2010 PokerStars EPT Vilamoura

Day 2 completed

Posted 08-31-2010 02:05 GMT+1 by Homer

End of Day 2 Chip Counts (full)

Posted 08-31-2010 02:04 GMT+1 by Homer

Chip Counts
1	Brandon Cantu		557,400	57,400
2	Andre Coimbra	PokerStars Team Online	476,400	244,400
3	Johan Berg		384,000	184,000
4	Sam Trickett		351,900	98,900
5	Grzegorz Cichocki	PokerStars Online Qualifier	339,500	17,500
6	JP Kelly	PokerStars Team Pro (UK)	314,000	54,000
7	Dmitry Gromov		305,200	99,200
8	Per Jacobson	PokerStars Online Qualifier	301,100	225,100
9	Marcin Horecki	PokerStars Team Pro (Poland)	280,500	46,500
10	Frederick Jensen		275,000	55,000
11	Tom Johansen	PokerStars Online Qualifier	273,000	-17,000
12	William Thorson		259,100	178,100
13	Fabrizio Ascari		254,700	10,700
14	Janos Toth		253,800	-31,200
15	Frank Calo		253,300	-146,700
16	Guillermo Garcia	PokerStars Player	238,100	166,100
17	Pedro Guedes		237,500	-43,500
18	Toby Lewis	PokerStars Player	236,700	-43,300
19	Ayaz Sadrudin Manji		227,500	13,500
20	Eliran Argelazi		221,100	73,100
21	Toni Ojala		208,200	61,200
22	Teddy Sheringham	PokerStars Friend of PokerStars	204,500	106,500
23	Jason Lee	PokerStars Online Qualifier	196,000	-14,000
24	Wolfgang Wurzer		193,200	-79,800
25	Boyan Bonev		191,100	2,100

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Bag 'Em and Tag 'Em - Day 2 Concludes With Brandon Cantu in the Lead

Posted 08-30-2010 21:28 GMT+1 by Djinn

Brandon Cantu leads

221 out of a total (record-breaking) 384 runners in the 2010 Pokerstars EPT Vilamoura returned for Day 2. After eight levels of play over two start days stacks varied from the desperate to the commanding and players displayed differing levels of perkiness due to the impossibility of passing over going out in this balmy resort town at night.

Those in front tended, for the most part, to stay there, and Day 1A top finisher and Pokerstars Team Online member Andre Coimbra is only just trailing the leader at the end of today, none other than Triple Crown seeker Brandon Cantu. He may not have cashed at the EPT before, but his 557,400 stack gives him a good shot tomorrow as only 69 players are coming back and 56 will get paid. He said, in an interview visible here: "I'm actually calling my shot here... and I'm guaranteeing a final table on this one."

Falling short of the third day were early leaders Jonathan Weekes, and Dario Minieri, Pokerstars Team Pros Alex Kravchenko, John Duthie, Ruben Visser, and David Williams and prior champs Liv Boeree and Vicky Coren. These last two players are just one of a large UK contingent, many of whom are still in the upper echelons of the chip counts, including double bracelet-winner JP Kelly, Toby Lewis and Stephen Chidwick.

Join us tomorrow at 12pm local time for another day of live coverage as the field narrows to the paying spots!

Tags: Andre Coimbra, Brandon Cantu.

Short Stacks Ready, WIlling, But Not Quite Able

Posted 08-30-2010 20:58 GMT+1 by Djinn

...to double up in the closing minutes of the tournament. With a quarter of an hour left on the clock, a lot of hands between deep stacked opponents are taking a good long time (I saw 'Time' called twice in the last room orbit), but some of the shorter stacks are taking this moment as a good opportunity to find an open spot and get it in. Among them Joe Ebanks (trying it under the gun for 43k but getting no action) and Lothar Meier, who re-raised Frederick Jensen's 7k button raise all in preflop, again with little dwell-time, even, before the fold.

Tags: Lothar Meier, Joe Ebanks.

Back Of The Net!

Posted 08-30-2010 20:55 GMT+1 by Homer

Former England footballer Teddy Sheringham has just doubled up thanks to Boyan Bonev. The two got into a raising war and Sheringham's all-in with was called by Bonev's . The flop changed nothing while the on the turn hit the crossbar and startled Sheringham a little. But the river was the ultimate blank and Sheringham now has 210,000.

Can he improve on his previous two EPT cashes? (EPT London and EPT Monte Carlo last year)

Tags: Teddy Sheringham.

Johansen Breaks Ebanks

Posted 08-30-2010 20:36 GMT+1 by Djinn

Joe Ebanks has survived many a confrontation (and stack adjustment) to get this far, half an hour before the end of play. However, he's just had to pay off 147k from his healthy stack leaving it breathing shallowly and looking faint (45k). He'd raised from the cutoff and found small blind Tom Johansen repopping it to 24,500 (from 6,400). Back to Ebanks, who after a moment's hesitation very softly announced, "All in." It took quite a while for Johansen to call but call he did with , and Ebanks' could do nothing with the flop or turn and river. Online qualifier Johansen nearly at 300k suddenly and looking to end the day in great shape.

Tags: Joe Ebanks, Tom Johansen.

Vote Pedro!

Posted 08-30-2010 20:34 GMT+1 by Homer

Luca Pagano opened to 7,500 and Alexey Golodyaev pushed all-in from the button for 56,600. Pedro Guedes then made the call from the small blind and Pagano folded.

Golodyaev:
Guedes:

The board was and Guedes increased his stack to roughly 350,000.

Fabrizio Ascari nonchantly said, "You're very lucky..."

"I was born lucky," replied Guedes, "I look good, I run good...haha!"

Tags: Pedro Guedes.

Brandon-wards & Upwards

Posted 08-30-2010 20:27 GMT+1 by danafish

Imagine a triple crown on that head...

As the last level of the night gets properly underway, Brandon Cantu remains our chip leader. After winning a WSOP bracelet in 2006 and another in 2009, and picking up a WPT title in 2008 as well, he has now decided to take a shot at the EPT circuit in the hopes of joining Roland de Wolfe and Gavin Griffin in the super-exclusive club of Triple Crown Winners. He told Gloria earlier, "I'm actually calling my shot here. I'm guaranteeing a final table."

Coming from the mouth of another player this might have sounded like a hubristic challenge to the poker gods - but coming from the softly spoken American pro, it somehow seemed just, well, believable. And indeed, as he sits now behind a vast pyramidal fortress constructed of chips - it's hard to tell but we reckon it's around 500,000 - receiving a massage and looking incredibly relaxed and in his element, we would not be in the least bit surprised if Cantu ends up achieving his ambition here in Portugal this week.

Tags: Brandon Cantu.

Lack of Hocus For Pocas

Posted 08-30-2010 20:20 GMT+1 by Homer

A very helpful Scott Montgomery pointed out that Bruno Pedro Fonseca Pocas had been eliminated after failing to magic up a king when he held against Guillermo Garcia's and the Portuguese player fell to the Spaniard.

Play on Pelayo

Posted 08-30-2010 20:19 GMT+1 by Djinn

Oscar Pelayo has recently been feeling the chipstack pressure and was down to around 40k when he found a good spot for a double up. In the big blind with , he moved all in over button Allen Bække's preflop raise, which Bække duly called with a dominated . The board ran out however, making a two pair with an Ace the best hand for them both. A disappointed Pelayo stood up shaking his head and sat the next hand out.

Tags: Oscar Pelayo, Allan Bække.