In half an hour from now at 12.30 p.m. local time, the second and penultimate day of the 2016 PokerStars EPT12 Dublin €10,300 High Roller gets underway at the Royal Dublin Society.
So far, a field of 181 entries including 42 second bullets has been created and 80 players bagged up. However, new participants and those that busted on their first attempt can still enter the competition before the first card is dealt to take a shot at the juicy prize pool.
Leading the field thus far is Dominik Nitsche and the German has a more than solid track record during High Roller Events in this festival. He took down the €2,000 UKIPT High Roller for a payday of €156,160 in the morning and then jumped into the €10k Single-Day High Roller later on that day to finish second to Charlie Carrel for another €139,450. Carrel won't be any threat for him this time around, as the young Brit busted both bullets on Day 1. Same also applied for Andrew Chen, PokerStars Team Pro Andre Akkari and Ivan Luca as well.
Other big stacks include 10k Single-Day 4th place finisher Mark Radoja (280,000), Jerry Odeen (250,000), Sam Greenwood (248,300), Ben Heath (240,300), Felix Bleiker (212,000) and PokerStars Team Pro Jason Mercier (189,300).
Plenty of other big names of the international circuit are still in with a shot at glory on Irish soil and the action recommences with level 11 and blinds of 1,000-2,000 and a running ante of 300. New entrants will start with 25 big blinds and a maximum of ten 60-minute levels are scheduled or until the final table of the last eight is reached, whichever of the two comes first.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to cover the action until a winner is crowned on Saturday, so make sure to tune back in regularly.
David Vamplew was spotted all in not long ago to steal the blinds and antes and one orbit later he defended his big blind against a raise by Mark Radoja. The former EPT Main Event champion then shoved his short stack on the turn and Radoja snap-called without asking for a count.
Vamplew had the for bottom pair and a flush draw while Radoja's had made a set of jacks. The river was of no help for the Scot and he headed to the rail.
Mustapha Kanit is no longer in the €10,000 High Roller field. 'lasagnaaammm' as he is known online won't be adding this tournament to the €25,000 High Roller crown he won at the beginning of the festival.
Also joining him on the rail is Mohsin Charania's whose failed to improve against the of Andrew Lichtenberger on a board.
Dominik Nitsche opened to 7,000 from under the gun and Igor Kurganov then made it 41,000 out of the small blind before calling off his stack of around 180,000 to the shove of Nitsche.
Kurganov:
Nitsche:
The board ran out and the pair of nines held for Nitsche to send Kurganov to the rail.
Within two hands, the stack of Or Hadad went from well above average to zero. He first stacked Christoph Vogelsang for 78,200 on a flop of with versus when both the turn and river blanked.
Then, he got into a raising war with Sergey Lebedev. The Russian three-bet to 26,000 out of the big blind and Hadad squeezed to 78,000. Lebedev five-bet and Hadad jammed for more than 200,000 with the .
"You got aces?" he asked and Lebedev just nodded, flipping over . The board ran out and that sent Hadad to the rail.
Shyam Srinivasan has increased his stack further and Arne Coulier as well as William Arruda had already doubled. Then, Steve O'Dwyer opened to 12,000 and Mark Radoja three-bet to 37,000 from the small blind. Arruda clicked it to 75,000 out of the big blind with O'Dwyer quickly folding.
Radoja shoved and Arruda snapped him off.
Radoja:
Arruda:
The board ran out and the stacks were counted, Arruda had 274,500 and Radoja was covered to bust.
There will be no High Roller title this time for Steve O'Dwyer, as he shoved from the button into the of Arne Coulier in the big blind, and failed to improve.
Similarly Shyam Srinivasan is no longer in the field. He check-raised a flop of and Dominik Nitsche moved all-in. Srinivasan called and tabled , but Nitsche had outs to win holding . The turn was the and the on the river was a formality.
At the same time, three players busted on three different tables to reduce the field to 29 participants.
Ryan Riess had Andrew Lichtenberger at risk for what looked like 100,000 chips with the versus . The flop was kind of an overkill and the turn and river didn't matter much anymore.
Then Romain Lewis lost his last chips in a similar flip with against the of Sam Chartier. The board ran out .
Last but not least, Luuk Gieles three-bet all in for 115,000 out of the big blind. Initial raiser Jason Mercier tank-called after having opened to 12,500.
Gieles:
Mercier:
The roller coaster board reduced the field from 32 to 29 in a matter of one minute.
"What am I doing with 29 left?" Pierre Neuville said after having just been eliminated two spots off the money. The Belgian had three-bet jammed out of the big blind for what looked like 120,000. Initial raiser William Arruda called and it was a big flip once again.
Neuville:
Arruda:
The flop gave Arruda the nut straight and it was all over after the turn, making the river a formality. Only 28 players remain with the top 27 spots getting paid, the tables will now continue in hand for hand mode.
Vladas Tamasauskas bubbles EPT 12 Dublin €10,300 High Roller
With eight minutes left on the clock for the current level, a five-way limped pot would see the bubble burst. Jerry Odeen bet the flop for 15,000 and just Vladas Kamasauskas called from one seat over. The on the turn saw the Swede continue for 33,000 and again Tamasauskas called, slowly cutting out the call from his stack of T-1,000 chips.
On the river, Odeen wasted little time before announcing all in and Tamasauskas was sent into the think tank. He took a sip of his water, apologized for taking so long and stood up to study the board. Another minute passed and he ultimately announced the call.
Odeen turned over the and Tamasauskas was trying to muck his cards, declaring the defeat. The dealer turned over his cards since it was an all in showdown and the Lithuanian had called with the inferior to exit in 28th place on the stone cold bubble.
turn and Radoja snap-called without asking for a count.
for bottom pair and a flush draw while Radoja's 
had made a set of jacks. The 
river was of no help for the Scot and he headed to the rail.
failed to improve against the 
of Andrew Lichtenberger on a 
board.
and the pair of nines held for Nitsche to send Kurganov to the rail.
with 
when both the 
. The board ran out 
and the stacks were counted, Arruda had 274,500 and Radoja was covered to bust.
from the button into the 
and the 
on the river was a formality.
was kind of an overkill and the 
