EPT: Kevin Vandersmissen Takes Big Lead into Final Table

There is an argument to be made that the day before the final table is even more intense than the final table itself. Case in point: Day 4 of the PokerStars.net EPT Snowfest. The day began with 24 runners and ended with only eight. Along the way there was drama, disappointment, and even tears.

The tears came when two friends and former World Cup of Poker teammates representing Romania, Cristian Dragomir and Cristian Tardea clashed with just ten players remaining. While friends away from the felt, the two clashed at the tables when Tardea ran pocket fours into Dragomir’s pocket jacks. Even though the jacks prevailed for Dragomir, the PokerStars Blog reported Dragomir was a little teary-eyed to see his friend fall short of the final table.

Tardea was not the only player to come up just shy of the top eight.  Pierre Neuville headed home in eleventh, while the last Team PokerStars Pro and biggest name left in the field, Alex Kravchenko, exited in 15th place.

The eight that did make it through to the final table include a trio of Belgians led by massive chip leader Kevin Vandersmissen. Vandersmissen will begin the final table with over 4.5 million chips, while his next closest competitor, Dragomir, will start the day with just shy of 2.3 million. Fellow Belgina Philip Meulyzer rounds out the top three, while Morten Mortensen of Denmark begins final table play as the short stack.

Here are the chip counts and seat assignments for the PokerStars.net EPT Snowfest final tabe. When play resumes, blinds will be at 5,000/10,000 ante 1,000:
Seat 1: Kevin Vandersmissen - 4,512,000
Seat 2: Giacomo Maisto - 986,000
Seat 3: Vladimir Geshkenbein - 1,678,000
Seat 4: Philip Meulyzer - 1,758,000
Seat 5: Denis Murphy - 997,000
Seat 6: Morten Mortenesen - 740,000
Seat 7: Cristian Dragomir - 2,293,000
Seat 8: Koen De Visscher - 1,543,000

(excerpt from bluffmagazine.com)