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Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Berlin
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Berlin
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€3,725,000
Total Entries
745
Level
33
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000
Players Left 1 / 745
Filter
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
A total of 243 players started the €5,300 EPT Berlin Main Event this afternoon but now that 10 one-hour levels have been completed only 110 of them remain. The man who leads the way at the end of Day 1a is the Russian pro Vladimir Geshkenbein.
Geshkenbein did not get off to the best of starts and quickly found himself down to 15,000 chips but he rallied well and ran even better to fly up the chip counts. As was the case when he won EPT Snowfest last year, Geshkenbein spent most of the day drinking vodka and bitter lemon all under the watchful eye of his toy monkey mascot. Both seemed to bring him plenty of luck and he is now a serious force to be reckoned with here in the German capital.
Challenging Geshkenbein for the chip lead were the likes of Jens Weigel and Sam Chartier but neither could quite match the stack of the Russian though they will certainly not be disappointed with how their respective days went.
Neither will most of the army of Team PokerStars Pros who made it through to Wednesday's Day 2. Those flying the PokerStars flag were Barry Greenstein, Theo Jorgensen, Vanessa Selbst, Angel Guillen, Martin Stazsko, Jan Heitmann, Henrique Pinho and Pierre Neuville. Only Stazsko failed to make it through.
Day 1b kicks off at noon Tuesday and will continue until 10 one-hour levels have been completed. We are expecting a total field of around 700 which will mean that we have to take advantage of the Spielbank Casino just a few yards away from the luxurious Hyatt Hotel.
Join us then for all the action, as it happens, from the EPT Berlin Main Event.
For now, if you played today and have some free time tomorrow, then here is Lynn Gilmartin's user guide on exploring Berlin.
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
The players are all done with the day and are bagging and tagging. We'll have a recap of the day coming shortly. Stay tuned.
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
The clock has been paused and the tournament staff has announced that the players will play five more hands today.
Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst raised to 2,000. Anton Wigg three-bet to 4,700 and Selbst made the call.
The flop came down 
and Selbst check-called a bet of 3,800. The turn brought the 
and Selbst checked again. Wigg fired 11,700 and Selbst gave it up.
From middle position, one of the larger stacks in the room, Jens Weigel, raised to 2,000. Another larger stack, Sam Chartier, three-bet to 5,800 from the small blind. Weigel called and the flop came down 
. Chartier continued his aggression and bet 6,200. Weigel called.
The turn card was the 
and Chartier didn't slow down. He tossed out a bet of 17,500, but Weigel wasn't scared off just yet. He called to see the pair the board on the river. After a little bit of thought, Chartier checked. Weigel checked behind.
"Sh*t," said Chartier, describing his holding. Weigel then tabled the 
for sixes and deuces and Chartier mucked his hand.
Sometimes known as the hardest hand to play in poker, pocket jacks can be your friend or your enemy. Martin Quack kind of likes them right now, Dennis Bejedal kind of hates them.
Bejedal was very unfortunate as he found them in the big blind when Demushkin Vasiliy found aces on the button. That was that for him.
Quack, meanwhile, used them to eliminate Ludovic Lacay. The Frenchman open shipped for 16,200 with pocket sixes. Quack was is the next seat and three-bet all-in to isolate. Everyone else folded and Quack's jacks took care of business.
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
From under the gun, Anton Wigg raised to 2,200. Olivier Busquet called from the next seat and then Vanessa Selbst called from the big blind. The three players saw the flop come down 
and action checked to Busquet. He bet 2,500 and won the pot.
Level 10
: 500/1,000, 100 ante
Walking around the room, there are far less tables than what once began today. With the consolidation of tables, a bunch of notable players have ended up at what is referred to as the "secondary feature table." In the first four seats you have, in order, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst, Anton Wigg, Olivier Busquet and Ilan Boujenah. Then, in seat eight you have another Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen and in seat nine sits Scott Baumstein. If this table isn't stacked, we don't know what it.
