EPT London Main Event Day 2: Surinder Sunar Surges Late
142 players returned to the Grosvenor Victoria Casino on Thursday to continue the PokerStars European Poker Tour London Main Event, with stars such as Daniel Negreanu, Liz Lieu, Barny Boatman and Chris Moneymaker all returning to the table after surviving the dual Day 1 sessions. Moneymaker started the day near the top of the leader board, and remained strong throughout the day. The top ten chip stacks to start Day 2 looked like this:
Nicolas Levi (France) 100,300
Daniel Mangas (Spain) 98,500
Antony Phillips (UK) 94,600
Chris Moneymaker (US) 79,700
Ola Brandborn (Sweden) 73,100
Fredrik Haugen (Sweden) 63,800
Vijayan Nagarajan (Malaysia) 59,800
Joseph Mouawad (Lebanon) 59,700
Anthony Lellouche (France) 58,000
Fuat Can (Sweden) 57,500
Two members of Team PokerStars mixed it up separately in the early going, with very different results. Chris Moneymaker took the chip lead when he called a pre-flop raise from Age Spets to see a flop of 5♦7♥2♦. Spets led out on the flop, Moneymaker min-raised, and Spets re-raised. After a moment's thought, Moneymaker went all in over the top of Spets, who quickly called. Spets' A♣A♠ was drawing thin against Moneymaker's flopped set with 2♣2♠, and when the 2♥ fell on the turn, Spets was drawing dead against quads and the 2003 WSOP World Champion took over the top spot on the leader board. Moneymaker played strong all day to finish with a healthy stack going into Day 3.
At the other end of the spectrum, Moneymaker's Team PokerStars cohort Daniel Negreanu busted early in Day 2 when his A♦Q♥ couldn't outrun Joseph Mouawad's pocket kings. Negreanu called Mouawad's preflop raise, and check-called on the flop of Q♣6♠2♠. When the turn brought the 7♠, Mouawad led out and Negreanu moved all in. Mouawad called with his K♠K♥, and caught the Q♠ on the river to give him the flush and send Negreanu to the rail.
The bustouts were plentiful early on Day 2, with Patrik Antonius, Barny Boatman, Liz Lieu, Mark Vos and Jeffrey Lisandro all eliminated. Nicolas Levi started the day the chip leader, but lost a big pot to Katja Svendsen when he ran a steal into Svendsen's aces. The Frenchman Levi busted before the end of Day 2.
Erik Friberg picked up a huge pot just before the last break of the day when he called a short-stack's all-in move, then called Tony Phillips' re-raise. Friberg's A♠A♥ held up against Phillips' Q♥Q♠ and the short stack's K♥Q♦, and Friberg eliminated two players in one hand.
Friberg wasn't able to hold on to those chips, finishing the day with a micro-stack after getting involved in a huge pot with Surinder Sunar right before play ended for the day. Liam Flood raised from middle position pre-flop, and Sunar called from the button. Friberg called from the big blind, and the flop brought 9♠8♣4♠. Friberg checked, and Liam Flood moved all in. Sunar called, and Friberg check-raised all in. Sunar called Friberg as well, and the players revealed A♦K♣ for Flood, 9♦9♣ for Sunar, and 4♦4♥ for Friberg. Sunar's top set held up as the 7♥ came on the turn and the 3♠ fell on the river. Flood went to the rail, and Friberg was left with just a few chips to bring back for Day 3.
That hand cemented Sunar's chip lead for the day, leaving him atop the field of 40 survivors. The top ten stacks at the end of Day 2 looked like this:
Surinder Sunar – 403,400
Ben Grundy – 220,000
Anthony Lellouche – 213,800
Lam Trinh – 207,400
Phidias Gerogiou – 200,200
Pascal Perrault – 172,800
Josh Egan – 162,300
Fredrik Haugen – 152,400
Stuart Nash – 125,100
Alan Smurfit – 122,100
Join PokerNews at 2PM London time on Thursday as we bring you all the live updates and chip counts from Day 3 of the PokerStars EPT London at the Vic.
