EPT Copenhagen: Day 2, levels 11 and 12 (1,000-2,000 200 ante)

7.25pm: Bluff ElkY at your peril
ElkY has some of the best player reading skills in the business – just as Bjorn Verbakel. On a board of 3♥ 5♠ 8♥ Q♦ 4♣ and about 20,000 in the pot, ElkY checked to Verbakel, who bet 16,200. ElkY thought about it for a while, but on balance not that long for someone who was about to call with pocket twos.

But he did call and guess what, he was right. Verbakel had A♠ 9♠ for ace high and ElkY’s deuces were good. — HS

7.20pm: Deeb’s day done
With the flop showing [2][q][9] Freddy Deeb got it all in with [j][q] but walked straight in to a grateful opponent’s pocket aces. Deeb, who has been short (in chips) for most of the day, is out. — SY

7.15pm: ElkY steady
No great burst up the leader board so far today for Team PokerStars Pro ElkY. He’s being his usual busy self, but few people want to call him. It was folded around to him on the button and he opened for a raise to 4,600 to take the blinds and antes. Next hand, he opened from the cut off with another 4,600 bet, and again took the blinds and antes. He’s up to 135,000. — SY

7.12pm: Early bath for Cascarino
Tony Cascarino is out. Not sure yet how it happened, but the former soccer star’s seat was empty and he was seen heading for the changing rooms. — SY

7.10pm: Scratch another overnight leader
Another of the overnight leaders has gone. Sebastian Ruthenberg has been eliminated by the hand of Peter Eastgate. Eastgate opened for 5,100 and Ruthenberg re-raised all-in for around 34,000. Eastgate called showing 7♠ 7♣ to Ruthenberg’s A♠ J♠ . The board ran Q♠ Q♦ 4♣ 8♣ 9♠ . Ruthenberg out while Eastgate now has around 300,000.

That’s first, second and third coming in to today all eliminated. — SB.

7.05pm: Come back Dender
A short-stacked Tommy Dender moved his short stack over the line from late position when it was folded to him and he found customers in James Bowey and the big blind. There was betting on the side but by the time the turn came to give a K♥ 7♥ 8♠ 10♠ board Dender was out of his seat getting ready to leave. Then the river came 8♥ and he sat back down again and smiled. It was Bowey’s turn to act and he bet 20,000 in to the side pot that was now twice the size of the main pot. This prompted Dender to get straight back up and walk towards the exit.

The big blind called the bet and Bowey tabled A♥ Q♥ for a flush. It was good to take the side pot as the big blind folded. The dealer then turned over Dender’s 7♠ 7♣ for a full-house and the main pot. The table shouted to Dender across the room and he came running back with a probable mock look of surprise at his triple up to 24,000.

6.57pm: What does Johnny Lodden think about today?
Well, why not have a look at the video below to find out? — SY

6.55pm: Busting
Rasmus Nielsen’s tournament is done. He shoved with ace-queen only to be called by Morten Erlandsen holding ace-king. When a neutral board ran out [5][7][7][t][8] Nielsen was out of his chair and on his way to the exit.

The same goes for Italian Cristiano Blanco. He shoved with queens, running into pocket kings. He joins Nielsen on the rail. – SB.

6.50pm: Froslev action
Thomas Froslev had a busy five minutes. First he raised under the gun to 5,200 but got re-raised by Andrew Teng from the UK, who made it 14,000. Froslev let that one go.

On the next hand Erik Tamm raised to 5,100 and Christiano Blanco and Froslev called. The flop was 2♣ 3♣ 3♠ and only Froslev called Tamm’s 9,000 bet. Both checked the 7♥ turn and the 3♥ river, and Tamm insta-mucked as soon as he saw Froslev’s 2♥ 2♠ – a flopped boat that did not look nearly so pretty on the river. Froslev sits on around 140,000. — SY

6.45pm: Overnight leader hits the rail
So ends a miserable day for Andrew Pantling – and the final nail in the coffin was a cruel as the rest of his tortuous afternoon. It was folded to Chris Dombrowski in the small blind and he made a standard, stealing raise of Pantling’s big blind. Pantling defended, making the call, and the two of them saw a Q-J-4 flop. Dombrowski bet and Pantling shoved all in for about 30,000. But Dombrowski’s pre-flop raise was no steal and he insta-called now – and with good reason. The American showed A♣A♠ and Pantling’s K♣4♦ was in big trouble. No miracles on the board and our overnight chip leader falls in about 130th place. – HS.

6.35pm: Three-barrel bluff fails
The uber-aggressive Annette Obrestad raised to 4,500 from under-the-gun and was only called by Anders Jensen in the big blind. Jensen check-called every street on the 7♣ A♠ K♥ J♠ 6♥ board. Her bets were 6,200, 14,300 and then a whopping 43,300. When the final bet went in Jensen took a large lungful of air and then called. Obrestad slid her cards into the muck and Jensen tabled A♣ 9♣ to take the pot.

“If you bet less, I probably fold” commeneted Jensen.

“Really?” responded Obrestad “As I would’ve done that with any two-pair, set and straight too.”

Obrestad down to 81,000, Jensen up to 220,000. –MC

6.30pm: Board elects to eliminate Mattern
It all went terribly wrong for Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern about three hands ago after he arrived in the seat next to Johnny Lodden, the same one Dario Minieri had been eliminated from.

Mattern lost most of his stack after making it 5,200 from the cut off with A♠ J♠ with 49,000 left only for the big blind to shove holding [7][5]. Mattern covered him with change and insta-called.

All looked good, especially when the door card was a jack. But the other cards on the flop were both sevens, leaving Mattern with about 3,500.

Two hands later Mattern tossed it in with A♣ 10♦ , putting his coat on ready to leave before doubling up, and putting his coat back on. On the next hand he did tried the same. All in for 7,200 he was called by Danny Neess in the small blind before Alfio Battisti pushed all-in. Neess folded leaving just the showdown. Battisti showed A♠ K♣ to Mattern’s J♠ 8♠ . Drat.

The board ran 3♥ 3♠ 6♣ J♥ K♥ , giving hope to Mattern on the turn and taking it away again on the river. A couple of cruel boards just saw him off, out in level 12. — SB.

6.25pm: Best hand third
It’s tempting simply to loiter around table Thorsson/Pantling such are the continuous shenanigans afoot. Thorsson is now beyond 330,000, but Pantling has been cut down to around 40,000.

Luca Cainelli opened to 6,000 and Pantling shoved all in for his last 35,000 from the small blind. Cainelli pondered long and hard before letting it go, and Pantling survived.

But the all in bug was catching. On the next hand, Soren Blanner moved all in under-the-gun and Daniel Gothberg also moved all in from the next seat along. Blanner’s move was for 13,300 and Gothberg’s was about double that.

It was folded around to Jan Bendik who went through a dramatic squeeze of his cards, as if to intimate that he was going to need a monster to call. “Oh,” he said, as if to intimate that this might not be the easy fold he was hoping to make.

As it was, he did let it go, showing A♠ Q♣ and saying: “If it was ace-king, then maybe.” That left the two all in players to go at it: Blanner had 7♠ 8♣ and Gothberg A♦ K♣ .

Bendik seemed happy with that, but let out a small yelp when the door card on the flop was the Q♠ . The other two were 9♥ 3♠ . But then as turn and river came 6♣ 5♠ , Blanner made a straight to double up and Blanner, who had the best hand at the start, had mixed feelings. He could easily have been out had Bendik called too. — HS.

6.20pm: P-Lodden along no more
Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden was plodding along but now he’s up to 72,000
after a recent double-up through Danny Neess. The two have tangled in a few pots today and a few hands before the all-in Neess folded sevens to Lodden’s three-bet shove. Lodden had fours!

In the double-up hand Lodden raised and saw a flat call before Neess three-bet. Lodden pushed with eights and was called by Neess with ace-queen after the third party folded. The eights stood up and Lodden has some breathing space to play in now. — MC

6.15pm: Eastgate’s tips on playing Scandies
Ever wondered what it takes to beat these Scandies at their own game? Who better to ask than Team PokerStars Pro’s Peter Eastgate, from Denmark… — SY

LEVEL ALERT! LEVEL ALERT!
We’re now into level 12, playing blinds of 1,000-2,000 (200 ante)

6.10pm: Thorsson starts it off; Pantling suffers again
It really is relentless pressure from Kristoffer Thorsson now and he is the first player through the 300,000 barrier. He has about 320,000 and is raising pretty much every hand.

It doesn’t always go his way, but he has also developed a pretty good knack of leaving a danger zone when it gets too hairy. Case in point:

Thorsson raised to 4,200 under-the-gun and three others called (an indication of the frequency of this move from Thorsson). The flop came K♣ 10♠ A♦ and all four of them checked.

The turn was 4♦ and after three players checked, Andrew Pantling bet 6,000. Thorsson was done with this one, getting swiftly out the way, but Henrik Junker called and two of them were left to see a Q♣ river.

Junker quickly bet out, making it 21,200, and Pantling, whose chip lead has eroded since his arrived at this table, made another crying call. This time he was shown J♦ 9♦ by Junker and mucked. — HS

6.05pm: Minieri out
Dario Minieri is among the latest fallers. He shoved with pocket fives only to be called by Bahram Beleiverdi with pocket aces. The board ran 8♦ J♥ 7♦ Q♦ Q♥ to send out the Italian. — SB.

6pm: Goldhammer
Morten Guldhammer just doubled-up to 250,000 in an amusing pot versus Claudio Saizu. Gulhammer won his seat here by bettering 1,458 players in a $1 tournament to qualify for a final. He beat 14 players in that also to claim his seat here.

Gulhammer opened from mid-position to 4,200 and then called Saizu’s three-bet to 15,000 from the button. The flop came J♥ 7♠ 6♦ and Gulhammer led for 15,000 only to see the Romanian splash in a raise. It totaled 42,000 and prompted Gulhammer to shout “F***” and “F***” again a moment later. You’d expect the fold to come quickly after this outburst but you’d be wrong as he moved all-in for 115,000. Saizu thought for a while and then made the call.

Gulhammer tabled 9♣ 9♠ and Saizu opened A♦ K♦ . The turn came J♣ and river 9♦ filled up Gulhammer to his absolute delight. — MC.

5.55pm: On course for another deep run
Andrey Vlasenko first came to our attention when he final tabled at EPT Vilamoura in Portugal back in November. He finished 8th for €31,000, and he’s on course for another deep run here in Copenhagen.

On a 9♣ 8♠ 8♣ board, and with 35,000 in the pot already, Morten Erlandson checked, as did Christian Jorgensen, but Vlasenko turned up the heat with an 11,000 bet. Both the others scarpered, and that little lot put the Russian up to 170,000 – way above his starting stack today of 56,000. — SY

5.50pm: Over 300,000!
Kristoffer Thorsson is the first player to move over the 300,000 mark. On a 2♦ 3♣ K♦ flop he bet 7,000 and that was enough to take the pot and move up to 308,000. — SY

5.45pm: Light out of the dark
David Light was all-in and had been called in two places. They would play on while Light would have to wait. The flop came Q♥ Q♠ Q♣ . Suddenly, Light leapt out of his chair, calming himself before sitting back down. Morten Klein bet 24,000 to push out the other player and went straight to a show down with Light. Klein wasn’t best pleased, perhaps because he’d missed what may have been a more than obvious tell from Light, a flashing red light you might say, who turned over A♠ Q♦ for quads. Klein shook his head and paid him off. — SB>.

5.40pm: Thorsson the destroyer
With the average stack at the moment somewhere close to 75,000, anything more than 100,000 is distinctly comfortable – and should qualify you for table captain. But when Andrew Pantling, the overnight chip leader, moved his 180,000 stack to the same table as Kristoffer “sumpas” Thorsson, the two of them looked at each other, at each other’s stack, at their own stack, and then at each other again, realising they probably had about the same amount as each other. That meant two of the three biggest stacks in the room were on the same table.

It didn’t last long. Thorsson has just taken a major chunk out of Pantling, assuming the chip lead and sending the Canadian back to the pack.

Thorsson called an early position raise from Pantling in the big blind. The flop came 5♣ 5♠ 6♦ and Thorsson checked. Pantling bet 4,100 and Thorsson called, seeing a 3♠ turn. Thorsson checked again, Pantling bet 8,400 and Thorsson this time found a raise, making it 26,000. Pantling called.

The river was 7♣ and Thorsson bet 50,000, which was enough to set Pantling to a tough, tough decision. Eventually, he decided to cut out half a stack of yellow chips and called, but mucked when Thorsson showed 8♥ 9♥ for the top straight.

“Any other card…” Pantiling said, tailing off, as Thorsson stacked close to 275,000 chips. — HS.

5.30pm: Wendt went
Martin Wendt is out, dealt a final blow by Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian Ruthenberg. The money went in on the flop of [a][6][8] with about 65,000 in the middle. Wendt showed ace-ten to Ruthenberg’s ace-queen and with blanks on the turn and river was busted. – SB.

5.25pm: Eastgate shows Sorensen the door
Henrik Sorensen just had his tournament ended by Peter Eastgate. Sorensen raised pre-flop to 4,000 which Eastgate called for a flop of 4♠ J♦ K♠ . They each checked the flop for a 8♠ turn which Sorensen bet at, 6,500 which Eastgate called. On the 3♣ river Sorensen had a last ditch go at pushing Eastgate aside. Instead, the former World Champ raised Sorensen all-in. He called, showing pocket fours while Eastgate turned over 7♠ 6♠ . – SB.

5.20pm: Easy blinds?
If you’re toying with the idea of stealing the blinds, it’s normally as well to check the type of player you’re up against. For one hand on every orbit of this particular table, you would have Johnny Lodden in the small blind and Dario Minieri in the big.

If any pair is likely to defend their blinds it’s these two. But that’s not how it’s working out. Both of the Team PokerStars Pros are struggling to make progress today, with Lodden stuck on around 45,000, and Minieri on only a few thousand more than his starting stack of 61,000. — SY

5.15pm: Pagano stuck
Luca Pagano is finding today’s poker hard going – just like the brave souls trying to walk through the blizzard outside. He’d started today with 86,000 but is now down to half of that. A chunk went just now when he opened for 4,000 and got a call from Toni Ojala in the cut-off and Yngve Andersen in the big blind.

On the 9♥ 10♠ 6♦ flop Luca bet 7,000 but Ojala raised to 16,500. That sent Andersen running to the hills, but Pagano gave it a good minute or so before deciding he too should let it go. Ojala is now up to around 100,000. — SY

5.10pm: Flushed out
Morten Klein limped under the gun and was joined in the pot by Bjorn Verbakel, ElkY from the small blind and Stefan Mattsson from the big. All of them checked the A♣ Q♥ J♥ flop, but on the A♥ turn Klein made it 7,000 and only Verbakel called. On the 5♣ river Klein made it 4,000 – called by Verbakel.

Verbakel: 4♥ 6♥
Klein: K♥ Q♣

Verbakel’s baby flush was good. — SY

5.05pm: When the chips are down
Nicolo Calia moved all-in. Next to act was Anders Jensen who had an issue, believing his stack to have fewer chips in it that the amount he’d left on his way to the break. He should know. He had 67,000 and had doubled up – two times 67,000 (134,000 for those playing along at home.)

Right now though he only had 121,000 and wanted the security videos to be checked. Calia just wanted a caller but would have to wait as tournament officials recounted chips, questioned the dealer and tried to convince Jensen that all was okay and that regardless the game must go on.

James Bowey looked down at his chips. “I’m missing a lot of chips too,” he said, making the easy but well-timed joke about his own demise.

Then Christian Togsverd, who had been in the hand with Jensen before the break, piped up.

“It was 60,700,” said Togsverd. “Sixty-thousand seven hundred. Not 67,000.”
Ah.

“Oh, that’s okay then,” said Jensen, happy now.

Calia got no takers and showed ace-king. He did the same two pots later with pocket jacks. He for one has more chips than he started with. — SB.

4.55pm: End of the first break
That was quick. We’re now at the end of the first break of the day and entering level 11. The tournament clock shows that 183 players remain (I suspect it’s actually fewer than that) and we’ll now play another two 75-minute levels to take us through to dinner.

Then there’ll be another two levels until the day is done.

PokerStars Blog reporting team: Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.