European Poker Tour Snowfest -- Day 2Numbers Fall Dramatically in Early Levels of Day 2 but Approaching Bubble Slows Play Before Day End |
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Bust outs caught on with rapid momentum as an avalanche of a day kicked off at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Snowfest. But before day 2 could get going, EPT Tournament Director supremo Thomas Kremser made his usual announcement in a rather unusual way. 259 players watched a big screen featuring a person skiing in the distance, who was gradually coming into view. As the man made his stop with poise and ease, it became clear it was Kremser himself. He then spoke, “Welcome back for day two. I want to wish you good luck. Your ante is 100 and blinds are 600-1,200… Dealers, shuffle up and deal.”
Everyone cheered, and so began a level which in contrast would see off 50 disappointed players.
The plan for day 2 was to play six levels of 75 minutes with a 15-minute break at the end of each level, but as play proceeded, some grew worried about how many players would remain by end of play judging by this first level. PokerStars qualifier and short stack, Pierre Neuville was one of the first to leave. He was followed by Hermann Pascha and members of Team PokerStars Pro Rino Mathis and Daniel Negreanu [pictured above right].
On the other hand, there was one player who stuck out during these early levels, and that was German Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann. Strassmann got most of his chips to start off with when he hit a set of jacks on a flop which also featured a queen. Jorn Walthaus had two pair, queens and jacks, while another opponent was behind both with pocket aces. The set stood and Strassmann took the 200,000 pot to bring his stack up to the 350,000 mark. He then took out the next player who sat in Walthaus’ empty seat for an extra 50,000.
Not too long after, Strassmann knocked another opponent out and moved up to 460,000 in chips. While just before dinner, Lilly Becker (wife of PokerStars Team SportStar Boris Becker) busted out at the hands of 21-year-old birthday boy Jim Collopy. Only 134 remaining players then took an hour break for dinner.
After the break, it was more of the same. Casualties came fast and hard including Kristoffer Thorsson and serial EPT cash-er Luca Pagano [pictured right].
After calling a bet of 5,600 from PokerStars player Casper Toft, Pagano checked a K
10
5 flop. Toft then asked the Italian how much he had left behind and after finding out it was 54,300, he bet 6,200. Pagano announced he was all in and Toft thought until another player called clock. He decided to make the call and turned over Q J for an open-ended straight draw, while Pagano showed K
Q for top pair.
Toft didn’t have time to sweat as the 9 came on the turn to give him a straight, and the K on the river needlessly improved it to a flush.
The final level of the day, level 15, needed to lose 17 players so that those returning for day 3 would be assured of a cash prize regardless of where they left. However, as things normally pan out, play slowed a lot as it approached the bubble, and earlier worries of perhaps having to end the day early due to so many players hitting the rails became a distant memory.
Johannes Strassmann [pictured left] continued his reign even in the last moments. Here is a sample hand from late-session to demonstrate his God-like run:
Strassman, on the button, raised to 11,000 and the big blind Artur Simonyan shoved all in for around 40,000 with pocket sixes. Strassman said, “I am not happy, but I call,” and flipped over pocket threes. Of course a three made an appearance on the flop – 8 5
3. The 2 turn gave Simonyan an inside straight draw, but the 10 river made sure the pot went where most had been going – into the hands of the young German.
When the last four hands played out, 86 players remained, meaning not everyone would be sleeping soundly. Six players would be walking away from day 3 empty-handed, leaving 80 to play down to 24.
The top 10 in chips going into day 3 are:
Johannes Strassmann (Germany) Team PokerStars Pro 741,000
Richard Toth (Hungary) Team PokerStars Pro 584,500
Max Lykov (Russia) PokerStars player 575,000
Jim Collopy USA PokerStars player 458,500
Alexander Debus (Germany) 428,500
Marco Adams (Netherlands) 425,000
Vladislav Shuravin (Russia) PokerStars player 418,500
Bernhard Perner (Austria) 402,000
Fedor Los (Netherlands) PokerStars qualifier 374,000
Mark Bech (Denmark) 370,500
Two Team Pro members top the ranks with the rest of the leader board filled with many PokerStars players and qualifiers. One such player, Max Lykov is a dangerous adversary seated in third place. He took down EPT Kyiv earlier in the year and also a side event at the PokerStars Caribbean adventure – this has put him in joint first place in the run for EPT Player of the Year.
Other players still alive and kicking are day 1A chip leader David Wintersberger (176,500), PokerStars sponsored player Julien Brecard (228,000), Americans Lee Gaines (261,500) and Zachary Hall (also a PokerStars player – 182,000), Team PokerStars pro members Lex Veldhuis (111,000) and Christophe De Meulder (202,000), and PokerStars players Jesper Hougaard (187,500) and Allan Baekke (310,000)
All of the action continues today for day 3 from the snowy mountains of Austria and you can follow it here via the PokerStars blog feed. Don’t forget you can catch the final two days of the event live on the EPT video feed, but in the meantime we will also be bringing you full recaps for each day, featuring photos courtesy of Neil Stoddart and our friends at PokerStars.
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