European Poker Tour Polish Open Day 1BPro-Heavy Field Makes For Tough Day in Warsaw |
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Day 1b of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Polish Open saw a smaller than expected field of 118 players but what it lacked in quantity (217 players in total over both days) it made up for in quality with virtually every table hosting several players who have won big on the circuit.
PokerStars pros vying for the $465,445 first prize in this PLN20,000 (approximately $6,744) buy in event included Luca Pagano, Katja Thater, Dario Minieri, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Isabelle Mercier.
They were joined by the likes of Roland De Wolfe, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Andreas Krause, Theo Jorgensen, Marty Smyth, Gino Alacqua, Thomas Fougeron, and Mark Teltscher.
Yesterday it took four minutes for the first player to bust, today it took just one hand. In the very first hand we lost a player who hit a royal flush draw on the turn (when both players got their money in) but lost to Nicolas Levi's full house on the river.
Sorel Mizzi was crippled in the first level and never recovered. With little action to the river, and a pot of 1,300 in the middle, drastic action broke out between Marino Serenelli and the Canadian. The board showed J
8 4
2
3 and Mizzi bet 1,150. Serenelli announced, "All in". Mizzi, who had him covered, (but not by much), took his time to think about it. He played with his chips, watched his opponent, and sweated it out. Finally, he threw the chips in. Serenelli eagerly flung his cards on the table, celebrating in Italian as he raised his hands in the air. His A 5 had made a straight and Mizzi was down to 750. Always the gentleman, Serenelli put a halt to his celebrations to gather himself, turn to Mizzi and say, "Sorry." Mizzi would be gone before dinner.
After four levels we’d also lost Luca Pagano (due to Sebastian Ruthenberg’s kicker pairing on the river) , Markus Golser, Michael Tureniec, Cezary Pudlis, Mark Dalimore, and the aforementioned Serenelli. At this stage Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was chip leader with over 40,000 in chips.
Dario Minieri had doubled up in level one but after dinner had gotten short stacked and survived an all in against Ramzi
Jelassi which saw his tournament turnaround. The diminutive Italian bet 800 and Jelassi queried how much he had left. "Try 3,025," said Minieri displaying his chips in front of him. "Will you play with any two?" Jelassi asked. "Not any two...maybe," was the confusing reply.
"What would you do with my hand?" asked Jelassi. "I would gamble," was the shrugged response. After this clever piece of speech play Minieri snap called Jelassi's raise with K Q and Jelassi shook his head flipping up Q 8 .
Dario's hand held and Jelassi said, "You fooled me Dario." Immediately after this hand Minieri knocked out a short stack at the table and his comeback had begun.
By level six Roland De Wolfe had stormed into a clear chip lead picking up a 20,000 plus pot and busting a player in the process hitting his double belly buster straight on the river, asking his opponent how much he had left, making a small-ish bet and inducing and all in from his hapless opposite who wasn't happy with De Wolfe's snap call.
Marty Smyth, at the table, said just before De Wolfe flipped his cards over "double 
belly buster" and Roland nodded as he flipped over 5-4 for a wheel. He then had over 70,000 in chips and finished the evening as probably chip leader on around 67,000.
By the end of play 56 players remained including Kristoffer Hansen, Roy Alain, Remy Biechel, Mark Teltscher, Joannes Strassman, Isabelle Mercier, Katja Thater, and Andreas Krause, but among those who faded during the day were Ramzi Jelassi, William Thorsson, Peter Gould and Michael Martin.
Check back soon for an interview with day 1b chip leader Roland De Wolfe and join CardPlayer.com tomorrow for day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Polish Open as the players strive to make the money at Casinos Poland, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Warsaw.
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