Everyone has to start somewhere, including the players we now list first when compiling chip count lists. But how does a player make the transition from “random dude” to “notable”? How to you get to be like Jason Mercier? The PokerStars Blog investigates here.
Jan-Peter Jachtmann opened the action for 1,300, Florian-Dimitrie Duta called as did Casey Kastle and Liv Boeree on the button. The blinds left them to it and we say a flop of . No action from the early aggressor so it was checked to Kastle to make a bet of 5,000. Boeree, next to act, went all in for 15,500. Back to Kastle who made the call. Boeree showed , Kastle had . Kastle had the pair and the open ended straight draw, Boeree needed a heart. The on the turn was no good but the river saved her, a riding to the rescue.
The flop read when we found Juha Helppi, Thomas Muhlocker, and a third player looking down at the felt. Helppi checked and Muhlocker fired 2,100. The third player folded and Helppi called. Fourth street was the and two checks allowed the to hit the river. Helppi tossed out a small bet of 1,125 which caused Muhlocker to think for a moment before opting to release his hand. Helppi picked up the pot and now has about 57,000.
Three players saw a flop of . Jaco Verloop checked from the big blind, Francesco Paolo Conte checked and Marvin Rettenmaier bet 2,125. Verloop checked and Conte folded. The turn was and Verloop led out for 4,100. Rettenmaier thought for a moment and moved all in for nearly 15,000. That was enough to persuade Verloop he couldn’t continue.
We apologize for the influx, but based on a pile of tournament tickets we just received, we can tell you that the following players have been eliminated on Day 1b.
The EPT Barcelona continued to grow in Season 4 as 543 players took to the felt to compete for a €1,170,700 first-place prize. Among those in contention were Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu, Katja Thater and Greg Raymer, though none of them managed to make it to the last day of play; in fact just 13 players managed to do that. Among them was Copenhagen’s Sander Lylloff, who began that day third in chips.
Lylloff used his chip advantage to make it all the way to three-handed play, which is where he played against the UK’s Mark Teltscher and USA’s Greg Dyer for nearly four hours! Eventually Dyer fell when he shoved with the only to run into Lylloff’s , which left the Dane with a 2:1 heads-up chip lead against Teltscher, who happened to be one of his close friends. It took just six hands to clinch victory.
In the final hand, Lylloff shoved after Teltscher had three-bet. Teltscher called off with the and was in great shape against Lylloff’s . The gave Lylloff a pair of jacks, but he was still well behind the overpair and better flush draw of Teltscher. Incredibly, the turned to give Lylloff trips! The river failed to help Teltscher and he had to settle for second place and €673,000.
Lylloff, born April 7, 1982, is considered one of the best backgammon players in the world, and it wasn’t until 2001 that a friend introduced him to poker. Interestingly, Lylloff and Teltscher were partners in the 2005 Pro AM Backgammon Event in Las Vegas where they finished in second place. Lylloff went on to serve as a Victory Poker Pro until that site folded after Black Friday.
In the six years since his EPT Barcelona win, Lylloff has managed just five cashes totaling $94,557. The most notable of those was a 349th-place finish in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event for $29,911, while the most recent was a 377th-place finish in the ISPT Wembley Main Event for $701.