November 04 2011, Donnie Peters

After completion of both starting days at the 2011 World Poker Tour Amneville, 215 remaining players returned to action on Thursday. At day’s end, 76 were still standing; Urs Kohler claiming the top spot with 498,000 in chips.

Plenty of notable players returned to action on Day 2, including overall chip leader Jean-Francois Rigollet, Jamie Rosen, Ilan Boujenah, Antonin Teisseire, Dominik Nitsche, Liv Boeree, Tristan Clemencon and Roger Hairabedian. What all those players have in common now that Day 2 is over is that all have been eliminated and will go no further in this event.

Joining Kohler in the top five are Scott Baumstein (481,300), Marvin Rettenmaier (454,800), Simon Vitali (433,100) and Nesrine Kourdourli (431,500). Those four players following Kohler were the only part of the pack able to bag up more than 400,000 in chips. Joseph Cheong sits in sixth overall with 380,100.

On a big hand toward the end of the day, Rettenmaier scooped plenty of chips after getting involved in a flush-over-flush confrontation and coming out on top.

According to the WPT Live Update Team, the blinds were 1,000/2,000/300 when Levent Mercan open-limped from middle position. Rettenmaier raised to 5,700 from the cutoff seat, and action folded back to Mercan, who called, and the flop came down . After Mercan checked, Rettenmaier fired 5,200. Mercan check-raised to 17,000. Rettenmaier came back over the top with a reraise to 36,800 that Mercan called.

The turn brought the and paired the top card on board. Mercan checked, Rettenmaier fired 38,200, and Mercan called to see the land on the river. Mercan checked again, and after thinking things over for a bit, Rettenmaier fired 56,200. Mercan quickly called holding . His second nut flush wasn’t good as Rettenmaier tabled the and won the pot.

Other notables still left in the field include Adrien Allain, Bruno Fitoussi, Pierre Canali, Davidi Kitai and Marc Inizan.

Day 3 will take place starting at 1200 CET (0300 PDT) on Friday. The top 36 players are set to be paid out, so the money bubble should break. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap of the action.

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November 03 2011, Donnie Peters

Action moved forward at the 2011 World Poker Tour Amneville with Day 1b on Wednesday. With the 203 players who came out to the felt, a total of 379 came to play throughout both Day 1 starts. They generated a prize pool of “1,164,288 and first place is worth “310,633 plus a $25,500 WPT Championship seat. At the end of the day, about half of the field was left, as 105 players remained. Leading the way was Jean-Francois Rigollet, who bagged up 164,700 in chips.

Like Day 1a’s chip leader Nicolas Babel, Rigollet hails from Paris. He only has four career cashes and $46,576 in career tournaments earnings. The largest cash of Rigollet’s career was in March of 2011 when he placed second in a $1,000 Wynn Classic event for $27,315.

Plenty of notables were in action on Day 1b and, of course, a handful of them were eliminated. Some who to hit the rail throughout the day were Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Brandon Cantu, John Eames, Kevin MacPhee and Ludovic Lacay.

According to the WPT Live Update Team, Grospellier was eliminated during Level 5 with the blinds at 150/300/25. Bastien Faessen raised from the small blind after action folded to him and Grospellier reraised all-in from the big blind. Faessen made the call holding . Grospellier held . The flip went Faessen’s way as the board ran out in his favor to send Grospellier out the door.

Also eliminated on the day was defending WPT Amneville champion Sam El Sayed, opening the door for a new champion to be crowned this year. Last year, El Sayed bested the 542-player field to earn “426,425.

Rounding out the top five behind Rigollet from Day 1b are Thibaut Durand (147,300), Jamie Rosen (145,300), Erik Von Buxhoeveden (142,700) and Edouard Sadoun (125,500).

Notables Joseph Cheong, Arnaud Mattern, Marvin Rettenmaier, Paul Berende and Ilan Rouah all bagged up plenty of chips and will take their big stacks into Day 2. Cheong, Mattern and Rettenmaier all bagged up over 100,000 in chips. Joining them will be Ozzy Sheikh, Ilan Boujenah, Bruno Fitoussi, Liv Boeree and Roger Hairabedian.

With 218 players remaining in all, Day 2 will take place on Thursday where both Day 1 flights will combine to make a 218-player field. Action kicks off at 1200 CET (0300 PDT). Rigollet leads all players and Day 1a’s Babel comes sits in second place with 163,600 in chips. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap.

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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters