There will be 114 players returning to the King's Casino for Day 2 of Event #1: €1,100 No-Limit Hold'Em MONSTER STACK. Sander van Wesemael will be leading the charge after bagging an impressive 323,500 chips on Day 1C. He will be followed closely by Valentin Vornicu (296,500), Sergio Fernandez (267,000), and Jeff Cormier (265,000).
Another player to pay close attention to will be Ryan Hefter (208,000), who won this same event in 2015 in Berlin, the last time WSOP Europe was held. Coming in as the defending champion, Hefter went on a run at the end of Day 1A and bagged a healthy stack as he looks to become a two-time WSOP bracelet winner.
When the cards get in the air, players will have their eye on the money bubble which looms just under 30 eliminations away. A min-cash will be worth €1,592 while everyone will be in search of the first-place prize of €117,708. There were a total of 561 entries throughout the three starting flights, comprising a prizepool of €538,280.
The action will resume at 2:00 P.M. inside the Poker Arena at level 15 with the blinds at 1,500/3,000 and a 500 ante. The blind levels will move to 60-minutes in length with the goal being to end play when the final table is reached.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be bringing you all of the live updates from the tournament floor.
Valentin Vornicu raised to 7,000 and Yehuda Cohen called on the button. The short-handed table saw the shove of Tezer Cetindag in the big blind after and Vornicu turned around to the screens, then eventually folded. Cohen gave it brief consideration and called with the words "I give you a chance."
Tezer Cetindag:
Yehuda Cohen:
The flop of ] gave Cohen two pair and he turned a full house with the before the meaningless appeared on the river. Carlo Savinelli joked "you gave him a chance there" while Vornicu said in table chat he was afraid of a reshove by Cohen if he had called. "You felt it coming, so why didn't you snap call in two seconds," Scott Stewart in the one seat added.
Ariel Morgenshtern, Yohan Zenou and Darren Delahunty were eliminated while Werner Scharnagl doubled.
Scharnagl got it in for fewer than 10 big blinds with the and Olivian Balint called with pocket sixes. The board came .
Right after, Balint raised to 9,000 and Darren Delahunty shoved for 12,000. Vincent Moscati called from the big blind and so did Balint. The flop came and Moscati check-folded his to a bet of Balint.
Darren Delahunty:
OIivian Balint:
The turn and river failed to improve Delahunty and the Brit headed to the rail.
After three short stacks doubled up, there was an all-in and call on four different tables. On the first table, Viktor Katzenberger was all-in with and was up against Giovanni Petroni who held . The board ran out and Katzenberger was the first casualty.
On the next table over, Carlo Savinelli doubled up with against Valentin Vornicu's . Savinelli was all-in for roughly 145,000 and now sits with one of the larger stacks in the tournament.
Then we came to Mario Mosböck who was all in for 62,500 with the and Ricardo Chauriye looked him up with the . The board ran out and Mosböck became the second casualty in the same hand, ensuring that Katzenberger would not leave empty-handed.
Finally, on the last table, the board read . The pot had around 100,000 in the middle and there were three hands waiting to be tabled. Konstantinos Tsirakidis rolled over and was the player at risk. Ivo Donev tabled and Serge Danis held the best hand with . Tsirakidis was the third player eliminated on the money bubble which would mean Katzenberger, Mosbock, and Tsirakidis would share two payout positions.
Ryan Hefter was spotted leaving the tournament area and a quick look over on table 83 confirmed that he had been eliminated. According to other players at the table, Hefter was short and his ace-eight failed to get there against the ace-king of Sasa Stancic.
The latter raised to 11,000 soon after and Jakob Miegel shoved for 49,000. Stancic eventually called with the and Miegel flipped over , the German also expressed his surprise that Stancic had not snap-called.
Miegel got a sweat on the flop, and while the turn was a blank, he got there thanks to the river.
One table over, James Akenhead raised to 11,500 and called the shove of short stack James Hoeppner in the cutoff.
James Hoeppner:
James Akenhead:
The board of locked up the double for Hoeppner by the turn already and Akenhead lost some of the chips he had just gained in the own previous double up.
Mike Leah moved all in for approximately 65,000 from early position and Alexandre Viard called out of the small blind.
Mike Leah:
Alexandre Viard:
Leah was in prime shape to stage a comeback, while the flop of gave Viard some chop outs and Leah the nut flush draw. The turn made a chop likely before a cruel river gave Viard the better hand and send the Canadian to the rail in cruel fashion. Several players at the table were seemingly hit by a cold breeze once was all done and dusted.
The action was folded to Ismael Bojang on the button who raised it up to 13,000. Maxim Lykov was in the small blind and ripped all-in for 163,000. Jeff Cormier woke up in the big blind with a premium hand and made the call. Bojang got out of the way and the two hands were face up.
Lykov:
Cormier:
The flop came and Lykov made a set of sixes. He wasn't in the clear though as Cormier picked up a flush draw. The turn was the and the river brought the . Cormier made a pair of aces but it wasn't enough to overcome Lykov's set. Lykov scored a massive double up and left Cormier with just 4,000 chips, of which he would bust soon after.
After a raise to 15,000 by Matthias Kürschner, Georgios Zisimopoulos moved all in for 157,000 out of the small blind and Kürschner snap-called with a near identical stack to end up as player at risk.
Matthias Kürschner:
Georgios Zisimopoulos:
The board ran out and Kürschner took out his smart phone, took a picture of the bad beat story and headed to the rail.
Four players busted in quick succession soon after play had resumed and among them were Helma Weber, Sander van Wesemael, Erich Kollmann and Matous Houzvicek.
It was the start-of-the-day chip leader van Wesemael who shoved for around 100,000 from under the gun and his nemesis of the day, Sergio Fernandez in the big blind peeked at his cards. "The first one is good," to which van Wesemael jokingly hid his face with the hoodie. Fernandez checked the second card and rolled them over instantly for the call.
Sander van Wesemael:
Sergio Fernandez:
The board came and the Dutchman left with a "good game guys, good luck, have fun."
Erich Kollmann fell a mere minute later when he got it in with against the of Valentin Vornicu. The American with Romanian roots got there on a board of and Kollmann was gone next.
Last but not least, Matous Houzvicek open-shoved for 140,000 from the button and Scott Stewart called from the big blind.
Matous Houzvicek:
Scott Stewart:
The board ran out and the kicker played to eliminate Houzvicek.
There was an all-in for 68,000 from early position by Usman Siddique and Zhivko Sotirov was next to act and pushed all-in for a little less. Josef Gulas was on the button and announce all-in as well, having both players covered. Gulas turned over , Sotirov tabled , and Siddique held .
The flop came and Sotirov was still ahead with nobody holding a heart in their hand. The turn brought the and the river was the giving Gulas trip queens to eliminate two players.