Selbst Leads Final 12; Defending Champ Kurganov Still Alive
Day 2 of the €25,000 High Roller at the 2013 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final has come and gone. After another 10 levels of play, the field has been cut down to 12 players with Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst leading the way. She bagged up a whopping 1.607 million in chips, which has put her more than 650,000 in chips ahead of Toby Lewis in second place.
Earlier this year, Selbst became the winningest female poker player of all time by winning the $25,000 High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for over $1.4 million. The way it looks right now, she could be adding a similar title to her trophy case in this event if she keeps trucking on like she has been. Selbst has proven time and time again that when you combine her fearless and aggressive nature on the felt with the biggest stack in the tournament, it's a recipe for success, and she'll be looking to cook up another major victory in Monaco.
Selbst battled with fellow big stack Lewis all day long, and then right at the end of the night, she snatched a big one from the Brit to extend her lead by the largest margin yet. Although the hand didn't go to showdown, it was a big, big pot that is definitely worth checking out.
Also of note is that Igor Kurganov advanced to Day 3, albeit with a much shorter 678,000 in chips. Last year, Kurganov defeated a field of 133 entries to win €1.08 million in this very event. With his survival, the back-to-back dream is still very much alive.
As play moved on throughout the day, plenty of notables hit the rail including Bryn Kenney, David "Doc" Sands, Olivier Busquet, Viktor Blom, Marvin Rettenmaier and Dan O'Brien, but it was a rather non-notable player that became the bubble boy. Vitalijs Tarhanovs lost in 17th place at the hands of Chris Moore and sent the remaining 16 players into the money. From there, Artem Litvinov fell in 16th place, Marc-Andre Ladouceur hit the rail in 15th place, Philip Sternheimer was eliminated in 14th place, then Benny Spindler headed out the door in 13th place.
Up top for this year's event is a bit larger of a prize with a tad over €1.211 million set aside for the winner, along with the stunning bracelet worth £5,000 from Shamballa Jewels, official bracelet sponsor of the Season 9 of the EPT. As it stands right now, all the remaining players are guaranteed at least €77,400.
With 12 players left, the field has still yet to reach the final table, so Day 3 will begin with two tables of six players jousting on the felt. The field will combine to one table when nine remain and play down to a winner from there. The final day's festivities are set to begin at 12 p.m. CET, so don't be late as you surely won't want to miss out on any of the action.
Until then, goodnight from beautiful Monaco!
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, Selbst checked, and Lewis fired out 46,000. Selbst thought for a bit, then check-raised to 133,000. It was Lewis' turn to enter the tank, and when he reemerged, he made the call.
, and with two hands Selbst slid forward 220,000. Lewis sat silently for a minute or so, reached for chips, and slide forward identical stacks of blue T5,000 chips, making the call.
- completed the board. Selbst cut out all of her red T25,000 chips, added a few blues, and slid out 460,000. Lewis scrunched his face and let out a sigh before asking the dealer to cut out the bet. When he did, Lewis started counting the chips he had in front of him.
, and the French-Canadian was eliminated in 15th place.
flop changed nothing, but the 
completed the board, and Litvinov was eliminated in 16th place.
to send the German up to 555,000.
