2012 PokerStars.com EPT Sanremo

Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2012 PokerStars.com EPT Sanremo

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
q10
Prize
€744,910
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€3,865,450
Entries
797
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000

Main Event

Day 1a Completed

Islamay Tops the Pack of EPT Sanremo

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Day 1a of the 2012 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Sanremo Main Event has come to a close with the first flight running through eight 75-minute levels of play. It was a long day on the felt, but one that was filled with plenty of action. Front and center for much of the chip exchanging was Erion Islamay. He finished on 162,300 and has assumed the position of early chip leader.

The first starting flight peaked at 320 players, which meant for quite the crowded tournament space at Casino Sanremo. Scattered in amongst the tables were plenty of top pros including those representing the host PokerStars. Jonathan Duhamel and Marcin Horecki were two of the Team PokerStars Pros in action on Day 1a, but both of them failed to advance.

Duhamel fell to Walid Bou-Habib after losing a flip for his tournament life in the last level of the night. Duhamel was all in preflop with the {A-Hearts}{9-Hearts} and up against the {7-Spades}{7-Hearts} for Bou-Habib. The flop, turn and river of {8-Spades}{6-Clubs}{2-Spades}{K-Hearts}{8-Diamonds} kept Bou-Habib's sevens in the lead, and Duhamel was eliminated.

Not only was the end of the night cruel to Duhamel, but also Scott Seiver. His elimination was a bit more brutal than Duhamel's as Seiver got his money in on the {K-Hearts}{9-Diamonds}{7-Spades}{10-Hearts} board with the {K-Spades}{K-Clubs} versus his opponent's {A-Clubs}{J-Clubs}. All Seiver needed to do was dodge an eight or a queen in order to stay alive, but the {8-Clubs} smacked on the river and that was it.

Other notables eliminated throughout Day 1a were Shannon Shorr, Dominik Nitsche, Ilan Boujenah, Arnaud Mattern, Joao Barbosa, Mohsin Charania and Anton Wigg.

On the other side of the coin, Michael Ferrell (146,600), Matt Salsberg (135,200), Mustapha Kanit (120,600), David Peters (111,400) and Lorenzo Sabato (109,500) were a few of the notables to bag up bunches of chips. They'll be back for Day 2 on Sunday along with Team PokerStars Pros Victor Ramdin, Jude Ainsworth, Ana Marquez and Jason Mercier.

Under 200 players remained at the end of the day, but they've all made it to Sunday's Day 2. Tomorrow, Day 1b will take place with the action kicking off at 2:00 PM local time. PokerNews will see you back here then.

Tags: Erion Islamay

End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)

Player Chips Progress
Erion Islamay it
Erion Islamay
162,300 52,300
Michael Ferrell us
Michael Ferrell
146,600 18,600
Matt Salsberg ca
Matt Salsberg
135,200 35,200
Alberto Musini it
Alberto Musini
125,000 37,000
Inge Forsmo no
Inge Forsmo
123,700
Mustapha Kanit it
Mustapha Kanit
120,600 -27,400
Winamax Team Pro
David Vamplew gb
David Vamplew
119,300 -700
EPT 1X Winner
Brandon Barnes
Brandon Barnes
115,100
Ondrej Majercik
Ondrej Majercik
113,200
David Peters us
David Peters
111,400 16,400
Radoslaw Jacek Morawiec
Radoslaw Jacek Morawiec
109,700
Morten Mortensen dk
Morten Mortensen
107,500 21,500
Lorenzo Sabato it
Lorenzo Sabato
104,500 53,500
Adrian Piasecki pl
Adrian Piasecki
102,300
Marco Fantini it
Marco Fantini
99,200 22,200
Kyle Cheong au
Kyle Cheong
98,300 62,300
Jeffrey Rossiter au
Jeffrey Rossiter
98,000 64,000
Ludovic Lacay fr
Ludovic Lacay
97,600 45,600
EPT 1X Winner
Viliyan Petleshkov bg
Viliyan Petleshkov
95,500
Jason Lavallee ca
Jason Lavallee
95,100
Giuseppe Zarbo it
Giuseppe Zarbo
93,900 12,900
[Removed:2]
[Removed:2]
92,800 40,800
Andrea Furlanetto it
Andrea Furlanetto
92,800
Nadir Yusupov ru
Nadir Yusupov
92,100
Charly Maracchione it
Charly Maracchione
89,100 27,100

Read full

Done for the Night

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Play has ended for the night and the remaining bunch is now bagging and tagging their chips. A day's recap will be posted shortly.

Cheung's Out

Park yu Cheung opened with a 1,400 raise and was called by Carlo Savinelli. Dan O'Brien then three-bet to 4,000 from the button and Cheung went all in for a total of 28,500. Savinelli got out of the way and O'Brien made the call.

Showdown:
Cheung: {A-Spades} {Q-Diamonds}
O'Brien: {A-Clubs} {K-Spades}

Cheung's tournament life was at stake and his chances were not good. The board went {6-Diamonds} {5-Hearts} {K-Clubs} {5-Clubs} {6-Clubs} pairing O'Brien's king and eliminating Cheung from the tournament.

Player Chips Progress
Park yu Cheung hk
Park yu Cheung
Busted

Tags: Park yu CheungDan O'Brien

Frankenberger Busts Massa

We didn't catch the exact amounts, but a raising war on a {4-Spades}{7-Spades}{9-Clubs} flop resulted in Yannick Massa being all in for his last 20,000 and at risk against Andy Frankenberger, who had most of his stack committed.

Showdown
Frankenberger: {J-Diamonds}{9-Hearts}
Massa: {A-Spades}{2-Spades}

"That's what I thought," Frankeberger said upon seeing his opponent's hand. Madda was looking for either a spade or to pair his ace, but it wasn't in the cards as the {J-Clubs} appeared on the turn followed by the {4-Diamonds} on the river.

Player Chips Progress
Andy Frankenberger
Andy Frankenberger
61,000 16,000
Yannick Massa
Yannick Massa
Busted

Tags: Yannick MassaAndy Frankenberger

Short-Stack Battle

Sometimes to survive in this game you have to win those flips, especially against stacks of a similar size to your own.

Jose Carlos Garcia opened to 1,200 from early position and was called in two spots before Tomasz Cybulski took his chance and shoved for 9,800. Garcia quickly moved all in and that was enough to get it heads up.

Cybulski: {10-Spades}{10-Diamonds}
Garcia: {a-Diamonds}{q-Clubs}

The board ran {7-Hearts}{j-Clubs}{5-Clubs}{6-Hearts}{a-Spades} to save Cybulski on the river.

Player Chips Progress
Tomasz Cybulski pl
Tomasz Cybulski
22,000
Jose Carlos Garcia pl
Jose Carlos Garcia
7,000

Tags: Tomasz CybulskiJose Carlos Garcia

Czech-Over-Slovakia

It was a disappointing end of Day 1a of the EPT Sanremo Main Event for the Slovakian player Michal Zaborsky who was eliminated in the late stages of the day. Zaborsky pushed his entire stack in before the flop only to be called by the Czech Ory Weihs.

Both players were asked to show their hands and Zaborsky flipped over {A-Spades} {9-Clubs}. Weihs showed {K-Hearts} {K-} and had Zaborsky dominated. The Slovakian needed the board to pair his ace to survive as Weihs had him covered.

The board ran out {4-Hearts} {4-Diamonds} {3-Diamonds} {Q-Spades} {Q-Diamonds} giving Weihs two pair and nothing for Zaborsky. The Slovakian abandoned the tournament room leaving all of his chips in Weihs' hands.

Player Chips Progress
Michal Zaborsky
Michal Zaborsky
Busted

Tags: Michal ZaborskyOry Weihs

One for Marquez; Wheeler Gone

Ana Marquez
Ana Marquez

Andrei Stoenescu opened for 1,200 from early position and cleared the field all the way around to Team PokerStars Pro Ana Marquez in the big blind. She opted to defend and the both players checked the {J-Spades}{10-Diamonds}{8-Clubs} flop. When the {9-Diamonds} turned, Marquez check-called a bet of 1,350, and then she checked the {2-Clubs} river. Stoenescu obliged with a bet of 3,325, and that's when Marquez woke up with a check-raise to what sounded like 8,500. Whatever the amount, it was enough to take down the pot as Stoenescu snap-folded.

Meanwhile, Jason Wheeler has been eliminated from the tournament.

Player Chips Progress
Ana Marquez es
Ana Marquez
21,000 6,000
Jason Wheeler us
Jason Wheeler
Busted

Tags: Jason WheelerAna MarquezAndrei Stoenescu