... Ac-Ah.

The flop was as unforgiving as the preflop predicament, the 2h-Tc-3s leaving the Pole in search of a runner runner miracle. Curiously, it was the 6s turn that triggered Novak to rise from his seat, his lack of confidence ultimately justified by the 7d river.

Pavel is a 22 year-old Polish player from Wroclaw. He's a logisitics student there, dealing with various things such as transportation. He's been playing both live and online for about three to four years, and this is his first major final table. He prefers cash games to tournaments ,though after this event, all that could change! In his spare time, he is a big chess player, enjoying especially all the mathematics and calculations that are involved in another such tactical game.