Day 44 at the 38th
World Series of Poker saw Norwegian Dag Martin Mikkelsen start the day as chip leader as Scandinavians dominated the European challenge on poker's richest and most prestigious prize.
Steffan Mattsson from Sweden and Englishman John 'Skalie' Kalmar would finish the day as leading Euro contenders but there were mixed results for the rest of the contingent, including Mikkelsen, as big names fell by the wayside throughout the day.
Dane Gus Hansen ran into trouble when he raised a pot $93,000 from under the gun and his opponent Ryan Ellison reraised all in for $694,000. Hansen eventually called the bet showing A
K
while Ellison showed J
J
. The board gave no ace or king to Hansen and Ellison doubled up. Hansen was left with less the $200,000 and was eliminated shortly afterwards in 61st place for $154,194.
Englishman Julian Gardner went out in 64th place when he reraised all in for $1,000,000 with K
10
on a king-high board only to find himself outkicked by A
K
. He won $130,288.
Italian Dario Minieri had risen to chipleader early in the tournament but he couldn't sustain this and was finally beaten into 96th place when Reagan Silber called his mid-position minimum raise preflop.
The flop was 10
5
3
, Minieri bet $100,000, and was called by Silber. The turn was the 7
, Minieri checked, Silber bet $200,000, Minieri immediately moved all in and Silber called.
Silber held 3
3
, and Minieri held Q
8
.The river card was the 9
, and after each of the players chips were counted, Silber's $1.2 million covered Minieri's stack and the Porsche-driving online whiz was gone. He earned $67,535.
Other significant European exits included Dag Martin Mikkelsen in 42nd for $237,865, Bjorn-Erik Glenne in 65th for $130,288, Willie Tann in 77th place for $106,382, Ed De Haas in 71st place for $130,288, and Andreas Krause in 110th for $58,570.
Europeans returning for day six include John 'Skalie' Kalmar, Stefan Mattsson, Christian Togsverd, Alex Kravchenko, and Mikkel Madsen. They are guaranteed a payday of at least $285,678.
Check back at CardPlayer.com regularly for comprehensive
European news, live updates, and
pro blogs from day 6 at the the main event of the
WSOP.
