Master Classics of Poker: 36 Remain With Maxi Lehmanski Leading
Day 2 of the Master Classics of Poker €4,300 Main Event in Amsterdam is in the books. Just 36 out of 293 entries will be coming back for the penultimate day of play, with German high rollers Maxi Lehmanski (696,000) and [Removed:172] (584,500) leading the charge, ahead of Finnish player Totti Arosuo (560,000). Defending champion Claas Segebrecht and Dutch Poker Hall of Famer Lex Veldhuis were among those to fall on Day 2.
The second day of the MCOP Main Event, highlight of the 11-day poker festival in Holland Casino Amsterdam, saw several new players enter. A total of 27 new entries on Day 2 made for a combined 293 entries into the Main Event, a small increase on last year's 285 entries. With that, the total prize pool was finalized at €1,164,235. Forty-four players would be going home with a cash, with a min-cash being €7,800. The winner, crowned on Friday, will be going home with €240,183.
Some entered while having already played and busted on Day 1, but new players entered as well. Ari Engel and David Peters were just some of the familiar names to enter. Both didn't make the dinner break, though.
The day started with a flurry of bustouts, as one might have expected. Matthias De Meulder, Pim and Luuk Gieles, Rens Feenstra and Marcel Goldenbelt were just some of the local players to bust in the first level. Segebrecht, the German high roller who won the MCOP last year, busted not much later. He got it in with nines against aces and didn't get a miracle card to stay alive.
Dutch Poker Hall of Famer Veldhuis didn't have the greatest of days at the table. He first chopped in a crucial pot with ace-queen suited against ace-ten offsuit, despite flopping a flush draw. Not much later, the same beat struck again as he lost with ace-queen to Teun Mulder's ace-ten when the flop came ten-high.
On the flip side, Dutch TV host Alberto Stegeman had a great day, crushing the regulars with great hands and great bluffs. His first claim to fame came when he got three streets of value against Joris Ruijs. Stegeman had aces and barreled in the three-bet pot. Ruijs couldn't get away from his hand and mucked on the river.
A couple of levels later, Stegeman showed he didn't need a great hand to get a ton of chips. He four-bet ace-king against hyper-aggressive player Stefan Wolzak, and bet the flop and turn having missed. Wolzak called the flop but folded the turn. Stegeman finished the day with 557,000, which puts him in fourth place overall.
EPT13 Malta and Prague champions Aliaksei Boika (156,000) and Jasper Meijer van Putten (362,000) are also still in contention for the near quarter million up for grabs, as are former champs Hakim Zoufri (249,500) and Noah Boeken (105,000). Jan Eric Schwippert (290,000), Joris Ruijs (253,000), Steve O'Dwyer (195,000) and Michiel Brummelhuis (191,000) will also be back on Day 3.
Among those that min-cashed but failed to make it to Day 3 were Michal Mrakes, Jasper Wetemans and Bryan Paris.
36 players remain going into Day 3 of the four-day event. There are 30 minutes left in Level 16: 2,500-5,000, with a 5,000 button ante. Day 3 MCOP Live Updates can be found on the PokerNews live reporting pages. The plan is to play down to a final table of 9 on Day 3.
