Main Event
Day 1a Started
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Sanremo
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Sanremo
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€3,865,450
Entries
797
Level
31
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000
Welcome to the European Poker Tour Sanremo, Day 1a
The second stop on this season's European Poker Tour sees us venture to the beautiful Italian town of Sanremo, situated on the Italian Riviera.
This is always one of the most popular stops on the tour due to the large field size, perceived value and great food on every street corner. It is also the platform where many a player has launched themselves on to the world scene. Team PokerStars Pros Jason Mercier and Liv Boeree come to mind.
Team PokerStars Pro will be out in force at this event with up to 30 expected to play. Most have decided to play day 1b but we know that Marcin Horecki, Ana Marquez and Mickey Petersen from Team Online have signed up for today.
Also playing today are the likes of Bryn Kenney, Mathew Frankland, John Eames, Friend of PokerStars Pierre Neuville, Sam Chartier and Shannon Shorr.
Play is due to get under way at 2:00 PM CET so join us back here then. While you're waiting study up on all the past winners of this event:
Former EPT Sanremo Champions
| Season | Date | Buy-In | # of Players | Prize Pool | Winner | Top Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | April 1-5, 2008 | €5,000 | 701 | €3,100,000 | Jason Mercier | €869,000 |
| 5 | April 18-23, 2009 | €5,300 | 1,178 | €5,713,300 | Constant Rijkenberg | €1,508,000 |
| 6 | April 15-21, 2010 | €5,300 | 1,240 | €6,014,000 | Liv Boeree | €1,250,000 |
| 7 | April 27-May 3, 2011 | €5,300 | 987 | €4,786,950 | Rupert Elder | €930,000 |
| 8 | October 21-27, 2011 | €4,900 | 837 | €3,734,694 | Andrey Pateychuk | €680,000 |
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal!
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
European Poker Tour President Edgar Stuchly has just given the welcome speech and the cards are in the air for the EPT Sanremo Main Event.
Players of Note
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Some More Notables in the Field
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Short Day for EPT Vienna Winner Eiler
It didn't take long for the first elimination of the day to occur, less than 15 minutes in fact. We caught the action in a blind-versus-blind battle after Thomas Gabriel had four-bet to 1,125 and Michael Eiler, who won the Season 7 EPT Vienna €5,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event in October 2010 for €700,000, five-bet to 2,825 from the big. Not to be outdone, the small blind six-bet to 7,125 and then snap-called when Eiler moved all in.
| Showdown |
Eiler:   |
Gabriel:   |
Given the action, it wasn't too surprising to see both players held big hands. Unfortunately for Eiler, he was on the bad end of it. The 
flop would provide no relief, and Eiler shook hands with Gabriel before exiting the tournament area.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Boatman Building
I ran into Barny Boatman sitting on a beach-front bench enjoying the view this lunchtime. Well, he was enjoying it as much as his back would allow him to. He injured it a few days ago after a gym session and it flared up even worse after his travels to Italy.
So far it seemingly hasn't hampered his play as much as he feared. We caught up with hand he was involved in that had made it to the river with 5,150 in the middle. The board read 
and Mario Puccini checked to face a 3,625 bet from the Brit.
After a good deal of thought the German released his hand and was told, "I guess you couldn't beat a set then?"
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
36,000 | 6,000 |
Another Early Bust
While most of the players don't like to put their tournament life on the line during the very first stages of the event, having pocket aces as one's starting hand doesn't leave him with much choice.
And that's exactly what happened in the hand played between Estonia's Igor Pihela and Lithuania's Gintaras Simaitis. The preflop action was unknown, but when we stumbled upon Table 11 it was Pihela versus Simaitis in an all-in battle.
Pihela: 
Simaitis: 
The board came down 
and Simaitis' aces stood strong. Pihela left the tournament room in despair while Simaitis piled up his chips with a smile.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Five-Bet Pot Sees Turn With Petersen and Charania
Yann Dion raised to 300 from the cutoff only to find PokerStars Team Online pro Mickey Petersen three-bet to 800 from the button. Mohsin Charania looked down at his cards in the small blind and flung out a four-bet to 2,125 and Dion got out of the way.
Petersen sat thinking for a moment before throwing out a five-bet to 3,800. Charania called and the flop came down 
. Charania checked and Petersen continued for 3,200. Charania called.
Fourth street was the 
and Charania checked a second time. Petersen cut out a bet of 5,800 and after a moment Charania flung away his cards. With this win Petersen is now sitting on a stack of about 36,100.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
36,100 | 6,100 |
|
|
24,600 | -5,400 |