€10,300 High Roller
Day 2 Completed
2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta
€10,300 High Roller
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€2,037,000
Entries
210
Level
28
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
The second tournament day of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Season 12 Malta €10,300 High Roller Event saw 99 hopefuls out of a 201-entry strong field return to the tables of the Casino Portomaso. Another nine players took advantage of the late registration and reentry period before the first card was dealt, which increased the field size to 210 entries in total, generating a prize pool of €2,037,000.
The top 31 spots were paid at least €17,930 when the money was reached, however due to a two-hour long bubble it was decided to only play nine full levels and finish for the night around 1 a.m. local time. Ultimately, only 19 players bagged up chips and Mukul Pahuja claimed the overnight lead with 1,488,000 chips.
Pahuja is followed by Vladimir Dobrovolskiy (1,389,000) and Byron Kaverman (1,147,000), while other notables such as Bryn Kenney (690,000), Martin Finger (506,000), Kevin MacPhee (332,000), Roberto Romanello (316,000), [Removed:17] (265,000), Dominik Nitsche (258,000) and David Peters (216,000) will be among the short stacks for the final day.
EPT11 player of the year Dzmitry Urbanovich registered before the start of Day 2 and hit the rail early on. The same applied for €10,000 Single-Day High Roller runner-up Ilari Sahamies and other familiar faces of the international poker circuit such as Marvin Rettenmaier, Benny Spindler, Davidi Kitai, PokerStars Team Pro Ivan Demidov, Team online's Isaac Haxton and Jason Wheeler. The American tournament grinder had final tabled both previous High Roller events of the festival on Maltese soil but his hot streak ended before the money.
Start-of-the-day chip leader and Spanish pro Adrian Mateos didn't cash either after losing a flip to Kenney. The endurance challenge on the bubble saw the stack of Brian Roberts reduced to less than one big blind before ultimately losing a flip to Romanello. Once in the money, half a dozen players including PokerStars Team Pro Jason Mercier, Dan Smith, Nick Petrangelo and Sylvain Loosli were eliminated in quick succession.
2014 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Felix Stephensen and PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier made the last three tables but hit the rail before the end of Level 19. The last casualty of the day was Vladimir Troyanovskiy after he got it in with a straight draw against Mikita Badziakouski only to see his opponent claim the pot with the higher straight draw. Meanwhile, Badziakouski lost a big pot to the aces of Pahuja to crown the latter as overnight chip leader.
Action resumes Saturday at 12.30 p.m. local time with level 20 at blinds 8,000-16,000 and a running ante of 2,000. The tournament will play down to a winner with redraws taking place at 16 and nine participants remaining. Everyone is already guaranteed €24,040 for their efforts while all eyes are set on the EPT High Roller trophy and first-place payout of €430,800. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to bring you all news from the tables, so make sure to tune in when the cards are back in the air.
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
Since the next redraw takes place at 16 players remaining, the 19 participants will keep their seat assignments for the restart tomorrow and come back with the following table constellations:
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | empty | - | |
| 1 | 2 | Mukul Pahuja | USA | 1,488,000 |
| 1 | 3 | empty | - | |
| 1 | 4 | Martin Finger | Germany | 506,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 258,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Ezequiel Kleinman | Argentina | 530,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Ukraine | 278,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 698,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Bryn Kenney | USA | 690,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 324,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Kevin MacPhee | USA | 332,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Senh Ung | UK | 393,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Roberto Romanello | UK | 316,000 |
| 2 | 6 | empty | - | |
| 2 | 7 | David Peters | USA | 216,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Leslie Packer | UK | 280,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Vladimir Dobrovolskiy | Russia | 1,389,000 |
| 3 | 2 | empty | - | |
| 3 | 3 | Patrick Uzan | France | 775,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Sean Winter | USA | 343,000 |
| 3 | 5 | [Removed:17] | New Zealand | 265,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | 262,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Byron Kaverman | USA | 1,147,000 |
| 3 | 8 | empty | - |
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,488,000
38,000
|
38,000 |
|
1,389,000
89,000
|
89,000 |
|
1,147,000
277,000
|
277,000 |
|
775,000
-35,000
|
-35,000 |
|
698,000
-12,000
|
-12,000 |
|
690,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
|
530,000
-110,000
|
-110,000 |
|
506,000
71,000
|
71,000 |
|
||
|
393,000
33,000
|
33,000 |
|
343,000
-102,000
|
-102,000 |
|
332,000
182,000
|
182,000 |
|
|
||
|
324,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
|
316,000
-54,000
|
-54,000 |
|
|
||
|
280,000
-50,000
|
-50,000 |
|
278,000
-102,000
|
-102,000 |
![Profile photo of [Removed:17]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
|
265,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
262,000
-58,000
|
-58,000 |
|
258,000
-67,000
|
-67,000 |
|
216,000
-24,000
|
-24,000 |
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
19 players are bagging up chips and Martin Finger won the last notable hand on his table. Igor Yaroshevskyy had defended his big blind against the raise of the German and also called a small continuation bet before the board read 
. Yaroshevskyy checked and Finger bet 63,000 for just more than half the pot.
Yaroshevskyy took his time before making the call and then shook his head when Finger flipped over his 
for a rivered pair of queens.
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
Mikita Badziakouski raised from the button and then called the three-bet of Mukul Pahuja from the small blind for 88,000. On the flop 
, Pahuja continued for 105,000 and was called before checking the 
on the turn. Badziakouski fired 80,000 and was called before both players checked down the 
river.
Pahuja flipped over 
and Badziakouski tapped the table in defeat.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,450,000
300,000
|
300,000 |
|
|
710,000
-260,000
|
-260,000 |
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
In a battle of the blinds with some 50,000 already in the pot and the board reading 
, Mikita Badziakouski checked to Vladimir Troyanovskiy.
Troyanovskiy bet 38,000, Badziakouski made it 108,000 with the check raise, and Troyanovskiy shipped it in for the 410,000 he had behind.
Suddenly there was close to one million chips in the pot and not a made hand among them, as Badziakouski made the call with 
, holding a bigger open-ended straight draw than Troyanovskiy and his 
.
The turn came the making Badziakouski's straight and while the 
river gave Troyanovskiy a straight as well, he walked away from the table cursing something in Russian on the way to collecting 20th-place money.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
970,000
220,000
|
220,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier moved all in for 69,000 from the cutoff and Patrick Uzan reshoved from one seat over on the button. In the big blind, [Removed:17] asked for a count and Uzan was asked to push forward one of his stacks for verification. The dealer was not done with that yet and Yan had already said "ok, ok, I see," and made the call with the biggest stack of the trio.
Grospellier: 
Uzan: 
Yan: 
The flop fell 
and Uzan's top set took an even bigger lead. The 
turn and 
river bricked and the PokerStars Team Pro departed in 21st place while Yan's stack plummeted.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
810,000
570,000
|
570,000 |
|
|
220,000
-310,000
|
-310,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
Patrick Uzan raised to 25,000 from under the gun and [Removed:17] called, Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier defended his big blind. On the flop 
, all three players checked. On the 
turn, ElkY check-folded to a bet worth 47,000 by Uzan while Yan called. The fell on the river and Uzan bet more than 80,000 for half his remaining stack to enforce a quick fold from Yan.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
360,000
120,000
|
120,000 |
|
|
70,000
-240,000
|
-240,000 |
|
|
||
Level 19
: 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante
Tournament staff just informed the players that this is the final level for tonight. Furthermore, since another redraw will take place with 16 players remaining, there won't be any additional redraw overnight in case very few more players are sent to the rail tonight still.