With the flop reading , Matt Salsberg checked to Lorenzo Sabato who fired 37,000 from the button. Salsberg slid out a check-raise to 107,000 and Sabato stuck around.
The turn paired the board with the and both players checked to see the come on fifth street. Salsberg tapped the table once more and Sabato moved 113,000 into the middle. Salsberg took off his headphones and looked distressed.
"That was the worst f-ing turn card," Salsberg said.
He mulled over the decision for well over a minute before finally dropped in a call. Sabato showed for a busted straight draw and Salsberg showed , which was enough to take down the pot. Salsberg is now just shy of 800,000 in chips.
The bad day for former British EPT winners has continued with David Vamplew's exit. He fell to Jason Tompkins in a huge flip.
The Irishman opened to 17,000 from under the gun before Vamplew three-bet to 40,000 from the button. The blinds folded but Tompkins had other thoughts and four-bet to 116,000. Vamplew looked a little pained, his neck flushed; maybe with the anticipation of what was about to happen. He shoved for 463,000 and was called by Tompkins after he checked his cards one last time.
We're not sure of the preflop betting, but we do know that Morten Mortensen got his stack of 157,000 all in preflop and was at risk against Erik Olofsson.
Showdown
Olofsson:
Mortensen:
It was another flip, something we've seen on numerous occasions already in the first hour of play, and Mortensen was looking to dodge big cards. Wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what he did as the board ran out .
Just after giving away a bunch of his chips to Francesco Lorenzini, Mike Watson took some back from his countryman Guillaume Rivet. Watson shoved his remaining stack of 50,000 in before the flop, and Rivet called.
Watson:
Rivet:
Watson needed help , which he instantly received as the flop came to pair his ace. The came on the turn as well as did the on the river, and Watson doubled up with two pair, aces and eights.
The PokerNews blog may only be focusing on the Main Event here at the 2012 PokerStars.com EPT Sanremo, but that doesn't mean great things are happening elsewhere.
For the past two days, the €2,000 No-Limit Hold'em side event has been running with Day 1a and 1b. The event held a re-entry format for the two starting days, and a field of 450 entries was generated. That has created a very hefty prize pool of nearly €900,000 worth fighting for. Of that, €210,000 will go to the winner.
Returning for today's Day 2 are 216 runners, and Greece's Sofianos Vergitsis leads the pack with 145,500 in chips. Here's a look at the top 10 chip counts:
Place
Player
Chips
1
Sofianos Vergitsis
145,500
2
Ognjen Sekularac
132,300
3
Ronny Kaiser
126,500
4
Leo Margets
124,300
5
Chris Sly
109,100
6
Dylan Linde
105,000
7
Nikolay Tyurin
97,600
8
Sergey Baburin
96,200
9
Melanie Weisner
94,800
10
Andrey Gulyy
92,900
Other notables returning to action are Team PokerStars Pros Angel Guillen (50,000), Ana Marquez (45,400), Johnny Lodden (38,000), Richard Toth (34,700), Max Lykov (22,800), Max Martinez (22,300), Eugene Katchalov (21,400), Jose "Nacho" Barbero (17,500), Alex Kravchenko (17,400), Victor Ramdin (12,000) and Jonathan Duhamel (9,100). Team Online's Mickey Petersen (17,100) will also be returning for Day 2.
The top 48 places are set to be paid with the players returning for Day 2 at 3:00 PM local time here in Sanremo.
On one side of the room we found short stacked Andrea Furlanetto moved all in for his last 59,000 from under the gun. It folded around to Lauren Polito who called from the small blind only to find that he was crushed.
Polito:
Furlanetto:
The board fell and Furlanetto was able to score a double up to about 135,000.
Simultaneously on the other side of the room, Mauro Mancin got all of his chips in before the flop against Thomas Gabriel Mancin's was racing with Gabriel's .
The flop was safe for Gabriel, as it came , but the on the turn paired Mancin, thrusting him way out into the lead. The rivered and sealed the deal for Mancin's double up to about 265,000. Gabriel, on the other hand, has fallen to about 160,000.
We're not sure when the money went in, but we watched Francesco Lorenzini having his stack counted down so that he could be paid off by Mike Watson. The former held on a board, while the latter had laid out in front of him.
Watson looked thoroughly displeased, and with good reason as he was left with just 50,000.
Alexander Zayont was in small blind and tossed in another 4,000 to call the big blind. Morten Mortensen on his immediate left checked his option in the big blind. The dealer flipped out on the flop, and Zayont bet 10,000. Mortensen called, and the two saw the come on the turn.
Zayont checked, and Mortensen bet 44,000. Zayont made the call, and the dealer opened the on the fifth street. Zayont checked again, and Mortensen put in another 39,000. Zayont wasn't willing and folded.
As soon as the hand was finished, all players gathered their chips and were reseated to the remaining eight tables.
We just lost one of the more recognizable names in the field just now as Imed Mahmoud sent Roberto Romanello to the rail.
It happened when action folded around to Romanello in the cutoff and he moved all in. Imed Mahmoud made the call from the small blind, and after the big folded, Romanello said, "I'm not slow rolling, I only looked at one." He then flashed the and indicated he wanted Mahmoud to show. The latter was having none of it and refused to show his hand.
After some prompting from the floor, Romanello squeezed out his other card, the , and then Mahmoud tabled . It was a flip.
The flop wasn't particularly interesting, and neither was the turn as no player held a spade. The dealer burned one final time and put down the , the last card Romanello would see in the EPT9 Sanremo Main Event.
button in Safari
, Matt Salsberg checked to Lorenzo Sabato who fired 37,000 from the button. Salsberg slid out a check-raise to 107,000 and Sabato stuck around.
and both players checked to see the 
come on fifth street. Salsberg tapped the table once more and Sabato moved 113,000 into the middle. Salsberg took off his headphones and looked distressed.
for a busted straight draw and Salsberg showed 
, which was enough to take down the pot. Salsberg is now just shy of 800,000 in chips.
to make Tompkins a flush.
to pair his ace. The 
, but the 
on the turn paired Mancin, thrusting him way out into the lead. The 
board, while the latter had 
come on the turn.
on the fifth street. Zayont checked again, and Mortensen put in another 39,000. Zayont wasn't willing and folded.
. It was a flip.
