Vlastimil Pustina mentioned at one point today how poker can be a roller coaster, full of ups and downs and dramatic swings of fortune. By the end of Day 2 of Event #5: €1,350 Mini Main Event at the World Series of Poker Europe, he had risen to the crest of the hill, while Rene Majed tumbled all the way down.
Majed built up a massive chip lead during the day, becoming the first to cross the 10,000,000-chip barrier. But then came two big pots against Pustina. First, Pustina doubled up in a preflop race with jacks against ace-queen. He finally picked up aces in a more than 12,000,000-chip pot to leave Majed on fumes before busting shortly after. Majed ended up in 25th place; Pustina, meanwhile, took the chip lead over the remaining 23 players with 13,000,000.
The Czech pro already has more than $620,000 in live earnings. His biggest career score came from a 21st-place finish in the $25,000 6-Max High Roller at the 2024 WSOP. He’ll be looking for his first bracelet when play resumes at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Saturday at 1 p.m. local time.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|
| 1 | Vlastimil Pustina | Czechia | 13,000,000 | 65 |
| 2 | Gal Naim | Israel | 11,575,000 | 58 |
| 3 | Salih Atac | Switzerland | 10,175,000 | 51 |
| 4 | Dan Sfarlea | Romania | 9,575,000 | 48 |
| 5 | Daniel Elhaiany | Israel | 9,175,000 | 46 |
| 6 | Alkiviadis Stamatis | Greece | 8,900,000 | 45 |
| 7 | Besnik Aruqi | Kosovo | 8,425,000 | 42 |
| 8 | Yuhan Wang | China | 7,250,000 | 36 |
| 9 | Francesco Zappala | Switzerland | 6,925,000 | 35 |
| 10 | Stanislav Koleno | Slovakia | 5,450,000 | 27 |
Pustina is followed on the leaderboard by Gal Naim, who doubled up near the end of the night when his king-jack had Hicham Aouraghe’s jack-ten outkicked on a jack-high flop. Naim is in second place with 11,575,000, while Salih Atac (10,175,000), Dan Sfarlea (9,575,000), and Daniel Elhaiany (9,175,000) round out the top five. Sfarlea had a dramatic late rise up the counts, doubling up in a three-way all-in after making a full house holding pocket nines, then winning a race with ace-queen against Dimitrios Michailidis’s nines. He then picked up aces on the last hand of the night to bust Luca Marchetti in 23rd place.
Other top stacks include Alkiviadis Stamatis (8,900,000) and Stanislav Koleno (5,450,000), while Jakub Sterba (2,450,000), Andrei Spataru (2,450,000), and Eusebiu Jalba (2,400,000) are also in the hunt for the bracelet.
Day 2 began with 277 players remaining out of 1,293 entries. Only the top 194 would finish in the money, and Chris Da-Silva, Samuel Ju, Manig Loeser, and Event #2 champion Stepan Budac were among those to have an early day. Kevin Fluegel was eliminated on the money bubble when his ace-king ran into Kai Vater’s pocket kings.
After the bursting of the money bubble, Uri Reichenstein (192nd) and Ran Ilani (173rd) were sent to the payout line early in the day. Start-of-day chip leader Jakub Sigmund fizzled out in 95th place, while Pascal Pflock (91st), Zdenek Zizka (65th), Patrik Jaros (36th), Pawel Wojciechowski (32nd), and Fabio Peluso (31st) were also eliminated.
The action on Day 3 picks up with 15 minutes remaining in Level 29 with blinds of 100,000/200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante. Everyone left has guaranteed themselves €7,250 for making it this far, while the champion earns €216,500. The top 12 players also receive a €10,350 ticket into the Main Event.
The bracelet, ticket, and big money are all on the line tomorrow, and PokerNews will be back following all the action until a champion is crowned.
Tags:
Alkiviadis StamatisAndrei SpataruDan SfarleaDaniel ElhaianyEusebiu JalbaGal NaimHicham AouragheJakub SterbaSalih AtacStanislav KolenoVlastimil Pustina
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