Friday, 29th March 2024 05:52
Home / Uncategorized / EPT9 Berlin High Roller: Max Lykov leads into the night

High Rollers have never really been the type to snivel at a late night. Their natural environment is that period unnatural to everyone else, the witching hour beyond midnight, when everyone else, even those charged with their supervision, would rather be somewhere else, and asleep.

But play on they do and, when you’ve paid €10,000 to play, who is to suggest they pack it in early for some rest.

A total of 107 of them turned up to play this afternoon, looking fresh and well-rested. How they’ll look at 1.30am tonight when play stops remains to be seen.

What’s more they needn’t have even shown up at all today, given that players have the option of entering (or re-entering) up until the Day 2 start time of noon tomorrow. With that in mind we expect a number of high profile players, including the strong local high rolling contingent, to do just that.

Leading at the dinner break a short while ago was Russian Team Pro Max Lykov. It would be a well-earned victory should Lykov go all the way. Earlier this week the Russian wrote of his difficulties playing in tournaments around the world owing to visa problems, a frustration that may ultimately lead to him leaving Russia. But his temporary solution, that brings him to Berlin, seems to be paying off.

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Max Lykov


Lykov is ahead of a typically strong field, featuring the likes of Igor Kurganov, Sorel Mizzi, Dan Smith, Benny Spindler, Scott Seiver, Bryn Kenny, Eugene Katchalov, Mike McDonald, and so on, as shown on our live coverage page.

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(left to right) Paul Berende, JC Alvarado and Mike McDonald

There you can also find details of those already departed (until tomorrow morning at least), as well as the live updates from the tournament floor.

Stephen Bartley is a PokerStars Blog reporter.

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