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Rolf 'Ace' Slotboom
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26 May 2006
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Two very fast matches and two very big pots decided today's first two quarter finals. And both times the crucial pots had the same winning hand: king-jack offsuit. Two experienced players, Markus Golser & Robert Binelli, are left with just 11,250 Euros, while their opponents - Paul Jackson & George Danzer - still have a shot at the 125,000 Euro first prize.
After three days of excitement, great plays, big suckouts and especially huge upsets, we have reached the final eight. And things will start off with a cracking match between the strong Markus Golser and "Actionjack" Paul Jackson.
Today's quarter final matches (winners get 25,000 Euros):
Markus Golser (Austria) - Paul Jackson (England)* 0h58
This was a match that I had very much looked forward to. I knew it could become a very long match though, because Paul is known for his love of keeping the pots small, and basically "grinding out" his opponents. And he indeed started in this exact fashion, betting small (1200) on the turn 4652, and even smaller (400) after the river 7. So, with Paul chipping away at the Austrian, Markus did what he had to do: Adjust, and make some changes. But unfortunately, these changes backfired for him. He did exactly what I would do in that situation: Make the pot big early by becoming more aggressive early in the hand. But unfortunately, his opponent had a big hand in what turned out to be the final pot. With 12K in the middle, Markus bet 9,000 all-in on the river with a final board 2 4 J 5 7 . A board that screamed: I have the nuts or am bluffing - but definitely a bet that, based on previous betting and the texture of the board, was a little suspicious. After some deliberation, Paul decided that his KJ was good - and it was, as Markus was bluffing. A match between two great player - and it is Actionjack to go through.
Massive pot decides match
Roberto Binelli (Italy) - George Danzer (Germany)* 0h33
George Danzer
After just 20 minutes of play, George had already paved the way to victory. The young man from Freiburg, Germany, got his opponent in exact the position he wanted: drawing very thin in a huge pot. On a flop KJ2, both players had flopped two pair, so it was not more than normal that all the money would go in. Binelli had K2 for top / bottom and was up against KJ for top two. No surprises on turn or river, meaning Danzer doubled up to 35,000 - almost 90% of the total chips in play. And from there, it took him just five hands to end the match - his pockets eights holding up against AT, all-in before the flop.
The Germans celebrate: George Danzer together with Michael Keiner & Jan Heitmann
That was what happened today. Tomorrow, we will have the last two quarter finals:
Tsai Chen (Netherlands) - Nick Gibson (England)
Isaac Mayolas (Spain) - Frank Blumlein (Germany)
See Rolf Slotboom's blog on PokerPages.com by clicking here
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