PokerStars Championship Prague: Greenwood's patience pays off as it's Palumbo who bubbles

Coming back from a dinner break directly on the stone bubble creates a weird dynamic. Nobody wants to return after a somewhat rushed meal only to then bust with no money, right?

That might be true in lesser buy-in tournaments, but this is a €10K, and the vast majority of this lot are seasoned pros for whom a great spot to shove simply must be taken, regardless of the risk. To prove it, let's see how the bubble level played out.

Tsugunari Toma set the pace early. From under the gun +1, he shoved a stack that was nowhere near the bottom of the counts. When everyone folded, he flipped over ace-ten. No fear.

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Toma gets it through

Sam Greenwood played a more reserved bubble game. With around 15 big blinds, he was looking at a 16,000 open from Ben Heath, and three-bet to 56,000 from chip leader Christopher Kruk. Greenwood was on the button, and decided to stand up and have a look around the room to see if anyone else had gone all in. After a minute of standing and looking, he gave the dealer both his cards and a time bank, and opted to wait for a better spot once he caught whiff of another all in.

It was Guillaume Pau Davy who was all in, having jammed for 94,000 from the big blind over the top of Fady Kamar's small-blind open to 40,000. He'd call it with the A♣7♣ and was up against Pau Davy's Q♥Q♣, which held up after the 9♠T♥6♦ flop.

With Pau Davy doubling up, maybe Greenwood was regretting not taking his shot with what was clearly a hand he liked?

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Greenwood hopes for a bust

Ultimately it wouldn't matter, as two hands later the bubble was burst, on Greenwood's table no less. Rocco Palumbo was very short and shoved his 42,000 all in from under the gun. It folded to Hossein Ensan in the hijack who called, only for Anthony Zinno to then shove the cutoff for 163,000. Ensan let it go.

Palumbo turned over the 3♦3♥ and the best he could hope for was a flip. But alas, Zinno had the J♣J♠ and improved immediately on the flop of the 9♠J♥4♥9♦4♦. After that Zinno had 267,000, and Palumbo left empty-handed.

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Palumbo gives it a thumbs down

The remaining 39 had all locked up €17,000, and it didn't take long for the bust-outs to start, with Lander Lijo already exiting with a cash. Expect plenty more to come.

We'll be back later after play ends to bring you all the overnight news, but in the meantime you can follow along with live updates by PokerNews.

Photos by Rene Velli.


Jack Stanton
@J_W_Stanton in Live Poker