Day 2 Concludes; Welcome to the Brandon Cantu Show
The six-handed portion of the €10,450 Mixed Max - No-Limit Hold'em event has come to an end. A total of 52 players returned today from a starting field of 96. Now only 16 remain which means that winning four heads up matches will secure a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet. Brandon Cantu emerged as the clear chip leader by holding over 25% of the total chips in play by the end of the night.
Cantu ran incredibly hot all day and began his hot streak during a massive preflop three-way all in where two players were coolered. Cantu held pocket aces and managed to eliminate Ognjen Sekularac who held pocket kings and Andy Frankenberger who held pocket queens. Cantu continued his domination throughout the day, even after Phil Hellmuth was moved next to him. Hellmuth and Cantu went to war throughout the evening and were seemingly constantly bickering as play went on. Hellmuth vowed revenge on Cantu and he will get that chance as the two will play heads up together in Round 1. Hellmuth will have his work cut out for him as he is sporting a stack of 127,400 to Cantu's 738,100
Jennifer Tilly began play today as the chip leader and she has indeed progressed onto the heads up portion of this tournament. Tilly held her spot among the leaders in the tournament until the last few levels of play. Tilly lost several chips to recent World Series of Poker Europe bracelet winner Roger Hairabedian during the hand-for-hand portion of the evening. Despite the rocky patch at the evening's end, Tilly will be moving on to Day 3 with a stack of 163,300.
The day began with some interesting table draws that promised for heavy action early and these tables did not disappoint. Within the first twenty minutes of play both Phil Ivey and Antonio Esfandiari were sent to the rail by the hands of Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi. Mizrachi, who is the reigning champion of this event, will not be repeating his victory as he was also eliminated before play ended for the evening. Other players to leave empty handed today include: Justin Bonomo, Roberto Romanello, John Juanda, Brian Park, JC Alvarado, Chance Kornuth, and Jonathan Duhamel.
Players were finding the rail at a rapid pace up until the bubble hit. Hand-for-hand play lasted for several hours and everyone was anxiously awaiting the last person to be eliminated. Finally, Mori Eskandani fell by the hand of Marvin Rettenmaier, and each of the 16 remaining players were guaranteed a payday of at least €20,443.
After a random seeding, the heads up bracket is as follows:
| Match | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Tedeschi | 278,600 |
| vs. | ||
| Roger Hairabedian | 225,600 | |
| 2 | Kristijonas Andrulis | 142,000 |
| vs. | ||
| Mike Watson | 50,700 | |
| 3 | Martin Jacobson | 164,900 |
| vs. | ||
| Joe Keuther | 37,100 | |
| 4 | Brandon Cantu | 738,100 |
| vs. | ||
| Phil Hellmuth | 127,400 | |
| 5 | Faraz Jaka | 258,100 |
| vs. | ||
| Vladimir Troyanovskiy | 66,300 | |
| 6 | Konstantin Puchkov | 183,700 |
| vs. | ||
| Bertrand Grospellier | 18,000 | |
| 7 | Jennifer Tilly | 163,300 |
| vs. | ||
| Marvin Rettenmaier | 191,100 | |
| 8 | Jason Mercier | 16,800 |
| vs. | ||
| Jonathan Aguiar | 212,200 |
We will play two matches tomorrow which will leave us with the top four players. Be sure to tune at 2:00 PM CET for all of the heads up updates!
rainbow flop. Call.
was behind to Tilly's 
. Tilly made trips as the turn came 
to see Cantu scoop the lot. That put him up to 340,000 chips!
while Puchkov held 
.
and Puchkov's kings were able to hold.
but Mizrachi took the lead when the 
completed the board on fifth street and Esfandiari was forced to the rail.
