PokerStars.it EPT10 Sanremo High Roller: Schemion, Benger & Bilokur Make Final Table
The 2014 PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Sanremo Main Event played down to a final table on Saturday, as did the €10,300 High Roller. The last €10,300 buy-in high roller of the season attracted two late reentries, which brought the field up to 105 entries (88 unique/17 reentries) in all and created a prize pool of €1,029,000. The top 15 would make the money, with the eventual winner taking home €265,000.
After nine one-hour levels of play on Day 2, the field was whittled down to the final table of eight. The man best positioned to make a run at the top prize is Philip Sternheimer, who was the chip leader with 938,000 in chips. That said, he will face some stiff competition that includes Griffin Benger (892,000) and Ole Schemion (831,000), the latter of which is the current EPT Player of the Year leader.
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philip Sternheimer | 938,000 |
| 2 | Tamer Kamel | 638,000 |
| 3 | Max Greenwood | 714,000 |
| 4 | Alex Bilokur | 502,000 |
| 5 | Imed Ben Mahmoud | 151,000 |
| 6 | Griffin Benger | 892,000 |
| 7 | Mustapha Kanit | 607,000 |
| 8 | Ole Schemion | 831,000 |
As previously mentioned, just two players opted to reenter before the start of Day 2's play — Olivier Busquet and Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst. The latter was eager to amass some EPT10 Player of the Year points to try and chase down Schemion some more, but it proved a quick and fruitless endeavor.
No one should let me play 22bb poker on no sleep. Made terrible jam pre with KQ and busted within 10 min. Worst part is now I'm in Sanremo.
— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst)
Busquet lasted quite a bit longer, but ultimately fell short of the money. Others who left empty handed included Connor Drinan, Jeff Rossiter, Martin Finger, Sylvain Loosli, Martin Jacobson, and Steve O'Dwyer. Then, it was Ognjen Sekularac who ended up as the bubble boy.
Sekularac was eliminated in Level 17 (4,000/8,000/1,000) when he was all in and at risk for 96,000 with the A♣J♠ and Sternheimer made a reluctant call with the A♥8♦. The 6♥10♦2♦ flop kept the Serbian in the lead, but then the 8♥ appeared on the turn. No jack came on the river and Sekularac was out in 16th place with nothing to show for it.
From there, the in-the-money eliminations began to mount and included Dmitry Yurasov (15th - €17,500), Thomas Muhlocker (14th - €17,500), Artem Litvinov (13th - €19,050), Ismail Erkenov (12th - €19,050), Jason Lavallee (11th - €21,600), David Vamplew (10th - €21,600), and Dimitar Danchev (9th - €26,750).
Danchev bubbled the final table in the last hand of Level 19 (6,000/12,000/2,000) when he moved all in for 150,000 or so from middle position and Max Greenwood called from the button. The blinds both folded, and it was off to the races.
Greenwood: 9♦9♥
Danchev: A♥Q♦
According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Greenwood was a slight 54.74% favorite while Danchev would survive 44.79% of the time. The 10♣3♣2♣ flop was no help to Danchev, and his chances fell to 25.45% while Greenwood's jumped to 70%.
The 3♦ turn was another blank, which made Greenwood an overwhelming 86.36% favorite. Danchev needed either an ace or queen — something that would happen 13.64% of the time — but it wasn't in the cards as the 8♠ blanked.
The third and final day will kick off at 12 p.m. local time on Sunday and the remaining eight players will play down to a winner. The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand to capture the action in both the High Roller and the Main Event, so be sure to follow along.
Join us then, but while you wait be sure to check out this video where your favorite pros explain what they do to prepare for the day:
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
