Main Event
Day 1a Started
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Berlin
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Berlin
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€3,725,000
Entries
745
Level
33
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000
Welcome to the European Poker Tour Berlin Day 1a
We’re back in the fabulous Berlin for the third time on the European Poker Tour, and we’re also back in the Hyatt hotel. No one need worry this year though as the security is tight and all money is being processed in the Spielbank Casino just across the road (There was an infamous armed robbery here two seasons ago).
Last season Ben Wilinofsky made his first ever live cash here and went on to claim the title for a cool €825,000. He’s coming into hot form again this year as he just finished third at WPT Vienna for €122,910. He won’t be playing until day 1b but there are plenty on names to fill today’s coverage. Kevin Vandersmissen is an EPT regular and also comes in sparkling form. He took down the prestigious Irish Open over Easter weekend for a whopping €420,000.
Also playing today from Team PokerStars Pro are: Pierre Neuville, Henrique Pinho, Martin Staszko, Barry Greenstein, Theo Jorgensen, Jan Heitmann, and Vanessa Selbst.
We’re expecting a very large field for this event so the days will be long. The PokerNews reporting team up are for the challenge though and we’ll be here to the very end. Donnie Peters is even working with a damaged Achilles tendon and is limping in as we speak. That’s just our dedication to the cause.
Play is due to start at 12 midday CET and this is Germany so we expect to start at 11.59. Join us back here then.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
A Better Two Pair for Wade
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Tristan Wade was busy chatting with one of our reporters as the hand at his table finished up. Wade was set to be under the gun the next hand and said, "Hold on, I have to go straddle," before jumping back into his chair and blind raising to 200.
Action folded around to Johannes Holstege in middle position and he made the call. The player on the button called and then play moved to Michal Grzegorczyk in the big blind. He raised to 650. Wade tossed in the call and the two limpers came along as well.
The dealer produced the 
for the flop and Grzegorczyk bet 1,150. Wade was the only caller to see the 
pair the board on the turn. Here, Grzegorczyk bet 1,600 and Wade called. The river card was the 
and both players quickly checked to get to a showdown.
Grzegorczyk showed two pair, queens and threes, with an ace kicker after tabling his 
. Wade showed a better two pair with the 
for aces up and won the pot.
Men In Form
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Looking around the room we have noticed a number of players who are in red hot form right now. We have the recent Irish Open champion Kevin Vandesmissen, the recent Premier League V winner Scott Seiver, and two heroes who made the EPT Campione final table in Mario Nagel and Olivier Busquet. We will keep an eye out for even more in-form pros.
This Does Not Feel Like Germany
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Germany is renowned for efficiency in everything it does. We not feeling the German love so far today as the tournament got underway a little late and the internet is only coming out to play every now and then. Apologies for our (hopefully temporary) sporadic early coverage.
Tight Space and Tough Table
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
There’s not a lot of space to manoeuvre around the tournament room. Due to the expected large number of runners the organisers have packed in the tables, and as this event is being filmed for TV, there are a number of roaming cameras to contend with as well.
Table 24 is near the door so is easy to get to, and easy to tell you that it’s a tough one. Andrew Brokos has won an awful lot of money on line but he’ll find it tough with Scott Seiver, Olivier Busquet and Barny Boatman all sat to his left.
Early Pot For Busquet
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Olivier Busquet, fresh from his runner-up finish at EPT Campione just a few weeks ago, has helped himself to an early pot here in Berlin.
Joining the action on a board reading 
, Busquet checked to his sole opponent, who was seated on the button, and he checked behind. The dealer burned a card and put the 
out on the river. Busquet did not seem too bothered about its arrival and he tapped the table and checked again. The button instantly checked behind and Busquet, as the last aggressor, was told to show his hand.
“King,” he said as he turned over 
and a pair of kings was enough to take down the pot because his opponent mucked his hand.
The Eliminated and the Nearly So
Luca Vivaldi, one of the floor men here, brought us news of a big and classic cooler on the second hand of play. Martin Hauswald had pocket kings and Petar Kapuran had those aces. All the chips went in pre flop and the former was lucky to spike a king on the 
board. The latter was left with just 1,000 chips (out of the 30,000 starting stack).
Felix Bleiker has fared even worse. He’s the first player to be eliminated today.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Puchkov Caught Lying To Selbst
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Poker players often mislead their opponents and the media about the strength of their hands but Konstantin Puchkov has just been caught completely red handed.
We joined the action on a board that read 
and Puchkov had checked from early position to the Team PokerStars Pro, who was seated on the button. She sat figuring out how much to bet into the 11,000 pot before settling on 6,200. Puchkov pondered his options for close to a minute before sending his cards back to the dealer.
The table then entered a discussion about how the hand played out and Puchkov was adamant he had folded a set of threes but Selbst refused to believe him.
“I had a three in my hand,” she claimed before another player said he folded 
that would have made a flush.
“That would have been the winning hand,” informed Selbst before asking Puchkov if he had a set of threes. The Russian WSOP bracelet winner then went a shade of scarlet before revealing he actually held 
!
“That makes more sense,” said Selbst, “Seeing how I had a set of threes!”
We won't be asking Puchkov about his hand strength any time soon!