Break Time #1
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After two long hours buried in the nuclear bunker of a casino, players are heading out for their first 15 minutes of sunshine today. We're going to follow them and attempt to snap them while they're smoking.
2010 PokerStars EPT Vilamoura
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 PokerStars EPT Vilamoura
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€1,862,400
Entries
384
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
5,000
Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Isn't It Nice Out?
Some players admittedly looked a bit dazed and like they weren't sure what that hot, bright thing in the sky was - but most of them seemed to be enjoying the experience.
Chip Counts as the Blinds Go From Very Small to Small
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
47,000
17,000
|
17,000 |
|
||
|
42,025
12,025
|
12,025 |
|
42,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
37,400
7,400
|
7,400 |
|
34,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
32,000
4,500
|
4,500 |
|
31,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
30,200
200
|
200 |
|
|
||
|
29,500
-500
|
-500 |
|
28,500
-5,000
|
-5,000 |
|
|
28,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
27,800
-2,200
|
-2,200 |
|
|
||
|
26,800
-3,200
|
-3,200 |
|
25,650
-4,350
|
-4,350 |
|
20,000
-6,200
|
-6,200 |
|
|
||
|
|
20,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
19,650
-10,350
|
-10,350 |
|
|
||
Minieri Doubles Up
Jan Petersen opened preflop to 500 and received one caller before Dario Minieri squeezed to 2,000. Petersen called and the third player folded.
The flop was 
and it was checked to the diminutive Italian who bet 3,100 only to find Petersen check-raising to 7,625. Minieri slid his whole stack of yellow 5k chips into the middle and Petersen sighed saying, "It's the worst call ever..." before calling with 
. Minieri turned over 
and the 
turn and 
rivered sealed a big pot for Minieri who now sits with 65,000.
Petersen though wins a chance to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather as he's now out.
"Who Took My Chips?"
Such was the lament, broadcast at full though polite-toned volume by Liam Flood as he returned from the break to find his seat no longer had chips in front of it. He repeated his query more and more loudly, while his table seemed prepared to carry on without him (with apologetic looks from the dealer).
"Who took my chips?!"
Silence.
"I want some chips!"
Silence.
"Hello Antonio!" (Sidetracked by spotting Esfandiari)
"Hello - how are you?"
"I'm good, except I've got no chips. Can you give me some?"
"I don't have any to spare."
At this point Thomas Kremser located his stack which had been moved mistakenly during the break when the first table of the day was broken and the players scattered to fill in the odd empty seat.
Footballer With A Goal
Diogo Veiga opened to 525, Team PokerStars Pro Henrique Pinho made the call, as did Ludovic Lacay but then Teddy Sheringham raised to 2,300 pushing them all out of the pot as he consolidated his stack of about 25,000.
Sheringham is a former international footballer and part of the incredibly successful Manchester United team that have dominated English football for the last fifteen years. Sheringham is now switching his attention to the poker table and a 14th place finish in the WSOPE main event last year in what was ostensibly a very tough, pro heavy tournament. Sheringham has also cashed in the EPT last year in both London and Monte Carlo so clearly he can't be seen as just another 'celebrity' player.
In football, he was a solid dependable forward creating almost as many goals as he scored. Hopefully we'll discover a little bit more about his poker playing style as the day progresses.
Level: 4
Blinds: 150/300
Ante: 0
Italian Madness
Fabrizio Ascari opened for 1,000 under the gun. There was a reraise and a call behind him before he called, and then checked the 
flop. The reraiser checked behind, and the gent who'd called on the button preflop took the pot with a 2,500 bet.
Granted, as hands go, even Day 1 hands, this was not particularly newsworthy - but for the fact that Ascari is in possession of over 60,000 in chips and is therefore currently among our chip leaders.
We spoke to tablemate James "Flushy" Dempsey during the break, who told us a little about sharing a table with Ascari. "Every table has one," he said, "but this guy actually volunteered it - he said 'I am the mad Italian' so I didn't need to wait five minutes to figure it out."
Csomos Nought (Mattern 37k)
Arnaud Mattern has doubled up after losing almost half his stack in the first two levels, in the process taking out the only player shorter than him on his table. I only saw the glint of cards on their backs and Krisztian Csomos standing up in a permanent sort of way - his 
his final hand against Mattern's 
. The Ace on the flop may have been a catalyst for this pot to grow to 30k, but however the stacks went in, they came out again as one big stack in front of the French Team Pokerstars Pro.