EPT Copenhagen Day 1b: Eastgate Leads Tough Field

230 players joined the field at the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Copenhagen today, bringing the total field to 460 players with a total prize pool of $4,156,270 USD. Among the international superstars taking their seats on Day 1b were EPT Prague champion Arnaud Mattern, Team PokerStars members Luca Pagano and 1980 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Tom McEvoy. Also in the field were EPT Dortmund champion Michael 'Timex' McDonald, 2008 Party Poker Premier League champion Andy Black, Tony G, and 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Katja Thater.

Tony G picked up a tough table draw, with William Thorson, Nicolas Levi and Paul Testud at his opening table. Tony G fell to Micke Norinder early on Day 1b when his flopped flush was taken out by Norinder's full house. Also eliminated in the early rounds were Katja Thater, Roy Brindley and Andy Black, who ran into Stig Farholt's flopped straight to bust him early in Day 1b.

Michael 'Timex' McDonald cemented his status as one of poker's youngest superstars when he picked up the EPT Dortmund championship recently, following up a strong performance at the Aussie Millions and a solid showing at the WSOP Europe Main Event, which he played on his 18th birthday. McDonald found himself in a tough spot as Day 1b drew to a close, finding himself all in against Russell Carson with to Carson's . The flop of was no help for McDonald, and the left him with only two outs, but the on the river made his two-outer and sent Carson to the rail.

Less fortunate than McDonald was William Thorson, who went to the rail on a hand where he turned a full house against two players with even bigger hands. Four players limped in to see a flop of , and the player in the big blind led out with a bet. Thorson smooth-called with , the button raised and the player in the small blind moved all in over the top. The big blind folded, Thorson called with his set, and the button player called with for the flopped straight and the straight flush redraw. The small blind player tabled K-T for top two pair, then filled up on the turn, giving him tens full of Kings. Thorson made nines full of tens and both players were drawing dead to the player on the button, who made a Queen-high straight flush! Thorson was the shortest of the three stacks and was eliminated on the hand.

Pascal Perrault ran pocket Kings into Aces late in the day to end his Day 1b, as Mads Andersen, Stephen 'allinstevie' Devlin and Rob Hollink joined the list of notable players eliminated on Day 1b. Theo Jorgensen made a late rush at the chip lead, taking over the top spot as the last hands were dealt. The top ten chip stacks heading into day two are –

Peter Eastgate 79,700
Ola Brandborn 79,300
Theo Jørgensen 75,900
Mathias Andersen 71,600
Stig Farholt 70,600
Andreas Glannbro 69,700
Nedin Musa 67,300
Tommy Pavlicek 67,000
Dennis Naci Hansen 63,300
Simon Dørslund 59,500

Check back with our 'live reporting' section at 2 p.m. local time (GMT+1) tomorrow for more live updates, chip counts, and photos from the floor of the Casino Copenhagen.

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