Another short day at the Aviation Club de France on Thursday, for the final stages of the Grand Prix de Paris 2007. The 18 remaining players arrived on the Champs-Elysées at 4pm. The goal was to reach a final table of nine players. That goal was reached shortly before 9pm.

Csaba Kuremszki, from Hungary, was the first player to exit when he raised with pocket Aces. Ram Vaswani defended his big blind with 76 of clubs. The flop came A85, all clubs, and Kurmeski put the rest of his chips in the middle. Ram's flopped flush held up against Csaba's trips, who was our  Nikolas Liakos went out in short order.

Comedian Antoine Nouel then went all with A5 on the AK4 flop, running into Will Ma's pocket Aces. The sentence was immediate : Nouel was busted. Nichlas Saarisilta Mattson, Day 2's chip-leader, was sent to the rail when his A5 of clubs did not improve against David Redlin's pocket Sevens. The last French player remaining, Georges Teboul, was forced to push his last 40,000 with A3 offsuit. Jeff Wallace, also short-stacked, had pushed with J6 offsuit and rivered a straight to eliminate Teboul. From Russia, Kirill Rabtsov then went all-in in an unraised pot with Q3 offsuit. Jeff Lisandro, who had limped with AQ, was more than happy to call. The board failed to bring a 3, and Rabtsov was eliminated in 11th position.

So, there were only 10 players standing on the two last tables. Only one of them would miss the final table : Freddy Deeb, undoubtely the most experienced pro, and the most recognizable face remaining in the tournament. Freddy had started the day with the second position in chips, but then suffered several hits, notably when his pocket Queens ran into Runar Runarrson's pocket Kings, thus resulting in Freddy's stack dropping to less than 100,000. Shortly before 9pm, Freddy went all in for his last 50,000 with pocket Tens. Jeff Lisandro made the call with A9 offsuit. The dealer turned over four diamonds : Lisandro held the Ace of the same suit. It was all over for one of the top favorites to win the Grand Prix de Paris.

The final table was set, composed of experienced players and newcomers alike. Will Ma(photo) is the chip-leader with 610,000 in chips. From the American continent, Will is a big online player, but the Grand Prix de Paris is his first live tournament ever. Jeff Lisandro and Ram Vaswani, the two professionals with the most titles and experience, are trailing behind him. From Las Vegas, young David Redlin is making his second major final table in less than a year. He had finished 4th in the prestigious Five Diamond Classic at the Bellagio last December. Runar Runarsson is a newcomer from Iceland. He impressed everybody on Day 3 when he folded pocket Kings before the flop after being reraised all-in by Georges Teboul. His read was right, as we was shown the only hand he was behind of : pocket Aces. Tor Gammelgard lost his chip-leader statut after losing several big hands. With 255,000, the Swedish pro still has a real shot to win the whole thing. Paul Gourlay was the official short-stack when the day started, but managed to survive by winning every hand he ws all-in with. Same situation for RussianYuri Kerzhapkin, who's still in after some lucky double ups. He avoided bubbling on the final when his K7 found a seven on the flop to beat Will Ma's AK. American Jeff Wallace is the short-stack with 103,000.

Here are the rankings for the final table, with the seating positions :

Will Ma 610,000 (seat 3)
Jeff Lisandro(Photo) 490,500 (seat 8)
Ram Vaswani 413,000 (seat 7)
David Redlin 370,500 (seat 9)
Runar Runarsson 309,000 (seat 6)
Tor Gammelgard 255,000 (seat  5)
Paul Gourlay 122,000 (seat  1)
Yuri Kerzhapkin 111,500 (seat  4)
Jeff Wallace 103,000 (seat 2)

Grand Prix de Paris' final table will begin at 2pm at the Aviation Club de France, will blinds at 4,000/8,000, ante 1,000, and then 6,000/12,000, ante 1,000. It should be noted how excellent the structure has been the whole week. Yesterday, in the span of almost five hours, the big blind just doubled, from 4,000 to 8,000. The nine remaining players will share the following prizes :

Vainqueur : 422 560 €
Second : 224 480
Troisième : 158 460
4e : 105 640
5e : 79 230
6e : 66 020
7e : 52 820
8e : 39 615
9e : 26 410

The money finishers from yesterday are :

18th Csaba Kuremski (Hungaria) €13,205
17th Adrian Gaville (USA) €13,205
16th Atanas Gueorguiev ( Bulgaria) €13,205
15th Nikolas Liakos (Sweden) €13,205
14th Antoine Nouel (France) €13,205
13th Nichlas Saarisilta Mattson (Sweden) €19,810
12th Georges Teboul (France) €19,810
11th Kirill Rabtsov (Russia) €19,810
10th Freddy Deeb (Lebanon) €19,810

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If you wanted to watch the action at the Aviation Club de France on wednesday, for Day 3 of the Grand Prix de Paris, you'd better not show up late. Indeed, the 26 remaining players resumed the fight at 4pm, and play stopped when the money spots were reached... 90 minutes later ! As a result, the 18 money finishers could enjoy a nice evening on the sunny Champs-Elysées, while the other were coming home empty-handed.

So, everything went down very quickly during this strange day. Play resumed at 1600/3200 blinds with a 300 ante. On the first hand Samir shakhtoor and Nikolai Evdakov were exiting, eliminated respectively by Freddie Deeb and Atanas Gueorguiev. A few minutes later, Jeff Lisandro was calling the all-in by Turgut Guner and flopped the nut straight, sending Guner to the rail. Frenchmen Clément Amagot and Christophe Cabras, short-stacked, followed him moments after. Then, Johna Strorakers was busted by Ram Vaswani. Vivian Anseline, a regular at the Aviation Club cash-games, would go out in 20th position when his Ace Queen of clubs did not improved against Jeff Wallace's pocket Kings.

Who would be the bubble finisher, the last player to miss the money ? The tournament room was filled with thension. Several players had a very modest stack (less than 50,000). Sooner or later, one of them would be forced to go all-in, and each of them where keeping a close eye on each other's stack, waiting for a bust-out to sneak into the money. It was just a matter or time before one of those short-stacks would suffer the bubble elimination. Surprisingly, all of them made the money. Nobody expected the kind of conclusion that finally occured.

From Sweden, Tor Gammelgard was the most active towards the final stages. He re-raised several times with success his less-stacked opponent, taking advantage of the tight play that is mandatory on the bubble. It allowed him to increase his stack while taking down several pots uncontested.

So when the Frenchman Otto Richard made a standard raise to 8,800, Tor opted for the hyper-aggressive strategy by making a huge overbet to 113,200. Puzzled, Otto tried to talk to his opponent. Eventually, he decided Tor was just trying to scare him with a rag hand, and called the bet with King-Queen offsuit, leaving him with just 25,000. The rest of the money went in on the 359 rainbow flop, and everyone was shocked when Otto turned over his hand. On the other hand, Gammelgard wasn't bluffing at all after all : he tabled pocket Jacks. The turn and the river blanked, and Otto Richard was our bubble finisher, exiting in 19th position in dramatic fashion, for a paycheck of... nothing.

This hand marked the conclusion of Grand Prix de Paris' Day 3. The 18 remaining players are all in the money. Tor Gammelgard's aggressive strategies on the bubble paid off, as he's heading to the final stages in the driving seat :

Tor Gammelgard 377,800
Freddie Deeb 299,100
Will Ma 294,500
Ram Vaswani 252,400
Nichlas Saarisilta 205,900
Atanas Gueorguiev 202,400
Jeff Lisandro 197,900
Nikolas Liakos 140,000
Runar Runnarsson 123,100
Kirill Rabtsov 113,800
Csaba Kuremszki 96,300
Georges Teboul 95,300
David Redlin 92,200
Adrian Gavile 89,800
Jeff Wallace 57,200
Antoine Nouel 50,900
Yuri Kerzhapkin 50,500
Paul Gourlay 43,800

Play will resume today at 4pm with blinds at 2,000/4,000, and will stop when a final table of nine players is reached. Several excellent players are still in contention, and we can expect a very interesting conclusion at the Aviation club. Second in chips, Freddie Deeb is probably the most recognizable face among the remaining players. A WSOP and WPT winner, Freddie will go after the title and the money, to win the Grand Prix de Paris of whom he's a regular participant. Will Ma is third in chips after winning a gigantic pot against David Redlin with Kings against Jacks. Ram Vaswani, one of the best European players, has a real shot with 252,400 in chips. Let's not forget the Iceman, Jeff Lisandro, who's always dangerous in the final stages of any tournament.

Among the less known faces still in can be pointed out the Swedish Nichlas Saarisilta and Nikolas Liakos, both with respectable stacks. Eastern Europe countries are well represented this week in Paris : are still there Atanas Gueorguiev (Bulgaria), Csaba Kuremszki (Hungary) Kirill Rabstsov et Yury Kerzhapkin (Russia). Two French are still in contention ; Georges Teboul and Antoine Nouel, spécialisé. Jovial Englishman Paul Gourlay is the shortest stack with 43,800.

The 18 remaining players will get the following money prizes :

Winner: €422,560
Runner-up: 224,480
Third : 158,460
4th : 105,640
5th : 79,230
6th : 66,020
7th : 52,820
8th : 39,615
9th : 26,410
10th to 13th : 19,810
14th to 18th : 13,205

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Tuesday was a day filled with action at the Aviation Club de France, where the 84 remaining players in the Grand Prix de Paris gathered for the second day of play. The tournament resumed at 4pm with blinds at 300 and 600 with a 50 chip ante. Quickly, players began dropping like flies : those who failed to accumulate enough chips the day before had to make their move. Pascal Perrault, Elie Marciano, Patrick Bueno and Marc Goodwin were among the first casualties of the day.

More surprising was the elimination of Jan Boubli after only one hour of play. The Frenchman had started the day with chip-leader statuts, but was very unlucky to find all his strong hands beaten by even stronger hands. Ram Vaswani gave the last blow to eliminate Jan, and was the first player to cross the 100,000 mark.

Later during the day, several other French players suffered elimination : Guillaume de la Gorce, Thomas Belleuvre, Vikash Dhorasso and Day 1A's chip-leader Ryad Abour. Meanwhile, Paul Testud was building a hundred-thousand stack, notably by eliminating a player with set versus set.

At 9pm, the dinner break was called. Four hours and a half had passed : 37 players were gone. The elimination pace would not slow down during the last two levels of the day. They would all take the exit door : Gilbert Chahine, Alain Layani, and even Paul Testud, who ran into American Freddie Deeb's straight. From Marseille, aggressive and unpredictable Eric Koskas would find his nemesis in Ram Vaswani. Eric had pushed all his chips in the middle with pocket sixes on a QQ5 flop with two clubs. The Englishman thought about it for a while, and finally made the call with A9 of clubs. A deuce of clubs on the turn and it was all other for Eric.

The last level of Day 2, with blinds at 1200/200 with a 200 ante, was a total bloodbath with an average of one elimination every ten minutes. Dave Coclough, Daniel Donadebian, Sorel Mizzi, Alexander Kurzmin and Michel Akrich were among the late eliminations.

When Nicolas, the tournament director, called it a day, at around 2am, only 28 players had survived. Freddie Deeb (photo) was leading the pack :

Freddie Deeb 262 500
Nichlas Saalisilta 253 600
David Redlin 202 700
Tor Gammelgard 165 700
Ram Vaswani 152 800
Jeff Lisandro 150 800
Nikolas Liakos 140 800
Otto Richard 138 300
Runar Runnarsson 133 900
Will Ma 130 200
Georges Terboul 121 800
Csaba Kuremski 115 000
Adrien Gavile 114 400
Atanas Gueorguieu 91 000
Sami Shakhtoor 72 600
Antoine Nouel 71 600
Paul Gourlay 63 900
Jeff Wallace 61 700
Johan Storakers 61 600
Christophe Cabras 59 100
Vivian Anseline 57 400
Turgut Gunar 43 900
Nikolai Evdakov 36 500
Kirill Rabstov 33 400
Clément Amagot 25 300
Yury Kerzhepkin 23 700

Day 3 will start today at 4pm. The short-stacks will try to sneak into the money (18 paid spots), while the chip-leaders will have only one thing in mind : the 422,560 euros first-prize.

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71 players had shown up at the Aviation Club de France on Monday for the second starting day of the Grand Prix de Paris. Just as the day before, five 90 minute levels were scheduled for this prestigious €10,000 buy-in tournament, giving the players a starting stack of 20,000 in chips and blinds of 25/50 to begin with.

A lot of well-known players had choose to make their appearance for the second part of Day 1, as a result there were a lot of very interesting tables to watch yesterday. Take table 6, for example : were gathered there Americains Steve Zolotow and Jason Lester (bracelet winner and WSOP Main Event finalist in 2003), Frenchmen Patrick Schull and Henri Boutbout (respectively sixth and seventh at last year's Grand Prix de Paris) and also Canadian Sorel Mizzi, 21 years old and already considered one of the best online players in the world.
 

Relaxed mood at table 9, which looked like a reunion of French players, who are all ACF  regulars and know each other's style quite well : Pascal « PP the Bandit » Perrault, Jean-Bernard Bot, Vivian Anseline, Jonathan Fhal, Eric Koskas and former Paris-Saint-Germain football player Vikash Dhorasso. Around the six other tables inside the tournament room could be seen young Swedes Patric Martensson, Nikolas Liakos and Ramzi Jelassi, Americains Freddy Deeb, John Hennigan and David Redlin, and also two of the best French players : Patrick Bueno and Jan Boubli.

After five 90 minutes levels, 45 players had survived, and experienced players were on top of the leader board. Leading with 76,000, one of the best European players, Ram Vaswani (photo) from the Hendon Mob.

The «Crazy Horse » won his biggest pot of the day when his pair of Jacks met J8 on a J88 board.

Trailing behind, Jan Boubli (photo) ended the day with more than 70,000. The French champion, who almost won the Grand Prix de Paris in 2003 against David Benyamine, got paid off big time with a set of fives for a 60,000 pot. It has to be noted that Jan has been extremely patient all day. Down to 7,000 in chips early, he never gave up, and in true « survivor » style, slowly fought back, small pot after small pot. Patience got rewarded, as Jan will start today as one of the chip-leaders.

Today's top-five :
Ram Vaswani 76,975
David Redlin 72,475
Jan Boubli 71,975
Sorel Mizzi 69,075
Jeff Wallace 64,025

Day 1A's top-five :
Ryad Abour 71,750
Nikolai Evdakov 70,550
Alexander Kuzmin 64,200
Samir Shakhtoor 63,100
Atanas Gueorguieu 62 250

They will be there today for Day 2 : Jason Lester (24,975), Patrick Schull (20,475), Patric Martensson (3,475), Ramzi Jelassi (21,125), Mats Iremark (15,525), Paul Gourlay (24,925), Nikolas Liakos (39,100), Patrick Bueno (6,500), Vivian Anseline (53,400), Eric Koskas (31,550), Freddie Deeb (50,400), Vikash Dhorasso (16,175), Pascal Perrault (24,125) et Carlos Da Silva (33,375)

They were eliminated during Day 1B : Steve Zototow, Henri Boutboul, John Hennigan, Fabrice Thuil, Jonathan Fhal, Jean-Bernard Bot and Haim Kakoun.

A total of 139 players entered the Grand Prix de Paris 2007, which made for a total prize-pool of €1,320,500. The 83 remaining players will show up today at the Aviation at 4pm for Day 2, which will last 5 levels. Only 18 players will get paid according to the following payout structure :

Winner : €422,560
Runner-up : 224,480
Thirs : 158,460
4th : 105,640
5th  : 79,230
6th : 66,020
7th : 52,820
8th : 39,615
9th : 26,410
10th to 13th : 19 810
14th to 18th : 13 205


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