European Poker Tour Polish Open Day 2

109 Become 24 on a Hectic Day 2

109 hopefuls took to the felt today in the casino at the Hyatt Regency Hotel for the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Polish Open. The chip leaders going into day 2 were:

1. Roland De Wolfe (UK) -- 67,150
2. Antony Lellouche (France) -- 57,600
3. Alain Roy (France) -- 50,950
4. Ludovic Lacay (France) -- 49,600
5. Christoffer Hansen (Denmark) -- 46,175
6. Dario Minieri (Italy) -- 43,975
7. Andreas Krause (Germany) -- 43,825
8. Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) -- 41,950
9. Johnny Lodden (Norway) -- 41,450
10. Bertrand Grospellier (UK) -- 41,425

In the first 30 minutes, 15 players were sent to the rail, and it’s not surprising with the many tables of doom crowding the casino floor. On one — Katja Thater, Alan Smurfit, and Andreas Krause, on another — Roland De Wolfe and Marty Smyth, and the next — Arnaud Mattern, Sebastian Ruthenberg, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Then there were firecrackers Johnny Lodden and Antony Lellouche setting a table alight, Dario Minieri, Gino Alacqua, and Gavin Griffin could be seen bunched together at one end of the room, and finally Michael Keiner, Isabelle Mercier, and Jonas Molander made for an intimidating bunch.

At the end of level nine, there were 62 players left, meaning the field had dropped by 40 percent in two levels.

Italian wonderkid Dario Minieri continued to ascend, helped on the way by the chips of Frenchman Alain Roy and Americo Spinozzi, who he sent to the rail. Minieri, who sat with his headphones pulled down around his neck, giving those in close proximity to him a listen to the tunes motivating him, took his play up a notch raising virtually every hand as play went hand-for-hand. At one stage, he showed a massive preflop bluff of 108 to Stefan Rotach who couldn't help but laugh with the rest of the table and the numerous rail birds as Minieri flipped over his hand, (after making an enormous re-raise). He then told the crowd, "I never win with this hand.” Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' could be heard pouring out of his headphones at one point, while he got a massage. Sitting backwards on his chair to do so, he also gave the crowds a look at the back of his t-shirt. It read "El Criminal Lattitante".

Another Frenchman to bite the dust was Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Ireland are down to one player in the form of Mr. Marty Smyth, due to the elimination of Alan Smurfit.

Day 1a chip leader Antony Lellouche was bleeding chips midsession but there was not much he could do about most of the hands he was involved in. He doubled up four players at his table in under 30 minutes, before busting out a little later.

Notable bustouts during the day included: Antony Lellouche, Katja Thater, Mark Teltscher, Sebastien Ruthenberg, Pascal Perrault, Richard Gryko, Theo Jorgensen, Remy Biechel, Alain Roy, Jonas Molander, Gavin Griffin, Johnny Lodden, Gino Alacqua, Bertrand Grospellier, Alan Smurfit, Alexander Kravchenko, Thomas Fougeron, Johannes Strassmann, Markus Golser, Luca Pagano, and Nicholas Levi.

Sergey Shcherbatskiy, a pokerStars qualifer from Russia, is the event’s current chip leader with 265,900. The cards that turned Russian Sergey Shcherbatskiy into the leader were pocket aces. The player beside him was all in against him with A-K for an absolute monster of a pot. After the hand, Shcherbatskiy informed his table, "This is my first tournament."

Hans Eskilsson went all in for 20,000 and Moises Parrilla called. There was a sharp intake of breath throughout the room as the bubble loomed large. Then, Arnaud Mattern surprised everyone by shoving his large stack all-in. Parrilla angrily threw his cards on the table with no choice but to fold. His A-Q floated down onto the felt as Mattern flipped over pocket kings and Eskilsson revealed A9. The board read: 105258 and Eskilsson grabbed his coat. Mattern chipped right on up to fourth place on the leader board and day 2 was done.

The top ten official chip counts are:

Sergey Shcherbatskiy (Russia) -- 265,900
Dario Minieri (Italy) -- 211,400
Roland de Wolfe (UK) -- 169,900
Arnaud Mattern (France) -- 139,200
Uffe Holm (Denmark) -- 127,900
Juan Manuel Pastor (Spain) -- 117,100
Nico Behling (Germany) -- Germany112,700
Kevin MacPhee (USA) -- 97,200
Ludovic Lacay (France) -- 89,100
Joao Barbosa (Portugal) -- 85,900

Card Player

News Added: 18 November, 2008

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