EPT Vienna: Play is over - Chip count after day 2

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EPT Update No. 34

After two hours of extremely careful play, we have our final eight players. The first one to bust out was the probably best player at the table, Lothar Landauer. With Pascal in the 10,000 big blind, Mika Puro raised to 40,000 in early position, and on the button Lothar reraised all-in to 200,000 with pocket queens. Mika decided to call with an ace-queen of spades, and was a big dog to win. But an ace came on the turn to give Mika a big stack again, and to send home the excellent German. And a little later it was Jeffrey Rogers who would be today's bubble boy, just missing out on tomorrow's televised table. When Simon Nowab raised, he came over the top with 33, and Simon called all-in, holding big slick. A king on the board gave Simon a big pot, and left Jeffrey with just one chip. On the next hand, it was over for the Brit. He called all-in in early position, and Timothy Ramsey, Mika Puro and Andreas Harnemo all knew what do do in this situation: limping, completing or checking - but by no means betting or raising. In the end, Andreas' ace was good enough for the pot, making the eight final players:



Joachim Sanejstra (Austria) 129,500
Tim Ramsey (UK) 152,500
David Clayton (UK) 287,000
Pascal Perrault (France) 641,500
Josh Schiffmann (US) 197,500
Simon Nowab (UK) 301,000
Mika Puro (Finland) 450,500
Andreas Harnemo (Sweden) 821,000



10. Lothar Landauer (Germany) €6,930
9. Jeffrey Rogers (UK) €11,500
All in all, lots of unfamiliar faces - just as in the previous event in Deauville. The televised table will start at 5 p.m. local time - now, I hope you will all be there. Goodnight from Vienna, and see you all tomorrow.









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EPT Update No. 33

We are down to one table! Scandinavian Per Helsleth ran into the Bandit's cowboys, holding only ace-ten. Pascal managed to even make top full with his hand, for a final board 4633K. We now have one table, ten players, with two very large stacks (Pascal and Andreas) and all others anywhere from "not entirely safe" to "in absolute and immediate danger".

11. Per Helsleth, €6,930

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EPT Update No. 32

Andreas Harnemo now has about 800,000 in chips, more than 25% of the total chips in play. On his immediate right is Jeffrey Rogers, who has just doubled up to 220,000 in a coin flip against Josh Schiffmann (AJ vs. 99, Jeffrey won by catching a jack). And on the other table, Lothar Landauer won an important pot as well. All-in with AK against Pascal Perrault's AT, he didn't need improvement to win. The 270,000 pot put him in decent chip position, and it was the first time the Bandit actually lost a big pot - but still, he is in good position with about half a million in chips. Another important double-up for Timothy Ramsey. Holding a dominated hand (KQ vs. Per Helsleth's AK) he caught a queen to stay alive. Blinds now 5,000-10,000, with a 1,000 ante.






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EPT Update No. 31

11 players left! Andreas Harnemo has sent home yet another player, the experienced Alan Betson. Alan had king-jack of spades, but was up against the Swede's big slick, and that was good enough to win yet another pot - and to add even more chips to his already impressive stack.

12. Alan Betson (Ireland) €6,930

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EPT Update No. 30

We have lost Italian charmer Luca Pagano. The man who has such a great fighting spirit had gotten into trouble about an hour ago, by getting unlucky in an important pot. And when it mattered most, he was unlucky again. On a flop A43, he pushed all-in holding a four, and Mika Puro called him with a three. Another three turned so that once again Luca exited just a little too soon. And local Mirulat Peric is out as well, meaning that we now have two tables of six players, for twelve players total. We will play down to the final eight, eight players who will participate in tomorrow's televised final table.

14. Luca Pagano (Italy) €5,750
13. Milurat Peric (Austria) €5,750

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EPT Update No. 29

It is 11:15 p.m. local time in Vienna, seven hours into the second day of the European Poker Tour in Copenhagen. One of the favorites to win, Tibor Tolnai from Hungary, could not afford to wait for very long. His ace-ten was good on the flop against Alan Betson's ace-king (flop QTx), but a jack on the turn gave Betson the nut straight. The colorful Per Helsleth has gotten lucky in the meantime by winning a 200,000 pot by outdrawing his opponents queens with sevens. (If I saw things correctly, he caught a seven on the river. At least, the reaction of the crowd and of Per himself suggested that this was probably the case.) But his stack is now back at just over 100,000 again, a slightly below average stack. Also, we have lost Michel Schalabi, our no. 18 for this event, Robert Cohen, our no. 17, and his fellow countryman Paul Testud, in sixteenth place. And as I am writing this, we have yet another victim in Sigi Stockinger, against the man who already has a freight load of chips, young Swede Andreas Harnemo. From now on, the blinds will be 4,000-8,000 with a 700 ante, and they will remain like that for the next 75 minutes.

18. Michel Schalabi (England) €4,600
17. Robert Cohen (France) €4,600
16. Paul Testud (France) €4,600
15. Sigi Stockinger (Austria) €5,750

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EPT Update No. 28
Exits:
21. Bernhardt Reither (Austria) €3,450
20. Horst Riedlinger (Austria) €3,450
19. Tibor Tolnai (Hungary / Austria) €3,450

Total prize pool: €594,000, 3% for dealer staff
Entrants: 297






Prize money:
27-19: €3,450
18-16: €4,600
15-13: €5,750
12-10: €6,930
9: €11,500
8: €17,300
7: €23,000
6: €28,800
5: €34,500
4: €40,500
3: €51,800
2: €101,400
1: €184,500

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EPT Update No. 27

Exits:
23. Luis Jaikel (Costa Rica) €3,450
22. Denis Kharitonov (Russia, our former chip leader) €3,450

OK, guys, it's time for some stories. Local player Bernhardt Reither moves all-in unter the gun with a monster, pocket queens, and Simon Nowab calls all-in for 29,500 total with a pathetic-looking king-eight offsuit. The flop 844, the turn another 8 for a full house. (Bernhardt is still alive though, with 30,000 in chips.) Simon stacks his chips as if nothing unusual has happened. And contrary to his normal way of acting, Reither doesn't say a word. Another local, Harry Casagrande, is all-in with pocket sixes up against pocket tens. He calls for a six - and gets one! His opponent then calls for a ten - and then gets it as well! And then the possibly best story of all. Yet another local Horst Riedlinger has just 600 left, barely enough to cover the ante. As fate has it, he has to make a table transfer, and of course there is quite a bit of laughter when he has to pick up his two chips to go and take his new seat. On his new table, he immediately wins his first two pots. Ten minutes later, he holds a stack of 30,000.


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EPT Update No. 26

Exits:
27. Joseph Gresch €3,450
26. Facher Leviev (Russia) €3,450
25. Harry Casagrande (Austria) €3,450
24. Xuyen Pham (Vietnam / England) €3,450

Players remaining / Estimated chip counts:
Table 27
Dave Clayton 160,000
Tibor Tolnai 35,000
Alan Betson 25,000
Horst Riedlinger 70,000
Jeffrey Rogers 65,000
Paul Testud 50,000
Robert Cohen 65,000

Table 26
Simon Nowab 30,000
Bernhardt Reither 65,000
Lothar Landauer 50,000
Pascal Perrault 360,000
Mika Puro 300,000
Andreas Harnemo 380,000
Luis Jaikel 85,000
Sigi Stockinger 85,000

Table 25
Joachim Sanejstra 150,000
Milurat Peric 35,000
Josh Schiffmann 290,000 (transferred to table 27)
Mike Shalabi 40,000
Per Helsleth 110,000
Denis Kharitonov 170,000
Timothy Ramsey 80,000
Luca Pagano 65,000

The blinds now: 3,000-6,000, antes 500.

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EPT Update No. 25

The fate of the draw can be cruel sometimes. With three tables left, and a prize money of €3,450 locked up, the three biggest stacks have drawn seats at the same table. In fact, they are seated immediately next to each other! On table 26 in seat 4 we have Pascal Perrault from France with about 360,000. Immediately next to him, in seat no. 5, we have Mika Puro from Finland with about 280,000. And on top of that, we've got another big stack in seat no. 6, Andreas Harnemo from Sweden with 340,000. The three of them together carry almost a third of the total chips in play, at the same table, next to each other! An amazing draw, and it looks almost certain that the eventual winner should come from either one of these three. On the other hand, the average stacks on the other tables don't have the pressure of the big stacks, and may actually have a fairly comfortable road to the final now that the big gunners are facing each other. Also, this may well be the worst possible draw for the Bandit, who has the two -to him- most dangerous players seated to his immediate left; that is, both Mika as well as Andreas will have position on him.



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EPT Update No. 24

We are in the money! After Harry Casagrande survived his all-in, it was Garry Bush who would end up on the bubble. Going all-in with 55, he got called by former Concord dealer Joachim Sanejstra, and the Austrian's A7 received help. We will have a redraw for seats, with the blinds still at 2,000-4,000 and an ante of 400. With a average stack of just over 100,000, and the blinds and antes going up in fifteen minutes probably, we can expect some fast and furious action - simply because there are only very few players who can afford to wait.

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EPT Update No. 23

We are down to 28 - one more and we are in the money! By the way, the two names I still owed you have become irrelevant, as they have both busted out. As I said, one more player and we are down to three tables, with everybody in the money and if I am not mistaken, also a redraw for seats. Anyway, I will keep you guys up to date.
















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EPT Update No. 22

The last Dutchman is out! Noah Boeken, who had made such a great comeback, lost all his chips in a huge pot. All-in before the flop, he was a massive favorite before the flop with two tens against two nines, but... hey, you know the story. Exclusive is out, and the Bandit has a freight load of chips.

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EPT Update No. 21

After doing a little research, I am pretty certain of 32 of the last 34 players. They are:

Table 24:
Harry Casagrande, Alan Betson, Joachim Sanejstra, Mika Puro, Garry Bush, Josh Shiffmann, Morten Stenheim

Table 25:
Luca Pagano, Dave Clayton, Milurat Peric, Jeffrey Rogers, Xuyen Pham, Bernhardt Reither, Paul Testud, Horst Riedlinger, Denis Kharitonov

Table 26:
Pascal Perrault, Mike Shalabi, Joseph Grech, Simon Nowab, Noah Boeken, Robert Cohen, Timothy Ramsey, Yuriy Kozinskiy, Lothar Landauer

Table 27:
Tony Kendall, Falker Leview, Per Helsleth, Andreas Harnemo, Luis Jaikel, Sigi Stockinger, Tibor Tolnai

I will try to get the names of the other two players as soon as possible. The last 27 players are in the money, and if my information is correct we will play down to the final eight players.





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EPT Update No. 20

At the dinner break, with 35 players left, three players are clearly in the lead, all with about 220,000 in chips. The first one is Andreas Harnemo at table 27, seat 5, who got lucky along the way in a big pot where he was up against aces - and beat them. The second one, Pascal Perrault, also needed a bit of fortune to get there, in the hand where his KQ beat Justin Bonomo's kings. And the third one is Mika Puro, who looks very strong to me, also with about 220,000. All other players have significantly less, well under 200,000.

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EPT Update No. 19

But Noah has gotten into trouble now! Holding a mere queen-ten, he made a move before the flop, but was unfortunate to run into pocket rockets. He managed to flop a queen, but no more than that, and the aces held up, severely crippling the young Dutchman. The winner of the EPT Copenhagen is again down to 35,000.














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EPT Update No. 18

Two more noteworthy exits. Nic Szeremeta lost with A6 versus AQ, and Justin Bonomo was unlucky with kings against Pascal Perrault's KQ. The queen on the flop wasn't the problem, but the queen on the turn was, busting out the young man who performed so well in Deauville last month. Also out is young Johan Rensink, who lost an important pot against Morten Stenheim who was drawing thin but got there, and we now just have one Dutchman left - also a young one. Noah Boeken, who was down to just 700 in chips yesterday, has worked his stack up to 75,000, which is about average. Finally, Luca and Lothar are not sitting next to each other anymore, as their table has been broken. All in all, thirty minutes until the dinner break, with 5 tables left, or 41 players - all battling for a whopping €184,500 first prize.

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EPT Update No. 17

Down to 50 players. We have lots of action on table 25, a table that contains many colorful people. With Paul Testud, the highly aggressive former chip leader Denis Kharitonov (he is down to 85,000 in chips now), Xuyen Pham and Peric Milorad, we have quite a few multiway pots, sometimes even when there's been a raise. "Bad Girl" Xuyen is very loud (albeit in a nice and positive manner), and made it clear to Denis that she simply refused to get pushed around. On another table, Alan Betson had a tough time getting a read on Josh Schiffmann, because for two minutes the young man simply kept his face hidden! Going into the next level, with the small 25 chips getting raced off, we have lost also Joe Beevers. Levels will now be 1,000-2,000 with a 200 ante. Average stack size is about 60,000, meaning that a lot of players cannot afford to wait for very long anymore.











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EPT Update No. 16

With blinds of 800-1,600, and an ante of 150, we are already down to 60. In the meantime, we have lost Michael Keiner, we have lost John Shoreman (who went out against tough local Bernhardt Reither), and if I am not mistaken, the dangerous Lu Zhe Zhang is also out. Another local, Mirulat Peric, has just won a big pot with kings, and "Bandit" Pascal Perrault is back in business after winning a huge three-way pot with an ace-four offsuit (up against QQ and KQs).










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EPT Update No. 15

The draw for seats looks as follows. We have a cracking table no. 25 with three big stacks: Jeffrey Rogers with almost 120,000, and both Robert Cooper and "Bad Girl" Xuyen Pham with over 75,000. (Robert Cooper has position on both.) Chip leader Denis Kharitonov seems to have gotten an excellent draw, the only player who can threaten him to some degree on his table 29, Harry Casagrande, having less than 50,000. And Mika puro will have no complaints either. On table 24, he's got position on the dangerous Alan Betson who carries 60,000 in chips (half of what Mika has), but he's got to keep an eye on Josh Schiffmann who is sitting two seats to this left with 75,000. Another interesting table is no. 2, where long-time pro Lothar Landauer is the chip leader with 82,000, with young guns Luca Pagano and Noah Boeken to his immediate left and right. On top of that, Lothar and Luca have a little history, because in a memorable pot yesterday just before close, Lothar made Luca lay down top two pair on the turn (AK on a board AK7Q) while holding a slightly lesser two pair, AQ for aces and queens. Even after day one had long finished, Luca was still there sitting, and cursing the decision he made, and it will be interesting to see if Luca will be able to get this decision off his mind, and focus on what's important: playing his best game right now. As it is, the players are taking their seats right now, and the cards are shuffled. Day Two is on its way!

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EPT Update No. 14

We are about to start again. In 30 minutes time, the 83 people who remained from a record field of 297 (never before did an EPT event attract so many entrants), will get ready for another exciting day. Yesterday had been a true slaughterhouse for the accomplished tournament stars, and some of them had been eliminated after just a couple of hours of play. As things look now, we've got an aggressive Russian in the lead, while two others have over 100,000 in chips as well, Jeffrey Rogers and Mika Puro. Because almost all odds-on favorites are out already (Marcel Luske, Dave Ulliott, Ram Vaswani, to name but a few), it will be highly interesting to see what will happen today. Below are all remaining players with their respective chip counts:





Jennifer Walsh 74,675
Joe Gresch 59,050
Tikay 20,250
Joe Beevers 18,375
John Gale 18,275
Luca Pagano 36,500
Bertrand Grosspellier 61,650
Luke Smith 97,200
Denis Kharitovov 146,875 (chip leader)
Jeff Rogers 119,175 (2nd)
Mika Puro 115, 475
Robert Cooper 76,425
Xuyen Pham 79,050
Josh Schiffman 71,500
Tiber Tolnai 66,075
Alan Betson 59,475
Ross Boatman 45,100
David Clayton 48,650
Joachim Sanejstra 64,650
Noah Boeken 32,850
Howard Swaines 14,175
Robert Cohen 41,725
Andreas Hernfend 55,400
Jon Shoreman 15,400
Sigi Stockinger 43,600
Lothar Landauer 81,600
Garry Bush 13,425
Timothy Ramsey 24,125
Nic Szeremeta 41,875
Claudio Pagano 28775
Simon Nowab 39,125
Steve Vladar 19,700
Iwan Jones 26,250
Harry Casagrande 48,950
Johan Rensink 57,600
Tony Ure 18,100
Mario Tsoukalas 19,775
Christof Walters 25,825
Louis Jaikal 56,200
Sergey Sukhotin 18,775
Gavien Farker 12,550
Paul Testud 20,800
Michael Halabi 30,050
Mark Bartlog 8,700
Rainer Rapp 30,900
Mario Bentivito 22,350
Marc Friedmann 12,400
John Bullios 17900
Surbery Walsiz 20,625
Pascal Perault 25,250
Torbey Sami 28,000
Peric Milorad 38,825
Roger Lineman 18,050
Mark Hadagan 13,125
Stefan Bachstran 18,525
Tyler Thomas 23,425
Lusch Szilly 16,850
Timo Puntala 31,525
Michael Keiner 4,575
George Baver 10,900
Lerbrick 40,925
Ovada Ofer 7,025
L Thomas 11,975
Darin Firienao 21,000
Jonathon Huckle 17,925
Deiter Wagenknecht 15,550
Bernhardt Reither 25,400
Peter Mairhofer 7,900
Paul Hersleth 27,225
Butun Mesut 38,750
Morten Stenheim 46,775
John Wells 52,850
Tony Choy-Sing 8,375
Yuri Kosinski 50,150
Kalpesh Patel 8,850
Nick Tosouyales 21,325
Tran Ben H.. 17,000
Justin Bonomo 12,350
Dredlinger Holst 55,050
Alex Kristanson 29,625