PokerStars EPT Barcelona Main Event Day 2: Ruzicka Bags the Lead with Bubble Looming
Day 2 of the €5,300 Main Event from the European Poker Tour Barcelona has come to a close, and a massive day it was. After a field of 1,496 entries was generated, over 900 players returned for Day 2. That allowed for a whopping €7,255,600 prize pool, of which the top 239 players would be paid out with the winner set to receive €1,261,000.
At the end of another six 75-minute levels of play, 292 players remained, which isn't too far away from a cash. Breaking the bubble will come on Day 3, proving that it'll be one of the more exciting days in the tournament. Just sliding into the money will earn each player €8,050.
Finishing atop the surviving players was Vojtech Ruzicka with 617,100 in chips.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vojtech Ruzicka | 621,000 |
| 2 | Nima Ahrary | 519,600 |
| 3 | Martin Finger | 502,300 |
| 4 | Andrei Konopelko | 446,500 |
| 5 | Berthold Winz | 443,000 |
| 6 | Tobias Rohe | 434,500 |
| 7 | Andres Federico Jeckeln | 359,200 |
| 8 | Oliver Price | 352,400 |
| 9 | Ramin Hajiyev | 351,700 |
| 10 | Andre Leattau | 338,000 |
Ruzicka started the day with 155,300 in chips and steadily increased his stack. He picked up a nice pot towards the end of the night against Dominik Nitsche where he bet, bet, bet on the flop, turn, and river of a board reading 8♠6♣3♥4♥9♠. Nitsche called all three streets, including calling for all of his chips on the river, with the K♦K♣. Unfortunately for Nitsche, Ruzicka rivered a gut-shot straight with the 10♠7♠ to send him to the rail.
Other players who finished towards the top of the counts were Nima Ahrary (519,600), Martin Finger (502,000), Tobias Rohe (435,000), Marko Neumann (316,100), Max Pescatori (294,000), Fedor Holz (260,600), Kent Lundmark (237,700), and Scott Seiver (216,400).
Finger — who has won a World Series of Poker gold bracelet, an EPT main event title, and an EPT super high roller title — won a huge pot during Level 12 with the blinds at 800/1,600/200. After a player had opened from the cutoff seat, Finger three-bet to 13,000 from the button with the K♦6♦. The cutoff seat then four-bet to 39,000, and Finger called in position. The cutoff seat then bet 40,000 on the K♣5♦2♣ flop and shoved the Q♥ turn for around 140,000. Both times Finger made the call, and his opponent tabled the 10♣10♦. The 9♠ landed on the river, and the massive pot was pushed Finger's way.
On the flip side of the coin, plenty of players busted out on the day. Some of those to bust were Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden, Alex Kravchenko, Jake Cody, Matthias De Meulder, Ivan Demidov, Leo Fernandez, Liv Boeree, Leo Margets, Marcin Horecki, Theo Jorgensen, Eugene Katchalov, and Daniel Negreanu.
Negreanu was eliminated during Level 13 with the blinds at 1,000/2,000/300. He was down to his last 15,000 chips or so and moved all in with the K♣7♣. An opponent made the call with a dominating KxQx and that was the end of the line for "Kid Poker" in this event.
One other player advancing to Day 3 was Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, but he slipped all the way back to 41,900 in chips to finish out the day. On Day 2, Mizrachi chatted with Remko Rinkema about his strategy, but he kept things on the down low:
Day 3 will kick off at 12 p.m. local time on Sunday, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for more coverage from Barcelona.
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