The action folded around to Demosthenes Kiriopoulos on the button who raised it up. Krasimir Yankov shoved all in from the small blind and Kiriopoulos called off his stack for around 70,000 chips.
Demosthenes Kiriopulos:
Krasimir Yankov:
It was a classic flip and the flop of had plenty of sweaty options still to be determined. However, it was the on the turn that all but sealed the double up for Kiriopoulos as the on the river also improved him to a flush.
On the next hand, Kiriopoulos raised to 6,000 and Yankov went all in for his remaining 8,000 which got a quick call from the Canadian. Kiriopoulos held against the of Yankov.
The board ran out for Kiriopoulos to make another flush and Yankov was eliminated just shy of the money.
Harpreet Gill open-jammed for 79,500 on the button and was called by Guillaume Diaz in the small blind.
Harpreet Gill:
Guillaume Diaz:
The flop left Gill, who was filming the showdown with his smartphone, on very thin ice. He needed running tens but it was all over on the turn and river.
However, there was another all-in and call at the same time on a different table while the tournament was not in hand-for-hand mode yet. It was Danny Pyke who was all-in from the cutoff for what appeared to be 140,000 and he was looked up by Ariel Sebban in the big blind.
Danny Pyke:
Ariel Sebban:
The board delivered no help to Pyke and the money bubble burst with 51 seconds left on the clock. They will now break a table, play one more hand and then go on dinner break.
Zhong Chen raised it up from under the gun and Matas Cimbolas shipped all in for around 50,000 in the hijack. The action folded back to Chen who quickly made the call.
Matas Cimbolas:
Zhong Chen:
The flop came and Chen flopped a straight to take a big lead. The on the turn and the on the river provided no help to Cimbolas who headed for the exit.
The ace-queen of Leo Margets were already mucked as she sent her chips over to Simone Andrian. In a flip, Andrian's had prevailed on a board of board with a set to send Margets to the rail.
One hand later, Davidi Kitai jammed a short stack and was looked up by Shakhabiddin Muradov.
Davidi Kitai:
Shakhabiddin Muradov:
The board left Kitai drawing dead on the turn already as Team Winamax lost two Team Pros in a row.
The action started with a raise to 8,000 by Jonas Lauck from under the gun and Christoph Vogelsang called. Shakhabiddin Muradov moved all-in for 58,000 in the small blind and Lauck asked for a count before moving all-in over the top.
"Can I please get an exact count on this?" Vogelsang immediately inquired. The jam by Lauck was for 221,000 total, which was just short of what Vogelsang had at his disposal. Some two minutes passed before Vogelsang called.
Shakhabiddin Muradov:
Jonas Lauck:
Christoph Vogelsang:
"That's not good," Lauck sighed as he needed to catch some help to not be left empty-handed. That help came with the flop and he stayed ahead of Vogelsang on the turn and river.
Muradov tripled up while Vogelsang was left with around 21,000, which vanished a few minutes later.
Ana Marquez and Marco Regonaschi were heads-up in a three-bet pot with the board reading . Marquez started with a check and Regonaschi shoved all in, into a pot of around 100,000. Marquez instantly called off her stack of 82,000 and tabled her hand.
Ana Marquez:
Marco Regonaschi:
Despite turning a flush, Regonaschi was already drawing dead to the full house of Marquez. The on the river was insignificant and Marquez doubled up to nearly the average stack. Keep in mind, Marquez was down to just 18,000, or five big blinds during the money bubble.
Just over 100 players remain in contention and there were two all-in showdowns in quick succession over on table eleven. David Comeron was felted by Ana Marquez and soon after, Nicolas Vayssieres ended up at risk for 135,000 before the flop against Marco Regonaschi.
Nicolas Vayssieres:
Marco Regonaschi:
The dominated pair found no help on the board and that spelled the end for Vayssieres.
Eric Sfez raised and Pierre Calamusa then three-bet. Lucas Sfez four-bet jammed and his father folded while Calamusa eventually called it off to create the following coin flip.
Pierre Calamusa:
Lucas Sfez:
The flop gave Sfez trips kings and he retained his lead throughout the turn and river.
It was an action-packed day in the €5,300 Main Event at the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino with over 12 hours of poker being played. Over the course of six and a half levels, the field was dwindled down from 332 players to just 85 by the time chips went into the bag.
Leading the way is none other than Niall Farrell who bagged a whopping 1,175,000, winning one of the larger hands of the tournament in the last couple of hands of the night. The Scottish poker pro already has one EPT Main Event title from back in 2015 in Malta where he took home over €530,000. There is still a long way to go, but grabbing an elusive second EPT title would not only tie him for the most ever, but would also be his largest career tournament victory.
Farrell will be joined atop the leaderboard by Ferenc Deak (1,137,000) and Ole Schemion (1,046,000) as the only players with a seven-figure chip stack. Deak spent the last two hours on the feature table where he accumulated the majority of his chips, while Schemion made an impressive comeback from less than 50,000 chips in the opening level of Day 2.
The day began with 332 players in their seats after a few late entries before registration closed. Many of the short stacks quickly hit the rail and would do so throughout the first few levels. The money bubble started to loom as dinner break approached and the action came to a screeching halt. One of the biggest stories of the day belonged to Ana Marquez who was down to just 17,000 chips on the bubble but managed to spin up a stack of 442,000 by the day's end.
Some notables to hit the rail before even getting a sniff at the money bubble included Victoria Cohen Mitchell, Dominik Nitsche, Kitty Kuo, Mustapha Kanit, Andre Akkari, and Patrick Antonius. Cohen Mitchell was looking to become the only three-time EPT winner but unfortunately, that will have to wait for another time.
Just two players off of the money, Harpreet Gill and Danny Pyke were both eliminated at the same time before the hand-for-hand process could even begin. That burst the money just moments before players went on dinner break and the short stacks quickly followed them out the door after securing a min-cash.
Another comeback story from Day 2 belonged to Gaelle Baumann who had a rollercoaster of a day. Baumann picked up a pot on the first hand of the day but just 10 minutes later, found herself down to just seven big blinds after losing a key all-in pot to Julien Martini. Baumann didn't falter though as she managed to find an above-average bag of 464,000 at the end of the day. Martini, on the other hand, wound up with just 170,000 but will be returning for Day 3.
A few notable to reach the money but will not be moving on to Day 3 include Davidi Kitai, Leo Margets, Timothy Adams, Rainer Kempe, Benjamin Spragg, and 2021 WSOP Main Event champion Koray Aldemir.
The action is slated to resume at 12 p.m. noon on Thursday, May 5 with just 85 players returning to their seats. It is expected that they will be playing another six and a half levels with a 20-minute break after every level and a half. The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates throughout the Main Event.