PokerStars.com EPT Budapest, Day 2: Albert Iversen Leads Final 42
The Las Vegas Casino in Budapest, Hungary saw 182 survivors from Days 1a and 1b combine to a single field as Day 2 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Hungary stop kicked off. Leading the field to start the day was Mauro Corsetti of Italy, followed closely by Norwegian Annette Obrestad and Frenchman Arnaud Mattern. Over the course of eight fast and furious levels, Denmark's Albert Iversen took over the chip lead, while Obrestad and Mattern both headed to the rail. Corsetti made it through the day with a healthy stack as the bubble burst and the field thinned to 42 players by the end of Day 2.
Team PokerStars pro William Thorson was one of the early eliminations, as the short stacks wasted no time going for the double-up. He was joined on the rail early by PokerNews qualifier Imre "Firesnake" Alfoldi, Alan Smurfit, Pierre Husson and Chris Moorman, who ran into a huge cooler to end his tournament. After a raise preflop, Moorman and Benjamin Lebor got all their chips in on a flop of 8♥Q♥8♠. Moorman's A♦A♠ was well ahead of Lebor's J♥J♠, but the 2♥ on the turn gave Lebor a flush draw. Needing to fade only a heart or a jack, Moorman saw the 5♥ on the river end his tournament in one of the early levels of Day 2.
Luca Pagano headed to the rail on this day as well, accompanied by his father Claudio, who busted not long after his son. Annette Obrestad got all her money in ahead on a flop of J-7-9 holding 9-7, but found a caller in Ivo Donev, with J-8; an eight on the turn and the 2007 WSOP-E Main Event champ was done. Arnaud Mattern also saw bright fortunes on Day 1a turn to dismal ones on Day 2 as he busted to Lukas Benkovic. Mattern raised preflop with A♠K♥ and Benkovic was the only caller to the flop of 4♠7♦4♦. Mattern led out at the flop, and called a raise from Benkovic to see the 2♦ come on the turn. Benkovic fired again, and again Mattern called. The 6♥ came on the river, and Benkovic bet out enough to put Mattern all in. Mattern thought for a long while before finally calling, only to see Benkovic table A♣7♥ for two pair to send him to the rail.
With the money bubble approaching, play slowed significantly until two tables saw all-in hands simultaneously. At the first, Janek Schleicher's pocket queens held up on a board of 5♠3♣8♦2♦3♦ to survive Nicolo Calia's A♣K♦. Then Thomas Vestergaard got it all in with A-K against Christophe Wemelbeke's A♣K♣. The hand was primed for a split pot until the flop came all clubs, giving Wemelbeke the flush and busting Vestergaard on the bubble.
Once the bubble burst, the pace picked up quickly, as the short stacks upped their level of gamble and the big stacks took more chances to pick them off. The field thinned quickly to the final 42 players as pros including Sorel Mizzi (54th, €5,320), Kara Scott (52nd, €5,320) and Ludovic Lacay (50th, €5,320) all busted shortly after the cash was reached.
As play drew to a close on Day 2, Martin Jacobson took out two players in one hand to scoop a monster pot and move close to the top of the leader board. All the chips went in preflop, as Jacobson held pocket jacks to Massimiliano Rosa's A♣K♠ and Stefano Fiore's 10♦9♦. The board ran out 9♥7♥5♥Q♠8♦, and Jacobson's jacks held up to send Fiore and Rosa to the rail. Both players picked up €6,384 for their finishes.
As the final 42 players packed up for the night, the top ten chip stacks looked like this, with Danish pro Albert Iversen assuming the overnight lead:
Albert Iversen - 442,500
Martin Jacobson - 365,000
Ciprian Hrisca - 280,000
Casey Kastle - 264,500
William Fry - 257,000
Lukas Benkovic - 224,000
Pasquale Braco - 208,500
Marino Serenelli - 195,500
Zoltan Toth - 175,000
Ofir Abramovivi - 163,000
Join PokerNews on Friday at 1PM Budapest time as the 42 Day 2 survivors play down to the final table.
