EPT Dublin Day 1a Recap

John Hartness

Oct 31, 2007 3 min read

Eighty-Nine players took the field at the Royal Dublin Society for the first day of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Dublin Championship, including such local favorites as Jason O'Toole, Andy Black and Conor Doyle. Joining their Irish counterparts were players from all corners of the world like European pros Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, Julian Thew and Johnny Lodden, as well top-level American players like Erik Seidel and Brandon Schaefer. 2006 EPT Dublin champion Roland De Wolfe and WSOP Europe Main Event Champion Annette 'Annette_15' Obrestad were spectators on Day 1a, as they awaited their Day 1b start.

It took less time for Malmai Csaba to double up than it did for some players to take their seats. On the very first hand, Csaba found himself all in holding pocket Aces against his opponent's pocket Queens. All the money went in on the flop of 6♠3♠3♦, and when the turn and river revealed the 7♦J♥, Csaba's aces held up to give him the first significant pot of the day and to give his opponent an ignominious early exit. Csaba used his early edge to pick up pots and work his way to a top-5 chip stack by the end of the day.

Young internet superstar Dario Minieri also made an early exit on Day 1a, when he pushed his short stack all in over the top of Jan Sjavik's preflop raise. Sjavik called with A♣Q♣, and Minieri tabled his dominated A♠10♣. The Q♥ in the door all but dashed Minieri's hopes for a suckout, and the young Italian was ousted before the dinner break. Internet superstar Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier was also eliminated on Day 1a.

Joe Rafferty made the final table of the EPT Dublin in 2005, but the Dublin native ran 10♥10♦ into an opponent's J♠J♥ early in Day 1a and was eliminated. Erik Seidel also went to the rail on Day 1a when he ran his K♣Q♥ into Stig Top Rasmussen's A♥K♠. A board of 8♦3♠2♠10♦9♣ brought no help for Seidel, and the 8-time WSOP bracelet winner headed to the rail.

Irish poker star Andy Black doubled up early in the day and rode his big stack to a top-5 finish for Day 1a. His early double up came when he picked up the second-nut flush holding Q♠9♠ on a board of K♠6♠7♦J♥10♠. On the river, Black's opponent moved all in, and Black quickly called, picking up a monster pot and putting himself in good position for the rest of the day.

48 players survived Day 1a, with Mike McDonald atop the leaderboard. More superstars were scheduled to join the fray on Day 1b, including Roland De Wolfe, Annette Obrestad and 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Katja Thater. Complete Chip counts for the surviving players are -

Mike McDonald 67,250

Dave Colclough 59,350

Phidias Georgiou 55,475

Kristian Kjøndal 53,150

Jacques Zaicik 48,225

Andrew Black 45,675

Simon Christensson 45,000

Christoffer Egemo Hansen 43,050

Kevin Vreeswijk 42,725

Marcel Baran 40,150

Henric Stråth 39,000

Csaba Malnai 37,250