We caught up to see three players see a flop of . There were two checks to Team PokerStars Pro Jose "Nacho" Barbero and he led out with a bet of 775 only to have Marco Tognelli raise to 2,500. Zachary Korik called the raise and Barbero stuck around as well.
The dropped down on the turn and Tognelli checked. Korik decided to fire out on this street, betting 5,100. Barbero flat called and Tognelli called as well.
The trio saw the complete the board and Tognelli checked again. Kork fired 8,550 and Barbero went into the tank for well over three minutes before folding. Tognelli called and showed for a set of three. Korik tabled for a set of tens and Barbero slammed his hand on the table.
"I folded a set of fours!" said Barbero, upset that Korik over-called on the flop to hit his ten on the turn.
Korik was able to scoop up this massive pot and is currently sitting on 53,000 in chips.
Candido Goncalves limped from under the gun and the player in the cutoff did the same. Elio Fox then called from the small blind, Andrey Danilyuk checked his option from the big, and it was four-way action to the flop. Fox was first to act and wasted little time in leading out for 1,325, Danilyuk called, and the other two players folded, which brought about the turn.
Fox, who won the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2011, kept the pressure on with a bet of 1,125, and this time it proved to be enough as Danilyuk folded.
The only ever EPT Kiev champion, Max Lykov, has gotten off to a profitable start despite losing a three-way pot towards the end of the second level of the day.
He was one of three players to see a flop and the action was checked to Sergey Baburin in late position who bet 1,000. Only Lykov called to the turn where he check-called a 2,200 bet. Both players checked the river and Baburin opened to beat out his fellow Russian Team PokerStars Pro who folded.
We got to the table to find Lex Veldhuis all in for his last 22,975 before the flop against an unknown opponent. Veldhuis' opponent was pondering a call.
"What do you have like ace-jack? Or are you just going to drill me with kings?" said Veldhuis to his opponent.
Eventually his opponent called and showed . Veldhuis tabled and the two were racing for Veldhuis' tournament life.
The board fell and Veldhuis was able to score a double up to about 48,000.
We saw McLean Karr in the hallway and asked how he was doing. "I'm out," he replied, "I got it in with the nuts."
Karr's tale of woe began when he raised to 350 from the hijack and the button three-bet to 900. The small blind flatted, Karr called the additional 550, and three players saw a flop of . The small blind was first to act and led out for 1,325, both Karr and the button called, and the hit the turn.
The small blind led out for a big pot-sized bet, and Karr responded by moving all in. The button got out of the way and the small blind snap-called.
Showdown
Karr:
Small Blind:
Karr had turned the nuts, but the small blind hit a set and could still win if the board paired. That's exactly what happened when the peeled off on the river. With that, Karr's EPT Sanremo Main Event came to an end in Level 2.
Chris Moneymaker raised pre-flop to 400 from the button and found a customer in Hungarian PokerStars qualifier Andras Nemeth.
The flop brought the and Nemeth lead for 600. Moneymaker called and the dealer opened the on the turn. This time Nemeth checked only to see Moneymaker bet 2,600. Nemeth made the call and saw the river bring the . He checked again and Moneymaker fired 5,575.
Nemeth tanked for a while before folding his hand and giving away the pot to the 2003 World Series of Poker champion.
The Day 1B field at EPT9 Sanremo has redefined star-studded. PokerStars Blog wanders the tournament room and checks out some of the
ludicrously tough tables at play this afternoon.