Yesterday's flight of competitors reached 88 players, with 64 of them surviving the day. The cream of the crop was EPT Barcelona winner Carter Phillips, who was able to pump up his stack to 194,850 chips. To put that number in perspective, it is nearly double his closest competitor, Clayton Mozdzen, who holds 103,250. The third and final player to eclipse the century mark was Team PokerStars PRO Luca Pagano.
Action for Day 1b is set to kick off at 12:30pm local time (CEST). The numbers are expected to be much larger than yesterday. So far on the list of entrants are Team PokerStars PROs Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Katja Thater, Florian Langmann, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Dario Minieri, Thierry Van Den Berg, and William Thorson. Scotty Nguyen, Gus Hansen, Vitaly Lunkin, Shaun Deeb, and Ludovic Lacay, fresh of his third-place finish at WPT Marrakech, will also be on hand.
Be sure to be right back here for all of the live coverage from EPT Warsaw, coming straight to you from PokerNews.com in just a few short hours!
Day 1b is just about a half an hour away from action. The buzz around the Hyatt Hotel is a little greater today than it was yesterday and there's much anticipation. As soon as the 'shuffle up and deal' phrase is muttered, we'll let you know and bring you all the updates. Stay tuned!
Shaun Deeb is seated on the right of Dario Minieri. Both players are known to be very active, which should make for some good action throughout the day. So far, the two have tangled in a few pots with Minieri getting the best of it.
On one hand, Minieri fired 600 after Deeb checked the flop of to him. Deeb made the call and the turn brought the . Deeb checked again and this time Minieri fired 1,900. Deeb tanked for a minute or two and then mucked his hand. Minieri didn't show.
On the very next hand, they were at it again. Deeb checked the flop of to Minieri in blind versus blind action. The Italian member of Team PokerStars PRO fired the minimum bet of 100 and Deeb called.
The turn brought the and Deeb check-called a bet of 200. The river then went check, check after the fell. Minieri showed for a pair of twos and Deeb mucked his hand.
Minieri is up to 33,000 over the early going while Deeb has slipped to 27,000.
With 1,950 chips in the middle and the board reading , David Steicke checked the action to his opponent. The player fired a bet of 675. Steicke tossed in the call and watched as his opponent tabled the first followed by the , for just ace high. Steicke announced that he held a full house and showed . He's now up to 32,000.
As mentioned before, Shaun Deeb and Dario Minieri are paired together, seated right next to one another. This is definitely grounds for some spicy action. The table that may rival them is the one holding known aggressive players Ludovic Lacay and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
In the same back area of the tournament room, Sebastian Ruthenberg has just joined the table that included Sorel Mizzi and Katja Thater. Up a short flight of stairs around the corner from them is David Steicke, Mel Judah, and Florian Langmann all seated together.
Still no signs of Scotty Nguyen or Gus Hansen. Both are listed on the entrant list as having bought in, so maybe just some extra sleep is holding them back.
We came up on a hand involving Alessio Isaia where the board read . Isaia's opponent had bet 2,000 before him. Isaia thought about his decision for about a minute before making the call. His opponent tabled for quad fives and Isaia mucked his hand. He's down to 25,800.
The Prince of Poker, Scotty Nguyen, is in the building. He joined the table with Sebastian Ruthenberg, Katja Thater, and Sorel Mizzi. Also at that table is Yury Kerzhapkin. Kerzhapkin is coming off a recent thirteenth-place finish at WPT Marrakech.