PokerStars EPT Baden Main Event Day 1 | 2007 PokerStars EPT - Baden

10-06-2007 02:34 UTC+3

Join us from 5 p.m. this Sunday....

[user38334]

Join us from 5 p.m. (GMT) this Sunday, October 7th, as we bring you all the action from the third leg of the European Poker Tour from Baden, Austria. We will be on hand bringing you all the chip counts, blow-by-blow accounts from the course of play, as well as photos of the action.

Stay tuned....

10-07-2007 18:24 UTC+3

Players Begin to Arrive

[user50492]

The atmosphere in the fabulously luxurious Casino Congress in Baden, Austria is starting to heat up as the players are beginning to arrive. The tournament area is closed off for now so the lobby and surrounding areas are full of groups of expectant contestants.

Spotted amongst the throngs of nameless Internet qualifiers were Marcel Luske, Noah Boeken, Katja Thater, Alan Smurfit, Martin Wendt, Juha Helppi, Thomas Wahlroos, Barry Greenstein, Robert Binelli, Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano & Julian Thew.

We expect to be a lot fitter after four days of updating here, as there are four levels of stairs between the press room and tournament area -- that is if I can keep away from the free spectator buffet!

10-07-2007 18:46 UTC+3

The PokerNews Cup

[user38334]

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There are still several ways to qualify for this worldwide televised event, including on Party Poker.

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With a guaranteed $250,000 first prize and an expected $1M+ prize pool, PokerNews Cup Australia is sure to be a great event! Join us down under this October and get on TV all around the world!

10-07-2007 18:57 UTC+3

10 Minutes Until Official Start Time

[user50492]

It's nearly time to start and still the players are filing through the front doors. Spotted amongst them were Thomas Fougeron, Ram Vaswani, Richard 'CHUFTY' Ashby and Patrik Antonius.

Patrik famously arrived five hours late to this event a couple of years ago and went on to turn his blind-decimated stack into a win worth nearly €300,000. Interestingly, he has not cashed in an EPT since. Maybe he should have slept in?

Tags: Patrik Antonius Ram Vaswani

Level: 1

Blinds: 25/50

Ante: 0

10-07-2007 19:40 UTC+3

Shuffle Up and Deal!

[user50492]

Play has started, almost on time. There are two tournament areas quite close together with tables packed tight in order to accommodate the large field. We will have official player numbers soon; the screen shows 281, but it looks like there are more here.

There has already been some confusion regarding how string bets are determined in Europe versus America. Barny Boatman set one young American straight with a quick lesson on how it is done.

The pros seem to be spread out amongst the field, but there a few decent match-ups. Julian Thew has Barry Greenstein and Vanessa Rousso to contend with and he has already lost half his stack in an early confrontation.

Alan Smurfit and Marcel Luske were deep in conversation as I passed them, discussing their respective tailors, no doubt.

Tags: Alan Smurfit Barny Boatman Barry Greenstein Julian Thew Marcel Luske Vanessa Rousso

Level: 2

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

10-07-2007 20:27 UTC+3

The Drunken Monk

[user50492]

As play enters level two, Andy Black is up to 11,500 in chips despite losing a ton of pots and having been all in already. He has a new playing style today, as he was out drinking in Dublin all night in preparation. He was not sure that it would work, but he is doing better than the six players who are already out.

Struggling early are Vanessa Rousso with 5,000 in chips and Surinder Sunar with 2,500. Recent WSOPE winner Annette Obrestad has also lost a significant portion of her starting stack and is currently down to 5,500.

Tags: Andy Black Annette Obrestad Surinder Sunar Vanessa Rousso

10-07-2007 20:56 UTC+3

Home Advantage for Kiabuxxe

[user50492]

Austrian high stakes cash player Nikolaus "Kaibuxxe" Jedlicka just had a nice bit of home form with his tournament life at stake. He raised pre-flop in early position to 300 and was re-raised by the player to his left to 1,300. Kaibuxxe made the call and the flop came down {K-Spades}

.

Nikolaus checked and his opponent bet out 1,500, which prompted Nikolaus to insta-shove all in for a total of 5,675. His opponent called almost before Jedlicka's chips were across the line:

{A-Spades}

for Kaibuxxe and {4-Clubs}

for his opponent.

The turn brought the {6-Spades}

giving Kaibuxxe the nut flush and he closed his eyes for the river which was a harmless {3-Diamonds}

. Kaibuxxe doubled up on the hand, while his opponent was left with only 1,500 chips.

Tags: Kaibuxxe Nikolaus Jedlicka

10-07-2007 21:08 UTC+3

Pascal Climbs Whilst Vanessa Falls

[user50492]

Flamboyant Frenchman Pascal Perrault is steadily increasing his stack. His latest win was with {K-Hearts}

v.s.

. A king hit on the flop and he check-called his way to a 3,000 pot. He now has 15,000 in chips.

Vanessa Rousso is the first big name to bust out. We missed the hand, but Barry Greenstein's stack seems to have grown a bit. We'll find out and let you know...

Tags: Barry Greenstein Pascal Perrault Vanessa Rousso