February 07 2012, Chad Holloway

The World Poker Tour Venice Grand Prix continued on Tuesday with Day 2 action from the Casino Di Venezia. Appropriately, the three players atop the chips counts – Filippo Candio, Gabriele Lepore, and Andrea Dato – were all from Italy and looking to keep the title on their home soil. By the end of the day, only 27 players remained and Marcel Bjerkmann led the way.

When action kicked off, 89 players from a field of 155 remained in contention, and it didn’t take long for players to start hitting the rail. One of the first eliminations of the day was Melanie Weisner. According to the World Poker Tour Live Update Team It happened when Simon Ravnsbaek opened from the cutoff for 2,100, Weisner three-bet from the button, and Ravnsbaek four-bet enough to put his opponent all-in. Weisner called off for approximately 31,000 and the cards were turned up.

Showdown

Weisner was in great shape to double, until the flop came down . Ravnsbaek hit his six and picked up a flush redraw. Neither the turn nor river helped Weisner and she exited the tournament floor.

Weisner was not the only notable to hit the rail in the early levels of Day 2. Guillaume Darcourt, Dario Alioto, Roberto Romanello, and Marvin Rettenmaier all failed to advance.

Another man who failed to survive was PartyPoker Pro Tony G. He began the day with a healthy 80,000, but couldn’t get anything going and dropped down to 16,000. He committed the last of this chips holding only to be called by Gianluca Trebbi who was holding . The board ran out clean for Trebbi, and he silenced the brassy Tony G.

Likewise, fellow PartyPoker Pro and WPT host Mike Sexton came up shy of the money. His demise came when Umberto Calabrese raised to 5,000 from the hijack and Sexton called from the small blind. Trebbi then exercised his option in the big blind with a three-bet to 17,500. Calabrese folded, and Sexton moved all-in for around 40,000. Trebbi made the call and it was off to the races.

Showdown

Sexton was ahead preflop, but the flop made him a major dog. The was no help, and neither was the . Sexton was eliminated on the hand while Trebbi chipped up to 450,000.

Not long after, Candio, who had finished Day 1 as the chip leader, followed Sexton out the door. It happened when he raised to 4,800 from early position only to have Jason Wheeler make it 12,300. The rest of the field folded and Candio moved all-in. Wheeler snap-called and Candio discovered the bad news.

Showdown

Candio was behind, but the flop delivered a set for him and the lead. Unfortunately, and much to Wheeler’s relief, the turn and river put a four-card flush on the board, giving Wheeler the win with his .

Joining Bjerkmann as the end-of-the-day big stacks are Marko Neumann (384,400) Wheeler (348,200), James Akenhead (336,000), Andrey Gulyy (326,900), and Trebbe (323,500). They will also be joined by Kara Scott, who is the last PartyPoker Pro standing. Only 27 players remained when clock expired, meaning nine more players will need to be eliminated on Day 3 before the money was reached. Here’s a look at the WPT Venice Grand Prix payouts:

Day 3 is set to get back under way at 1300 CET 90400 PST) on Wednesday.

For more on the WPT Venice Grand Prix, be sure to visit the Party Poker Blog to see what Tony G and Mike Sexton have to say from the Casino Di Venezia.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today!

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

Follow Chad Holloway on

February 06 2012, Mickey Doft

The 2012 PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event concluded on Monday night. Vadzim Kursevich emerged triumphant from a field of 889 players. Kursevich began the final table second in chips and endured a tumultuous journey before finally claiming victory.

Mick Graydon, the short stack to begin the final table, lasted about two hours before he shoved into chip leader Paul Guichard’s . The board rolled out to end Graydon’s run in eighth place. Following him to the rail was Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano. Unable to gain any consistent traction, Pagano three-bet shoved with . Vuong Than Trong, the raiser, called with and held up through the board.

About three and a half hours later Olivier Rogez was the next to fall, doing so in unusual fashion. His 14 big-blind stack slowly dwindled to less than two big blinds before Rogez called all-in from the big blind with . The pot was three-handed and following a flop, Paul Guichard isolated with . Rogez found help from the turn, but the river ended his Main Event run in sixth place. Roughly two hours passed before Bruno Jais exited in fifth place. He shoved on a flop with , but ran into Vuong Than Trong’s . The turn gave Jais two extra outs to win, but the river was not among them.

The players took a one hour-break and when they returned, the chips started to fly. Than Trong was leading, but lost much of his stack to Kursevich who was in second place. After raising on the button, Than Trong watched as Kursevich three-bet from the small blind. Action folded back to Than Trong and he four-bet shoved with . Kursevivh called all-in immediately with and won the pot when the board fell .

With the huge chip lead, Kursevich went to work eliminating the shorter stacks. First, with , he eliminated Yorane Kerignard (who held ) when neither player improved his hand on a board. A few hands later, Than Trong got it in with against Kursevich’s , but once again, the board improved neither player.

Heads-up play began with Kursevich holding just less than a 7:1 chip lead, but Guichard stormed back to make the stacks nearly even before the final hand occurred. The blinds and antes were at the 125,000/250,000/30,000 level when Kursevich min-raised the button to 500,000. A three-bet to 1,250,000 came from Guichard and after Kursevich called, the flop came down .

Guichard bet 625,000, which kept Kursevich in the hand to see the land on the turn. Not slowing down, Guichard bet 1,325,000. After a few moments Kursevich moved all-in, and got an immediate call from Guichard, who tabled for a set. Kursevich was very live, with straight and flush outs, holding and sure enough, the hit the river to give Kursevich a straight and bring the tournament to a close.

Final Table Payouts

Be sure to check back to our Live Reporting pages because we’ll be at plenty of tournament stops across the globe just about every week.

Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

Follow Mickey Doft on