After another nine full levels of poker, Day 2 has finally drawn to a close. We started the day with 207 players with their sights set on the final table. Only 31 of those players remain. We said goodbye to many well-known faces today as well. Rolf Slotboom, Juha Helppi, Liz Lieu, Roland de Wolfe, Antonio Esfandiari...the list goes on. Will a well-known tournament player like Todd Brunson, Dario Minieri, William Thorson, Markus Golser, or Johannes Strassmann take down the title? Or will it be one of the lesser-known players like Eric Koskas, Felipe Ramos, or any number of others? Only time will tell.
It appears that Jason Mercier will emerge as the current chip leader. As always, official chip counts will be posted when they become available. Please join us live tomorrow at 3:00 pm local time for Day 3 as the 31 remaining players will battle it out for a spot at the final table.
Dario Minieri faced an all-in bet of 133,000 from Anthony Spinella, with the board reading . There was another 125,000 in the middle from previous streets. Dario took a long time to figure out what to do. He asked Anthony if he would show if Dario showed and, "I'll tell you when one of us is knocked out," was the answer. This seemed to make up Dario's mind and he pushed out the call.
Dario had against the that Anthony held. The river was the and again the room erupted as the local favourite won a monster pot to take him to around 600,000 and up amongst the chip leaders.
Antony Lellouche raised to 17,000 from middle position. Action folded around to Dag Palovic in the small blind, who reraised all in for 138,500 total. Dario Minieri called from the big blind and Lellouche folded. The players showed:
Palovic:
Minieri:
Minieri got no help from the board and Palovic let out a roar of victory. Minieri counted out the call and slid it into the pot. Palovic is now just shy of 200,000 in chips.
Marcello Terracciano moved all in from under the gun for 16,500. Jonas Klausen called from the small blind and Jason Mercier called from the big blind. Mercier and Klausen checked it down the whole way as the board was dealt . Terracciano turned over and the others mucked. Terracciano's nearby gallery erupted and he is is now up to over 50,000.
Action folded around to Nicolò Calia on the button. He raised to 16,500. The small blind folded and Jonas Klausen, who had Calia well covered, moved all in from the big blind. Calia called and the players showed:
Calia:
Klausen:
Calia missed and Klausen's ace-king high was good enough to take it down. Nicolò Calia smiled and headed for the exit.
Todd Brunson got it all in good holding against the of Jan Heitmann. The money went in pre-flop and the board missed both players. Brunson doubled up to about 140,000.
Jonas Klausen and Jason Mercier are the two chip leaders and they are seated next to each other. They get into a pot together from the blinds; each has 18,000 in pre-flop.
The flop is dealt and Jonas bets 20,000, which is called by Jason.
The turn is the and Jonas bets 40,000, which is again called by Jason.
The river is the and Jonas bets 65,000. Jason moves all in. If he is called then one of them will become the first player over a million and chip leader by a long way. Jonas opts to fold and Jason shows him the for his troubles.
After this hand Jason Mercier has the chip lead with 660,000 and Jonas Klausen drops back to 340,000.