April 16 2012, Matthew Pitt

The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour is back in Berlin for the third time in its history for the penultimate stop of Season Eight. Day 1a has been written into the history books after 10 one-hour levels were played in the luxurious Hyatt hotel across from the Spielbank Casino. When the tournament director finally called time on proceedings shortly before 0100 CET, and the players bagged up their precious ceramic discs, former EPT champion Vladimir Geshkenbein, emerged as the chip leader.

The Russian pro did not get off to the best start on Monday, and was down to 15,000 early on, but he staged an amazing comeback, hitting hands like they were going out of style. Cracking ace-king with ace-queen was just one example of him running amazingly well. He slipped up toward the end of the day but recovered to win a series of pots to end the day as the overall chip leader with 201,600.

Jens Weigel is Geshkenbein’s nearest rival, he managed to turn his 30,000 starting stack into an impressive 199,600. Weigel did not have the easiest of tables to deal with, because he had recent Irish Open champion Kevin Vandersmissen and Sam Chartier to deal with for the vast majority of the day. That did not stop him however, from hoovering up the leaderboard. Weigel only has one EPT cash to his name – a 30th place finish in this event last year – and if he keeps up this kind of form for the rest of the week, he could very well go even deeper.

Sam Chartier also made it through to Day 2, bagging a stack of 138,000. Right at the start of play on Monday he made a superb call with on a board that contained an ace, a pair of queens and a nine after his opponent bluff-raised all in on the river with what turned out to be a pair of fives.

Amongst the 243 players who chose to enter Day 1a of the EPT Berlin Main Event was a whole host of Team PokerStars Pro. They included Barry Greenstein, Theo Jorgensen, Vanessa Selbst, Angel Guillen, Martin Stazsko, Jan Heitmann, Henrique Pinho and Pierre Neuville. Team PokerStars as a whole had a good result from Day 1a. In fact all but Staszko, who was eliminated shortly before the end of the day, safely navigated through the minefield that is the first flight of an EPT. They are part of the 110 survivors who also had chips to bag at tag at the end of the night.

End of Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

Day 1b’s field should be even larger, and if the rumors are true, then the field could close in on 700 entrants. That means the players will be not only seated in the vast tournament area of the Hyatt hotel, but also in the adjoining Spielbank Casino too – just to fit them all in!

The action kicks off at 1200 CET (0300 PDT) sharp and will continue until 10 one-hour levels and a 75-minute dinner break have been completed. The well-known faces that are to take part are so numerous that we could fill an entire page with their names but expect to see the likes of Team PokerStars Pros Bertand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and Arnaud Mattern along with a whole host of other familiar characters.

Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as soon play gets under way for all the action, as it happens, from the European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event.

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March 28 2012, Matthew Pitt

Day 2 of the PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Campione Main Event has come to an end after six, 75-minute levels were completed inside the vast Casino di Campione. At the start of play 325 players took their seats, each with high hopes of becoming an EPT champion, but that dream is over for all but 99 of them.

The dreams of stardom are well and truly alive for Balazs Botond, the overnight chip leader. He bagged up 646,000 in chips by the time the tournament director called an end to the day. Botond flew under the proverbial radar for the majority of the day, and when his monster stack was brought to the Live Reporting Team’s attention, we attempted to investigate how it was built.

“Were you involved in many big hands to build your stack?” he asked before adding, “We guess you’re running really hot, no?”

“Actually no,” came the reply before two of his opponents informed us, almost at the same time, “He’s just playing really well!”

“Yeah. I’m playing really well,” confirmed the PokerStars hoodie-sporting Hungarian.

Botond’s stack contains almost 150,000 more chips than his nearest rival – the dangerous Ronny Kaiser. The current EPT Tallin champion, Kaiser has been tearing up the high stakes pot-limit Omaha cash games on PokerStars over the past few weeks and his terrific form seems to have followed him into the live arena because he ended the day with 506,500 inchips.

Like Botond, Kaiser was not drawing much attention to himself until he was involved in a massive pot toward the latter stages of the day when his held against and to send two players to the rail and boost his stack past the 500,000-chip barrier.

After almost eight full seasons of the EPT with no double winner, it is almost impossible not to mention the possibility of someone becoming the first player to win two EPT main events. Almost without fail, at least one former champion makes a deep run and Campione is no different. There are eight players remaining in the field who have lifted that coveted trophy.

Along with the aforementioned Kaiser, the following players, in chip count order, will no doubt be referred to as the “potential first double EPT winner” on at least one occasion on Day 3. Keep an eye out for David Vamplew (412,900), Roberto Romanello (331,000), Liv Boeree (300,900), Nicolas Chouity (257,000), Rupert Elder (161,600), Martin Finger (122,400) and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (113,500). Imagine if all eight made it through to the final table!

A special mention has to go to Team PokerStars’ Liv Boeree who looked to be down and out within the first couple of levels of play. After a clash with Vamplew, who she was seated next to all day, she was left with just 8,000 chips with blinds at 500/1,000/100. She staged an epic comeback however, and when she sits down on Day 3, she will do so armed with almost exactly 100 big blinds!

End of Day 2 Chip Counts

Play resumes at 1400 CEST (0500 PDT) on Thursday and will continue until only 24 players remain. You can follow all of the action over on the PokerNews Live Reporting pages, and we will have a full recap of the action for you shortly after play ends.

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