Mid-day update
The big news is that this event is well on the way to matching last year’s total of runners. With 228 entries and 20 re-entries the 2015 edition is getting close to the 233 unique entries and 76 re-entries from last season. With late registration open until the start of Day 2 this number will have swelled considerably before then.
Among those who’ll look like they’ll have no need to take up the optional re-entry are the current tournament chip leaders. Top of the pile is Rocco Palumbo. The Italian has increased his starting stack of 50,000 to 180,000 over the opening six levels. That gives him a narrow lead over Jean Paul Zaffran (175,000), Igor Kurganov (165,000) Luc Greenwood (140,000) and Chris Hunchen (135,000).
It’s been another strong start for Kurganov then. The Russian finished third in the €50,000 Super High Roller earlier in the festival and looks primed for another deep run. The biggest pot he won was in a hand against Thomas Muehloecker. In a three-bet pot the Austrian bet every street of a A♠ 7♣ 4♥ Q♦ 4♣ board, Kurganov called every step of the way with pocket sevens which bested Muehloecker’s J♠ 10♦ .
It’s the Brazilian who’s off to the best start as he’s up to 83,000. Boeree has added 50% to her stack as she’s up to 75,000. Mericer, who late registered during level four has dropped down to 45,000 which is 2,000 ahead of Selbst. With just 13,000 Katchalov has work to do.
Chip counts
The blinds are about to go up to 400/800 ante 100 and the average stack is 54,600.
| Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Rocco Palumbo | Italy | 180,000 |
| Jean Paul Zaffran | Israel | 175,000 |
| Igor Kurganov | Russia | 165,000 |
| Luc Greenwood | Canada | 140,000 |
| Chris Hunichen | United States | 135,000 |
| Alen Bilic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 130,000 |
| Tamer Kamel | UK | 128,000 |
| Sergio Aido | Spain | 125,000 |
| Carlos Chadha | Canada | 115,000 |
| Jeffrey Rossiter | Australia | 100,000 |
| John Juanda | Indonesia | 94,000 |
| Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 90,000 |
| Andre Akkari | Brazil | 83,000 |
| Mike McDonald | Canada | 80,000 |
| Benny Spindler | Germany | 75,000 |
| Liv Boeree | United Kingdom | 75,000 |
| Max Silver | UK | 75,000 |
| Juha Helppi | Finland | 68,000 |
| Paul Newey | UK | 65,000 |
| Sylvain Loosli | France | 65,000 |
| Davidi Kitai | Belgium | 60,000 |
| Charlie Carrel | UK | 60,000 |
| Tobias Reinkemeier | Germany | 60,000 |
| Anton Wigg | Sweden | 57,500 |
| Stephen Chidwick | UK | 55,000 |
| Vladimir Troyanovskiy | Russia | 55,000 |
| Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 53,000 |
| Mustapha Kanit | Italy | 49,200 |
| Jason Mercier | USA | 45,000 |
| Vanessa Selbst | USA | 43,000 |
| Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | 42,400 |
| Ivan Luca | Argentina | 35,000 |
| Ivan Soshnikov | Russia | 35,000 |
| Dario Sammartino | Italy | 34,800 |
| Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 31,000 |
| Mike Watson | Canada | 30,000 |
| Roberto Romanello | UK | 28,000 |
| Martin Finger | Germany | 26,000 |
| Adrian Mateos | Spain | 20,000 |
| Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | 17,000 |
| Sam Greenwood | Canada | 14,000 |
| Eugene Katchalov | Ukraine | 13,000 |
Notable eliminations
With players having the option of one re-entry into this event and late registration being open until the start of play tomorrow, detail on who’s out for now and who’s out for good is still a little fuzzy.
There are plenty of players who’ve busted once and may well be back for more. One of those is Chris Brammer. In level six the Brit found himself in a tough spot against Jean Paul Zaffran. On a 4♣ 5♠ A♠ 2♣ board he bet the turn only for Zaffran to raise enough to put him all-in.
After a long think Brammer called off with [5][4] but saw the bad news when Zaffran showed 4♠ 3♠ for the turned straight. The 2♥ river was a brick and Brammer departed.
Another is Pablo Gordillo, he was in a great spot when he got his stack of around 50,000 in pre-flop with aces against Alen Bilic’s pocket kings. So far, so standard. The 8♣ Q♦ 8♠ flop was safe for Gordillo but the K♠ fell on the turn, meaning it was now Gordillo who had just two outs. He didn’t hit on the 3♣ river and is out, for now.
Others in a similar boat to Gordillo include: Vitaly Lunkin, Ollie Price, Rasmus Agerskov, Kent Roed, Shaan Siddiqui, Igor Pihela and Alexandru Papazian.
Key coverage links
You can follow all the Main Event action on this page.
You can follow hand by hand coverage of the High Roller in the panel at the top of this page.
If you like moving pictures then you’ll be happy to hear that #EPTLive coverage of the Main Event has begun. Watch that here.
And side event coverage – lots of it – can be found here. Whilst the results of the events that have already finished are being collated here.
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