2011 WSOPE Event #2, Day 2: Romanello Going for Triple Crown; Event #3 Kicks Off
The 2011 World Series of Poker Europe continued action on Monday with Day 2 of Event #2: €1,090 No-Limit Hold'em. The final table was set with Roberto Romanello still in contention to earn poker's Triple Crown. Event #3: €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha, also began on Monday with a jam-packed field of superstars. Keep on reading to find out who stands in Romanello's way and who remains in the Omaha event.
Event #2: €1,090 No-Limit Hold'em — Romanello Gunning for History
Day 2 of the "European Stimulus Special" (as it's been nicknamed) began with 104 hopefuls still in contention, but the eliminations came brutally quick in the early levels. Peter Jetten couldn't make it out of the first hand of the day, though in fairness to him, he only had 6,000 chips when play began. Other early casualties included Dan Shak, Farzad Bonyadi, Richard Toth, and France's newest WPT champion Matt Waxman. Most of them went to kill time in Event #3 as it got under way in the hotel across the street.
For a while, it looked like Event #2 was pushing toward a monster final table, but the middle levels were equally cruel to the remaining notables. Vanessa Selbst had her queens cracked by ace-queen to all but end her day, and she followed her pal Kevin MacPhee out the door with a middling cash. Other notables to fall by the wayside with small paydays were McLean Karr, Tyler Kenney, Nicolas Chouity, Toby Lewis, Dan Kelly, and November Niner Eoghan O'Dea. The latter got his money in as good as he could have hoped for with pocket aces against Ricardo Pereira's ace-king. A pair of kings on the flop was the way this particular bad beat went down, and O'Dea will be hoping to avoid that fate in November.
Play was halted with nine players remaining and Italy's Gianluca Speranza out in front with 757,000 chips. He'll have to deal with a tough cast of characters, and Andrew Hinrichsen might be the betting favorite with one day left. He begins in second place with 434,000, and he's followed by another tough player, Roberto Romanello. The Welshman had an above-average stack for most of the day, but a late clash with Speranza cost him nearly half of it. There's more at stake for Romanello than anyone else on Tuesday. Already with an EPT and a WPT title to his credit, Romanello has a chance to become only the fifth player to achieve poker's Triple Crown. It'll take a bracelet to do it, though.
The end-of-day chip counts are posted below, and those are the stacks they'll return to tomorrow. The final table is slated for 1400 CET (0500 PDT), and PokerNews will be on hand as the series' second bracelet winner is crowned. Can Romanello snag the Triple Crown? Or will Hinrichsen grab one for Australia? Or maybe England's John Eames can play the role of spoiler?
The only way to find out is to follow along with the Live Reporting team when the final table commences!
Event #3: €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha — Shorr PLOwing Through to Day 2
The WSOPE surged into its third event of the series on Monday, the €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament. The venue was the Hotel Majestic Barriere and the field was littered with superstars and shot takers. At the end of registration, 180 players had taken their seats and a prize pool of €882,000 was created. After eight levels of play, the man in charge of the bunch of four-card lovers was Shannon Shorr with 166,400 chips.
Shorr, who has amassed just under $4 million in live tournament earnings, started well after eliminating Fabrizio Gonzalez and Dan Kelly early in the tournament. He cruised through Day 1 despite not leading the chip counts until right at the end.
This year has been a golden one for Sam Trickett and at the dinner break, Trickett was the chip leader. While Trickett was gathering chips, there were a lot of great players losing them, as well. Tom Dwan, John Racener, Isaac Haxton, Matt Giannetti, Brian Hastings and Patrik Antonius were all eliminated just before the dinner break.
Trickett started to falter, and the person who was waiting in the wings to take over his mantle was David Williams. Williams eliminated recent WSOP bracelet winner Hasan Anter to take the chip lead. Then a player who is no stranger to the four-card game, WSOP bracelet winner Elie Payan, became the first player to get over the 100,000-chip mark, and he and Williams went head to head all evening, contesting the chip lead.
In the end, there were 49 players who made it through to Day 2, and Shorr had come out from the mid-stacked group to take the lead. Other notables who will be joining Shorr in Day 2 are Jason Mercier, Erich Kollman, Sam Stein, Sam Chartier and Phil Hellmuth.
The action from Day 2 will come from the Le Criosette Casino Barriere and starts at 1500 CET (0600 PDT). Players will play until ten levels are reached or the final nine are determined.
Be sure and follow all the action on PokerNews.
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