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.
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.
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...
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.
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.