World Series of Poker Europe: Day Two Over and Five Remain
Day two of the £2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em Omaha event at the World Series of Poker Europe began today with 22 players. The day ended in London and the chips were all bagged and tagged and when it was all said and done, five players were left.
The day began with a bracelet ceremony to honor JP Kelly, the year's first transatlantic World Series of Poker bracelet winner.
The plan, when cards went in the air, was to play down to the final table. That idea was quickly eighty-sixed and WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel announced they would be playing to the winner.
The bubble burst when Mats Gavatin's J♥9♣ bested Karelas Konstantinos' 5♠5♥ when the board ran out 3♦4♠10♥K♠J♣.
That was all Gavatin needed to steal the show. He was medium stacked for most of the day until he knocked out Allie Prescott and Michel Abecassis in the same hand. Prescott raised from the cutoff and both Abecassis on the button and Gavatin in the small blind called. The flop brought the K♣J♦ and 8♦ and must have hit everyone right where they wanted because they all went all-in and the cards were flipped over.
Gavatin: A♦4♦Q♥3♣
Prescott: K♠10♠Q♦8♣
Abecassis: Q♣J♥10♥9♥
The turn, the 9♦, completed Gavatin's flush draw and the river, the 4♥, helped no one. Abecassis had more chips than Prescott, so he finished in 12th place while Prescott got 13th.
When the players reached the nine-handed final table, they voted and decided to play three more levels, so play was suspended at the end of level 18.
Howard Lederer was eliminated in ninth place after he got it all-in with pocket threes in a race against Gavatin's A♠K♣. As if the flop and the turn, 6♥6♣A♦A♥, weren't enough for Gavatin, he put the nail in the coffin when he made quads on the river with the A♣.
When all was said and done, five remained. The overnight chip counts are as follows:
Mats Gavatin – 448,000
Richard Gryko – 329,000
Men Nguyen – 268,000
Erik Cajelais – 81,000
Robin Keston – 63,000
Play begins at 2 p.m. tomorrow in London and the PokerNews live reporting team will be bringing you the play by play.
