2013 WSOP Europe Day 11: Nitsche Leads After Day 2 of Main Event; Ivey, Hellmuth Fall
Day 2 of the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event came to a close on Monday night, and leading the 69 remaining players was WSOP bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche. According to WSOP.com, on one of the final hands of the evening the German was faced with a 61,200-chip bet from Eric Sfez with around 100,000 in the middle and the completed board of 8♣5♠A♠J♥5♦ on the felt. Nitsche found a call with QxQx, Sfez showed 8x7x, and Nitsche rocketed up to half of a million chips.
The German will begin Day 3 with an astounding 504,800 chips — roughly 210 big blinds.
WSOP Europe Main Event Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 504,800 |
| 2 | Ludovic Lacay | France | 406,200 |
| 3 | Benny Spindler | Germany | 345,700 |
| 4 | Ariel Celestino | Brazil | 325,000 |
| 5 | Fabrice Soulier | France | 319,000 |
| 6 | Guillaume Marrucho | France | 301,800 |
| 7 | Jay Farber | USA | 293,700 |
| 8 | Adrien Allain | France | 289,200 |
| 9 | Flavien Guenan | France | 286,200 |
| 10 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 283,800 |
Courtesy of WSOP.com
Joining Nitsche atop the counts were Day 1 overall chip leader Ludovic Lacay, Benny Spindler, Ariel Celestino, and Fabrice Soulier. Soulier won a massive flip against Phil Hellmuth with JxJx against the Poker Brat’s AxKx, then finished the defending champion off in Level 11.
Hellmuth three-bet all in for around 12 big blinds over a raise from Loni Harwood and a call from Soulier. Harwood called, Soulier re-shoved, and Harwood was forced to fold. The Frenchman’s A♦K♣ was well ahead of the 13-time bracelet winner’s A♥Q♠, and held as the flop, turn, and river all produced bricks.
Harwood also hit the rail during Day 2 moving all in preflop with the A♣8♠ and running into Flavien Guenan’s A♠Q♦. The dominant hand held up, and Harwood’s run for the WSOP Player of the Year was cut short.
Other notables who will return for Day 3 action include Scott Clements, Jeremy Ausmus, Daniel Negreanu, Yann Dion, [Removed:17], Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Shannon Shorr, Shawn Buchanan, and David Peters.
Ausmus, who spoke with PokerNews during one of the breaks, won a flip to help pad his stack in Level 12. Rasmus Glaesel was all in and at risk with the K♦9♦ against Ausmus’ 8♥8♦, and the 2012 Octo-Niner held as the board ran out 4♥Q♦A♥Q♣2♠. Ausmus finished the day with 219,800 chips. Shorr also took some time during the day to chat with PokerNews before bagging up 150,000.
Joining Hellmuth and Harwood on the rail were a plethora of big names, including Phil Ivey, JC Tran, Igor Kurganov, Martin Finger, Jonathan Duhamel, and Jeff Rossiter.
Ivey lost a flip with 4x4x against Kurganov’s QxJx, Kurganov ran 9♠9♣ into Celestino’s 10♥10♠, and Tran ran AxKx into KxKx.
With a few more entries prior to the start of Day 2, the field size rested at 375, generating a total prize pool of €3.6 million. The top 40 players will earn a minimum of €20,250, each member of the eight-handed final table is guaranteed €77,500, and the winner will walk away with €1 million and the gold bracelet.
Day 3 will begin at noon local time on Tuesday, and you can find a recap of the action right here on PokerNews following the completion of play.
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