Pokerstars.com EPT Barcelona - Day 1b - At a Glance

[Djinn]

Hello and welcome back to the sunny shore upon which the Casino in which we avoid the beautiful daylight is about to pay host to the second start day of the first EPT of the fifth season of the Pokerstars sponsored tour. 

If yesterday was edging gently towards chaotic, today threatens to jump over the edge - this place isn't a sprawling megacasino and the throngs of players eagerly waiting to take their seats are swarming around, threatening to outnumber the previous day's entrants and possibly overspill into the road, and there is no wifi any more.  60 media and 300+ players - everyone's pretty enthusiastic, which is lucky, in a way.  Expect a whole host of big names, multiple excitable Spanish gentlemen, intermittent posting and a generally Large Scale day of poker...

Chip counts from yesterday:

And there they are - the Survivors - thanks Pokerstarsblog for collating and posting this information - yesterday there was a lot of "Is X playing today?"  "I don't know."  "Who's that dude shouting with lots of chips?"  "Your guess is as good as mine."  Kept us on our toes, as people were registering a level after play started...  But now we know.  Albert Sapiano, Michael Greco, Steve Jelinek among the UK players still in with a shot tomorrow.

Michael Bernhard Murra         Germany     87000
Jason Mercier    PokerStars player    USA    79300
Nichlas Mattsson Saarisilta    PS qualifier    Sweden    76100
Rasmus Hede Nielsen       Denmark    73100
Jesper Hougaard       Denmark    72700
Haward Speer       Germany    72300
David Shave Kruger       USA    71100
Chad Brown    Team PokerStars Pro    USA    67100
Dren Ukella       Germany    65800
Glen Chorny    PokerStars player    Canada    65500
Ramzi Jelassi       Sweden    62800
Albert Sapiano       Ireland    53700
Jonathan Dwek    PS qualifier    Canada    52500
Jerry Wong    PS qualifier    USA    52400
Carles Escobedo Santolaria       Spain    50900
Luca Giovannone       Italy    50400
Peter Buermann       Germany    48700
Jens Klaning       Denmark    46200
Daniel Mangas Nuñez       Spain    46200
Dennis Fredrik Bejedal       Sweden    45900
Andre Akkari    Team PokerStars Pro    Brazil    44200
Marco Mironti       Italy    43100
Fowzi Baroukh       UK    41200
Michael Keiner       Germany    39400
Karl Nils Heilert       Sweden    39100
Diego Perez       Spain    39000
Stavros Kalfas    PS qualifier    Greece    38900
Marko Tapio Vainio       Finland    38600
George Danzer    Sponsored    Germany    37200
Robert Mizrachi       USA    36900
Nikolaos Panopoulos       Greece    36100
Mark Dalimore    PS qualifier    Czech Republic    35700
Francesco Nguyen    #N/A    #N/A    35400
Henri Juho Kristian Koivisto       Finland    33300
Luca Pulzoni    PS qualifier    Italy    32900
Kevin Macphee    PS qualifier    USA    31800
Malte Strothmann    PS qualifier    Germany    31500
Morten Klein       Norway    30500
Eduard De Haas       Holland    28900
Ohad Simhon    PokerStars player    Israel    28200
Daniele Mazzia       Italy    28000
Benjamin Scott Stark       USA    27400
Danilo Kricak    PokerStars player    Sweden    27000
Simone Coppari       Italy    25700
Peter Mattias Nordin       Sweden    25600
Patrice Albert Libert       Belgium    25100
Douglas Polk       USA    24700
Scott Christopher Montgomery    Canada    24500
Per Daniel Andersen       Sweden    24400
Isaac Haxton    PokerStars player    USA    23900
Osman Mustanoglu       UK    23900
Robert Hudson    PS qualifier    USA    22700
Giorgio Salemi       Italy    20500
Daniele Guidetti       Italy    20300
Julien Sallin    PS qualifier    Switzerland    20100
Jerzy Hajdamowicz       Poland    19900
Denes Kalo    PS qualifier    Hungary    19700
Hans Vimmo Eskilsson       Sweden    19600
Wouter Wilhelmus Bijgaart       Holland    19200
Eric Christian Saxin       Sweden    19100
Ardavan Yazdi       Iran    19100
Raoul Gilmar Refos       Holland    18900
Adam York    PS qualifier    UK    18400
Karl Erik Drivenes Hevroy       Norway    17800
Omer Shaked       Israel    17400
Andrey Chesnokov       Russia    17000
Boris Fragin       Germany    17000
Patric Stefan Martensson       Sweden    16900
Jean Rohr       France    16800
Juha Jaakko Lauttamus       Finland    16700
Alexey Tkachenko       Russia    16700
Antoine Nahas       France    16600
Grzegorz Mikielewicz       Poland    16100
Steve Jelinek    PS qualifier    UK    14000
Patrick Antoine Perez       France    14000
David Atrubin    PS qualifier    USA    13900
William Haughey       UK    13500
Alexander Kotlyar       Russia    13500
Andreas Krause       Germany    13300
Mark Teltscher       UK    13200
Pablo Javier Ubierna Martinez       Spain    13000
Benianmino Speroni       Italy    11700
Jos Luis Cordero Moreno       Spain    11600
Jean Pasqualini       France    11400
Rafael Marc Furst       USA    11300
Nicklas Sebastian Strom       Sweden    10000
Faraz Jaka    PS qualifier    USA    9200
Danny Ryan    PS qualifier    USA    9100
Ronny Johansen       Norway    8800
Johannes Strassmann    Sponsored    Germany    8700
Erik Peter Tamm       Sweden    8700
Petter Solli Berg       Norway    8500
Vijay Singh    PS qualifier    UK    8500
Christian Grundtvig    PS qualifier    Denmark    7900
Carlos Enrique Villa    PS qualifier    Spain    7800
Michael Greco       UK    7700
Timothy Bogue       USA    7400
Axel Marten Albertsson       Sweden    7300
Samuel Chartier    PS qualifier    Canada    7000
Dustin Mele    PS Passport winner    USA    5100
Mehdi Keack       Greece    4200
Robert Andre Cazali       France    3300

[Djinn]

On the very first step into the heaving poker room, I came across this table:  Scotty Nguyen, Surinder, Freddy Deeb and a couple of empty stacks one of which immediately took on Scotty, who tried to raise the non-present big blind but ended up calling the 200 which Surinder had already bet.  "I didn't see you there," he admitted, "I was playing this guy..."
Flop:    Scotty bets out something around the 300 mark, and is quickly raised to 850.  "Sick!" he comments, while calling.
Turn:   Both players check
River: Scotty checked, Surinder threw in 1,125 and Scotty passed, saying, "Flush draw," and gets shown Surinder's .



Surinder, distracted blonde lady, Freddy Deeb

[Djinn]

Also spotted, and there are lots more where these came from:

Anthony Lellouche
Luca Pagano
Jan Sjavik
Kristian Ulriksen
Nikolaus Jedlicka
Daniel Negreanu
Per Ummer
Voitto Rintala
Isabelle Mercier
Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier
Sorel Mizzi
Dario Minieri
Soren Kongsgaard
Tim Vance

PLUS
Julian Thew



Stuart Rutter "Do I look too cheesy?"  "No, no, of course not."

[Djinn]

This Matey was faced with a decision for nearly all his chips in the first 15 minutes of play today.  He had made it to the river out of position against one other opponent, who raised him on a K-Q-x-x-x (no suits) board from 1,200 to 6,000.  This was my first witnessed Dwell of the Day, but it turned out that he wasn't prepared to lay down his .  Good thing for him, as as soon as he threw the call in the middle, his opponent tapped the table sheepishly, before revealing his pure bluff .  Early stack for this guy.


____________________________________________________________________________________________

ok so as you can expect, my picks for today are Isabelle Mercier and Elky (PLUS Anthony Lelouche, Daniel Negreanu and Luca Pagano)

Here they are!  Elky, whose recent appearances have been becoming more flamboyant (someone in the press room yesterday if he was going to be The Riddler at this one after his previous Joker - it was only later I realised this was cheeky; isn't the riddler the one with the bag over his head?).  Confident, outgoing, definitely one of the French to watch this tournament.  And there are quite a few of them - every table seems to have a Pokerstars Pro or a Winamax French guy/gal on it.



And Isabelle, sporting aviators and daring outfit, looking just as confident, in the Special Boxed Table in the middle of the room.  Also of note, the guy and gal behind her looking like they are about to passionately embrace in the shadow of the weird indoor palm tree.

[Djinn]

As ever, the early scout of a room full of poker players reveals the usual hive of sartorial elegance, and among it some are the queen bees.  Not enough of each category, oddly, to give a separate prize for hoody, hair and general image of the day, so here's the lot found so far:

Runner-up Hoody of the Day:



Hoody of the Day:



Hair of the Day (the only entrant, Voitto Rintala ineligible as he won last year)



Image of the Morning (no messing, the light just so, the pose unique, the expression on Dario (bottom right)'s face hilarious)

[Djinn]

Junglecat here!

We're all struggling with the connection in the press room so I have commandeered Jen's computer and connection as I just HAVE to tell you about some hands.

First off, let's fly back in time to yesterday where Micky Wernick fought through the day in game fashion despite never having seen any cards.

The last hand of the day proved a crucial one for him as he shoved all-in over the top of a raise with pocket Jacks, only to get a call from a player with Ace bit and looked set to double up to 16k or so.

In classic fashion the board went blank blank blank blank ...ACE and poor Micky was out.

He said "in 45 years that's the most painful bad beat I've had" and for a man who's played as much poker as the accomplished veteran of the circuit that's a pretty amazing statement. We're sorry Micky but you'll be back on the horse soon I'm sure!


Daniel Negreanu is yet another star name to be in attendance today and he had a bad start to the day going down to 4.5k, but not long ago his fortunes turned round, doubling through with pocket Kings. As soon as the wireless is restored in the press room, I'll have some pictures of the chirpy canadian to share with you, the blonde faithful.


Tony Cascarino, recent Bolton GUKPT winner is OUT!

He flopped top two, betting out, only to receive a call from a player who had bottom pair, which improved to a better two pair than Tony on the King turn, and the ex-footballer couldn't get away from the hand resulting in his early demise.

Can't win em all...


Julian has had a slow start, down to 7k early on, but he has ground back to 9k or so. He told me is a big fan of his table...there are two very "cally" spaniards in position on him, and I think he feels there are chips to be made at this table.

Good luck Thewy.


Lots more to tell you and lots of pictures to come. Hold onto your hats because today is already proving to be a cracking day of poker.

[JungleCat03]

French ex-gaming champion and EPT Bahamas champion Elky is OUT!

He exited in unfortunate fashion, shipping his stack in on the turn with a queen flush, only to pick up a call from a player with Kings and a King high flush draw.

The extra suited card arrived on the river to render his flush 2nd best and send the Frenchman to the rail.


Yesterday's poker, though exciting was perhaps a touch more subdued than we might have expected. It was as if the European Poker Tour fuse had been lit but was a bit damp and was sparking intermittently.

Today though, the atmostphere seems that much more intense. There is a sizzle and crackle in the air that was absent on day one and it feels much more like the magnificent tournament the inaugural event of this year's EPT season deserves.

Perhaps this is partly as a result of the higher density of big names scattered like tough little diamonds throughout the field.

One table in particular has a big ring of star quality to it with Scotty Nguyen and his tousled shoulder length locks facing off against the diminuitive in stature, but giant in table presence Freddy Deeb. The two players are both previous winners of the WSOP $50k HORSE tournament, Scotty the current incumbent, and this should prove a fascinating battle as the day progresses.

Also on their table is Surinder Sunar, though he may be wishing he had received a kinder table draw!

Stu Rutter told me about an interesting hand that took place at his table. With 10,000 chips, it's pretty hard to go broke in level one you'd have thought and sometimes you do see players stacking off somewhat light given the depths in stacks.

In this particular hand though, it's pretty tough to get away!

Here's how it played out.

Matey A raises to 250 pre with what later turns out to be Aces and gets a call from Matey B with what turns out to be threes.

The flop comes A 7 3. Pretty sick. Gonna get worse though.

Aces bets, call. Standard.

Turn: A!

Aces checks his quads, B now bets 600 with his house, A calls.

River: 3!

Over to Rolf Slotboom...

Click to see full-size image.

"Shooo Shiccck!"

Quad Aces now CHECKS...B bets out 5.5k, huge overbet and Aces check raises all-in! Quad threes call...

That's a cooler folks! Quads over quads in one of the biggest comps in the world...nice. Possibly the only man who could have got away from this hand is Womble. I think he could have found a fold on the flop, turn and river...with either hand.

[JungleCat03]

Some shots of the action for you...

Daniel Negreanu is one of the most celebrated names in the game and if he calls, you come.



Even if you're Thomas Kremser...




Arnaud Mattern is another French EPT champion, taking down EPT Prague in the 2007/2008 season. He has had a reasonable start to the day, jsut above his starting stack at the moment and looks focused today though the genial Frenchman is always only a moment away from a cheeky toothy grin.

[JungleCat03]

Surinder was no doubt very happy for the early break of his table containing Scotty Nguyen and Freddy Deeb. He managed to negotiate the early stages without getting into any trouble though, still on roughly 10,000 chips...



Tim Vance is playing today. The american winner of EPT Copenhagen had a rough time of it at the world series, failing in his quest to pick up a bracelet, but he remains positive for the future.

He said his plan for the day is to get through with 10,000 chips.

"Does that mean if you have 50,000 on the last hand, you'll try and donk off 40,000?"

He looked at me quizically, before saying "No, that would be a bonus!"

Tim made a lot of headlines during EPT Copenhagen, partly for talking into his hat which raised quite a few eyebrows...

It transpired he kept a picture of his daughter in his hat which he drew on for inspiration during tough times and he is back with hat and picture of daughter in tow today.

I asked him to pull an intelligent face for the camera and this is what he came out with. Er...



Tim Vance - 11,300 or so.

[JungleCat03]

Then of course we have Mr Popular himself Julian Thew.

Doesn't even have to play poker to win things these days as he proved by picking up the media's choice for player of the year.

He's quietly going along at the moment, just below his starting stack...

[Djinn]

Well, there's definitely been a busier start to good ol' 1B - tables are breaking faster, players are playing faster, and the chips are beginning to gravitate towards particular stacks... I'll let you guess whose those are.  No ideas?  Here's a sample of chip counts to give you a skeleton idea:

Daniel Negreanu -- 9,575
Nicky Jedlicka -- 10,600
Freddy Deeb -- 2,320
Julian Thew -- 7,800
Scotty Nguyen -- 9,100
Sebastian Ruthenberg -- 12,600
Jonas Molander -- 13,000
Jan Sjavik -- 7,500  (just limp-reraised all in pre from mid position causing consternation but picking up the pot)
Luca Pagano -- 9,200 (EPT Player of the Year; Negreanu likes saying his name a lot; LucapaGAAAAno!)
Bruno Fitoussi -- 15,200
Gino Alacqua -- 10,400
Richard Ashby -- 9,000
Paul Testud -- 12,200
Jan Heitmann -- 6,000
Adam Junglen -- 10,100
Sorel Mizzi -- 11,800
Tim Vance -- 5,300  (just folded after torturing himself over a rivered spade on a board)

But who's shooting ahead of the pack?

Dario Minieri -- 21,200



Thierry van den Berg -- 26,000



Alan Smurfit -- 20,300



This Guy is Chip Leader, and a very neat chip stacker, mind currently blanking on name, but with you shortly -- 47,000:

[Djinn]

Left out of the chip count lists, but just so he can have his own story, is a nicely stacked Stuart Rutter - on 30k.  Arrived at his table with the action frozen just like this:



Stuart had a big chunk of 1k chips over the line on the river with a board standing .  It at first looked like a monstrous overbet as the pot was around 3,000, but it transpired that his one opponent had around 3,000 behind himself, and Stuart was putting him to the test for the rest of his stack.  A lot of thinking, and some sinister near-grinning from Stu later, and suddenly Matey snapped and shoved his remaining chips in - only to find Stu flipping his for onlythenuts.

[JungleCat03]

Some info from the tables.

Claudio Rinaldi, swiss player and finalist of last year's EPT Dortmund is staying roughly level with 9.5k at the moment...


Sebastian Ruthenberg, German winner of a bracelet at this year's WSOP is having a good day, up to 25k at this stage...

His table neighbour Tim Vance though, won't be adding to his EPT trophy cabinet today though as he has busted out in a set versus set coup. Unfortunate for the former EPT winner but he told me at the start of the day he just didn't want to do anything stupid and he can't blame himself for going out with a set really.


Freddy Deeb was very short (hoho) before, down to 2k but he has bucked his ideas up and is still very short but now has 6,000.


Sorel Mizzi is trundling along at an even pace, but is making progress, the betfair sponsored Canadian pro up to 16k right now...

[Djinn]

Silent but deadly, like those venomous treesnakes or carbon monoxide, these are examples of players you won't find making a big fuss about everything, Table Captaining by talking all the hours the poker gods give, or celebrating by hi-fiving their mates on the rail and shouting like at the beginning of A Space Odyssey.  Although the press are attracted to bad behaviour, table lecturing, displays of emotion and general shenanigans like JC is to the bar at the end of a day's work, we respect those who get it quietly - and any of these players could get it.  Watch out for:

Sebastian Ruthenberg - Won a WSOP bracelet this year in Hi-lo Seven Card Stud to go at the top of a string of NLHE events he's cashed in to date.  Focused, he is representative of a new generation of German players giving the Scandinavians a run for their money.



Adam Junglen - Not terribly well known amongst the Europeans, and probably to just a select few in the UK who have one eye permanently connected to the internet, there were US requests to follow this youngster last season and impressed the crowd with his calmly measured yet fearless game.  One to watch.



Jan Heitmann - Nominated for EPT Player of the Year, Jan has almost-but-not-quite reached the dizzy heights of Championship titles several times, and is (apparently) some kind of celebrity in Germany, often trailed by camera crews along with pal George Danzer.  Behind glasses reminiscent of the bad cop in Terminator Two you get the impression he's humourlessly amassing data...but he's actually a really nice guy.  Having seen him do card magic, wouldn't like him dealing for me though.



Jonas Molander - Amiable Swedish player whose online successes probably mirrored live soon - first noted in Helsinki winning gnome-shaped trophy at the Helsinki Freezeout in 2005, he's travelled the world and is already a comparable EPT veteran.  Three times on the last two tables - could this year see him progress further?



Jan Sjavik (next to Luca) - consistent, doesn't look like he's bored but doesn't look like he minds what happens, aggressive when called for, the original Norwegian circuit winner.

[Djinn]

Chip and Change...

Here are some updated counts as Half Two goes on dinner break (there is, apparently, a secret buffet room somewhere which can just accommodate half the field at once.  I think getting there involves pulling the right book on a shelf or twisting a beer mat the right way to reveal the hidden panel).

FRENCHWATCH, for jpean:

Paul Testud -- 8,125
Alexia Portal -- 7,500
Nicolas Levi -- 10,000
Bruno Fitoussi -- 11,300
Arnaud Mattern -- 9,000

Nicolas Levi, taking it seriously:



It looks like Isabelle Mercier may be OUT, as this gent, American Kasey Castle, is in the seat formerly occupied by the lady herself.



Here's Alexia Portal (7,500) (I'm pretty sure it's her) flanked by Brits Alan Smurfit (19,650) and Richard Ashby (15,100)



And check out Smurfit's card protector.  "What, this old thing?  It's just something I use to weigh my cards down."