$5,300 EPT Main Event Day 2 | 2023 PokerStars EPT Cyprus

$5,300 EPT Main Event

Day 2 Completed

10-18-2023 22:49 UTC+2

Carl Shaw Gets Another Crack at EPT Glory as 155 Chase Gary Miller After Day 2 of EPT Cyprus

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David Salituro

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Among the 155 players still with a chance at becoming the champion of the inaugural PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus after Day 2 are a select few who have been this far before.

Just over a month ago, Carl Shaw made a run to the final table of the massive EPT Barcelona field. He ended up in third place, and while the title narrowly eluded his grasp that time, he’s back at another shot at a title.

Shaw ended Day 2 in fifth place with 628,000 and he tries to make it back-to-back deep runs on the EPT. Gary Miller is the chip leader with 718,000, while Francisco Benitez (690,000) and Andreas Tomazou (648,000) are also in the top-five heading into Day 3.

Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Gary Miller	United Kingdom	718,000	144
2	Francisco Benitez	Uruguay	690,000	138
3	Andreas Tomazou	Cyprus	648,000	130
4	Carl Shaw	United Kingdom	628,000	126
5	Anton Wigg	Sweden	614,000	123
6	Gerard Carbo	Spain	568,000	114
7	Angelos Michael	Cyprus	549,000	110
8	Viliyan Petleshkov	Bulgaria	534,000	107
9	Parker Talbot	Canada	532,000	106
10	Kenny Hallaert	Belgium	509,000	102

Other notable big stacks include 2010 EPT Copenhagen champion Anton Wigg (614,000), Team PokerStars Pro Parker Talbot (532,000), Kenny Hallaert (509,000), Fabrice Bigot (463,000), Kayhan Mokri (403,000), Teun Mulder (376,000), $50,000 Super High Roller champion Juan Pardo (360,000), and 2013 EPT Monte Carlo champion Steve O’Dwyer (304,000). Start-of-day chip leader Milos Skrbic fell back to the pack and ended up with 174,000, while Joao Vieira (200,000), EPT Barcelona champion Simon Wiciak (191,000), and Paul Newey (91,000) are also returning tomorrow on short stacks.

Day 2 Action

Day 2 began with 408 players from a total of 1,286 entries from the two Day 1 flights being joined by 34 new arrivals to create a field of 1,320 in the EPT’s first-ever trip to this Mediterranean island resort. Notables who busted early included Benny Glaser, Sam Greenwood, Jen Shahade, and Japanese vlogging star Masato Yokosawa. Streamer and PokerNews' own Lukas Robinson was the victim of a brutal cooler as he and Mokri both flopped two pair, but Mokri made a full house on the turn to bust Robinson short of the money. Team PokerStars Pro Alejandro Lococo was eliminated less than 10 spots off the money after shoving with king-10 but ran into Wigg’s queens.

Only 199 players would finish in the money, and a lengthy bubble finally ended when Andras Vaczo was all in for 46,000 with ace-king but missed a flush draw against the kings of Kim Wittendorff.

Once the bubble burst, Alexandre Vuilleumier (193rd), Albert Daher (185th), 2019 EPT Sochi champion Uri Gilboa (173rd), and Conor Beresford (164th) made their way to the payout desk. The remaining 155 players are guaranteed $9,275 out of the $6,402,000 prize pool, with the eventual champion taking away $1,042,000, the gold-plated trophy, and the title of EPT champion.

The action on Day 3 kicks off at noon local time on Level 16 with blinds of 2,500-5,000 and a 5,000 big blind ante. The plan is to play an additional five levels as the field continues to whittle down towards the final table here at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Spa.

PokerNews will be back tomorrow providing live updates from what has already been an historic event here in Cyprus.

Tags: Albert Daher Alejandro Lococo Alexandre Vuilleumier Andras Vaczo Andreas Tomazou Anton Wigg Benny Glaser Carl Shaw Conor Beresford Dmitry Zakharov Fabrice Bigot Francisco Benitez Gary Miller Jen Shahade Joao Vieira Juan Pardo Kayhan Mokri Kim Wittendorff Lukas Robinson Masato Yokosawa Milos Skrbic Nicolas Chouity Parker Talbot Paul Newey Sam Greenwood Simon Wiciak Steve O’Dwyer Teun Mulder Uri Gilboa Viliyan Petleshkov

10-18-2023 22:47 UTC+2

Day 3 Seat Draw

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Josh Noy

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	1	Paul Newey	United Kingdom	91000	18
1	2	Lucien Cohen	France	78000	16
1	3	Joao Tomas	Portugal	165000	33
1	4	Alex Kulev	Bulgaria	354000	71
1	5	Fabio Peluso	Italy	483000	97
1	6	Mekan Yusupov	Turkmenistan	232000	46
1	7	Julien Montois	France	257000	51
1	8	Claas Segebrecht	Germany	97000	19

2	1	Timur Vardanian	Russia	504000	101
2	2	Aren Bezhanyan	Armenia	173000	35
2	3	Toru Ida	Japan	194000	39
2	4	Klemens Roiter	Austria	76000	15
2	5	Anton Wigg	Sweden	614000	123
2	6	Volodymyr Kotlyk	Poland	175000	35
2	7	Aleksei Istomin	Russia	44000	9
2	8	Lucas Seire	Finland	206000	41

3	1	Francisco Benitez	Uruguay	690000	138
3	2	Ivan Deyra	France	265000	53
3	3	Raoul Refos	Netherlands	470000	94
3	4	David Kaufmann	Germany	323000	65
3	5	Mario Trattou	United Kingdom	97000	19
3	6	Milos Skrbic	Serbia	174000	35
3	7	Artur Vyborov	Russia	320000	64
3	8	Marc Foggin	United Kingdom	278000	56

4	1	Marcin Dziubdziela	Poland	179000	36
4	2	Pete Chen	Taiwan	193000	39
4	3	Jovan Kenjic	Serbia	162000	32
4	4	Paul Hoefer	Germany	77000	15
4	5	Steve O'Dwyer	Ireland	304000	61
4	6	Eugenio Peralta	Ireland	508000	102
4	7	Ege Guven	Turkey	349000	70
4	8	Grzegorz Kozieja	Poland	173000	35

5	1	Timothy Friese	USA	153000	31
5	2	Marian Virlanuta	Romania	464000	93
5	3	Sergei Bagirov	Russia	18000	4
5	4	Antoine Saout	France	55000	11
5	5	Gilles Simon	Netherlands	388000	78
5	6	Alexandre Pruneau	Canada	96000	19
5	7	Diogo Coelho	Portugal	316000	63
5	8	Kayhan Mokri	Norway	403000	81

6	1	Johan Schultz-Pedersen	Denmark	275000	55
6	2	Ignas Jasinevicius	Lithuania	65000	13
6	3	Andreas Tomazou	Cyprus	648000	130
6	4	Maduka Meragal	Canada	393000	79
6	5	Frederik Thiemer	Germany	40000	8
6	6	Alessandro Minasi	Italy	415000	83
6	7	Aleksandr Faterin	Russia	217000	43
6	8	Suat Uyanik	France	288000	58

7	1	Michele D'Angelo	Italy	143000	29
7	2	Bjorn Kozenkai	Hungary	138000	28
7	3	Yauheni Tsiareshchanka	Belarus	416000	83
7	4	Michele Guerrini	Italy	206000	41
7	5	Priit Parmasto	Estonia	357000	71
7	6	Yassin Mahmoud	Jordan	382000	76
7	7	Alexane Najchaus	France	138000	28
7	8	Vadym Koriagin	Ukraine	193000	39

8	1	Maan El Hachem	Lebanon	60000	12
8	2	Daniel Koloszar	Hungary	91000	18
8	3	Jose Gonzalez Sanchez	Spain	409000	82
8	4	Teun Mulder	Netherlands	376000	75
8	5	Markus Schottes	Germany	336000	67
8	6	Benjamin Tessier	France	291000	58
8	7	Joe Mouawad	Lebanon	115000	23
8	8	Leantzis Christos	Cyprus	225000	45

9	1	Vasileios Panagiotidis	Greece	206000	41
9	2	Nathan Tetart	France	296000	59
9	3	Apoorva Goel	India	172000	34
9	4	Simon Wiciak	France	191000	38
9	5	Alexander Tkatschew	Germany	28000	6
9	6	Kubanychbek Abakirov	Kyrgyzstan	423000	85
9	7	Halil Tasyurek	Turkey	397000	79
9	8	Ricardo Tannoury	USA	186000	37

10	1	Simon Langer	Germany	239000	48
10	2	Fiodor Martino	Italy	106000	21
10	3	Kenny Hallaert	Belgium	509000	102
10	4	Angelos Michael	Cyprus	549000	110
10	5	Giovani Tore	Portugal	335000	67
10	6	Nikolaos Iliakis	Greece	349000	70
10	7	Gary Miller	United Kingdom	718000	144
10	8	Ilia Drobin	Russia	192000	38

11	1	Serghei Lisii	Russia	113000	23
11	2	Jose Jimenez	Spain	329000	66
11	3	Sofianos Vergitsis	Greece	74000	15
11	4	Mihai Tusnea	Romania	36000	7
11	5	Bart Lybaert	Belgium	420000	84
11	6	Alain El-Hajj	Lebanon	79000	16
11	7	Andrea Dato	Italy	418000	84
11	8	Nikita Kuznetsov	Russia	214000	43

12	1	Andrei Kaigorodtsev	Russia	79000	16
12	2	Atanas Malinov	Bulgaria	244000	49
12	3	Liviu Bartha	United Kingdom	322000	64
12	4	Stefan Dimitrov	Bulgaria	404000	81
12	5	Martin Diaz	Argentina	136000	27
12	6	Siarhei Chudapal	Belarus	83000	17
12	7	Fabrice Bigot	France	463000	93
12	8	Vadzim Ivanou	Belarus	39000	8

13	1	Juan Pardo	Spain	360000	72
13	2	Dmitrii Astratov	Russia	91000	18
13	3	Viacheslav Goryachev	Russia	280000	56
13	4	Renat Bohdanov	Ukraine	424000	85
13	5	Kim Wittendorff	Denmark	218000	44
13	6	Viliyan Petleshkov	Bulgaria	534000	107
13	7	Amir Hatefi	Turkey	130000	26
13	8	Svetlin Sabev	Bulgaria	302000	60

14	1	Aleksandr Pak	Uzbekistan	131000	26
14	2	Dario Sammartino	Italy	320000	64
14	3	Enrico Camosci	Italy	280000	56
14	4	Chady Ojeil	Lebanon	32000	6
14	5	Marius Irimia	Romania	383000	77
14	6	Cristinel Dumitru	Romania	177000	35
14	7	Alexandre Reard	France	144000	29
14	8	Aksel Aygun	Belgium	263000	53

15	1	Ali Fkih	Tunisia	283000	57
15	2	Victor Yugay	Uzbekistan	249000	50
15	3	Ivan Tukmachev	Russia	498000	100
15	4	Metin Yalciner	Germany	387000	77
15	5	Joao Vieira	Portugal	200000	40
15	6	Nicolas Chouity	Lebanon	200000	40
15	7	Mustafa Biz	Turkey	398000	80
15	8	Lars Kamphues	Austria	124000	25

16	1	Gerard Carbo	Spain	568000	114
16	2	Omar Lakhdari	Algeria	435000	87
16	4	Pascal Vos	Netherlands	78000	16
16	5	Carl Shaw	United Kingdom	628000	126
16	6	Cornelis van Gent	Netherlands	200000	40
16	7	Thomas Santerne	France	327000	65
16	8	Nemanja Lukovic	Serbia	271000	54

17	1	Toby Joyce	Ireland	191000	38
17	2	Bogdan Berinde	Romania	237000	47
17	3	Floyd Rosner	Netherlands	195000	39
17	4	Shuang Luo	China	370000	74
17	6	Karolis Sereika	Lithuania	400000	80
17	7	Jan Zeuschner	Germany	81000	16
17	8	Dimitar Danchev	Bulgaria	111000	22

18	1	Ilia Pavlov	Russia	316000	63
18	2	Sergei Bortsov	Russia	142000	28
18	4	Luis Rayon Perez	Spain	239000	48
18	5	Nichan Khorchidian	Lebanon	502000	100
18	6	Parker Talbot	Canada	532000	106
18	7	Yannick Schumacher	Germany	301000	60
18	8	Natan Chauskin	Belarus	212000	42

19	1	Simone Andrian	Italy	161000	32
19	2	Andre Marques	Portugal	94000	19
19	3	Oleg Ustinovich	Russia	203000	41
19	4	Eduard Norel	Romania	498000	100
19	5	Julien Sitbon	France	40000	8
19	6	Andrei Vavilonskii	Russia	365000	73
19	8	Seyedali Hosseinirami	Iran	200000	40

20	1	Simeon Spasov	Bulgaria	285000	57
20	2	Hubert Baran-Osinski	Poland	228000	46
20	3	Harald Sammer	Germany	74000	15
20	4	Mark Buckley	Ireland	268000	54
20	6	Michel Molenaar	Netherlands	103000	21
20	7	Tom Kunze	Germany	58000	12
20	8	Majid Ejlal	Iran	51000	10

10-18-2023 22:45 UTC+2

End of Day Chip Counts (full)

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Josh Noy

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Gary Miller	718,000 198,000	198,000

Francisco Benitez	690,000 500,000	500,000
Andreas Tomazou	648,000 266,000	266,000
Carl Shaw	628,000 78,000	78,000
Anton Wigg	614,000 99,000	99,000

Gerard Carbo	568,000 167,000	167,000
Angelos Michael	549,000 31,000	31,000
Viliyan Petleshkov	534,000 34,000	34,000
Parker Talbot	532,000 13,000	13,000

Kenny Hallaert	509,000 24,000	24,000

Eugenio Peralta	508,000 93,000	93,000
Timur Vardanian	504,000 149,000	149,000
Nichan Khorchidian	502,000 147,000	147,000
Ivan Tukmachev	498,000 93,000	93,000
Eduard Norel	498,000 22,000	22,000
Fabio Peluso	483,000 399,000	399,000
Raoul Refos	470,000 50,000	50,000
Marian Virlanuta	464,000 16,000	16,000
Fabrice Bigot	463,000 83,000	83,000
Omar Lakhdari	435,000 280,000	280,000
Renat Bohdanov	424,000 74,000	74,000
Kubanychbek Abakirov	423,000 310,000	310,000
Bart Lybaert	420,000 8,000	8,000
Andrea Dato	418,000 88,000	88,000

Yauheni Tsiareshchanka	416,000 37,000	37,000

Read full

10-18-2023 21:34 UTC+2

Play Concludes

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David Salituro

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 2 has come to an end with 155 players remaining.

Stay tuned for full chip counts and a recap of the day's action.

10-18-2023 21:34 UTC+2

Late-Night Controversy Involving Julien Sitbon

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Frank Visser

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

It all started when Julien Sitbon and Simeon Spasov were heads up on a board of 5♣9♥7♦8♠. The pot amounted to 35,000 when Julien Sitbon checked from the big blind and Simeon Spasov checked back from middle position. The 6♠ then put a straight on the board and Sitbon made a bet of 37,000, leaving himself just 2,000 behind.

Spasov then audibly announced "all in," and Sitbon tabled his Q♠8♦, after which Spasov tabled his 10♥10♣ for the higher straight. However, Sitbon claimed he had not heard the all-in and merely flipped his cards up under the impression that he was just called.

The floor was called over and ruled that Sitbon would have to commit the rest of his chips as well, but Sitbon did not agree and another floorperson came along to aid in the discussion. After a few minutes of talking, it was officially ruled that Sitbon could keep the 2,000 chips he had behind.

The table still had three more hands to go at that point, while the rest of the tournament area cleared out having bagged and tagged. The next hand played in a now mostly empty tournament room, and Spasov opened from under the gun and the rest of the table folded while Sitbon was automatically all-in from the small blind.

Julien Sitbon: 3♦3♣
Simeon Spasov: A♠5♦

Sitbon made a set on 4♥J♣8♣Q♥3♣ and increased his stack to 10,000 chips.

The next hand was uneventful, but the final hand on the table saw Michel Molenaar raise to 8,000 from middle position and Sitbon went all in once more from the cutoff. Michele Guerrini was then on the button and rejammed for 113,000 and Molenaar snap called once the action folded back to him, covering both players.

Julien Sitbon: K♥Q♥
Michele Guerrini: Q♦J♦
Michel Molenaar: A♦Q♠

Molenaar had the best hand, but it would become the second best once Guerrini paired his jack on the J♣4♥4♠ flop. The K♠ on the turn demoted Molenaar even further, as he was then in dead last, while Sitbon was in prime position for another triple-up. The 3♥ river changed nothing and Sitbon ended the night with ten big blinds, while Guerrini basically doubled up and Molenaar was left shaking his head in disbelief.

In between all this, Sitbon was told he would have to adhere to a 5-second shot clock for the rest of his tournament as a consequence of the shenanigans in the first hand. This saga is undeniably to be continued on Day 3...

Player	Chips	Progress
Simeon Spasov	285,000 151,000	151,000
Michele Guerrini	206,000 99,000	99,000
Michel Molenaar	103,000 97,000	97,000
Julien Sitbon	40,000 58,000	58,000

Tags: Julien Sitbon Michel Molenaar Michele Guerinni Simeon Spasov

10-18-2023 21:32 UTC+2

Dimitrov Books a Late Win

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Frank Visser

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Aren Bezhanyan raised to 9,000 from early position before Stefan Dimitrov three-bet to 27,000 from the hijack. Benzhanyan made the call and the dealer dealt 5♠J♠3♥ as the flop.

Benzhanyan checked and Dimitrov continuation-bet for 18,000, followed by a call from Benzhanyan. On the 2♣ turn, Benzhanyan checked again and this time Dimitrov opted for a bet of 50,000.

That was enough to make the Armenian player fold his hand, leaving himself a healthy 40 big blinds to play with.

Player	Chips	Progress
Stefan Dimitrov	335,000
Aren Bezhanyan	160,000

Tags: Aren Bezhanyan Stefan Dimitrov

10-18-2023 21:18 UTC+2

Five More Hands

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David Salituro

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Tournament officials announced that players will see five more hands before bagging up for the night.

10-18-2023 21:17 UTC+2

Friese Wakes Up With Kings at the End

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David Salituro

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Simon Langer raised to 9,000 in early position before Natan Chauskin three-bet to 38,000 on the button. Timothy Friese then moved all in for 74,000 in the big blind, Langer folded, but Chauskin called.

Timothy Friese: K♣K♦
Natan Chauskin: J♦10♠

Friese was far ahead with his kings as the flop came 8♦6♣6♦. The J♥ turn gave Chauskin a pair, but he improved no further on the 7♣ river and Friese earned a late-night double up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Simon Langer	320,000 15,000	15,000
Natan Chauskin	210,000 25,000	25,000
Timothy Friese	160,000 13,000	13,000

Tags: Natan Chauskin Simon Langer Timothy Friese

10-18-2023 21:13 UTC+2

More Bust Outs

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Calum Grant

Level 15 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Conor Beresford	Busted
Fabian Niederreiter	Busted
Tomas Jozonis	Busted
Luke Martinelli	Busted
Youssef El Khazen	Busted
Alessio Isaia	Busted
Ludovic Periaux	Busted
Daniyar Aubakirov	Busted
Uri Gilboa	Busted

Stefan Cupic	Busted
Daniil Vasilev	Busted
Seref Anar	Busted
Israel Amoyal	Busted
Ali Zebarjad	Busted
Roberth Cazan	Busted