After an impressive day where he won several key pots at key times, Ravn will enter the final table with 2.4 million chips and a sizeable lead over the rest of the field.
Ravn has over $550k in career earnings but with the bulk of it coming from a sixth-place finish at the 2010 PCA main event, he has limited experience closing big tournaments and will have an impressive lineup at his heels when the final table kicks off tomorrow.
Petersen, Neuville and O'Dwyer Lie in Wait
Chief among them are PokerStars pros Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen and Pierre Neuville.
Petersen, a renowned online pro who at one time in the tournament was down to just 7,500 in chips (at 1,000/2,000), stacked his way back up to 1.2 million in chips to sit fourth overall.
Belgian pro Neuville, known as the “Serial EPT Qualifier” for his record 23 consecutive successful satellite entries to EPT events, dropped slightly back from his chip lead yesterday but sits fifth heading into the final with 908,000.
American pro Steve O’Dwyer added another big final table to his resume as well but he'll have the most work to do as he’s a short stack with 463,000.
Danish player Bjarke Hansen will be in second-place with 1.4 million in chips followed by Jacob Rasmussen with 1.3 million when action resumes tomorrow
Niels Van Alphen (719,000) and Spencer Hudson (447,000) round out the final eight.
Tureniec, Varonen and Volquardsen Fall Short
Swedish pro Michael Tureniec came very close to defending his 2011 EPT Copenhagen title with a valiant run that fell just short in 11th place.
Tureniec got it in with AK against Hansen's AJ but couldn't get it to hold against a runner-runner backdoor flush.
Finn Lauri Varonen met a similar fate when he also got his AK in against Hansen's AQ and lost to two-pair to go out in 10th.
A massive meltdown by Dane Keld Volquardsen, who blew through 1 million in chips in less than nine hands, made him the final-table bubble boy.
Final-table action starts at noon tomorrow from Casino Copenhagen and will be streamed live on PokerStars.tv.
A $453,595 USD cheque awaits the winner with $288,569 on hold for second and $180,356 for third.
All players are now guaranteed at least $34,520.
The final eight and their chip stacks:
1. Aage Ravn 2,458,000
2. Bjarke Hansen 1,497,000
3. Jacob Rasmussen 1,325,000
4. Mickey Petersen 1,205,000
5. Pierre Neuville 908,000
6. Niels van Alphen 644,000
7. Steve O’Dwyer 453,000
8. Spencer Hudson 447,000
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