Michael Graydon had opened from the hijack only to see Thomas Markussen three-bet to 3,400 from the cutoff. Graydon either did not believe his opponent's story or thought his hand was much better because he put in a four-bet to 8,400. A little Hollywooding later and Markussen mucked his hand.
Roger Hannaseth moved all-in for slightly less than 20,000 and PokerStars qualifier Alexander Manson made the call from the button. Nobody else was interested and we had a showdown with Hannaseth at risk of elimination.
The action folded to Maksim Semisoshenko in late position and he made it 1,400 to play. Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Matter passed but Luca Pagano, in the cutoff, had other ideas and he three-bet to 3,400.
Pagano's bet was enough to force the button and blinds fold putting the action back on Semisoshenko. He took a glance at Pagano before four-betting to 8,600. Pagano had seen enough and he mucked his hand around 30 seconds later.
Achim Kruse raised to 1,350 from middle position, one player folded and Keld Volquardsen made the call from the hijack. Former EPT London champion David Vamplew was in the cutoff and he called, as did Liutauras Armanavicius in the small blind.
Flop: - Armanavicius checked, Kruse checked, Volguardson made it 4,200 to play and only Vamplew made the call.
Turn: - Volguardson instantly bet 7,000 and Vamplew stuck along and made the call.
River: - Again Volguardson instantly grabbed chips and bet 12,500 but Vamplew had seen enough and he let his hand go and now has just 15,000 chips in his stack.
The man who finished 3rd in this event last year has had an early exit on Day 2 this year. John Eames started the day with around 21 big blinds and that stack was moved into the middle in just the first few hands of play.
PokerStars qualifier Eddie Tasbas raised to 1,500 in the cutoff seat and Eames moved all-in from the button. The small blind folded before Grzegorz Cichocki also moved all-in from the big blind. Tasbas folded and Eames asked Cichocki if he had a pair and the nod from the Pole looked like a death sentence for Eames.
Cichocki
Eames
So Eames was hoping for the same sprinkling of luck that befell Prager just one hand before. The dealer had other ideas and the board of made sure that the player with the best hand won and that was Cichocki. Eames is now left looking for flights out of freezing cold Copenhagen to head for freezing cold Southport.
Martin Jorgensen decided his best play was to open-limp from under the gun and that sparked what became a family pot. Two players folded before Ronnie Rasmussen called and Niela van Alphen in the small blind and Eric Cortes in the big blind called and check respectively.
The flop contained more clubs than Ibiza and each of the four players decided to check but when another club, the became the turn card a 1,800 bet from Cortes was enough to take down the hand.
Just how on earth you end a Day 1 with only 3,050 chips is a riddle in itself but this is exactly what PokerStars qualifier Martin Prager somehow managed to do. We just saw him rising to his feet in jubilation after turning that 3,050 into a whopping 7,600 and this is how he managed it.
Prager moved his stack into the middle from the hijack seat, holding , and PokerStars qualifier Andreas Samuelsson made the call from the cutoff, holding . So Prager was in a whole world of hurt, but it all changed when the dealer handed him the on the turn and Prager doubled up.
Just a few more moments of magic like that and Prager will start feeling like he has a chance.
Day 2 got off to a rapid start at we lost four players in the first few minutes. The kind floor staff brought us the players’ ID cards before we had even made it to the tournament floor.
Klaus Schwarz only came back with 4,650 chips so his exit was probable. Eeki Ruponen (15,450), David Kristiansen (44,025), and Edouard Mignot Bonnefous (36,550) had more wriggle room so will be disappointed with their exits.