Thursday, 28th March 2024 23:22
Home / Uncategorized / EPT9 Sanremo: Day 2 in history
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There wasn’t much Luca Bartoli could hope for when he turned up this morning, armed with a stack of just 6,000 chips. Even the soccer shirt he was wearing suggested he’d given up on some prize money to take to Boggi across the road. Instead he turned up to carry out the formalities, like signing divorce papers.

Six 75 minute levels must have seemed an impossible period to survive for the Italian, who did get one stroke of luck when he was drawn on the button. In the end he needed only two hands before he pushed from the cut off with ace-three. Dermot Blain found kings on the button and obliged with a call. Bartoli left with a forced “Ciao”.

Bartoli is the first to Ciao his way out of the tournament room but he certainly won’t be the last. Day 2 is a difficult day to survive and shapes the rest of the tournament, and even careers. A look back through the EPT Sanremo archives provides the proof, and not just in the overuse of the word “carnage”.

Day 2 of this event in Season 4 is the first recorded mention of Jason Mercier in the PokerStars Blog. Back in 2008 the then 21-year-old took the chip lead around about now and he’d win his first major title two days later.

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Jason Mercier

In Season 5 Dragan Gallic surged to the lead on this day after two days of play that had removed 90 per cent of the field – then the biggest in EPT history at 1,178. He went on to finish second. The chip lead was no guarantee of a podium finish. Last year Joseph Cheong led after day 2, going on to cash in 31st place.

All this will have escaped Bartoli who, after a single level, is one of more than 50 players, including Mercier, to have departed.

Keep an eye on the live tournament reporting from EPT Sanremo for all the news from the tournament floor.

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