Denisov Still in Control After EPT Sochi Main Event Day 2
Of the 305 players who started the day, 100 were still standing at the end and it was Aleksandr Denisov, overall chip leader coming into Day 2, who fought off the competition to bag biggest once again. Though he lost his lead during the day, he chipped up well in the run up to the bubble and was the only player to make it to seven figures, finishing on 1,017,000 in chips.
Hot on his heels are Mikhail Aleksandrov (942,000), Vadim Baranov (865,000), Dmitry Yurasov (658,000) and Aleksandr Sheshukov (657,000), who make up the remaining top five finishers. There are also many experienced players still in the field. Sergey Chantsev (645,000), Maksim Pisarenko (547,000), Ezequiel Waigel (519,000), Viktor Ustimov (505,000) are all chipped up. Anatolii Zyrin (294,000), Matous Houzvicek (276,000) are also still in the running, as well as reigning Champion Arseniy Karmatskiy (78,000).
Near the end of Level 15, it was Klaus Haunschmidt who finished as the unfortunate bubble boy. He was down to the wire when he decided to get it in with pocket-nines and despite having the best hand vs two opponents, his hand was no good by the river. A special mention goes to Artur Martirosyan for managing to survive with just one chip. Though he failed to spin up once the money was reached, he will take home a min cash of ₽364,000 (~$5,600).
There were many notables who failed to progress to Day 3. Team PokerStars Pro Online Mikhail Shalamov managed to survive the bubble despite being one of the shortest stacks in the field but exited shortly after. In the final hand of the night, Shalamov got the last of his chips in with ace-jack but found he was up against Denisov’s ace-queen. The chip leader held and Shalamov takes home a mincash for his efforts.
Team PokerStars Pro and PSPC Champion Ramon Colillas also crashed out after losing a flip with pocket eights against Mark Zhang’s ace-queen suited. Some of the other notable casualties included Leonid Bilokur, Konstantin Puchkov, Maksim Panyak, Kiryl Radzivonau, Gor Kazaryan, Wenling Gao, Yaniv Peretz, Yang Wang, Yury Masliankou, Jia Tang, Vitaliy Avanesyan, Vladimir Drokin, Aram Sargsyan and Tomas Fionn Macnamara.
Tomorrow the 100 remaining players will return at midday to Casino Sochi, where they will continue their campaign to take home the title, the trophy and the all-important ₽27,475,000 ($426,606) top prize.
Join PokerNews then to keep on top of all the action as it unfolds, with live coverage throughout the day.