PokerStars.com EPT London £50,000 Super High Roller Day 2: Finger Leads Final Table
Season 10 of the European Poker Tour continued on Saturday with Day 2 action from the £50,000 Super High Roller. After nearly 10 levels of play, the field was whittled down to the final table of eight with former EPT8 Prague champ and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Martin Finger leading the way. He bagged a chip stack of 4.74 million.
£50,000 Super High Roller Final Table
| Seat | Name | Country | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | 745,000 |
| 2 | Martin Finger | Germany | 4,740,000 |
| 3 | Bill Perkins | USA | 2,005,000 |
| 4 | Tobias Reinkemeier | Germany | 845,000 |
| 5 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | 1,215,000 |
| 6 | David Benefield | USA | 1,315,000 |
| 7 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 1,135,000 |
| 8 | Johannes Strassmann | Germany | 2,215,000 |
Day 1 had attracted 38 unique players that accounted for 14 reentries, but late registration and the reentry period were open until the start of play on Saturday. Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Patrik Antonius, and Dhruvin Patel were among the players to fire their first bullet on Day 2, while Erik Seidel and Philipp Gruissem both reentered before the start of play. Gruissem fired three bullets on Day 1, which meant the young German had £200,000 invested in the tournament.
The day kicked off with a bevy of eliminations including those of Igor Kurganov, Patel, Joni Jouhkimainen, Jason Mercier, Max Altergott, Jonathan Duhamel, Dan Smith, Richard Yong, and Gruissem.
Gruissem hit the rail (for the fourth time) in Level 10 with the blinds at 4,000/8,000/1,000. It happened after he opened for a raise with AxKx only to have Antonius, who held the same hand, three-bet to 42,000. Talal Shakerchi proceeded to four-bet to 76,000, Gruissem shoved for right around 230,000, and Antonius moved all in over the top. Shakerchi called off for roughly 330,000 and tabled AxAx, which held to win the monster pot. Shakerchi nearly tripled while simultaneously eliminating Gruissem and crippling Antonius.
Seidel was the next to go after suffering a bad beat at the hands of Johannes Strassmann, and he was followed out the door by Rick Salomon, Fabian Quoss, Mike Watson, Shawn Buchanan, Sam Trickett, Shakerchi, and Haralabos Voulgaris.
Voulgaris fell in a monster hand in Level 12 with the blinds at 6,000/12,000/2,000. It began when Finger opened for 25,000 from the cutoff and Voulgaris three-bet all in for 209,000 from the button. The small blind folded and then Jeff Gross, who had both players covered, asked for exact counts on both stacks before moving all in over the top. Finger snap-called off for 668,000.
Voulgaris: J♦J♥
Finger: A♥A♣
Gross: Q♥Q♠
"What am I supposed to do there?" Gross asked of no one in particular before letting out a few expletives. Indeed, it was a big cooler, and there would be no surprises as Finger left both his opponents drawing dead on the turn after the board ran out 4♠7♣K♠A♦10♣. Voulgaris was eliminated on the hand, and Gross would join him on the rail a short time later.
Others who failed to survive the day were Dan Shak, Andrew Chen, John Juanda, Sorel Mizzi, Blom, Daniel Negreanu, Steven Silverman, Paul Newey, Steve O'Dwyer, and Ole Schemion.
In Level 17 (20,000/40,000/5,000), Christoph Vogelsang was on the button and he raised to 90,000 and Schemion thought for about 40 seconds before moving all in for 925,000. Vogelsang leaned back in his chair and hit the tank for a brief spell.
"Call," Vogelsang eventually whispered. Schemion confidently tabled the J♥J♦, and he was well out in front of Vogelsang's A♠10♣. In fact, according to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Schemion had a 71.11% chance of surviving the hand while Vogelsang would come from behind just 28.59%.
Much to Schemion's dismay, this was one of those times as the 3♣A♦7♦ flop paired Vogelsang's ace. A clearly frustrated Schemion slapped the table to say, "Good game." The 6♦ appeared on the turn, and after the 7♠ completed the board on the river, Schemion made a beeline out the door. A little while later, Mike “Timex” McDonald finished as the bubble boy after he failed to win a race against Strassmann.
The third and final day will kick off at 1 p.m. UK time and will pick up with 34 minutes remaining in Level 18 (25,000/50,000/5,000). Since there is a one-hour delay on the live stream, our live updates won’t begin until 2 p.m. Be sure to check back then as we will bring you all the hands, chip counts, and photos on the way to crowing a winner.
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