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Euro Poker News: EPT Barcelona Day Two Recap
204 Players Become 56 as EPT Barcelona Enters The Money
Day two of the www.pokerstars.com European Poker Tour saw 204 players take to the felt, but only 56 remained at the close of play to battle it out for the first prize of €1.17 million.
The field included such luminaries as Thor Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Paul Wasicka, Julian Thew, Bertrand Grospellier, Johnny Chan, Martin Wendt, Patrik Antonius, Katja Thater, Noah Boeken, Phil Gordon, Mark Vos, Sverre Sundbo, David Williams, and Rob Hollink.
Blinds began at €400-€800 and the chip leaders were:
1. Daniel Stern (USA): €101,500
2. Thomas Wahlroos (Finland): €87,800
3. Fabrice Soulier (France): €78,400
4. Gregory Dyer (USA): €76,500
5. Mark Teltscher (UK): €67,300
6. Mark Vos (Australia): €64,300
7. Sander Lylloff (Denmark): €62,600
8. Joris Bernard Jaspers (Holland): €62,150
9. Jean Paul Pasqualini (France): €61,900
10. Sverre Sundbo (USA): €60,500
Notable players who didn’t make the cut from day one included Dave Colclough, Marcel Luske, Liz Lieu, Isabelle Mercier, Kevin O´Connell, Dario Minieri, Juha Helppi, Mickey Wernick, Jani Sointula, Alan Smurfit, Jimmy Fricke, Peter Dalhuijsen, Ben Grundy, Greg Raymer, Tony Cascarino, and Rolf Slotboom.
The start of play saw some interesting table matchups:
• Michael Greco, Phil Starrs, and David Williams
• Paul Testud and Michael Keiner
• Martin Wendt and Patrik Antonius
• Erik Van Der Berg and Johnny Chan
• Praz Banzi and Thor Hansen
• Sylvester Geoghegan and Marc Goodwin
Sylvester Geoghegan, the only Irishman left in the tournament, was a little frustrated at the dinner break when he spoke to Card Player. “I’m on about 30,000 but I haven’t seen any cards,” he bemoaned. “I’ve gone all in a few times and picked up a couple of pots but I could do with a double-through. Then I’d be in great shape. The problem is there aren’t really any short stacks at my table but that does mean I have some push power.”
Englishman Ian Woodley was in cheery form returning from the break. “I’m very happy,” he beamed. “I was down to 29,000 at one point and now I’m back up to 61,000.” A few hands later Woodley doubled through when his A-K hit a running straight to bust A-A.
Scotsman Phil Starrs was ebullient after the first few levels. “I started the day with about 15,100 and I’m now up to about 75,000,” he explained. "When I had 52,000, I reraised all in with J-J and a guy instantly called me. But the first card out was a jack and I thought, ‘Well, lady luck’s with me here.’
“I’ve just moved tables. My last table had Michael Greco and David Williams so it was good to have some English voices as most of these guys I can’t understand.”
Thomas Wahlroos experienced an unexpected steal after around four hours of play when a player moving to an adjacent table took his chair as he stood beside it. “Hey what the hell are you doing?” shouted Wahlroos through the throng of media. His cry went unheeded. “Hey a------, what are you doing?” he repeated incredulously.
Squeezing through the crowd he tapped the unconcerned thief on the shoulder. “That’s my chair,” he said with a what-kind-of-idiot-are-you? gesture. “But I have no chair,” his nemesis said as he stood up. Wahlroos shook his head in amazement and whipped the chair out from under him.
The thwarted player turned to the table looking like he was about to cry. “But I have no chair. Can somebody please get me a chair?” he pleaded, to the amusement of the table.
Some big-name Americans were eliminated before the money. Daniel Negreanu busted with Q-Q vs. A-K. A flop of A-K-9 sealed his fate. Johnny Chan hit the rail when he got entangled in a threeway pot and lost out with J-J.
Other notable busters before the money included Praz Bansi, Annette Obrestad, Sverre Sundbo, Marc Goodwin, Paul Testud, Patrik Antonius, Kristian Ulriksen, Noah Boeken, Johnny Chan, and Julian Thew.
With eight to go before the money, Sylvester Geoghegan popped his head out from behind the wall of potted plants along the rail to update Card Player. "Jesus, I've had a dose of 5,7,3,9,6,4,2 . I haven't had a card in a month. So I've started to drink," he grinned. Despite being card dead, he managed to knock out Paul Wasika a short time later.
Ian Woodley, rushing to the bathroom while the clock was stopped, seemed reasonably happy. “I’ve about 67,000,” he said, gesturing with his hand that he was feeling so-so about his chances of cashing.
Thomas Wahlroos was eliminated in 58th, two before the money and the unlucky bubble boy's Q 8 could not improve against Martin Wendt’s A-K.
Play resumes with a redraw tomorrow at 5 p.m. and the average chip stack is around €100,000. Still remaining are Michael Greco, Katja Thater, Philip Starrs, Martin Wendt, Ian Woodley, and Mark Vos.
On Friday at around 11 a.m. ET (17:00 Barcelona time), poker fiends will be able to watch the TV table of the EPT Barcelona live online. And on Saturday at the same time, fans can watch the final table as it happens at EPTLive.com.
Check back at Cardplayer.com for chip leaders and a roundup of the action from day three. |
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