€10,300 High Roller
Day 2 Completed
€10,300 High Roller
Day 2 Completed
Day 2 of the 2016 PokerStars.com EPT13 Malta High Roller saw seven players enter the competition with a fresh stack of 50,000 to boost the overall field to 144 entries. A prize pool of €1,396,800 emerged with the top 20 spots to be paid at least €8,070 for their efforts and after 10 levels of 60 minutes each, the field was whittled down to the last eight hopefuls.
2015 November Niner and serial qualifier Pierre Neuville claimed the lead with 1,695,000 and the Belgian is joined by the likes of Cristian Egues (1,515,000), Liviu Ignat (1,012,000), Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen (982,000), Michael Kane (810,000), Stefan "mindgamer" Jedlicka (443,000), Charlie Carrel (410,000) and [Removed:172] (334,000).
With 80 players taking to the tables, the first two hours saw 31 of them run out of chips entirely, among them were Max Silver, Koray Aldemir, Pratyush Buddiga, Sam Greenwood, Benjamin Pollak and Adrian Mateos. Simon Mattsson lost a big flip with ace-king against the pocket queens of Armando Collado and Davidi Kitai followed in same fashion against Stephen Chidwick.
Ignat became a big stack after the double elimination of Steve O'Dwyer and Govert Metaal, while [Removed:17] couldn't hold up with nines against the ace-king of Ben Heath. Sebastian Veghinas made the right call with ace-king only to see Alexander Ivarsson get there with a gutshot.
Down to the last three tables, Frederik Jensen lost his short stack to Egues before Felix Stephensen ran with pocket tens into the pocket aces of Philipp Gruissem. Piotr Franczak's roller coaster ride ended two shy of the money and a huge move by Collado with bottom pair let the bubble burst, as Ivarsson called with top pair and the flush draw.
Once the final 20 were in the money, Gleb Tremzin, EPT12 Malta High Roller third-place finisher Mikalai Vaskaboinikau and Jyri Merivirta busted in quick succession. Heath lost a flip to Ivarsson and the Swede was the dominating chip leader when the last two tables were set.
Marcin Chmielewski ran with pocket eights into the pocket aces of Neuville and the ace-queen of Egues and had to settle for 16th place. A short-stacked Chidwick followed in 15th and the field was suddenly reduced to 12 when Farid Jattin and Ivarsson were knocked out by Jorgensen. Christophe Larquemin's pocket nines could not fade the flush draw and two over cards of Kramer and the Frenchman, who survived the bubble with less than three big blinds was gone in 12th place.
Another double elimination set the unofficial final table with 40 minutes left in level 20. Cate Hall three-bet all in with ace-queen, Egues reshoved with pocket eights and Gruissem called with ace-king only to see Egues flop a full house. The remainder of the level saw just one further player bust, Hari Bercovici ran with queens into kings. Neuville then claimed the lead after winning a big three-way hand against Egues and Jorgensen.
Seat Assignments for the Final Table
Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cristian Egues | Spain | 1,515,000 | 75 |
2 | Michael Kane | United Kingdom | 810,000 | 40 |
3 | Liviu Ignat | Romania | 1,012,000 | 50 |
4 | Theo Jorgensen | Denmark | 982,000 | 49 |
5 | Pierre Neuville | Belgium | 1,695,000 | 84 |
6 | Charlie Carrel | United Kingdom | 410,000 | 20 |
7 | [Removed:172] | Germany | 334,000 | 16 |
8 | Stefan Jedlicka | Austria | 443,000 | 22 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back at 12.30 p.m. local time when the action resumes in level 21 and blinds of 10,000-20,000 with a running ante of 3,000. Tune back in to find out who will lift the elusive High Roller trophy and claim the payday of €335,200.
An extensive recap of today's action will follow shortly. Below are the chip counts of the final eight players.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
1,695,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
![]() |
1,515,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
![]() |
1,012,000
43,000
|
43,000 |
![]() |
982,000
93,000
|
93,000 |
![]() |
810,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
![]() |
443,000
181,000
|
181,000 |
![]() |
410,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
334,000
56,000
|
56,000 |
Liviu Ignat raised to 35,000 from the button and Pierre Neuville three-bet to 80,000 in the big blind, which Ignat called.
On the flop, Neuville immediately bet 100,000 and Ignat folded with the words "it is your turn now" and a smile on the face.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
1,620,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
![]() |
1,055,000
135,000
|
135,000 |
Hand 1
[Removed:172] raised to 35,000 in the cutoff and Michael Kane called in the big blind. On the flop, Kane checked and folded to a continuation bet worth 41,000 by Kramer.
Hand 2
Charlie Carrel raised to 36,000 and Cristian Egues three-bet to 100,000 on the button to force a fold.
Hand 3
Carrel made it 36,000 to go and Theo Jorgensen called in the big blind. On the flop, Jorgensen checked and quickly folded to a bet of 40,000 by Carrel.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
1,440,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
![]() |
450,000
84,000
|
84,000 |
|
390,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
For the second hand in a row Theo Jorgensen opened the pot with a raise, this time for 32,000 from middle position. He received a call from both Pierre Neuville in the hijack and Cristian Egues out of the big blind.
Flop came down and prompted three checks, before the
was turned. Now Egues led for 60,000, Jorgensen quickly called and Neuville did as well.
The river was the , and now the action was checked to Neuville, who bet out 140,000. Egues took quite some time before calling, and back on Jorgensen he decided to raise it up to a cool half million.
After a minute or two Neuville declared call, and Egues quickly got out of the way to let the two "old timers" decide it by showdown.
Jorgensen:
Neuville:
Neuvilles trips was good enough to secure the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
1,520,000
820,000
|
820,000 |
![]() |
1,375,000
265,000
|
265,000 |
![]() |
1,075,000
735,000
|
735,000 |
Some players had already folded and the dealer warned Charlie Carrel to take the phone away from the table while he was still in and hand (and in the big blind). Action then folded to Pierre Neuville in the small blind and the Belgian simply open-shoved. Carrel peeked at his cards and called.
Charlie Carrel:
Pierre Neuville:
On the flop, Carrel hit a four but had to fade a huge combo draw in order to stay in the tournament. Indeed, the
turn and the
river bricked off and Carrel let out a "wow, did I just win?" in disbelief. The Brit doubled up for 175,000 and is no longer at the bottom of the counts.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
700,000
210,000
|
210,000 |
![]() |
366,000
181,000
|
181,000 |
Preflop [Removed:172] opened to 33,000 from early position and the action folded all the way around to Hari Bercovici in the big blind. he didn't waste any time putting his 130,000 over the betting line and Kramer called even faster.
Hari Bercovici:
[Removed:172]:
A big setup was looking to go Kramer's way, and the runout of didn't change a single thing about that. Bercovici shook his head and exited, while Kramer added the chips to his stack.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
|
415,000 | |
![]() |
Busted |
Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Cristian Egues | Spain | 1,640,000 |
2 | Michael Kane | United Kingdom | 845,000 |
3 | Liviu Ignat | Romania | 1,190,000 |
4 | Theo Jorgensen | Denmark | 1,810,000 |
5 | Hari Bercovici | Israel | 130,000 |
6 | Pierre Neuville | Belgium | 910,000 |
7 | Charlie Carrel | United Kingdom | 185,000 |
8 | [Removed:172] | Germany | 265,000 |
9 | Stefan Jedlicka | Austria | 262,000 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
1,810,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
![]() |
1,640,000
10,000
|
10,000 |
![]() |
1,190,000
110,000
|
110,000 |
![]() |
910,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
![]() |
845,000
85,000
|
85,000 |
|
265,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
![]() |
262,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
![]() |
185,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
![]() |
130,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
Philipp Gruissem raised to 36,000 only to see Cate Hall shove right behind him for 178,000. Folded around to Cristian Egues in the big blind, who thought for 30 seconds before announcing all-in.
"Wow, I have such a big hand. I can't wait anymore", Gruissem spoke mostly to himself before he committed his chips to the already massive pot.
Cate Hall:
Christian Egues:
Philipp Gruissem:
"Come on," Gruissem asked the dealer, but by that time the flop had already made it to the felt, and both Hall and Gruissem were drawing incredibly slim for the win.
The turn and river came and
, and Egues scooped the huge pot, eliminating two players in the process.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
![]() |
1,650,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
![]() |
Busted | |
![]() |
Busted |