2013 PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville Day 1b: David Ostrom Takes Control
As the world began another work week, it was a busy Monday as well at the Casino Barrière where Day 1b of the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event played out. A total of 475 players arrived to play the second of two starting flights — more than the 307 who played Sunday — with Swedish player David Ostrom ending the night having made the most of his day at the office, gathering a tourney-leading stack of 212,600 in chips.
There were quite a few familiar faces among Day 1b's field, although not all were fortunate enough to survive the day with chips. Those seeing their Main Event runs end prematurely on Monday included Davidi Kitai, Dominik Nitsche, Ludovic Lacay, Alex Kravchenko, Luke Schwartz, Vicky Coren, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Toni Judet, and Pierre Neuville.
Neuville made a play for most painful exit after getting nearly all of his stack in the middle with the A♦A♥ versus Joseph Jazzar's K♦K♣ following a J♥3♦10♦ flop. The turn and river came the 9♥ and Q♠ to give Jazzar a runner-runner straight, crippling "Zoutechamp." Neuville was eliminated on the next hand.
James Akenhead would later earn at least equal amounts of pity following his elimination. Like Neuville, Akenhead lost almost his entire stack in a hand in which he too held the A♦A♠ and appeared at a great advantage, in this case up against last year's EPT Deauville Main Event runner-up Paul Guichard's A♥K♦. The flop came 6♥K♣K♠ to give Guichard trips, and when the lone remaining ace failed to come, Akenhead was nearly felted and was knocked out two hands later.
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree earned some merit points for having persevered despite a bout of food poisoning to survive most of the day, bu she was also eliminated. She then watched her boyfriend, Kevin MacPhee, almost immediately join her on the rail after running the A♦K♥ into Jean Pierre Petroli's K♣K♦.
Meanwhile as the workday progressed it was [Removed:4], Guichard, Phillipe Boucher, Casey Kastle and finally Ostrom each taking turns at the top of the leader board. Ostrom's big rise came late in the day, with a set-over-set hand proving key in his push past everyone and into first position.
Others earning a handsome hourly wage in chips today included Ahmed Abd El Fatah, Karim Abdelmoumene, Andrey Baturin, Vadzim Markushevski, Nicolas Levi, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
All told, 419 players will be back in action for Tuesday’s Day 2 at 1200 CET, still more than half of the overall starting field of 782. From those, just 120 will be receiving paychecks for their efforts at the EPT Deauville Main Event, with the player finishing the week on top earning the biggest cut of €770,000 from the tourney's €3,753,600 prize pool.
But now isn't the time to be thinking too far ahead. As already suggested, much work is left to be done.
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