February 02 2012, Marc Convey

Day 2 of the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville played out over six 75-minute levels Thursday and the field was reduced greatly. Day 1 is all about survival whereas Day 2 is seen as a day to move up through the field. The combined field of 546 returned Thursday, and that number was culled down to 178 players.

Martins Adeniya moved to the top of the pack and bagged up 512,000, up from 115,200 at the beginning of play. Other players who also moved in the right direction included Brahim Oubella (452,000) Ludovic Lacay (377,300), Julien Ehrhardt (363,600), and Chris Brammer (321,900).

Adeniya, no stranger to leading an EPT, gets there by applying relentless pressure on his opponents. He took over the chip lead after he busted Philipe Ma over the course of two hands. Ma was caught bluffing in one hand and then ran into the Adeniya’s full-house in his exit hand.

Adeniya relinquished the lead for a while but had a storming last level. He told PokerNews that he won a 100,000-chip pot when his tens held to bust an opponent holding pocket nines. Apart from that, he won a series of small to medium pots, often forcing opponents to fold. One example of that was when he bet 8,000, 20,000, and 50,000 on a board. His opponent finally gave up on the river.

It will come as no surprise to see Luca Pagano still in. The Team PokerStars Pro in fact the only Team Pro left, is an almost unmovable force through these stages of an EPT. He will be looking for a record extending 20th cash. He finished with 172,400 chips.

Those extra chips at the top had to come from somewhere though. Amir Salhani was the clear chip leader coming into play but he departed in four levels. Nacho Barbero lost his six-figure stack within the first level, and he was joined on the rail by Kevin MacPhee and Arnaud Mattern, both former EPT champions. MacPhee came in short and had a great chance to get back into the tournament when he flopped a set of aces, but he was helpless as an opponent made a baby flush to oust him.

It was a bad day, all-in-all, for former EPT champions, as well as Team PokerStars Pros. Liv Boeree, Jake Cody, and Zimnan Ziyard won’t be the long-awaited double EPT winners. Matthias De Meulder, Vanessa Rousso, Marcin Horecki, Fatima Moreira de Melo, and Henrique Pinho were also all eliminated.

Kara Scott, Praz Bansi, Christopher Mclung, Ruben Visser, and Scotty Nguyen will be missed as much for their personalities, as well as their prowess at the table.

Top 10 Chip Counts Headed into Day 3

Play will begin at 1200 CET (0300 PST) Friday and we fully expect the field to shrink enough to burst through the bubble. One hundred and twenty-eight players will be guaranteed a minimum “7,500.

To follow all the action live, as it happens, tune into PokerNews’ Live Updates. Our team will be here throughout the day, bringing you all the news you need to know and more.

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November 20 2011, Paul Oresteen

Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Harveys Lake Tahoe Main Event is in the books after two starting flights. The first flight saw 224 players take to the felt and the second flight had 97 entrants for a total of 321 runners. Of those, only 184 players will return for Day 2. Ron McMillen (143,400) leads the field overall and the second flight’s chip leader was Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon with 92,400.

Moving on to Day 2 are Matt Keikoan (120,000), Sam Barnhart (80,400), Gary DeBernardi (43,000) and JC Tran (26,400).Notables who played but aren’t advancing on to Day 2 are Mark “Pegasus” Smith, Tahoe Andrew, Drew Caseri and Joe Mongkol-ua-aree.

McMillen earned a giant portion of his tournament-leading stack in a hand where he called two players who moved all-in. He had them both covered and the board ran out . One player held for flopped trips, the other held pocket threes for a flopped full house and McMillen held pocket sixes the bigger full house.

Keikoan flew under the radar for most the day, not finding our attention until Level 8, mostly due to being seated close to the gorgeous Annie LePage. Keikoan broke the century mark when found trip eights against an opponent’s pair of aces.

Tran’s early levels in the tournament couldn’t have been better for the two-time WSOP bracelet winner. He ran over his first table, chipping up to over 50,000 before the first break. His day didn’t continue that way, however and at the end of the night, he bagged just over the starting stack.

Kroon busted early in the first flight but then returned for a much more successful second flight. He put on a one-man show in the second flight, entertaining all the tables around him within earshot. At one point he attempted to convince his table that this was his first tournament and only minutes later he began a sentence with, “When I won my second bracelet…” (Editor’s Note: Kroon doesn’t have any WSOP bracelets.)

Day 2 gets under way promptly at 1200 PST (2000 GMT) on Sunday and the players will play 14 levels, or until a final table of nine, whichever comes first. Follow all the WSOPC action live on Pokernews.com.

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