The End In Pictures...

Ville Salmi Wins Betsson Estoril Live II!!! (€100,000)

So congratulations to the Finn, Ville Salmi who takes home the first place prize of €100,000 as well as the trophy and title. Salmi played incredibly well throughout the final table, relentlessly aggressive and busting many of the finalists. For this, he takes home his biggest ever live tournament score, a full six-figures in €'s having beaten 270 other contenders to the throne.

We'd just like to thank all the staff at Casino Estoril for making us so welcome, as well as all the dealers and floor people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes.

We would also like to congratulate all our finalists who battled well in a superbly structured tournament that allowed all the freedom to pursue whatever type of style they wished to play, thanks to the deep structure and many blind levels.

Interviews and photographs will follow soon, but from Djinn and me for now, you can stick a fork in us! We're done!

Teemu Kangasvieri Eliminated In 2nd Place (€60,000)

The first hand of heads-up saw the two players immediately get their chips all-in, more than a slight suspicion of a deal having been made in the short break before the heads-up.

Kangasvieri: Q♦ 9♠
Salmi: 9♥ 9♣

The board came 5♠ J♥ 2♠ 7♦ 4♥ and Teemu Kangasvieri was unable to hit that elusive queen with which he might have secured the title. Instead, the Finn has to be content with the runner-up spot and (officially) taking home €60,000.

4th Place Finisher Alexander Lang

Having satellited in to the tournament, a quality finish and a nice payday for Alexander Lang must be encouraging for his poker overall. He also is the longest-lasting Betsson-wearing participant in this year's event, qualifying him for free entry next year, so this is probably not the last we'll be seeing of the hat and small wooden elephant mascot...

Chip Counts:

Ville Salmi -- 2,538,000
Teemu Kangasvieri -- 1,496,000

Pedro Demeyere Eliminated in 3rd Place (€40,000)

The final remaining Portuguese player in the tournament has been eliminated in 3rd position after a valiant battle against the two Finns. His totally calm demeanor at all times showed his relative experience and lack of tension as the final progressed, although he did seem genuinely happy to have made it this deep. Plus, he got it in racing for a stack which could really have tackled leader Salmi, too:

Ville Salmi folded on the button, and Teemu Kangasvieri took his turn to shove pre on the small blind. This time, however, Demeyere quickly made the call.

Demeyere: 6♣ 6♠
Kangasvieri: A♠ 8♠

Flop: T♥ 7♥ J♦ No shocks there for Demeyere's supporters...
Turn: 3&spades
River: 9♦ Kangasvieri's Finnish rail immediately spot that an Eight now makes a straight and there's a little explosion of cheering for the young player who now has to play heads up for the trophy. Demeyere looks understandably a little disappointed, but has €40k and a very respectable third place to cheer him up.

Finns Continues To Spar

Teemu Kangasvieri makes it 105,000 from the button and Ville Salmi decides to just flat-call.

They check the Q♠ T♠ T♦ J♦ 2♥ board to the river and show A-6 and A-5 respectively to check the pot.

"Yeah, that was soft play!" jokes Teemu.

Soon after Salmi raises to 111,000 from the small blind and Kangasvieri defended. They checked a K-J-4 flop but then Salmi bet 123,000 on the 4 turn to take it down.

Salmi-les in Front

The up-and-down run of Ville Salmi is on the upswing once again. Just now he called a button raise from Teemu Kangasvieri to 105k, seseing a flop of 9♦ T♠ 9♣. Both players checked.

The turn was the T♦. Now Kangasvieri bet 75k when it was checked to him. Salmi called.

The river came the 3♣. Check once more to Kangasvieri, who counted out 200k and bet it. A brief think, but a call with A-3 from Salmi, who'd leaped in front of Kangasvieri's 5♦ 5♥ on the turn he'd seen for free... His Ace kicker played with the Nines and Tens to scoop him yet another juicy pot.

Roughly he has 2,500,000 now, more than half the chips in play.

Demeyere In Trouble

Once again Pedro Demeyere has dropped below the 700,000 mark. He'll need to double up soon if he's to prevent an all-Finnish heads-up meeting.

A Bonus From Betsson...

Several trips have been organised for players while they were here for Betsson Estoril Live. One of these was a wine-tasting trip, which can be viewed below...

Demeyere's Poker Car Has 7th Gear

And it's the one that says, "All in," when you press the pedal, or any indicator, or turn the defogger on.

In spite of paying off Ville Salmi on the turn and river when he bet his pair of Kings on a K-8-6-Q-A board a moment ago, Pedro Demeyere has regained what he lost through moves which he can't be re-raised off.



It passed round to Demeyere on the small blind two hands ago, and he simply moved all-in for around 800k. Only two options now for big blind Salmi, call or pass, and he chose pass.

The very next hand Salmi raised on the button to 100k. Kangasvieri passed in the small blind, but big blind Demeyere moved all in again. A pained look, but another fold.

Chips, and Who's Stacking Them High

Ville Salmi - 1,841,000
Teemu Kangasvieri - 1,370,000
Pedro Demeyere - 853,000

Teemu Takes A Chunk

Pedro Demeyere raises on the button and Kangasvieri calls from the big blind.

Both check the K♣ 9♥ T♦ flop before Kangasvieri fires 135,000 on the T♠ turn and 200,000 on the 4♦ river.

Demeyere calls both these bets but mucks when he sees Kangasvieri's T♥ 7♥

Ville Salmi Up To Old Tricks

Unfazed by his recent power-poker type bad results, Ville Salmi (who said right from the start he was going to win this one) is showing no fear in the face of having lost the chip lead. Just now he raised on the button to 83k, Demeyere style, and then waited while Teemu Kangasvieri slowly counted out 235k, and bet it.

Now for one of the longest dwells of the final table so far. Salmi did some staring, some looking at chips, some forehead-creasing thinking, then suddenly, as people's attention started to wander, announced, "All in." Kangasvieri gave one of those resigned, "Oh, here we go again," type smiles. They had a brief conversation in Finnish, then Kangasvieri shook his head and folded.

Salmi showed him K♦ 8♥ and there followed another Finnish conversation where it became apparent that Kangasvieri had folded A-5.

Chip Merry-Go-Round

Pedro Demeyere makes it 88,000 from the button and Teemu Kangasvieri calls from the big blind. Both check the K♣ K♥ 3♦ flop before the Finn fires out 125,000 on the J♥ turn. Demeyere folds, albeit reluctantly...

Ville Salmi raises to 91,000 from the button but folds when Kangasvieri reraises to 240,000 in the small blind.

Salmi raises to 91,000 in the small blind and Kangasvieri calls.

The flop comes K♥ 6♣ T♥ and Salmi check-calls a bet of 130,000 before the J♦ turn and J♥ river go check-check. Salmi shows the less-than-stellar 6♦ 2♦ but it's enough to scoop the pot.

Finland vs. Norway - Air Hockey Challenge

If the tension of the final table is getting to you, like it's getting to us - here's a bit of entertaining competition at the equally skilled game of air-hockey... Lodden vs. Dudeson - who will take the glory?

Demeyere Domination

According to our secret sources (OK Portuguese blogger dinner pals) Pedro Demeyere is an unflappable character who's been a pro for 2 years and specialises in 6-max STTs. He apparently was just waiting for it to get 6-handed or less to unleash his skills - and that does seem to be the case. Demeyere has opened up considerably (easier now he's chip leader, of course) and while losing 100k to Kangasvieri and Salmi both in small pots which ended on the flop, he got it all back like this:

Demeyere raised to his odd but consistent 83k on the button (blinds 15k/30k now). Small blind Ville Salmi slowly counted out more, and raised to 222k. Back to Demeyere, who thought for just a minute, before announcing, "All in." Salmi is now in no position to be calling Demeyere's all-ins with plenty of chips to spare, and tanked for a minute or so before giving the pot up.

New Mayor in Town

Pedro 'The Mayor' Demeyer (according to his shirt) is going to be a new force on the table, chipwise, having just received a huge double up courtesy of leader Ville Salmi.

Demeyer called Salmi's button raise and checked the 7♥ K♦ K♣ flop. Salmi counted out 101k exactly and bet it. Demeyer called.

The turn: 2♦ Check to Salmi again. Salmi asked for a count on Demeyer (approx 640k), and had the pot spread. Whatever calculations he was doing, it resulted in a move all in! Demeyer instacalled.

Demeyer: K♠ J♣
Salmi: 7♦ 4♥

Drawing dead, the 6 river was irrelevant to Salmi, who had to pay off a huge chunk of change, boosting Demeyer up over the 1.6 million mark.

Ville Squeezes Them Out

Teemu Kangasvieri raised to 85,000 from the button with Pedro Demeyere calling after much thought. Ville Salmi then reraised to 285,000 and the other two folded quicker than an origami expert.

Blinds Up!

We're now playing 15,000/30,000 with a 3,000 ante.

Rough counts:

Salmi -- 2,000,000
Kangasvieri -- 1,000,000
Demeyere -- 1,000,000

Demeyere Doubles Up

Ville Salmi raised preflop to 51,000 and Pedro Demeyere reraised all-in for about 400,000. Salmi called and turned over A♥ T♠ wincing as Demeyere showed A♣ J♣.

The board came a topsy-turvy K♠ 3♠ 3♥ T♥ Q♥.

"VAAAAAAAAAMOOOOOOOSSSS!" shouted the rail as two or three old men jiggled about like excited five year-olds.

Alexander Lang Eliminated in 4th Place (€31,000)

With the table still getting used to being four-handed, it quickly went down to three-handed as Alexander Lang moved all in preflop over a Ville Salmi button raise to 51k. Upon finding out that his opponent had 150k to call, Salmi gave him a spin with K♠ 6♦.

Lang held A♥ Q♣ ...

It was looking good on the flop (9-4-5)...turn (2) but the river brought the deadly K♣ sending Lang to the rail.

He can't be too disappointed, however, having qualified for this event over 2 and a half months' worth of leagues, with a live final here - this payday represents the biggest achievent of his live poker life, and he's in fine spirits on the rail considering his suckout. PLUS - since he's the last player in the tournament to be wearing Betsson clothing - he gets next year's entry to Betsson LIVE for free!

Ola Brandborn Busts in 5th Place (€24,000)

With a stack teetering on the short now, Ola Brandborn flat called another Ville Salmi raise to 50k on the button. On the flop of 6♥ 2♦ K♠ Salmi bet out 57k, only to find Brandborn quickly shoving - another 250k at most.

Salmi called fairly fast, with top pair: K♦ T&spades. Brandborn was in trouble with 5♦ 6♦ and stayed behind as the turn and river came T♥ 8♠

Down to four players, all of a sudden!

Salmi Beats Up Brandborn

Two hands in a row has caused Ola Brandborn to lose more than half his stack in just a few minutes.

First, Ville Salmi made it 55,000 from the button, getting called by Lang and Brandborn.

All three checked the T♥ A♦ 4♠ flop before it was checked to Salmi on the 7♥ turn. He bet just 52,000 and Lang folded but Brandborn quickly raised to 160,000. Salmi thought for a moment before calling then both players checked the 9♥ river.

Brandborn showed Q♦ J♦, losing out to his opponent's A♥ 2♦

Then the next hand saw Salmi raise again with Brandborn and Kangasvieri calling.

Brandborn led out for 85,000 on the J♥ 8♦ 3♥ board, Kangasvieri folded and Salmi called. Both players checked the 2♠ turn before Brandborn quickly fired 100,000 on the 5♥ river. Salmi thought for a minute or two before moving all-in. Brandborn quickly folded, Salmi showed T♠ 9♠ for a missed straight draw.

Salmi has a big chip lead now.

Lang-uishing in Splitsville

...When he thought he was on the train to Doubletown!



Alexander Lang just found a good spot to double, having raised preflop to 65k utg and received a call from big blind Ville Salmi. He'd asked for a count before calling, but appeared satisfied with just a rough glance.

On the 7♥ 9♥ 6♠ flop, Salmi checked, and Lang immediately moved all in. He now asked for a proper accurate countdown of his opponent's stack - it was 231k. "Call," he said, flipping 2♦ 2♠ which were in bad shape against Lang's 5♣ 5&spades.

Turn...8♦
River... 5♦! Far from wanting to hit a third Five, Lang now had to split the pot with Salmi.

Rever-Salmi of Fortune

Ville Salmi has suffered a couple of setbacks, stackwise, in the post dinner period. Maybe it was the lovely rich fish and risotto dinner which has given him that common poker-player complaint of drowsiness, or maybe he has just underestimated his opponents' tenacity...

First off, he got one preflop raise through with no call, but the second time Teemu Kangasvieri made the call out of the blinds. Both players checked the 7♥ 8♥ J♥ flop. On the 3♠ turn, Kangasvieri bet out 65k and was called by Salmi.

The river was the 2♠ Now Kangasvieri checked, and Salmi counted out a laborious 81k bet. Back to Kangasvieri who finally came to the decision to call with his 9♣ 9♦. It was good - Salmi could only table Ace-high - the A♥ had been the nut flush draw on the flop but was good no more. About this - Salmi said he'd made, "An expensive mistake."

Ville Mattila Eliminated In 6th Place (€18,000)

It was passed to Ville Mattila on the button who moved all-in for his last 150,000 or so. Teemu Kangasvieri called in the small blind, Pedro Demeyere folded in the big.

Mattila looked very disappointed when his J♠ 9♣ was dominated by Kangasvieri's K♥ 9♦.

The board came 5♥ 9♠ 6♦ 9♥ 2♦ and Kangasvieri's bigger kicker played, one Finn 'finnishing' off another.

Finalists' Pre-Game Comments

We had a microchat with the finalists before the start of play today - here's their view in brief of the game ahead:

Dinner Break Counts:

Ville Aleksi -- 1,020,000
Alexander Lang -- 350,000
Ola Brandborn -- 835,000
Ville Mattila -- 150,000
Teemu Kangasvieri -- 981,000
Pedro Demeyere -- 660,000

Blinds will be 10,000/20,000 with a 2,000 ante when we restart.

Dinner Break

Players are now on a 1 hour dinner break.

Brandborn Cripples Mattila

Alexander Lang raised to 40,000 on the button. Brandborn and Mattila called in the blinds.

The three all checked the K♣ 9♠ 6♣ board, before Brandborn bet 55,000 on the 6♥ turn. Mattila called and Lang folded.

The river was the 6diams; and Brandborn quickly fired out 100,000, Mattila shook his head and called. Brandborn showed K♥ K♦ for the second nuts, Mattila mucked and was left with just around 160,000 remaining.

UTG Is the New Black

You'd think so, from the way almost every time Ola Brandborn makes it 40k to go utg this level. He's won more pots from this unorthodox position than he's lost so far today, however, even though the players in position on him (previously Daniel Ferreira, now Teemu Kangsvieri) frequently re-raise him.

Just now exactly that happened - Brandborn made it 40k, Kangsvieri made it 115k - but when it came back to Brandborn, he threw in a further 200k. This was more than half of his remaining stack, so it was probable folding wasn't going to figure highly on his part... Kangsvieri considered for a while but ultimately decided against it and the pot went to Brandborn.

Daniel Ferreira Eliminated In 7th Place (€14,000)

Having been crippled in that previous hand, Daniel Ferreira, who started today as chip leader moved all-in for his last 140,000 from middle position.

Ville Salmi in the big blind asked how much it was before calling with K♣ Q♠, Ferreira showed a behind, but live, 7♥ 5♠.

The board came K♦ Q♥ 4♠ T♣ 5♦ and the Portuguese player goes out in 7th.

Ferreira Setback

Two hands in quick succession have made a dent appear in Daniel Ferreira's stack. The first saw Ola Brandborn raise under the gun (again) to 40k. Ferreira in the cutoff threebet (105k) and Brandborn made the call.

Both players checked the A♦ 5♠ J♥ flop, but Brandborn fired 100k on the 2♣ turn. After a think, Ferreira laid his hand down with a shove of the cards into the muck.

Then...

Derreira made it 37k to go (utg), called by Alexander Lang on the button, and Ville Mattila on the big blind. The flop came: 3♦ 5♠ T♦. Mattila checked, and Ferreira bet out 56k. Over to Lang on the button, who double, then triple checked his cards, and, after about two minutes, called. Mattila got out of the way.

The turn: J♠ Now Ferreira checked to Lang, who announced all in, getting an instant, equally vigorous pass from a slightly frustrated-looking Ferreira.



Lang - unknown quantity that he's turning out to be - then showed him A♣ 3♣!

The Finnish Show

It's all about the Finns at the moment, Ville Salmi raised preflop to 39,000 but then folded with a heavy heart with Ville Mattila reraised all-in.

Next hand and Salmi was at it again, 39,000 once more. Teemu Kangasvieri called from the small blind but then check/folded to a 46,000 bet on the J♣ 7♣ 3♣ board.

Kangasvier1

New Chip Standings:

Seat 1: Ville Salmi - 925,000
Seat 2: Alexander Lang - 342,000
Seat 3: Ola Brandborn - 360,000
Seat 4: Paul Jansen - OUT
Seat 5: Ville Mattila - 320,500
Seat 6: Daniel Ferreira - 380,000
Seat 7: Teemu Kangasvieri - 1,010,000
Seat 8: Pedro Demeyere - 670,000

Teemu Cracks Aces

Teemu Kangasvieri raised preflop to 30,000 and Ville Matilla flat-called from the small blind.

Both players checked the T♠ 7♥ 6♣ flop before Matilla fired out 40,000 on the T♥ turn. Kangasvieri quickly called and then snap-called a bet of 100,000 on the 2♦ river.

Matilla showed A♦ A♥ but he'd been outdrawn by Kangasvieri's Q♦ T♦ which scooped a 300,000 plus pot just before the end of the level. Kangasvieri is our first player over the 1 million chip mark, between him and Ville Salmi the two Finns have almost half the chips in play.

Lang-ing In There

Alexander Lang is one of the less experienced live players, and admits this final table is a great result for him - his first major live one. There's always something tempting about rooting for the underdog, and Lang has been totally honest that he's delighted to be here and just moving up some prize places will be what he's aiming for. So he's a sympathetic character, and a strange mix of target/worry to the pros and big stacks.

On the one hand, Ola Brandborn, for example, has raised his big blind from utg three times already, and his tightness preflop is fairly evident. On the other, he has been winning these small pots, as other players seem reluctant to push him when he shows strength.

For example, Teemu Kangasvieri called a Lang raise to 30k from the small blind, but check-folded the 3-5-7 rainbow flop, while when Brandborn minraised utg, Lang called in the big blind and bet the turn (both players had checked on the flop) - the board reading 7-8-T-T - and Brandborn folded.

So about 100-160k I reckon has been added to Lang's stack in this manner, more than making up for the attrition of the blinds. In floppy fisherman's hat and sunglasses, Lang is giving nothing away (apart from admitted nervousness during an earlier string-bet ruling)!

Payouts To Come...

1st -- €100,000
2nd -- €60,000
3rd -- €40,000
4th -- €31,000
5th -- €24,000
6th -- €18,000
7th -- €14,000
8th -- €11,000 -- Paul Jansen

Paul Jansen Eliminated In 8th Place (€11,000)

Paul Jansen raised to 30,000 from the cutoff and it was passed around to Teemu Kangasvieri in the big blind, the Finn thought long and hard before reraising to 80,000. The onus was back on the Dutchman who recounted his stack for a couple of minutes before quietly declaring he was all-in, Kangasvieri instantly called.

Jansen: A♦ Q♥
Kangasvieri: A♠ K♥

Jansen looked pained even as he turned over his hand, knowing he was behind. The dealer put out a K♣ 2♥ 6♥ flop and already the short stack was drawing thin, by the 9♥ turn he was already standing up, the J♦ river completing his exit.

Jansen shook hands with all the remaining players and even the dealer before heading across to the rail to a round of applause.

Post Brandborn-double Chip Counts

Seat 1: Ville Salmi -930,000
Seat 2: Alexander Lang - 280,000
Seat 3: Ola Brandborn - 430,000
Seat 4: Paul Jansen - 330,500
Seat 5: Ville Mattila - 360,500
Seat 6: Daniel Ferreira - 370,000
Seat 7: Teemu Kangasvieri - 535,000
Seat 8: Pedro Demeyere - 760,000

Ville Vs. Ville

Mattila (above) vs. Salmi... Heads up to a 5♦ 7♣ 2♠ flop. There was a bet here, I think from Salmi, on the button, and a call from Mattila - although it's possible he bet out.

In any case, the 6♥ turn saw both players check.

The river was the 5♦. The bet on the river most definitely came from Mattila - 75k. Salmi called after a microthink, and then there was one of those awkward pauses where the bluffing player doesn't want to show but they have to because they've been looked up...

"Please show your hand," gently prompted the dealer. Mattila showed A♥ T&clubs, and Salmi's pocket Queens scooped the pot.

Brandborn Doubles Through Ferreira

With the blinds now 6,000/12,000 with a 1,000 ante, Daniel Ferreira raised to 27,500 from early position. It was passed around to Ola Brandborn in the small blind who reraised all-in for a total of 196,000. Ferreira asked for a count but then called anyway asking, "Ace-King?" as he flipped over Q♦ Q♥ but he was in even better shape than that as the Swede showed A♣ T♣.

The board came T♥ T♠ 4♠ J♠ 4♥ and Brandborn got out of jail by making a full house to double back up over 400,000 while Ferreira lost almost a third of his stack.

Demeyere Wakes Up

Pedro Demeyere has joined the short list of people getting a couple of Teemu Kangasvieri's chips... Having played not much of a whisper of a hand in the first level so far, he upped his stack by over 100k like so:

Sb vs. bb again (it's amazing how often these confrontations spiral) Kangasvieri called Demeyere's raise pre, and then his bet of 36k on the Q♠ 7♣ A♥.

The turn: K♥ Again Kangasvieri check-called, this time 66k.

The river: 3♠ Now a third check to Demeyere - he bet 82,500, and Kangasvieri gave it up.

Ferreir-less

Daniel Ferreira might come across as quite a quiet player, thoughtful and reserved, but although he's not in every hand or a limelight hunter he's definitely got an aggressive streak. He's had chips as far back in this tournament as I can remember, and is on the increase.

Just now it folded to Ferreira on the small blind. He made it 24k. Big blind Teemu Kangasvieri slowly reached for more... and made it 61k. Back to Ferreira. A brief visit to the tank later, and he'd raised him once again! A slight frown on Kangasvieri's face was all there was to show that this hadn't gone according to plan, and he passed, the pot going to Ferreira without even a flop.

Chips For Ola And Pedro

More small-ball poker going on at the moment, the number of 3-bets has considerably decreased overe the last half hour.

Ola Brandborn called a 20,000 raise in the big blind from Ville Matilla before both checked the 2♠ 7♣ 6♠ flop. Brandborn then fired 35,000 on the K♥ and Matilla mucked.

Demeyere raised to 21,500 from midposition and got called by Jansen in the big blind, but the Dutchman check/folded to a 23,500 bet on the A♥ 7♦ 4&hearts flop.

Slightly Reorganised Chip Counts

Here are some rough counts after the first 45 mins of the 4k/8k level:

Seat 1: Ville Salmi - 850k
Seat 2: Alexander Lang - 290k
Seat 3: Ola Brandborn - 385k
Seat 4: Paul Jansen - 350k
Seat 5: Ville Mattila - 600k
Seat 6: Daniel Ferreira - 585k
Seat 7: Teemu Kangasvieri - 480k
Seat 8: Pedro Demeyere - 590k

Early Action Rundown: Salmi Runs Up

The first half of the first level has seen very few showdowns, but a good shakeup of a couple of the stack sizes. The main increaser is Ville Salmi:

A few hands ago, he called a Teemu Kangasvieri button raise out of the big blind. On the Q♥ 6♠ 6♣ flop, Salmi checked, Kangasvieri bet 33k but was quickly min raised to 66k. He was rewarded with a slow fold.

Then a few hands later a pot which started fourway after everyone seemed interested in calling Daniel Ferreira's preflop raise to 17,500 turned into a bigger coup for Salmi. On the 9♣ 4♣ 7♣ flop, it checked round to the button who happened to be, yes, Ville Salmi. He promptly bet just 20k, called by big blind Ola Brandborn alone.

The turn: J♠ Now Brandborn checked, Salmi bet 45k, and Brandborn instacalled.

The river: K♦ Check once more to Salmi, who bet 100k (4 25k chips) faster than you could blink, which looks to have been called by Brandborn in the same microsecond...

Salmi showed A♣ 3♣ for the flopped nuts, and Brandborn mucked.

Seat 8: Pedro Demeyere -- 597,000

Pedro Demeyere is a 32 year-old former sales manager, who went professional about 2 years ago. Demeyere mainly plays online sit 'n' go's as well as tournaments. He played EPT San Remo earlier this year and also came 7th in the Marrakech Poker Open in March for almost $20,000. Online he has won several large tournaments, the biggest being for around $50,000. The Portuguese was the chip leader at the start of yesterday and starts today in 3rd place.

Seat 7: Teemu Kangasvieri -- 575,000

Teemu Kangasvieri is a 25 year-old from Finland, he's mainly an online tournament player having played poker for about four years. Kangasvieri however still classes himself as an amateur though he has had a couple of good results at the Olympic Hold'em Series in Riga, Latvia in 2008. He starts the final table in 5th place.

Seat 6: Daniel Ferreira -- 615,000

Daniel Ferreira is a 32 year-old former engineer, he's been playing poker for the three years, the last two and a half as a professional. Mainly a 10/20 cash game player, Ferreira finished in 3rd place in the Spanish Poker Tour event in Madrid for €13,400 as well as a 9th place in the Unibet Open in Vilamoura for €10,000. The Portuguese player starts today as the chip leader and will surely be popular with the home crowd.

Seat 5: Ville Matilla -- 579,500

Ville Matilla, one of three Finns to make the final table, is a 24 year-old poker player. He turned professional around two years ago having previously been a student and mainly plays 3/6 PLO online. Matilla's best result was finishing 7th at the Unibet Open in Prague a couple of months ago where he took home just over €20,000. Matilla starts 4th in chips.

Seat 4: Paul Jansen -- 304,500

Paul Jansen is a 32 year-old internet business owner. This will be the Dutchman's first live cash, but he'll need some luck to reach the top as he starts as our second shortest stack.

Seat 3: Ola Brandborn -- 610,000

Ola Bradborn is probably the most experienced player on the final table today. The 40 year-old Swede has been playing poker for over twenty years, though he does not play professionally. Brandborn does, however, work as a gaming consultant within the poker industry. Should Brandborn win today he will equal his previous best ever cash, winning the 2008 Swedish Poker Championships in Tallinn for €100,000 by besting a final table that included Jonas 'Nebuchad' Danielsson. He starts today second in chips.

Seat 2: Alexander Lang -- 285,000

Alexander Lang is a 37 year-old carpenter from Austria, he's played poker for about 3 years mainly playing a mixture of cash games and tournaments online. Today will count as his first ever major live result. He starts as the shortest stack but still has over 35 big blinds with which to play with, so can still afford to be patient.

Seat 1: Ville Salmi -- 548,000

Ville Salmi has already secured his biggest ever cash by making the final table here today, his previous best was finishing 18th in the €2,850 Midnight Sun Main Event in Helsinki in June of last year. Salmi has been playing poker for five years as a hobby, he is a teacher by trade but enjoys live cash games. The Finn also seems to have a fondness for Seven-Card Stud, having finalled two Finnish events in 2008 including one runner-up spot. Salmi starts today in 6th place but is only about 70,000 in chips behind the leader.

Even Stevens

With the exception of slightly shorter Alexander Lang and Paul Jansen, the final table is really amazingly close in chips. It's anybody's game, as almost everyone said pre-start... apart from Ville Salmi who said, "Obviously, I'm going to win." We like optimism - but with the blinds at only 4k/8k there really is a chance for anyone to take the €100,000 first prize, the trophy and the Betsson LIVE II title!

Final Table Set To Commence

Finally, with less than a minute to spare, the last two players on the Betsson LIVE final table have made their fashionably tardy appearance...

The centre of the impressive tournament room has been cleared, roped off, and chairs for spectators set up around the final. The stacks are even, the tension high, the cards in the air!

Congratulations...

to Fredrik Hellstrom, who won the Betsson Golf tournament earlier today.

Final Table Chip Counts

Our final eight players will be returning tomorrow to fight for the Betsson LIVE title as well as the cool €100k first prize! Join us from 4pm for live coverage as they play on down to a winner...

Seat 1: Ville Salmi - 548,000
Seat 2: Alexander Lang - 285,000
Seat 3: Ola Brandborn - 610,000
Seat 4: Paul Jansen - 304,500
Seat 5: Ville Mattila - 579,500
Seat 6: Daniel Ferreira - 615,000
Seat 7: Teemu Kangasvieri - 575,000
Seat 8: Pedro Demeyere - 597,000

Julien Arneodo Eliminated In 9th Place (€8,500)

And just as we thought it was over, Julien Arneodo pushed all-in blind on the very last hand of the night. He was called by A-9 and turned over...the less than helpful 8-2 offsuit. A blank board meaning our final table will be eight-handed tomorrow.

10th Place Jukka Salmela

Jukka Salmela Eliminated In 10th Place (€6,500)

And while we were all waiting for Julien Arneodo to bust since he had just 5 big blinds remaining. Jukka Salmela went and got himself eliminated on the other table.

Daniel Ferreira had simply set Salmela all-in from the small blind. Salmela quickly checked the payout structure to much laughter. He then called all-in showing A♥ T♣ but rolled his eyes in disbelief when Ferreira showed A♣ Q♣.

The board was 7♣ 4♠ J♠ 9♥ 6♥ and we have our final table!

Steffen Stiffed!

Steffen Torgensen has been knocked out in 11th place after his 4-bet all-in from the cutoff with A♦ Q♠ was instantly called by Teemu Kangasvieri's K♥ K♦ and the board of 9♣ 2&clubs 7♣ T♥ 3♠ offered no respite to the former chip leader.

This leaves us with just ten players, one more to lose and we're done for the night.

Torgensen Doubles Through Arneodo - Twice!

Amazingly, two hands in a row, Julien Arneodo gave most of his newly promising stack to Steffen Torgensen, very much disappointing his fans, but delighting Steffen's (in a quieter way).

The first time, he called Torgensen's all in with pocket Fours, but Torgensen's K-8 off hit an eight on the flop and stayed good. Stacks after this: J.A. 120k, S.T. 70k.

The very next hand, Arneodo moved in preflop in late position, but was snapcalled by Torgensen who'd picked up K♣ K♠ and proceeded to spike a third King on the flop, thoroughly beating Arneodo's A♠ Q♥.

Torgensen Is Left Lang-uishing...

Alexander Lang raised to 20,000 from UTG but was sent majorly into the tank by Steffen Torgensen (right) when the latter reraised all-in from the big blind. After several minutes, Lang suddenly announced, "Call!" seemingly as surprised by it as everyone on the rail was.

Torgensen showed A♠ 5♣ and Lang triumphantly flipped A♣ 9♣ surviving on a 7♥ K♦ 7♦ 4♦ 8♠ board.

Lang is over the 300,000 mark now. Torgensen has just 35,000 remaining.

Arneodo-uble

The quiet Frenchman Julien Arneodo has been shortstacking into the top prizes, with Ola Brandborn being his main benefactor. Just now Brandborn gave him another spin, this time when it passed to Arneodo and he moved in preflop for about 75k. Brandborn sort of shrugged and made the call with Q♣ T♠, finding himself live against Arneodo's A♦ 2♣.

The flop brought: A♠ K♣ A♥, which drama brought forth an actual, "Ooh la la!" from his excellently enthusiastic railbird lady. Up to 160k now, he could be a dark horse final tabler.

Major Datta Loss...

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. It's all gone horribly pear-shaped for Michele Dattani (below).

He had just eliminated Sindri Ludviksson with A-A vs 9-9 after Ludviksson had 4-bet all-in preflop but was unable to spike against the youngster's bullets on a 3-J-6-Q-8 board.

He must have then thought it was Christmas when he soon after found Queens in the small blind against Pedro De Meyre's big blind, and then loved it even more when he found himself being reraised. All the chips went in but as Dattani flipped his Q♣ Q♠ De Meyre showed K♦ K♠ and the board a conclusive K♥ A♥ Q♥ 6♠ A♣ meaning both players made houses but De Meyre won a 600,000 chip pot as a result.

Dattani was left with just a few thousand and was all-in the next hand, quickly being eliminated.

Mattila Brings Civill Action

Result - short-stacked Tero Civill is now out, in 14th place, winning €5,000.

Ville Mattila called the rest of Civill's chips, and found him with a very respectble A♥ T♣, but he could afford to take his chances with his little 4♥ 4♣.

The board ran out a harmless 8♥ Q♠ 2♥ K♥ 7♦ and a very polite Civill took his leave, smiling and shaking hands, while the rest battle on. They're playing until the final Nine are reached, or for nine levels.

Arneodo Doubles Up

Julien Arneodo has doubled through the massively stacked Ola Bradborn, after he pushed with Kd-Ts and got called by Bradborn's Qd-9d with a semi-exciting Js-4s-Tc-6c-7h board putting Arneodo up to about 100,000 again. Bradborn still the big chip leader.

Brandborn on Fire

Ah yes, that is a clever multilingual pun on his name, and yes, we had to be tipped off by Henrik, who's Swedish... But here are the rough chip standings, with Brandborn in a commanding lead:

Paul Jansen - 300k
Sindri Ludviksson - 110k
Michele Dattani - 295k
Pedro de Meyre - 260k
Ville Salmi - 590k
Daniel Ferreira - 420k
Jukka Salmela - 85k

Julien Arneodo - 55k
Ola Brandborn - 780k
Ville Mattila - 480k
Tero Civill - 43k
Steffen Torgensen - 180k
Alexander Lang - 195k
Teemu Kangasvieri - 245k

Gum-ula Left Toothless

Daniel Gumula (below) has been knocked out in 15th spot after running into the now seemingly indestructable Ola Bradborn.

Bradborn raised to 14,000 preflop before Gumula made it 38,000 in late position. Bradborn reraised to 114,000 and the Pole tanked while having around 140,000 behind.

Eventually Gumula moved in and Bradborn immediately called with A♠ A♦ against Gumula's 9♠ 9♦ and the chip leader continued to cement his advantage when the board came Q♠ J♦ 2♥ 4♦ 6♣.

14 players remain.

Ville-fied

Kevin Branco Nunes is next to be put to the sword, he pushed all-in with J-T but Ville Mattila was sitting contently with K-K, a blank board later and we're left with just 15 players. Nunes wins €4000 for his efforts, however.

Ola Knocks Markus Bloch' Off And Takes Adam's Apple

Markus Hambloch is one of the latest to fall, he open pushed for about 180,000 on a Jx-Td-8d board with 9d-3d with only about 20,000 in the pot. Ola Bradborn was more than happy to call with Q-9 for the flopped straight and avoided the diamond draw after a blank turn and river.

Brandborn also knocked out Adam Andersson. The latter all-in with J-J on a T-6-6 board but running into Bradborn's 7-6 of spades to add even more to his stack.

Torgensends Another Double-Up

Steffen Torgensen continues his unfortunate trend of calling shorter stacks' all ins with good, but worse hands than theirs: This time Ville Mattila was the recipient of a large double through to over 430k when his Queens stood up against Torgensen's Jacks. Once one of the top stacks, Torgensen's fortune has definitely taken a dive lately, although I still wouldn't count him out of the running just yet.

Chip Leader Interview...

Here's an interview from earlier with current chip leader, Ville Aleksi Salmi.

Chip Counts At The Break:

Blinds are now 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante.

First Name Last Name Table Seat Chipcount
Paul Jansen 1 1 224500
Sindri Ludviksson 1 2 138500
Tero Civill 1 3 87500
Julien Arneodo 1 4 74000
Michele Dattani 1 5 202000
Pedro Demevere 1 6 255000
Ville Aleksi Salmi 1 7 595000
Daniel Filipe Ferreira 1 8 413000
Jukka Antero Salmela 1 9 117500

Markus Hambloch 6 1 186000
Ola Brandborn 6 2 280000
Ville Mattila 6 3 225000
Adam Andersson 6 4 106000
Kevin Branco Nunes 6 5 75000
Steffen Torgersen 6 6 393000
Daniel Gumula 6 7 200000
Alexander Lang 6 8 160000
Teemu Kangasvieri 6 9 268000

Torgersen Topples Nelson's Column

Nelson Pereira, despite a valiant shortstack war which saw several all-in survivals, has busted in 19th place. Still with a stack which really only had one move, he made it with A-J, but can't have been happy when Steffen Torgersen re-raised all in over the top! Yes - he had A-K, and with both a Jack and King coming on the flop, Pereira's supporters could only wish for another Jack, which failed to materialise.

We're down to two tables - seats and chip counts coming soon.

Civillised Double Up

Tero Civill (above) has had life made that much easier for him after he reraised all-in with A♦ A♣ against Ville Mattila's T♥ T♦. The board helped neither player, coming K♦ Q♥ 7♣ 5♠ 3♣. Mattila is now in a little bit of trouble.

On the other table, Ola Brandborn picked up a small pot from Teemu Kangasvieri, content to check down a 9-8-9-8-6 board down and show K-T which was more than enough to beat his Finnish opponent.

Salmela's Ladies Do Him No Favours

Michele Dattani has scored a massive double up to over 400k! In an interesting hand which saw both players flat call at different stages with hands they were both probably sure were ahead, a giant pot has near-stacked Jukka Salmela.

Preflop: Button Dattani raised, called out onf the blinds by Salmela.

The flop: J♦ 3spades; 6♣ Slowly, Salmela led out for 30k. Calm call from Dattani.

The turn: T♣ Salmela checked on his opponent's stack, found out he'd had 200k at the start of the hand. "All in," he said, but immediately winced when Dattani immediately called.

Dattani had A♠ A♥ vs. Salmela's Q♦ Q♣

The river was a harmless K♠ and we may have a new chip leader...

Sant-Off

Andre Santos is out after he raised from late position and Ville Aleksi Salmi set him all-in from the big blind. Santos shrugged and called with K♣ Q♠ but ran into Salmi's A♣ J♦ after the board came 5♠ 7♠ 7♥ 4♦ 6♥.

The Finn continues to steadily accumulate chips and is starting to look like one of the favourites now...

Pereira's Fingernails Stronger than He Thought

We had a chat to Nelson Pereira during the dinner break, and found him a realist when it comes to how he viewed his chances with under 30k upon returning. He said they weren't great, but had to admit that as even in tournaments, "Two doubles, then maybe..." The softly-spoken local player with recognisably colourful diamonte hat has held on with fingernails of what must be steel to his tiny stack, but having made it into the top twenty, is pleased with his achievement, and aware that the only option left to him was to shove and hope...

It's worked out pretty well, though - I saw Ola Brandborn call his small blind shove with A-7 of hearts with the dominated Q-7 of spades (he'd raised on the button and Pereira's reraise was nominal). That held - so up to 50k.

Two or three hands later, and Pereira shoved under the gun for his newfound 50k. He picked up a caller in Steffen Torgersen, who showed another dominated hand: A♠ Q♥ to Pereira's A♥ K♦. A King on the flop, and a safe turn and river and Pereira is up to the dizzy stack of 100k! (OK still half average, but tenacity is paying off).


Pictured: Big stack Torgersen, meditating being outkicked.

Flem Coughed Up

Flemming Gregersen though has been finished off by Steffen Torgersen, the Chelsea scout's A-5 running into his foe's A-Q to bust out in 21st place.

Gregersen Moved Off

A very interesting fact about Flemming Gregersen related by Betsson's own Lina who dined with said gentleman tonight: He's one of two people who directly bought-in to this tournament left in it. This is probably because he's a famous football-scout for Chelsea and doesn't have time to be playing all the satellites like everyone else!

He's made the money now - the €3,300 payout bracket, no less - but he's still taking things seriously. Just now Steffen Torgersen raised to 10k, and button Gregersen upped it to 30k. Back round to Torgersen, who announced, "All in," for a large 170k further. This comfortably covered Gregersen's 90k left, and he thought about it for a minute or so before finally, silently, passing.

Torgersen showed him the 8♥ and raked in the pot.

Savolainend of the Line

Ilja Savolainen is the latest bustout, after a rough patch post dinner-break finally getting the last of it in with A-5 vs. the Q-Q of Paul Jansen. No help from the board and we're down to 21 already!

Double Scalp for Kangasvieri

Double takedown as Teemu Kangasvieri (pictured) busts two players at once. First off, Kangasvieri made it 10k to go utg+1. Over to button Pontus Anderberg, who after a short think moved his shortstack all in over the top (around 60k or so). Suddenly big blind Mika Haarala woke up, and pushed his now much-depleted stack in too! Kangasvieri measured up his opponents' stack sizes for the briefest of moments, before quickly saying, "I call."

Kangasvieri: A♠ Q♥
Haarala: A♦ K♣
Anderberg: 7♥ 7♣

The flop brought probable tournament elimination for the pair: 5♥ A♥ 6♥ and Anderberg stood up resignedly. The turn was the 6♠ Haarala pleaded, "Come on, no heart!" but no one was apparently listening as the 9♥ popped out on the river to flush away both players.

Bubble Boy

An interview with the bubble boy - Jeppe Holm Hilkjær

Jansen Doubles Through Hambloch

Paul Jansen has doulbed through Markus Hambloch, the Dutchman finding Ad-Ah in a timely spot against his opponent's 7d-7c as the dealer rattled out a Td-2s-Jc-6d-8c board allowing Jansen to survive for now and push his stack back over the 100,000 mark.

Mikael Findrup Interview (Danish Language)

Although we have only the slightest idea what he was saying, we're delighted to present for our Danish viewers Mikael Findrup's interview:

Finder-Up And Outta Here!

Michael Finderup pushed preflop and Ville Aleksi Salmi made the call in the blinds with A♠ 9♦ but behind to the Dane's K♦ K♣

The poker gods thought different though and the board came A♦ 4♣ J♠ T♥ 9♠, Finderup was eliminated.

Alexander Lang has doubled through Sindri Ludviksson with K-K vs Q-Q for a 170,000 chip pot. Ludviksson has dropped to about 85,000 as a result.

Chip Counts At The Dinner Break

First Name Last Name Table Seat Chipcount
Paul Jansen 1 1 55000
Michael Finderup 1 2 50000
Andre Santos 1 3 90000
Michele Dattani 1 5 195000
Pedro Demevere 1 6 280000
Ville Aleksi Salmi 1 7 267000
Ilja Savolainen 1 8 130000
Jukka Antero Salmela 1 9 311000
Markus Hambloch 6 1 209500
Ola Brandborn 6 2 217000
Ville Mattila 6 3 285000
Nelson Pereira 6 4 27000
Pontus Anderberg 6 5 69000
Steffen Torgersen 6 6 253000
Mika Haarala 6 7 38500
Flemming Berg Gregersen 6 8 145000
Teemu Kangasvieri 6 9 166000
Sindri Ludviksson 13 1 171500
Daniel Filipe Ferreira 13 2 330500
Adam Andersson 13 3 132500
Daniel Gumula 13 4 183500
Alexander Lang 13 5 85000
Tero Civill 13 6 116000
Peter Johansson 13 7 48000
Kevin Branco Nunes 13 8 46500
Julien Arneodo 13 9 122000

Restart!

Blinds are up to 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante so it's costing our players 10,500 a round now to play.

Remember we're playing down to the final tonight.

Dinner Break...

We're now on a 1 hour dinner break with all remaining 27 players still in the tournament.

Bubble Trouble For Jeppe

Jeppe Holm Hilkjær is our bubble, but still receivers $2,000 from Neteller as some compensation.

He reraised all-in against Ville Matilla holding A♦ Q♠ against a dominated Q♥ 2♥ but the board came T♣ 4♣ 3♥ T♥ 2♠. The river deuce, so often the brickiest of bricks, turned out in this case to be the one that brought Hilkjær's house down.

All the remaining players are now in the money.

The payouts in €'s are as follows:

Place Cash
1 100000
2 60000
3 40000
4 31000
5 24000
6 18000
7 14000
8 11000
9 8500
10 6500
11 6500
12 6500
13 5000
14 5000
15 5000
16 4000
17 4000
18 4000
19 3300
20 3300
21 3300
22 2900
23 2900
24 2900
25 2600
26 2600
27 2600

Le Flop - C'est Magnifique!

But rather, that's the finishing position for last year's winner and this year's high flyer Kristian Aksnes. A valiant couple of shortstack doubleups gave him what looked like a shot at heading deep once more, but it was Frenchman Julien Arneodo who sent him packing just outside the money.

Arneodo had moved in preflop in early position, and Aksnes called all in later on - not surprising as he went on to flip pocket Kings with a flourish. He was in good shape against Arneodo's A-Q of Spades - until the A♣ popped out on the flop, along with a couple of spades to further bury Aksnes' previously superior hand.

As the stacks were counted and the Norwegian officially eliminated, a small but excited French rail went, "Allez! Allez! Allez!" while Arneodo commented, quite rightly from his point of view, "Le flop - C'est magnifique!"

ALemost There, But Not Quite

It's curtains for Filipa Lemos, who just raced her last race with pocket Fives against Daniel Gumula's A-9 suted. The flop was clear for her, but an Ace on the turn sealed the deal and brought us to the point of the actual bubble.

Also just missing out by the narrowest of margins on the money - Susanne Cappelen. A lady-less final day beckons for nine of these remaining players, and actually money beckons for all of them, thanks to the Bubble Prize put forward by Betsson LIVE sponsors Neteller - $2,000 in their Neteller account to the next player to be eliminated...

Cappelen So Deep In Tank She Needs Oxygen Canisters

Gravity-defying hairstyled Jukka Salmela just won a pot from Susanne Cappelen, but it took him 10 minutes of waiting when all-in to do so...

He raised preflop to 9,300 - which bet Cappelen called on the button (while on the phone - it looks like the 'no phones in hands' rule isn't big in Portugal).

The flop: 2♥ 6♥ 2♣

Salmela bet out 15,300. Cappelen (now off the phone) raised another 25k. "How much are you playing?" came one of poker's stock responses. She told him she had about 67k (it looked like he just had her covered, but it was close). "All in," he said.

There followed literally 10 minutes of thinking time, during which Susanne Cappelen went through a variety of different chip tricks and frowns (see below). "How high is your pocket?" she mused, before saying, "I have this feeling you have Jacks."


Even so, she couldn't quite bring herself to pass, and eventually the clock was called, and one minute later her hand declared dead.

It's Gert-ins For Jorgensen

Gert Jorgensen, Theo's dad has just been eliminated after walking T♣ T♠ into Daniel Ferreira's Q♠ Q♥ preflop, the board a tenless 2♦ J♠ 2♠ 8♣ 5♦.

30 players are left, we're just shy of the bubble.

Recently Busto

Henrique Custodio (above) is one of the unlucky players to make Day Three but finish just outside the money.

Also recently hitting the bar/rail/beautiful town of Lisbon:

Paulo Santos
Jorge Carvalho

Nice Spot To Find Kings...

Jeppe Hilkjaer raised to 9,200 from early position, Mika Haarala next to him rechecked his cards and Hilkjaer's stack before reraising to 32,500. It was passed around to Fleming Gregersen on the button who moved all-in for about 66,000 in total and the action went back to Hilkjaer, who looked pained eventually folding.

Haarala made a speedy call given the odds stating, "I just hope you don't have Ace-King," as he flipped A♦ J♣ and was slightly pleased to be up against K♥ K♦ instead. Hilkjaer claimed he folded A-K and was vindicated by the 2-J-8-5-4 board.

"Vamos!" shouted Gregersen jokingly.

Restart!

Blinds are now 1,800/3,600 with a 500 ante meaning it's almost 10,000 a round for our 34 remaining players now.

Time to put the peddle to the metal.

First of Many Cries of 'VAMOS!' as Dattani Eliminates Tuhkanen

While Steffen Torgersen is now probably pipping the chip leaderboard with 330k, and making life difficult for his table, it's his neighbour Michele Dattani (pictured who just busted Juha Tuhkanen to add nearly 100k to his own stack.

Tuhkanen raised to 9,600 on the button. Torgersen in the small blind peskily upped it to 24,500. Unexpectedly, Dattani then moved all in on the big blind for over 100k. Back to Tuhkanen.

"Do you want me to call?" he asked, while Dattani just smiled and shrugged. He thought for a while, before moving his whole stack in, covered by a short ways. The time he took to call was perhaps surprising, as he held Q♥ Q♠, up against Dattani's A♠ K♠.

But the young Portuguese player races well, it appears, spiking a King on the turn to win the hand, and crawl back up the chip standings he'd slipped down somewhat.


So "VAMOS!" go the supporters of Dattani, and he shows the crowd some love...