2015 PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville Day 2: Newcomer Alex Tikhoniouk Leads 138 Survivors
Day 2 of the PokerStars.fr EPT 11 Deauville Main Event started with 335 players remaining and Frenchman Guillaume Darcourt leading the way. With the late registration still open until the action restarted at noon, another three players exchanged €5,300 for 30,000 chips to boost the overall attendance to 592 entries in total and 338 remaining. Tournament staff announced that the top 87 spots will get paid with the eventual winner receiving €543,700 as well as the EPT trophy and Slyde watch on Feb. 7.
Once everyone bagged and tagged their chips on Day 2, only 138 players remained and Alex Tikhoniouk had claimed the lead with 312,600 chips. The Irishman is playing his first ever EPT event and was even down to only four big blinds early in the day before spinning it up.
Tikhoniuk is closely followed by former EPT champion and EPT 11 London runner-up Kevin MacPhee (308,300) and Robert Schulz (296,900). Other big stacks include PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (281,500), Carlo Savinelli (275,400), Benjamin Pollak (275,000), Nicolau Villa-Lobos (230,600), PokerStars Team Pro Jan Heitmann (199,000) and the start-of-the-day chip leader Darcourt (172,600). Eugene Katchalov started as one of the shortest stacks and doubled up several times to claim 137,000 whereas fellow Team Pro Marcin Horecki (112,000) and PokerStars sponsored player Dominik Panka (45,800)
The action kicked off with a bang Tuesday as Michal Mrakes lost his top 10 stack to Andrius Bielskis within the first half an hour of play. Mrakes and 64 others were eliminated in the first two levels, including Gaelle Baumann, Vojtech Ruzicka, former EPT champion David Vamplew, Christophe Benzimra, Ihar Soika and Philippe Ktorza.
Vicky Coren-Mitchell, the first and only two-time EPT champion, will have to wait for another chance to win her third. She failed to improve with K♠ Q♠ against the A♦ K♥ of 2013 PCA champion Dimitar Danchev. Michael Tureniec busted to Ruben Visser in a battle of former EPT winners when the Dutchman improved with A♠ J♣ to better the Swede's A♣ Q♠. PokerStars Team Online Pros Vicente Delgado and Gabriel Nassif were equally unfortunate, as was PokerStars Team Pro Julien Brecard.
Three former EPT Deauville Main Event winners returned to the tables but only one would make it through. Both Lucien Cohen and Jake Cody were eliminated on the feature table: Cody was trying to bluff Clement Genon-Catalot on a board of 4♣ 5♠ 6♠ 8♠ 8♥ but the Frenchman called his river shove with Q♠ J♠ and the Brit's A♥ K♦ was no good. Cohen then lost with pocket sixes against pocket jacks to only leave Remi Castaignon behind. The Frenchman turned a full house early on with Q♠ 10♦ and Damien Lhommeau got his stack in drawing dead with A♣ J♠ for a gutshot and flush draw. Castaignon would end the day with 175,600 chips.
In the very last hand of the day Fabrice Soulier lost a coin flip with A♦ K♦ against the Q♦ Q♥ of Simon Ravnsbaek, who had bought in just before Day 2 kicked off and ran up the stack to 197,600.
The action will resume at 12 p.m. local time with blinds at 1,500/3,000 and a running ante of 400. The level duration increases from 75 to 90 minutes on Day 3, and the money is expected to be reached during the five levels of play. Stay tuned to the PokerNews live coverage to see who lands on the bubble!
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