Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Madrid
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Madrid
Buy-in
€5,000
Entries
477
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
10,000
Another Few Faces
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
We've ticked up to 294 players registered for this Day 1b flight, and more are coming.
My blogging mate MarcC just told you about the tough Table 21 (Table Toth/Jaka), so we'll tell you about Table 9 instead. In Seat 3 there is Michel Dattani, who finished second in the most recent WSOPE Six-Max PLO event. David Vamplew won an EPT title in London a couple seasons ago, and he's joined Dattani in the five seat. Just as we were watching, Caio Pimenta slid the nine seat out from under the table and plopped himself down in it.
As we scan through the room a third and fourth time, we spot another batch of faces, most of whom are expected additions to this field. Players like Juan Manuel Pastor and Leo Margets from right here in Spain, and EPT regulars like Nick Yunis and Dominic Nitsche. No surprises there.
One man sticks out as particularly notable in this field, a figure we didn't expect to see. Vincenzo Gianelli is a Venezuelan who mostly frequents PokerStars' sister tour, the LAPT. He finished as the runner-up in the Season 2 LAPT Vina del Mar, and just last month, he ran deep to 13th place in the Grand Final in São Paulo, Brazil. Gianelli is one of the most imposing figures in the room, towering over his table, but a one-sentence conversation with him is all it takes to find he's a truly gentle giant. We can't do much better than Brad Willis did telling his story, so have a read through this piece from Brazil if you want to know more about the man behind the turtle figurines.
This is Gianelli's first-ever EPT.
Royally Penalized
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Simon Ravnsbaek and Jason Duval were just involved in a pot that we didn't see much of, but the story that came from it is worth passing along to you. It comes courtesy of Neil Stoddart, who's trying to show us up by taking photos and recording hands.
In any event, Ravnsbaek was the one leading the betting on a paired board that contained 
. He had a made flush with 
, and Duval flatted his last bet on the river with a flush of his own. He knew his was better than Ravnsbaek's, but he didn't realize just how good it was. The 
appeared face-up on the felt, and when the table all reacted, Duval realized that he'd accidentally flatted with a Royal Flush!
The floor was called over, and Duval explained that he knew he had the nut flush, but he didn't realize it was the nuttiest of the nut flushes. The paired board mistakenly scared him off a raise, and he was apologetic as he explained his error. Intentional or not, that's a penalty, and Duval will have the next orbit off.
It was his first live Royal Flush, and it's come with a one-round penalty.
Local Heroes Off to a Bad Start
Leo Margets and Juan Macieras are stand out characters in the Spanish poker scene, but both have gotten off to bad starts.
Margets, the last lady standing at the 2009 WSOP, lost the two pots we saw her play. She was raised by Bichuch Oleksandr on a 
flop, and called before they both checked the 
turn and river through. Oleksandr opened 
and took the pot as Margets mucked.
A few moments later she opened from under the gun and was called in three spots before a 
flop came down. She continued and was only called by Mikhail Vladimirovich Alexandrov in the big blind. Both checked the turn to see the 
river where the Russian led for a pot-sized 2,100. Margets Folded.
In between these two hands Macerias, who came 5th at the Gran Final here last season for $467,532, was losing chips at the next table along. He tried a check-raise on 
flop and it managed to oust one player, but not Mikalai Pobal who had bet on the button. Both players checked the 
turn before the Spaniard check-snap-folded on the 
river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
28,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
||
|
26,000 | |
OK, Not KO-ed
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Oleksii Khoroshenin is not a happy man, but in his storming away from the table he's not realised that he is, in fact, still in the tournament.
He'd put all his chips in on the turn of a 
board with 
against Jose Costa's 
but failed to spike on the river. Khoroshenin hadn't bothered to stay for the countdown and assumed he was out, hastily making his exit. However the dealer had found out Khoroshenin still had 475 chips left and a couple of players attempted to shout out to him, but to no avail - it looks like he's going to blind out.
Chippies
We've ticked up to 315 players registered for Day 1b, and the window is open for another half hour or so. Here's a batch of chip counts from the far side of the room.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
45,000 | |
|
||
|
40,000 | |
|
|
||
|
39,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
39,000 | |
|
||
|
37,500 | |
|
37,000 | |
|
36,000 | |
|
34,900 | |
|
34,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
|
|
||
|
32,000 | |
|
30,900
900
|
900 |
|
||
|
30,300 | |
|
29,500
-500
|
-500 |
|
||
|
29,200
-800
|
-800 |
|
|
||
|
29,100 | |
|
|
||
|
28,800
-1,200
|
-1,200 |
|
|
||
|
28,500
-1,500
|
-1,500 |
|
28,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
|
||
|
27,700
-2,300
|
-2,300 |
|
|
||
|
27,500
-2,500
|
-2,500 |
|
|
||
|
27,400
-2,600
|
-2,600 |
|
27,300 | |
|
27,100
-7,700
|
-7,700 |
|
|
||
|
26,800
-3,200
|
-3,200 |
|
26,500 | |
Tacos For Lewis
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
EPT winner and baby-faced pop-pixie Toby Lewis just picked up a few thousand in chips. The action had gone four-ways to the flop with Lewis, button Simon Ravnsbaek and blinds Jonathan Concepcion Tacoronte and Manuel Bevand.
Tacoronte led out for 525 on the 
Bevand folded but both Lewis and Ravnsbaek made the call to see the 
turn. Tacoronte then fired 1,025 on the turn and again both the others made the call to see the 
on the river.
Tacoronte now checked and Lewis took up the aggression with a 2,625 bet, Ravnsbaek and Tacoronte folded fairly quickly and the Englishman picked up the pot without much fuss.
News in Brief
- Jake Cody has taken his seat and quickly went about raising an opponent off a hand. The turn was out and the board read . Pantazidis Anestis led for 2,300 and tank folded to Cody's 5,300 raise.
- Joep van den Bijgaart was involved in a four-way hand on a
flop. He bet 1,125 from the hijack when it was checked to him and Jose Severino was the only caller to the 2,626 turn. Van den Bijgaart fired again, for 2,625, and that was enough to force out to the man from Panama. - Just a bit of cold five-betting on table 8. Luis Garcia Martinez opened to 400, Jose Manuel Nadal Sordo three-bet to 1,025, Will Molson four-bet to 2,300, and Andrea Benelli five-bet to 6,400. The Italian took it down as all three raisers folded to him.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
37,000
2,100
|
2,100 |
|
34,000 | |
|
|
||
|
23,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
Levi-tating
Nicolas Levi was tanking on the river of a 
against a 6,200 bet from Nikolai Senninger with around 10,000 already in the pot. The Frenchman eventually declined to call and dropped to about 25,000 while his German opponent moved up to 35,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
25,000
3,700
|
3,700 |
Break Time
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Players are on their first break of the day.