PokerStars EPT Dortmund, Day 2: Bubble Bursts as Big Names Bounced

149 players returned to the felt for Day 2 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour German Open at the Casino Hohensyburg in Dortmund. Cyrille Chabot took the chip lead into Day 2, followed by big names such as Daniel Negreanu, Annette Obrestad and Marcel Luske. As the short stacks shoved and prayed, the healthier stacks picked their spots and tried to move into the money and one step closer to the €933,600 first-place prize. The top ten chip stacks looked like this when Day 2 kicked off:

Cyrille Chabot — 111,100
Claudio Rinaldi — 71,300
Tyler Friederich — 70,900
Russell Carson — 70,400
Jioí Kulhánek — 66,300
Michael Kwiek — 62,800
Peyman Mohammadzadeh — 60,900
Daniel Negreanu — 59,900
Ville Mattila — 57,300
Andreas Sarling — 56,500

The Flying Dutchman, Marcel Luske, put on a show early in Day 2, entertaining the crowd with his sartorial splendor. Young Andreas Sarling was less than impressed with the show after Luske doubled through him in the early levels. On a flop of , Sarling led out, Luske pushed all in over the top, and Sarling thought for long moments before finally calling with . Luske tabled for trips, and he moved quickly to the upper reaches of the leader board.

Annette Obrestad's aggressive game took a toll on her tablemates, including a knockout of Nicolas Levi midway through Day 2. On a flop of , Levi called Obrestad's bet while holding for bottom set. The turn brought the , Obrestad led out again, Levi went all in and Obrestad insta-called with pocket aces for top set. Levi was crippled after that hand, then ran into Obrestad's to exit. Obrestad didn't last much longer, heading to the rail during the evening of Day 2. The 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event champion went for a steal attempt that failed on her last hand.

"It is difficult to slow down," Obrestad said, "but maybe I was a little bit too aggressive this time. I had been folding for three orbits and got an opportunity when an opponent raised from mid-position and the button just called. I had and thought it was a decent chance that my opponents would lay down their hands, but I was wrong about the player on the button who called with , that held up."

Team PokerStars had a rough go of it on Day 2, as Noah Boeken went to the rail early, followed by Negreanu and Katja Thater as the day went along. Negreanu raised preflop and found a caller, with both players checking a flop. Negreanu led out when the came on the turn, and his opponent went all in with A-9. Negreanu called with , and missed his outs on the river to bust shortly before the bubble. Thater looked to be in good shape for a race with against her opponent's , when the on the flop put her in the lead. However, her opponent hit a two-outer when the came on the turn, and Thater departed.

Brandon Schaefer made a late run on Day 2 to put himself into the money and finish with a healthy stack. First, he doubled through Anders Henriksson when he picked up aces on the button and Henriksson woke up in the big blind with pocket queens. Schaefer raised, Henriksson re-raised, Schaefer pushed all in, Henriksson called, and the board brought no queens as Schaefer doubled up. Then, on the bubble, Schaefer called a preflop raise from Stephan Wrenger with . The flop hit Schaefer hard when it came down , but it hit Wrenger even harder, who moved all in with his . Schaefer called with his two pair, and could only win with a queen. The on the turn gave him the lead, and the river brought a blank as Schaefer's two-outer (actually a one-outer, since another player at the table reported folding a queen) sent Wrenger to the rail on the bubble.

European legend Thor Hansen was the last elimination on Day 2 as he busted just as the clock wound down in Dortmund. The following is the official list of the 32 survivors moving on to Day 3 play, with countries and chip counts:

Marco Diego Perez (Spain) 361,600
Michael McDonald (Canada) 335,700
Claudio Rinaldi (Switzerland) 278,700
Marco Liesy (Germany) 278,200
Johannes Strassmann (Germany) 276,400
Aniol Alcaraz (Spain) 216,200
Brandon Schaefer (USA) 202,300
Andreas Gülünay (Germany) 201,100
Jan Heitmann (Germany) 200,400
Manfred Hammer (Germany) 135,300
Christopher Rossiter (UK) 129,500
Thibaut Durand (France) 123,200
Marcel Luske (Netherlands) 123,000
Peyman Mohammadzadeh (Germany) 114,800
Manfred Bass (Germany) 114,400
Daniel Ryan (USA) 110,400
Daniel Carter (UK) 105,900
Christian Harder (USA) 101,900
Alexandar Milanov (Russia) 96,300
Tyler Friederich (USA) 91,600
Cyrille Chabot (France) 74,700
Hugo Marialva Felix (Portugal) 63,000
Marcel Cesarz (Germany) 59,300
Steve Jelinek (UK) 57,700
Jioí Kulhánek (Czech Republic) 53,600
Bernhard Damnik (Germany) 44,000
Andreas Sarling (Finland) 38,400
Torsten Haase (Germany) 36,800
Syikrai Istafan (Hungary) 32,100
Mario Kühl (Germany) 27,600
Raul Paez Corral (Spain) 25,400
Sebastian Till (Germany) 16,200

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