Friday, 29th March 2024 05:30
Home / Uncategorized / EPT Copenhagen: Day 1B, level 1 & 2 updates (blinds 75-150)
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2.06pm: Break time
The players are in their first 15 minute break of the day.

2.05pm: Action from table 28
Rasmus Nielsen was surprisingly okay after paying off Vojtech Ruzicka in a large pot. We didn’t see the cards but Nielsen is down to 10,200 and Ruzicka is probably one of the leaders with 70,000 chips.

A short while after, Jake Cody was heads-up with PokerStars qualifier Raul Martinez Gallego. They had reached the turn with the board reading Jâ™  2♣ 2♥ A♦ . Cody was out of position and led for 1,600 only to face a raise up to 4,200. It was too much hear for him to handle and he folded to drop to 26,000.* — MC

* He must have won a pot shortly after as he’s now up to 33,500.

2pm: Six-bet and fold
Curios incident at table 40. It really isn’t often that you see a six-bet fold to a shove. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen one. That award goes to Tommy Strand Skalmeras. The action had started with a raise to 400 from Simon Boss from early position, which was quickly three-bet to 1,400 by Team PokerStars Pro Florian Langmann, then the action reached Skalmeras at the far end of the table.

Skalmeras dropped his hand into his stack, pulled out three red 1,000 chips and tossed them across the line. This did not faze Boss, who swiftly came back over the top for 9,000 to mark a chunky five-bet that suceeded in pushing Langmann out of the hand.

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Florian Langmann did well to get out of the way

The pot was now heads up and Skalmeras opted to reapply pressure by six-betting for 15,500, committing almost exactly half of his stack to the hand. Would Boss bite? Indeed he would. He moved all-in, stood up and took two small paces to the refreshment booth in the centre of the room to grabe himself a bottle of still water. Skalmeras followed in suit – the standing up bit anyway – and started rubbing his head. There was no snap call as you would expect here. A crying call with kings perhaps? No. Fold. Boss is up to 48,000 without having to showdown. — RD

1.50pm: Duthie wins a hand
John Duthie’s stack is up a few thousand following a hand against Jonas Klausen.

On a flop of 3♣ 7♣ Q♥ Duthie (spell check name “Duchy”) checked to Klausen who bet 1,100. Duthie then raised to 2,200 which Klausen called for a 8♣ turn card. Duthie came about betting, making it 2,600 which Klausen again called.

Then on the J♦ river Duthie tossed in another bet of 4,000. Klausen tanked for a while, noting that this would be a marginal call. When he called the bet Duthie showed A♣ Q♣ to win the hand. Klausen mucked. – SB

1.45pm: Fatima loses a hand
The first two levels had been a breeze for Fatima Moreira de Melo, as she worked her stack up to and over the 40,000 mark. She’s just had her first taste of defeat though to drop back to 40,000.

Moreira de Melo raised to 450 from mid-position and Kezli Ong defended from the big blind to see the 5♦ A♥ 5♣ flop. Moreira de Melo continued with a 525 bet that Ong check-called. They were the last chips to venture in to the middle as the 3♦ 2♣ turn and river were checked through by both players. Ong tabled A♥ 8â™  for two-pair. Moreira de Melo shrugged and folded. — MC

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Fatima Moreira de Melo: you win some, you lose some

1.40pm: Using the magic of moving pictures…
The first of the day’s video blogs features the introduction to the day as well as a few words with Team PokerStars Pro JP Kelly before he took his seat for the start. Please don’t be put off but what appear to be the miserable faces of Gloria Balding and JP Kelly in the image below…

1.30pm: Nearly man Jacobson
Martin Jacobson is the nearly man of this season. Twice he’s made it to final tables and twice he’s made it to heads-up with a solid chance of taking a title. Both times he finished as runner-up, first to Toby Lewis in Vilamoura and then, painfully, to Lucien Cohen at EPT Deauville just a few weeks ago.

Jacobson is already up a small amount having taken a multi-way pot by firing 1,100 into a A♣ 10♥ 9♣ 2â™  board. Three final tables in a season is almost unheard of but I really don’t think that we should put it past him. — RD

1.20pm: Making Hedlund
Peter Hedlund plays today. You may remember him as the runner-up at EPT Copenhagen two seasons ago, defeated by Jens Kyllonen. The Hedlund spirit was in full flow that day, to the tune of free beer to whoever could drink and still type. Today he’s in his early Day 1 mode of clear-headed reason. His hair is neatly combed, his jeans, pulled up to his nipples, are clean, and he wears a black football shirt with his nickname “Nalle” stencilled above the number “68” on the back. Apparently “Nalle” means teddy bear. They’re an ironic bunch, the Swedes.

Hedlund opened for 275, which was called by Vadim Markushevski before Omer Markovitch, from Israel, raised to 1,050. In the big blind was Michael Aron, a PokerStars qualifier from the United States, who raised again, making it 2,650 to play. The action folded back to Hedlund who passed, as did Markushevski, leaving it to Markovitch to take on Aron.

Markovitch called which seemed to surprise Aron who looked back across the table sorrowfully at Markovitch, as if to remind him just by the look in his eyes, that he has kids to feed and he’s stealing food from their plates.

The flop came 7â™  5â™  10â™  and Aron bet 3,200. Markovitch called as Aron continued to look over at him. The turn came 9♦ . Aron thought for a while as Markovitch snuck another look at his cards. Slowly Aron, moving slowly – he even blinks slowly – checked, leaving it to Markovitch to bet 6,700. Aron gulped, paused and then passed. Markovitch showed the 3â™  . Peter Hedlund tapped the table. Markovitch, who had been down to around 25,000, climbs back up to 31,000. – SB

1.10pm: Nitsche bluff picked off
Dominik Nitsche only had nine-high by the river so knew full well that the only way he could win was to bluff at the pot. The German raised from mid-position and was called by both blinds en route to the K♣ 5♣ 3♠ flop.

Nitsche c-bet for 500 and the small called before Martin Hansen raised to 1,450. Both players called before all three checked the J♥ turn. The river came Q♠ and Hansen led for 2,000 only to face a raise up to 5,550 from Nitsche. The small blind folded but Hansen made the call after some thought.

“Good call”, said Nitsche as he revealed 8♣ 9♣ .

Hansen tabled A♥ Kâ™  and responded, “It didn’t make sense”.

“I could’ve had king-queen”, was Nitsche’s response. He’s down to 28,000 now. — MC

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 75-150

12.59pm: Swedish assault rifle
Michael Tureniec has started his assault on the chip counts after firing three barrels into Carlos Oliveira on a 2♦ 7♦ 6♥ 2♥ 2♠ board.

Tureniec opened from the button for 300 and was called by Oliveira in the small blind. Tureniec levelled 450 at the flop, 1,150 at the turn and 2,550 at the river. The final volley finally knocked Oliveira down. Tureniec up to 32,000. — RD

12.55pm: Don’t look left
When trying to navigate an obstacle at height the advice often is “Don’t look down”. This helps to avoid vertigo and a nasty fall.

When you sit down at a poker table and you look left to see Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Andrea Benelli and Xuan Lui sat in the next three seats, the advice might be “Don’t look left”.

To be fair to Jelassi, he’s a formidable player in his own right as is already up to 37,000 chips. — MC

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Viktor Blom: not the person that you want to see sit down on your left

12.46pm: Jumpers for goalposts
We were pointed towards Gustaf Johan Borenius as a player to watch. Well, I’ve watched him and what he’s currently doing exceedingly well is wearing a v-neck Lyle and Scott sweater, and glasses, while passing a lot. Okay, it’s very early and there’s little need to go crazy so we’ll give him some grace for the moment.

Just a few seats to Borenius’ right is British player Jon Spinks, a final tablist from the UKIPT Brighton and respected online player. He’s been involved in a few of these early hands but there’s actually been little movement at the table. Between the two is one Sebastien Blom, brother of Viktor, who is credited as teaching Isildur1 how to play. — RD

12.32pm: Greedy De Melo
Team PokerStars SportStar Fatima Moreira de Melo is up to 34,000 as a result of picking up aces twice in three hands. First she picked up two red aces and got value from a guy who flopped top pair. Then two hands later she picked up two black aces and got two streets of value against a player who folded after the river was checked and Moreira de Melo revealed her hand.

Thanks to our Dutch blogger, Steven Smith, for bring us the information. — MC

12.40pm: Setting the scene
Right, how do things look? For anyone who has not been here before it’s one of the more spacious varieties of tournament rooms on the EPT, a long room with curtains closed to keep the daylight out, with Fatima Moreira de Melo at one end and Toni Judet at the other, with 22 tables full of players, and two tea and coffee stations, between them.

One of those players is Helen Prager, who just lost an early pot against Carlos Oliveira.

Oliveira opened for 250 in early position which Prager called from the big blind for a flop of A♥ 4♣ Kâ™  . Prager, who finished in 24th at EPT Prague in December, bet 600 which Oliveira called without fuss for a 9♣ turn. It was the same again on the turn, 800 from Prager which Oliveira called quickly for a J♣ river. Here Prager checked, as did Oliveira, the latter taking the pot showing K♥ Q♥ to Prager’s K♦ 3♦ . – SB

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Helen Prager went deep at EPT Prague

12.25pm: Right table, wrong seat
Tom Heltzel found his way to Copenhagen just fine. He also found his way to the Casino and even found his table but that’s as far as his navigational skills took him. He was drawn in seat four but sat down in seat five and took no time at all in handing around 5,000 chips to Antonio Buonanno, as the real holder of his seat (Daniel Dodet) looked on.

The board was out as 4♣ Jâ™  6♣ 7♣ K♣ and Heltzel check-called a 4,500 bet (thinking it was 2,500 – another mistake) and tabled A♦ K♦ but lost out to the Italian’s 9♣ 8♣ for a flush. The floor man then told him his seat would be switched after the button had passed. — MC

12.10pm: Finnish fancy
I just had a chat with a Finnish journo to get the low-down on who to look out for of his countrymen in this field. “Juha Helppi (Yes, we know him. Has a massive roster of results came second in the €10,000 High Roller at EPT Barcelona), Sami Kelopuro (Yes, we also know him. He finished just outside the final table at last season’s EPT Grand Final), Jani Vilmunen (The name rings a bell… He won the WSOPE Omaha bracelet in 2009) and Gustaf Johan Borenius (Who?). We’ll check up on this Borenius type and see if he’s worth reporting on. If not, we will never ask our Finnish colleagues for ‘expert insight’ again. — RD

12pm: Cards in the air
Play is under way in Level 1 with blinds at 50-100.

11.55am: Welcome to Day 1B
It’s Day 2 on the European Poker Tour in Copenhagen and from the top of the SAS Radisson hotel Copenhagen looks a treat. From one end of the horizon to the other is a mix of spinning windmills, copper topped churches and terracotta roof tiles. An office block juts up here and there but with the exception of the Vor Frelsers Church and the local power station, the view is clear from the Radisson all the way across the Øresund to Sweden. Perhaps there’s someone in Malmo looking back across to Denmark thinking the same thing right now.

Ice is thicker on the Stadsgraven lake across the Amager Boulevard from the Radisson hotel, no skaters as yet, but they’ll be along soon, and shipping fans will be interested to note that the Maltese registered tanker Fjordstraum, which left Copenhagen on Sunday evening, has since arrived safely in Oslo. The navy museum frigate Peder Skrams Venner, docked a short distance from here, is still bobbing up and down at anchor, technically a sitting duck.

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The view across Copenhagen with Sweden on the distant horizon

Inside we expect scenes not unlike yesterday, when, after eight levels, Mark Hirlemen emerged as chip leader with 163,400. That will be the target for the however-many players that will fill the tournament room today. We expect more than yesterday, with the likes of his holiness Viktor Blom, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Toni Judet, John Duthie, Florian Langman and JP Kelly.

For the players today there will be eight levels, no dinner, but all the free juice boxes you can manage. For you, the reader following from work perhaps, it’s a day of refreshing, checking the whereabouts of your boss and looking busy. We suggest holding a clip board and perhaps nestling a phone on your shoulder. We do that and it works every time.

To the tournament floor!

PokerStars Blog reporting team in Copenhagen (in order of excursions outside to see any other the places listed above): Stephen Bartley (0), Marc Convey (0) and Rick Dacey (0).

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