After 16 hours and 30 minutes of exciting and exhilarating poker we came down to the snail pace of the hand for hand bubble action. The vultures flew around the tables waiting for the inevitable carcass to be thrown out into the throng. The unfortunate carcass in this case belonged to the Italian gentleman Gianni Giaroni. Giaroni had already cashed in no less than three EPT Main Events this year but unfortunately it was not going to be number four.
The guy everyone wanted to hug and kiss - except the Giaroni family was Pokerstars qualifier Riekus Hein Wijermars.
Wijemars raised UTG to 8,000 and Giaroni made a huge three-bet in the region of ~ 70,000 from the button. Wijemars announced all-in and Giaroni called. There was the usual long wait for all the hands to finish before the board was dealt and it held no luck for Giaroni.
The 278 returning players whittled themselves down to the money - 80 - in almost exactly the six 75-minute levels allotted them. It was as if Thomas Kremser could see into the future and pinpoint nearly precisely the minute when Gianni Giaroni would run big slick into Aces and exit in the unlucky bubble position, setting 80 players up for Day Three tomorrow.
Today was Daniel Negreanu's day - a smattering of Aces (which took down both Kings and Jacks) set him up as a challenger for the lead, and a spike with Tens threeway vs. Adam Jerney's Kings and [Removed:297]'s Fours sent him firmly into pole position. He overtook start of day leaders like Martin Hruby and Sergii Baranov and finished with 893,000, a good six figures above the next challengers. Antonio Buonanno also finished with a healthy 704,500 after an eleventh-hour double through and Jose Severino too is up near the top with 635,000.
Everyone returning tomorrow is guaranteed at least €8,000 for their participation in EPT Vienna, but for the majority of the players there's still plenty of play with the structure as it is and it will be all about jockeying for position as the potential for a super deep run arises.
We'll be back at 12pm as the Day Three cards return to the air.
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