€5,250 Championship Main Event Day 2 | 2008 PokerStars.com EPT - Prague

12-11-2008 00:01 UTC+2

Christer Johansson Leads Day Two

[user4144]

As the 177 survivors of the two starting days are pooled together, it is former WPT winner Christer Johansson who leads the way, his 108,000 strong stack making him the only player to have broken that magic century mark.

Breathing down his neck are Manuel Bevand (97,200), Alessio Isaia (95,300) and Ludovic Lacay (94,200), whilst recent bracelet winner and serial EPT finalist Dario Minieri is still in the running with 64,400.

Other notable names to have made it through to Day Two include:

Joris Jaspers -- 63,700
Sebastian Ruthenberg -- 54,000
Soren Kongsgaard -- 45,700
Joao Barbosa -- 45,400
Mats Iremark -- 42,500
Johnny Lodden -- 34,800
Juha Helppi -- 32,100
Chris Moorman -- 23,300
Noah Boeken -- 16,300

Play recommences at 12pm (Czech time) and should be packed with more action than a Die Hard boxset, so make sure you join us tomorrow afternoon as we continue to whittle the field down.

Tags: Christer Johansson

12-11-2008 12:58 UTC+2

Neighbours, Everybody Needs Good Neighbours...

[user76023]

The table draw has been made and there's some interesting players stuck next to each other. Dario Minieri finds himself sitting to the right of Chris Moorman, while former EPT winners Joseph Mouawad and Joao Barbosa are also sitting together.

The two chip leaders from Day 1A and 1B, Ludovic Lacay and Christer Johansson can be found together on table 6. No doubt someone will leave that table with a very big stack...

Level: 9

Blinds: 400/800

Ante: 100

12-11-2008 13:23 UTC+2

Hectic Start

[user4144]

As expected, it's been a rapid start with all the short-stacks pushing early doors and many being picked off by some of the bigger stacks. We've already had around 10 players depart, but the first man it would seem to have hit the deck was Laurence Houghton, who was indeed one of those aforementioned short stacks.

By the way, I avoided using the pun 'Laurence of Failure' anywhere in this post to protect my readers' eyes from bleeding. Oops, sorry.

Tags: Laurence Houghton

12-11-2008 13:25 UTC+2

Fast and Furious

[user76023]

Donald Markwardt and Geir Berge Torsvik made very quick exits here on Day 2, while Stefan Wittmoss got all-in preflop with {J-Clubs}

against

. I didn't see whose Aces they belonged to, but Ian Nelson was shaking his head after a 10,000 pot was handed to the Swede, who looked to be leaving the table until the river of a {Q-Diamonds}

board.

12-11-2008 13:26 UTC+2

Brolin Shown the Red Card

[user4144]

Following Houghton back down the entrance tunnel was former Swedish International footballer Tomas Brolin. With a raise and a reraise before him, he decided to gamble from the big blind with A-Q, but came unstuck against the reraiser's A-K. No further assistance, and he was joining the bloggers in the dug-out.

Tags: Tomas Brolin

12-11-2008 13:29 UTC+2

Czechmates

[user76023]

Pavel Blatny raises from the button and compatriot Martin Prusa reraises all-in next to him. Blatny thinks for so long that I see the first clock called of the tournament but Blatny eventually folds, showing {A-Clubs}

. "You show?" he says to Prusa, the latter teasing him before refusing to show or say anything. "Good bluff then," continues Blatny sounding as though he was rueing his decision.

12-11-2008 13:29 UTC+2

Kollmann Doubles Through

[user4144]

Although we've witnessed multiple early exits, there were a couple of welcome double ups. The first involved start of the day chip leader Christer Johansson. He'd mucked his hand before I'd arrived, but I was able to spot Erich Kollman increasing his stack two-fold with {A-Hearts}

on a

board. He now has around 75,000.

Tags: Christer Johansson Erich Kollmann

12-11-2008 13:37 UTC+2

Dario's Foes

[user76023]

Dario Minieri's aggression is being thrown back at him, but he's refusing to slow down. After being check-raised off a couple of pots, he saw a {8-Diamonds}

flop against Charbel Salloum. Dario bet 2,900 and was raised to 9,000. Minieri then moved in and got out of his chair expectantly as Salloum began stacking his chips as though he was going to call. At the same time he mucked his hand and Minieri showed one card, {7-Diamonds}

as he raked in another pot.

Tags: Dario Minieri

12-11-2008 13:40 UTC+2

"Prossimo al Papá!"

[user4144]

You wouldn't have thought poker could be educational or academic in any way, but when there are so many different nationalities represented, it's only a matter of time before you extend your linguistic vocabulary. In that sense, I now know that 'Prossimo al papá' means 'Come to daddy!' after it was exclaimed by an ecstatic Massimiliano Patroncini of Italy.

All in for several thousand in the big blind, Patroncini found himself up against two players in Nikolaos Panopoulos (cut-off) and Sorin Posa (small blind), with a pot of 20,000 created on the side.

On the {2-Spades}

flop, Panopoulos' hand began quivering slightly as he made a very suspicious bet of 6,000. Posa must have picked up on something, as he made the fold allowing Panopoulos to show {2-Clubs}

for a flopped set. Patroncini could only muster {4-Clubs}

.

A

on the turn led to Italian celebrations, however, as Patroncini punched the air in delight, the final {J-Clubs}

on the river led to him shouting, "Prossimo al Papá". I was originally unaware that there was any relation between Panopoulos and Patroncini, but nevertheless it was sad to see him so competitive towards his sibling... who actually seemed to be a little older!