PokerStars.net EPT Warsaw, Day 2: Juan Maceiras Moves to Front
The official second day of the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Polish Open in Warsaw saw 130 players take the felt, with Robert Flink leading the pack as Liz Lieu, Julian Thew and Johnny Lodden returned to their short stacks. The day was not kind to either short stacks or Day 1 chip leaders, as Thew, Lodden, Lieu and Flink all busted out by the end of play.
Andy Black was again one of the most active players in the field, playing in his estimation 85% of the pots at his table in the early levels on Day 2. He ran into a tough patch in the middle of the day when his pocket aces were cracked by pocket eights that rivered a four-flush, and then he lost a big pot to Christoffer Sonesson a few hands later when Sonesson rivered top pair. Black later moved back into contention after two key double-ups. In the first, he pushed all in from the big blind with pocket nines over an early-position raiser, and found himself in good shape when his opponent called with J-9 and his pair held up. For his next double-up, Black picked up pocket aces and they held up against an opponent's A-Q. Once the bubble neared, Black poured on the aggression and chipped up against his more conservative opponents, leaving him in a strong position as Day 2 drew to a close.
Jean Claude Perrot drew potentially the tournament's first serious injury when he hit his draw against Risto Ailamo in a big pot. Ailamo moved the last of his chips in the middle with A♠5♠ on a board of A♥2♥9♦7♣9♥, and Perrot made the call with Q♥10♥. When he saw that his flush was good, Perrot punched the table in celebration, hard enough to cause damage. After holding an ice pack to his hand for the rest of the level, Perrot came back to the table after break with his hand wrapped in a bandage. This is not the first time Perrot has been on the losing end of a confrontation with a poker table. He banged the table at an EPT event in Barcelona after being bluffed out of a pot by Gus Hansen and broke the same hand.
In another EPT first, Thierry van den Berg and Trond Eidsvig both set an EPT record in this event, cashing in their fourth event this season. Prior to this event, no player had ever cashed in four EPT main event tournaments in one seaon. Coincidentally, neither van den Berg nor Eidsvig had ever cashed in an EPT event prior to this season. They made official EPT history when Cristiano Blanco went out on the bubble, eliminated by Kenny Hicks Jr. Blanco raised preflop with pocket queens from under the gun, and Hicks re-raised from the small blind. Hicks open-shoved when the flop came down jack-high, and Blanco made the call. Hicks tabled A-K and made a pair of aces on the turn to bust Blanco in 33rd place.
26 players remained when play ended for the night, all chasing Juan Maceiras's lead. Macieras remained just ahead of a hard-charging Clause Nielsen who went on a run as the bubble burst and sent Thierry van den Berg to the rail at the end of the day. Van den Berg raised from under the gun, and Nielsen called from early position. The other players folded and the flop came down J♦3♠7♦. Van den Berg led out at the pot, and Nielsen raised. Van den Berg moved all in with Q♥Q♠ and Nielsen insta-called with pocket jacks for top set. No queen showed on the turn or river, and van den Berg was eliminated as Nielsen moved to near the top of the board.
The top ten chip stacks looked like this at the end of the day:
Juan Maceiras 388,000
Claus Nielsen 345,500
Mathias Viberg 284,000
Ricardo Sousa 239,000
Kenneth Hicks Jr. 225,000
Daniel Woolson 188,500
Dan B. Pedersen 178,000
Henrik Gwinner 165,000
Willian Johnson 158,000
Christian Öman 147,500
