How to Avoid a Banana Skin!

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

Characters are what make poker interesting and here at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov they’re not in short supply as the 47 hopefuls returned from a long session yesterday to battle it out for a final table spot, with an eye on the €232,241 first prize.

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

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Yehuda Cohen aka ‘Chikitta Banaana’

Not a name you’ll see very often at the poker tables (even online!) Cohen has been one of the most vocal all week. Never short of a quick and witty reply, and not shy about speaking his mind, the massage parlour owner in his trademark yellow tracksuit didn’t take long to get into his stride.

Real name Yehuda Cohen, the ‘banana man of poker’ from Germany not-so-quietly nursed his average stack all day long… steadily passing each pay-jump amid a barrage of chat and polite warnings and smiles and head-shakes!

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

Just before the dinner break, his 4BB stack looked set to bust out in 12th, but a painful double-blow for Slovenian Martin Dragun saw his AK, then his 99 lose to Marco Topic’s AJ and AA, and he hit the rails!

Suddenly Cohen was sitting down for dinner at least €16,250 better-off, and told me he was praying for a “quick double-double-up” to try to book his place at tomorrow’s Main Event final table.

And if you want to know how that worked out, you’ll have to get to the end of the article!

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Pascal Masset

Timing and position is almost everything in poker, barring the actual cards, so when wheelchair-bound Pascal Masset had yours truly for company, running late as we waited for our shuttle from across the German border to the King's Casino today, the short-stacked Belgian was worrying more about getting some food than his final position in the Main Event!

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

Having already scooped close to €35K with his 3rd place finish in the opening event here in Rozvadov, Pascal was considering his deep run a bonus – helping to pay for his car which he crashed on en route to the Czech Republic!

Undaunted by poker or life in general, Pascal’s Main Event ended in 37th place when his pocket 8’s were sunk by a king on the flop against chip-leader Han Kuo’s K♦ Q♥.

A €5,457 payday saw Pascal enter Belgium’s top 100 on the money list – a long way off millionaire countrymen Kitai and Neuville, but gaining the respect of all he encountered throughout the WSOP Circuit event here at King's.

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The Georgia Posse is in da house!

Not the US state, but rather the ex-Soviet Republic, evidently a modern-day hotbed of poker as the (big!) busload of players and journalists who descended on Rozvadov attests to!

Last-man-standing from the highly-vocal Georgian contingent was Valeri Bakhturidze, and his every move was met with whoops of delight or groans of despair – the team of reporters crowding the table when he finally went all-in with J♥ 9♠, but failing to improve against the A♣ 5♦ of Mihai Manole.

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

Over and out from Valeri and his Georgian posse, the team photo on the stairs to the main playing hall giving a sense of their happiness for Bakhturidze.

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Little Miss Consistency!

Renee Xie

As the last female in the field, Renee Xie was always going to be one of the main focuses of attention today, the slightly-built and extremely friendly woman from Milton Keynes, outside London, continuing her consistent play this year.

With $186,698 in tournament earnings since entering the poker world four years ago, Renee satellite her way into the Main Event here for $160, and outlasted 828 other hopefuls as she smiled and fought her way to the final three tables.

With a short-stack, aggressive big stacks around her and somewhat card-dead, she managed to double-up twice – surviving a pay-jump bubble worth an extra $1200 by folding her big blind after the re-draw – surprising to many but Renee is an accomplished player and made the right decision.

When she finally fell, her 23rd spot finish left her feeling “a little disappointed” at not making the final table but “really impressed” by both the King's Casino venue and their WSOP Circuit Main Event.

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

Although she missed her flight today – never a bad thing if it means you’re well in the money - Renee plans to be back in the Czech Republic for next month’s EPT Prague – and I for one won’t be betting against another deep run and cash from my new favorite player!

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Chip updates or stories?

Here at PokerTube we tend not to do the blow-by-blow chip accounts – I hate writing it and all but the most fervent poker geek doesn’t want to read it - ticker-tape are not what poker is all about!

Instead, big hands and big personalities rule the roost – and they don’t come much bigger than the hand which saw overnight leader Han Kuo bust in 19th spot.

A raising war which finally saw him all-in with AK, only to see Martin Dragun table AA! Could it get any worse? Of course it could! The flop fell…

A♣ Q♥ Q♣

and when the turn appeared…

J♦

Kuo was heading for the exit in 18th spot, $9,459 richer and still able to smile!

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

Return of the Banana Man...?

We left our yellow-vested hero Yehuda Cohen trying to hang on for grim life - another three places and the final table and the bright the bright lights of the King's Casino final table would be his, but it looked sooo unlikely!

A triple-up equals a double-double-up (sort of!) and when it was added to Russia’s Alexander Lahkov and Slovakian Marek Tatar hitting the rails, it only left one more bust-out to land Cohen in the final table mix. And remarkably it happened!

Ivan Banic paired his queen on the flop and Moussa Khanafer had to settle for the official final table bubble-boy spot, taking home €19,767 for his efforts.

(Photo: Elena Chadaeva)

Yehuda ‘Chikitta Banaana’ Cohen had made it! And tomorrow’s livestream will be all the better for it – interesting characters in poker being the only way to bring the game back to the masses.

The Final Table is Set!

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