European Poker Tour Berlin Day 1a Completed: Vladimir Geshkenbein Leads
A total of 243 players started the €5,300 EPT Berlin Main Event this afternoon but now that 10 one-hour levels have been completed only 110 of them remain. The man who leads the way at the end of Day 1a is the Russian pro Vladimir Geshkenbein.
Geshkenbein did not get off to the best of starts and quickly found himself down to 15,000 chips but he rallied well and ran even better to fly up the chip counts. As was the case when he won EPT Snowfest last year, Geshkenbein spent most of the day drinking vodka and bitter lemon all under the watchful eye of his toy monkey mascot. Both seemed to bring him plenty of luck and he is now a serious force to be reckoned with here in the German capital.
Challenging Geshkenbein for the chip lead were the likes of Jens Weigel and Sam Chartier but neither could quite match the stack of the Russian though they will certainly not be disappointed with how their respective days went.
Neither will most of the army of Team PokerStars Pros who made it through to Wednesday's Day 2. Those flying the PokerStars flag were Barry Greenstein, Theo Jorgensen, Vanessa Selbst, Angel Guillen, Martin Stazsko, Jan Heitmann, Henrique Pinho and Pierre Neuville. Only Stazsko failed to make it through.
Day 1b kicks off at noon Tuesday and will continue until 10 one-hour levels have been completed. We are expecting a total field of around 700 which will mean that we have to take advantage of the Spielbank Casino just a few yards away from the luxurious Hyatt Hotel.
Join us then for all the action, as it happens, from the EPT Berlin Main Event.
For now, if you played today and have some free time tomorrow, then here is Lynn Gilmartin's user guide on exploring Berlin.