Day 2 of the Eureka Poker Tour Main Event promised two things: 1) the bubble, which is always a thrill ride, and 2) that the tournament would begin to take a real shape, with challengers emerging from the pack with serious designs on the title.
As it actually happened, both those strands became tightly entangled as David Yan won a massive pot to burst the bubble, knocking out Gareth Chantler in the process, and also to give him the kind of stack to begin toying with the field. On a separate table, George Danzer, the Day 1B chip-leader, was also plodding on very nicely indeed.
When they bagged at around 7pm, with 22 players remaining from the 347 who entered, Yan and Danzer were vying for the lead, with only Andre Haneberg separating them at the top.
It really did come down to the last three hands to decide the leader, but Yan lost back-to-back small pots late on to bag 801,000. Danzer, meanwhile, grinned as he counted out 854,000 ensuring his photograph remains at the top of the blogs for another night. Haneberg, meanwhile, has 838,000.
Yan’s elimination of Chantler will be the big talking point of the day. Chantler, the lone North American in the field, had a big stack when hand-for-hand started as the money bubble arrived but made a hero-call with ace high for his tournament life.
He had run into Yan’s flopped three-of-a-kind and Yan extracted the maximum, putting the remaining 55 players into the money. (Full details at 3:50pm below.) They fell quickly and steadily after that, with Tom Holke, the defending champion, picking up only a min-cash, then Jan von Halle busting to Yan.
Danzer, however, was superlative as ever. He took the bus to work, packing in alongside hundreds of Hamburgers heading to a local flea market. But there were no flies on Danzer. He just did what he does best and goes into the penultimate day of competition at the summit.
Don’t forget, he won the High Roller here this week too, so is on for a rare double.
Play starts tomorrow at 2pm and we’ll play down to a final table and, most likely, our last six.
Head to the chip-count page for all the stacks at the moment, and the payouts to date are on the payouts page.
Gute nacht!
6:55pm: Last three
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
They have stopped the clock and will play the last three hands before bagging and tagging.
It’s close at the top of the counts. David Yan has lost a few hundred and is one of three men with about 800,000.
6:40pm: Olsen doubles
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
A big double up here for Gisle Olsen, who was staring at elimination when he shoved into Dinesh Alt’s aces, but had Alt drawing to a chop by the turn.
Alt opened to 25,000 from under the gun and Olsen moved all-in for 155,000, with everyone else folding. Alt called and showed A♦ A♣ , prompting Olsen to say, “Oh, did I do that?”
He did.
The flop came 8♥ 9♣ 10♦ and Olsen now found reason for optimism. “Jack will do,” he said. The turn was indeed the J♥ .
Alt swallowed hard and the 4♦ river didn’t help him.
“I won’t say I’m sorry, cos I’m not,” Olsen said. He is now up to a high point of 320,000-ish. Alt has only 115,000 after the beat.
6:20pm: Last 24
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
Anastasios Mastroudis was the first person to assume the chip lead in this tournament at a time when the “chip lead” was significant. He raced beyond 50,000 on Day 1A, after only a couple of hours. However, he has now been eliminated in 25th, losing to Jonn Forst and taking us down to our final three tables.
Although there’s only 30 minutes on the tournament clock (and with it due to be paused with 15 minutes left to play the last x hands), they are doing a redraw and will shuffle the players around a bit.
6:10pm: Tilted room
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
A lot of the tournament chips have all amassed in one particular corner of the room, as if someone had lifted up the entire floor at one corner and watched gravity do what it does. Andre Haneberg (640,000) sits beside Kai Schuster (450,000) who sits beside David Yan (950,000) and then Marcel Schaeunburg (450,000).
They’re not the only ones with chips, however, because Erik Scheidt, on Table 1, still has enough to be pulling strings. In a recent hand, he opened to 22,000 from the button and Frank Debus, in the small blind, made it 48,000 to play. Scheidt checked his hand again, then counted out a raise to 112,000 which was too much for Debus.
Scheidt had about 580,000 before that hand began and now has more than 600,000. He is cruising too.
6pm: Ole Olsen
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
Gisle Olsen had only 92,000 in his stack, but he also had A♥ A♣ in his hand, so scored a double up through Bartolomiej Grabowski when the pair got all their chips in the middle. Grabowski had 7♣ 7♦ but whiffed the 5♣ 9♥ 7♥ Q♥ A♦ flop and was left with only about 20,000.
5:40pm: Shoving all over the world
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
On Table 5, Goran Milovanovic open shoved his short stack from under the gun and it got folds all the way round. Then on Table 1, Bartolomiej Grabowski open shoved his short stack and it got folds all the way round.
But then, on Table 2, the shoving took on a more significant flavour when it involved players with anything but short stacks.
Andre Haneberg, with about 450,000 in his stack, opened the button to 22,000. Kai Schuster, to his left and with about 400,000 in his stack, three-bet to 60,000. But then David Yan, who has more than 1.1 million, four-bet to 120,000 from the big blind.
Haneberg, with his mouth concealed by his hoodie zip, asked for the all-in triangle, committing all of it. That gave Schuster a tough decision to make. He thought for a long time, glancing at Yan beside him, but then folded. Yan instantly mucked, which meant Haneberg picked up more than 160,000 without seeing a flop.
5:40pm: Yan over Jan
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
Jan von Halle has become the latest player to fall at the hands of David Yan. “MissOracle” is unstoppable today and he is the first player through a million.
Von Halle, the Day 1A overnight leader, open-shoved to 130,000 from under the gun with A♣ J♦ . Yan, on the button, called with 7♣ 7♥ and the board gave nothing to the over-cards.
5:40pm: Peters perishes
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
Tobias Peters is out. He woke up with ace-queen in the small blind and shoved, but Jan Bloch was lurking in the big blind with a bigger stack and 9♥ 9♦ . The board ran 2♣ 6♦ J♥ 4♣ K♥ and Peters departs. Bloch, meanwhile, has 360,000.
5:35pm: Chips and payouts
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
The payouts page and the chip-count page were both updated at the last break. Take a look over there for the latest.
5:30pm: Three and four-bets
Level 19 – Blinds 5,000/10,000 (1,000 ante)
Ismet Oral opened to 20,000 from under the gun and Andreas Majchrzak three-bet to 53,000 from the cutoff. That only seemed to encourage Walid Abdi-Ali into action, and he four-bet to 130,000 from the button. Everyone folded.
A few minutes later, Frank Debus tried to get something started with a raise to 22,000 from UTG+1. But that man Majchrzak, one to his left, three-bet again, this time to 54,000 and this time he got that through.
5:10pm: Break
Level 18 – Blinds 4,000/8,000 (1,000 ante)
The last 33 players are going on their last break of the day. We’ll return and play two more levels in 15 minutes’ time.
5:05pm: Topic bust to Scheidt
Level 18 – Blinds 4,000/8,000 (1,000 ante)
Marco Topic was down to his last 120,000. And now he doesn’t even have that. Erik Scheidt just hit a three-outer to bust Topic.
Topic opened to 18,000 and Scheidt shoved from the small blind, his 250,000 covering Topic’s stack. Topic pondered for a moment, but then made a good call with Aâ™ Jâ™ . He was up against Scheidt’s A♦ 10♦ .
But joy turned to misery for Topic when the flop brought the 10♥ alongside the 8â™ and 7♥ . The turn 6♣ and river 7♦ didn’t help, and Topic was toast.
4:50pm: Palevic pays price for latest hero call
Level 18 – Blinds 4,000/8,000 (1,000 ante)
In what also is becoming a pattern here in Hamburg, Rifat Palevic has become the latest player to make a hero call for his tournament life and get it wrong.
There was a pretty hefty pile of chips already in the middle and a board to the river: 2♣ 8♣ 2♦ 9♦ 6♦ . Palevic checked and Kai Schuster shoved for 120,000, which just about covered Palevic.
The Swedish player stood up as if to leave and then he flicked a chip into the middle, indicating the call. Schuster showed 8♦ 8â™ for a flopped full house and Palevic said, “Wow.”
Palevic then mucked, but the dealer fished the cards out to show the table, as is required when it’s an all-in/elimination situation. Palevic had 7â™ 7♣ and was never ahead.
4:40pm: Hansen outmuscles Siddique
Level 18 – Blinds 4,000/8,000 (1,000 ante)
Johnny Hansen just took a small pot from Usman Siddique, which is probably necessary to stop the British player running over that table. Siddique put on a dominant display when he won UKIPT London a few years ago, and is at it again here.
But not this time.
Siddique opened to 18,000 from the hijack and Hansen called from the cutoff. The both checked the 5♠Q♠Q♦ flop and then Siddique bet 18,000 at the 9♠turn. Hansen quickly popped it up to 50,000 and Siddique let it go.
4:35pm: Toying with them
Level 18 – Blinds 4,000/8,000 (1,000 ante)
David Yan certainly has more high-stakes tournament experience than almost all of his opponents this afternoon. Although, of course, George Danzer and Jan von Halle are pretty familiar with the top levels of the game (and Usman Siddique has a UKIPT title), Yan is probably alone in having played quite so often at the High Rollers and Super High Roller events. He also has a stack of 760,000, which is bigger than any other, and is pretty much toying with his table at the moment.
Just recently, he opted to call from the hijack pre-flop, bringing Tamas Gonczi in from the small blind and Thorsten Walk from the big.
After Gonczi checked the flop of 2♠Q♠10♣ , Walk stabbed 15,000 at it. Yan quickly raised to 40,000 and Gonczi folded.
It didn’t talk Walk long to Walk away either, but he turned over the 10♥ as he did so. Yan probably doesn’t need the extra information, but will no doubt take it.
4:20pm: And another level
Level 18 – Blinds 4,000/8,000 (1,000 ante)
On they go into Level 18. There are 39 players left.
4:15pm: Trips over trips
Level 17 – Blinds 3,000/6,000 (1,000 ante)
Jan von Halle just made what turned out to be a “wrong” call, but the very fact that he was even considering a fold tells you that he knows what he’s doing. In a blind-on-blind encounter with Nikolas Menke, Von Halle was looking at a board of 10♣ 9♥ 4♦ 4♥ and had seen Menke check-raise all-in, over a bet of 24,000. The all-in was for 92,000.
Von Halle seriously seemed to be thinking about a fold, but, after looking down at his 6♦ 4♣ –i.e., trips–called. Menke turned over A♣ 4♣ for trips too and the 7♥ on the river was a blank.
Menke’s comeback continues. Von Halle remains well stacked.
4:15pm: Staying alive
Level 17 – Blinds 3,000/6,000 (1,000 ante)
Peter Jakob just doubled up through David Yan. It was only for 22,000 but he is staying alive.
He had red aces, mind you, and got it in pre-flop. Yan called with king-jack off and flopped a king but missed on turn and river.
“Chip and a chair,” Arne Olsen said. “And some aces of course.”
4:05pm: Holke sent home
Level 17 – Blinds 3,000/6,000 (1,000 ante)
Tom Holke was playing just about every hand again today, much as he was yesterday and the day before. I’m not joking. He doubled up Nikolas Menke just before the bubble when Holke had 2♦ 5♦ and Menke Aâ™ K♥ (it seems that Holke had shoved the small blind and Menke called the button). Menke won that one.
But if you live by the sword, you will sometimes die by it. And now, Menke has won another one against Holke, and it’s the end of the defending champion. Holke shoved for 35,000 from the cutoff and Menke re-shoved his button. The blinds folded and Holke’s A♣ 8♣ couldn’t beat Menke’s 8♥ 8♦ .
Holke heads out and Menke, who started the day with about 11,000, has ten times that.
4pm: Oh, and by the way
Level 17 – Blinds 3,000/6,000 (1,000 ante)
The chip-count page was updated at the last break, just before the bubble. It does not, at present, reflect Yan’s huge win that has put him beyond 600,000.
3:50pm: Chantler bursts bubble! Yan wins huge pot
Level 17 – Blinds 3,000/6,000 (1,000 ante)
What a roller-coaster day in Hamburg for Gareth Chantler. The Canadian went from short stack to chip leader and has now burst the bubble, losing a massive pot to David Yan.
There was a huge crowd around his table by the time they were at the turn. The board read 3♥ 5♦ 3♣ 10♠and Chantler checked. Yan bet 64,000 and Chantler called.
The Q♥ came on the river and Chantler checked again. Yan now said that he was all-in, with his 230,000 covering Chantler’s 155,000. Chantler thought a good long while, but then called. Yan flipped over A♥ 3â™ for flopped trip threes.
Chantler wanted to muck, but was forced to show his A♦ 8♦ , a hero call with ace high gone awry.
Thomas Stacha, our photographer, happened to be videoing the hand and, from the tape, we could piece together that Chantler opened from late position, then called Yan’s button three-bet. He then check-called the 30,000 bet on the flop. Then the rest is as reported above.
Yan now leads with about 600,000.
3:35pm: Hand for hand
Level 17 – Blinds 3,000/6,000 (1,000 ante)
The tournament clock is paused as we go hand-for-hand with 56 players left. Jens Nielsen went out in 57th.
3:30pm: Onward to the bubble
Level 17 – Blinds 3,000/6,000 (1,000 ante)
We’re into Level 17 now and the bubble will burst imminently, one suspects. Here’s a reminder of what they are playing for.
3:15pm: Break time
Level 16 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
The remaining 57 players are going on a 15-minute break.
3:10pm: Aces loses
Level 16 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
Miroslav Forman is out. He played Day 1A and Day 1B, but came up short of the money in 59th. It was Andreas Majchrzak who accounted for him.
It might be that Damir Vasiljevic will soon follow him after he just got his aces cracked by Pablo Nerro in a pot that had the potential to take us to the bubble.
Vasiljevic opened to 11,000 from under the gun and Jonn Forst, on the button, three-bet to 27,000. Nerro, in the small blind, quickly announced that he was all in for 70,700.
Vasiljevic pondered for a moment, but then said, “Here we go! All-in!”
Forst found out from the dealer that it would cost him another 82,300 (in addition to the 27,000 he had invested). The rest of the table started talking about Forst’s decision, about how he could knock two players out.
“Please, stop it,” Vasiljevic said. “I need the €1,700.” (That’s the min-cash.)
Despite these requests, Vasiljevic actually seemed for all the world that he was praying for a call, but Forst did not oblige. He folded.
Vasiljevic quickly flipped over his A♦ A♣ . Yes, he had wanted a call. Nerro had J♣ J♠and was in trouble. But the flop came 2♠5♦ J♦ to put Nerro ahead and silence Vasiljevic.
He found some encouragement from the 2♦ turn, but didn’t get there on the K♥ river.
Update: He is now out.
2:55pm: “Oh my god”
Level 16 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
We are four off the money, which is a pretty disappointing place to go out. And doesn’t Alaettin Keles know it. He was just eliminated by Ismet Oral and Keles was furious.
When I arrived, they were at the turn and there wasn’t an enormous amount of money in the middle. The four exposed cards were 8♣ 8♥ 4♦ 7♦ and Oral checked. Keles bet 24,000 and Oral moved all-in, for about 145,000.
Keles now had a decision for his tournament as Oral had him out-chipped. After a short while in the tank, he did indeed call but then couldn’t believe it when Oral turned over 6♦ 5♦ .
“Oh my god,” Keles said. He said it again for good measure. Still without exposing his own hand, he said, “Oh my god,” once more.
Then he eventually tabled K♥ K♠, which was already drawing dead. The 10♥ completed the formalities on the river.
2:45pm: Danzer continues to crush
Level 16 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
You know those updates about Gareth Chantler being in the lead? Scratch that. Chantler is still doing fine, but George Danzer is on a tear. He has about 560,000 chips at the moment and is now miles ahead. Danzer told Robin Scherr that he “had more playable hands today than he has in the past five EPT Main Events”.
2:40pm: Full house, double up
Level 16 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
Here’s another double up with a monster. This time Kai Schuster stayed alive thanks to a rivered full house in a hand against Tom Holke. He needed it too because Holke, who started with over-cards, had turned a flush.
It was all pretty straightforward. Andre Haneberg opened to 10,400 from early position and Schuster shoved for 53,300 from one seat to his left. It got round to Holke in the cutoff and he made the call. Haneberg folded.
Schuster: 8♣ 8â™
Holke: K♦ Q♦
The flop came 3♦ 9♠7♦ , which offered plenty for everyone. But the 8♦ offered even more. Schuster stood up, expecting his fate to be sealed, but the 3♣ on the river kept him alive. He performed a celebratory pirouette and sat back down.
2:30pm: “How did you double up?” “Oh, I had a royal flush”
Level 16 – Blinds 2,500/5,000 (500 ante)
When you’re all-in and called, you’d be happy with any kind of win. Ace-high would do. But for Monir Marie, he did it in style: turning a royal flush.
Marie open-shoved his stack of 27,700 from the button and picked up a call from Kai Munster in the big blind. Munster had Q♣ 10♦ , but Marie had A♠J♠.
Munster actually flopped two pair on the 10♠Q♠K♦ flop, but Marie already had a straight. And then, boom, the K♠appeared on the turn to make it unbeatable.
2:20pm: Into Level 16
Level 16 – Blinds 2,500/5,000 (500 ante)
These levels are racing by today. We’re now into Level 16, the fourth of the day. They will take a 15-minute break at the end of this.
2:20pm: New chip-leader
Level 15 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
It’s all coming out now about Gareth Chantler. And rightly so. The man from Canada is the new tournament chip leader.
Remember earlier, when Chantler said that he was glad nobody was around to see his first double up? Well, it emerges that he had queen-jack against pocket queens and that Dara O’Kearney, also at the table, had folded a jack. Turn and river were the two case jacks.
That kept Chantler alive at the start of the day. Then in the hand described at 1:25pm below, Chantler made a flush while Klaus Hornschuch had a set of aces. That was another big double up. And now, Chantler has just won another enormous pot to bust Konstantin Karikov and put his own stack up to 360,000.
This one I did see. Karikov opened to 8,200 and, one seat to his left, Chantler three-bet to 20,400. Karikov called and they saw the flop of A♣ 9♦ 4♣ . Karikov bet 35,000 and Chantler shoved, covering Karikov.
The Russian player called and showed A♦ K♠. But Chantler had A♠9♣ for the flopped two pair and the turn and river bricked.
2pm: Danzer up top
Level 15 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
Tournament staff conducted a full chip count during the last break and there’s no surprise to see George Danzer assume the top spot after a superlative opening couple of levels.
We’ll update the chip-count page with full counts at each break from now on.
1:55pm: Double shove
Level 15 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
There were two simultaneous pre-flop shoves on neighbouring tables, but with notably different results. While Nikolas Menke got his under-the-gun raise, to 51,700, all the way through Jan von Halled, Marcel Schauenburg and Tom Holke (only Schauenburg seemed interested), Andreas Bremer picked up a call from Marco Topic and was knocked out.
Bremer had A♠8♠and Topic had Q♠Q♣ . There was nothing on the flop, turn or river to excite Bremer and he departs in 73rd.
1:45pm: Lifestyles of the rich and famous
Level 15 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (500 ante)
George Danzer hasn’t let life as one of the most famous players in Germany go to his head. He proudly revealed today that he took the bus to work at the Schenefeld Casino–a bus that was full to bursting with locals attending a flea market about a kilometre or so away from the office. Many of them had their purchases–including a lot of rolled up carpets–tucked under their arms. You just don’t get this in Monaco. Just one more reason why the Eureka Poker Tour is better than the EPT.
1:30pm: Break time
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (400 ante)
That’s the end of Level 14 and they’re taking a 15-minute break. That’s the pattern for today, by the way: two levels, then a 15-minute break. We’ll do that four times.
We’ll get full chip counts with you very soon.
1:25pm: Chantler’s climb continues
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (400 ante)
There’s a tough balance to be struck in tournament poker between acceptable patience and suicidal tightness. You often have to endure long, long barren periods where there are simply no spots to try to increase a tiny stack. However, we’ve seen it a million times where a player is so focused on not getting eliminated that they simply wind up blinding away to dust.
If you want to know about this, talk to Gareth Chantler. He played his first bullet on Day 1B and (at least from the spectator’s viewpoint) it seemed like a fairly miserable grind, eventually ending in perhaps the penultimate level of the day. Then yesterday he was also short for hours, sitting to the right of Rinalo Aquino’s big stack. Chantler bagged 37,800 at the end of the day, which was 16 big blinds.
But there’s the reason sometimes to stick with it. Chantler has now doubled up at least twice and is now up to more than 160,000, most recently doubling through Klaus Hornschuch. Chantler had K♥ 9♥ and the full board showed A♥ 10♦ 6♥ 4♥ 5â™ . I arrived only to see the dealer counting Chantler’s stack as 76,000, then grabbing the equivalent from Hornschuch.
Chantler is actually now the big stack at his table, which also features David Yan (60,000), Georges Yazbeck (85,000) and David Lappin (17,500). Lappin could certainly do with the kind of fillip that Chantler has enjoyed this afternoon.
1:10pm: Kancaitis four-bets into two, wins
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (400 ante)
You may recall that we identified among the Day 1A players a surprising tendency to limp pre-flop, leading to multi-way pots that were often checked down. By the time Day 1C rolled around, that particular tendency had ended. Everyone was squeezing instead, punishing players who were calling early-position raises.
Today, and as the money draws steadily into view, the aggression is ramping up again. In a recent hand, Edgara Kancaitis opened to 6,400 from the cutoff and Marco Topic called in the cutoff. Quang Nguyen squeezed from the button, making it 15,100, but then Kancaitis four-bet into two opponents, making it 39,000. That got it done as both Topic and Nguyen folded.
1pm: Forst back at it
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (400 ante)
Jonn Forst and Johnny Hansen are sitting on the same table today–or at least they were, until it recently broke.
Anyway, just before they were scattered to the wind, they played a pretty huge pot against one another that ended with Hansen folding top pair on a scary board and Forst refusing to let him know if he’d made the right decision.
There was at least 60,000 in the middle and the board dealt all the way. It read Q♦ 8♦ K♦ 3♠3♣ . Hansen checked and Forst bet 37,000.
“I have a king,” Hansen said after a good three minutes in the tank. “Can I say that? You also have a king?”
Forst gave nothing away.
“Forget it,” Hansen said, and tossed his cards away.
“Show one card!” Thorsten Walk said, but Forst defiantly shook his head as he slipped the cards to the dealer.
12:55pm: Three Queens
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (400 ante)
Andreas Bremer opened to 7,200 from UTG+1 and Quang Nguyen called in the big blind. They then saw a highly feminine flop. It came Q♣ Q♥ Q♦ .
Nguyen checked but Bremer bet 11,300 and that got Nguyen counting his own stack. He had precisely 64,500 behind and opted to call.
They both checked the 6♥ turn and then, after the 3♣ cam on the river, Nguyen shoved.
That started Bremer counting his stack, and he soon realised that his 35,000 was the effective stack. He didn’t want to commit it here–presumably he did not have a queen–and he folded.
12:45pm: Sixteen down
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (400 ante)
We’re into Level 14 now, with 16 players having already hit the rail.
12:40pm: Imbalance
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
It’s a case of the haves and the have nots on Table 11, where the likes of Jan von Halle (210,000) and Robin Aghdam-Kazemieh (173,000) sit with Miroslav Forman (45,000) and Yun Choi (32,000).
Both of the latter two open-shoved pre-flop in a recent orbit, and both got it through. Meanwhile, Andrey Demidov gave a little to Von Halle after opening to 6,000 from the button and then folding when Von Halle made it 18,200 from the big blind.
12:30pm: Play the Last Post for…
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
The list of early eliminations includes: Marc Hunter, Daniel Peche, Jorg Blohm, Tillmann Raschke, Amir Mozaffarin, Davor Bendin, Terge Sirnes, Hermann, Behrens, Tilmann Ebeling, Jan Peters, Robert Rohr and Bjorn Duda.
12:20pm: Chantler doubles; Lappin still trying
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
It’s been a tough first 30 minutes, with 10 players knocked out already.
12:20pm: Chantler doubles; Lappin still trying
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
Gareth Chantler, who is Canadian but has spent a lot of time in Europe over the past few years, including a spell living in Dublin, is the lone North American representative left in the Eureka Hamburg field. He was a short stack at the beginning of the day but has now found a double-up to keep him fighting.
It happened shortly before his table broke and he said he was happy no one was around to see it. (He seemed to suggest it hadn’t come as the result of A-1 perfect play.) But a double is a double and Chantler can breathe a little more easily as a result.
Chantler’s first table also featured Dara O’Kearney, a friend from his Dublin days. And even now those two have been separated, Chantler has found himself on the same table as another former Dublin-ite, David Lappin. Lappin now lives in Malta, but stays close to the Irish poker scene, and is attempting to get his own tournament kick-started this afternoon.
Just recently, Georges Yazbeck opened the cutoff and Lappin shoved from the button, a total of 25,300. Yazbeck asked a few cheeky questions about whether Lappin wanted a call; Lappin gave a few cheeky answers suggesting that he might or he might not. I suspect Yazbeck was none the wiser, and folded.
12:10pm: Early tournament-life decision for Lappin
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
Marc Hunter was the first man knocked out today. He had fewer than 10 big blinds, so it was always likely. But he still got a chance to be photographed last night at the players party with Tom Holke and George Danzer, so it wasn’t all bad news.
12:06pm: Early tournament-life decision for Lappin
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
David Lappin returned today with 13 big blinds and will likely know that he is going to have to find a spot to get them in soon-ish. Georges Yazbeck quickly gave him his first opportunity: when action folded to Yazbeck in the small blind, he moved all-in, covering Lappin, who was in the big blind. Lappin agonised for a moment, but eventually opted to wait for a better moment.
12:05pm: Rinaldo takes a small pot from Danzer
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
Within the first orbit of play, Rinaldo Aquino has continued in a similar fashion to his start yesterday–ie, busy–winning a small pot from George Danzer.
The two of them got about 13,000 in the pot pre-flop, buying them a look at the 4♥ K♠5♠. Rinaldo, who was under the gun pre-flop, checked and Danzer, hijack, bet 8,000. Rinaldo called and they then both checked the A♣ turn.
The 8♣ came on the river and Rinaldo bet 13,000. Danzer mucked and said, “Ace five, two pair, well played.”
12pm: Away they go
Level 13 – Blinds 1,200/2,400 (300 ante)
And they’re off!
11:50am: Seat draw error
Profound apologies from everyone at Casino Schenefeld and the Eureka Poker Tour, but the redraw information we received overnight was incorrect. We now have the accurate seat draw and it is over on the seat-draw page.
11:45am: The morning after the night before
Good morning everybody and welcome back to Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, for Day 2 of the Eureka Poker Tour Main Event.
After the third of three flights of Day 1 ended at around 10:15pm yesterday, players, friends and hangers-on went over to Lustis restaurant for the players’ party. Those of them who made a point of returning before the witching hour are likely to be among the 108 who still have chips, seeking a first prize of €69,120.
Today we will play another eight 45-minute levels, headaches permitting, by which point we will almost certainly be in the money. The top 55 are paid, and a min-cash is worth €1,740.
The top-ten stacks at this stage, as the three starting-stay fields merge, are as follows:
| Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Holke | Germany | 333000 |
| George Danzer | Germany | 275700 |
| Rifat Palevic | Sweden | 210400 |
| Jan Christoph Von Halle | Germany | 198800 |
| Johnny Hansen | Denmark | 197100 |
| Gisle Arne Olsen | Denmark | 194300 |
| Edgaras Kancaitis | Lithuania | 183200 |
| Erik Scheidt | Germany | 171700 |
| Jonn Forst | Austria | 171500 |
| Goran Milovanovic | Serbia | 168200 |
As you can see, there’s clear air between Tom Holke and even George Danzer, in second, but there are a lot of dangerous players still involved.
Head over to the seat-draw page to see how they line up.
Play begins at noon.
