From under the gun, Keven Stammen raised to 26,000. He was called by Benny Spindler on the button and Joel Nordkvist out of the big blind.
The dealer dealt the flop, and action checked over to Spindler. He bet 30,000, and Nordkvist check-raised to 80,000. Stammen reraised to 161,000, and Spindler called. Nordkvist folded.
The turn was the , and both players checked. The on the river was also checked by both to get to a showdown.
Stammen showed the for trip tens with an ace kicker. Spindler mucked.
Philipp Gruissem basically owns all EPT High Roller events, and he's already started moving up the ranks today.
On the first of these two hands, Gruissem three-bet from the small blind to 70,000 after Benny Spindler raised to 24,000 from under the gun. Everyone, including Spindler, folded, and Gruissem won the pot.
On the next hand, Joel Nordkvist raised to 25,000 from the hijack seat, then action folded to Gruissem on the button. He reraised to 65,000, and play folded back to Nordkvist. Nordkvist four-bet and made it 130,000 to go, which Gruissem flat-called to see take flop.
The flop came down , and Nordkvist slid forward a bet of 70,000. Gruissem made the call.
The turn was the , and both players checked to see the pair the board on the river. Here, Nordkvist checked, and Gruissem bet 135,000. Nordkvist tanked, then called.
Gruissem showed the , and Nordkvist mucked his hand.
From the cutoff seat, Benny Spindler raised to 24,000. Joseph Cheong called from the button, and Joel Nordkvist reraised to 86,000 from the small blind. Everyone folded, and Nordkvist won the pot to chip up a little bit.
It was only the third hand of the day and we already have the first elimination. Yesterday, with just two hands to go until the end of the day Igor Yaroshevskyy got busted in 8th place and today another Igor went home early.
Benny Spindler raised to 42,000 on the button before the flop and Igor Kurganov three-bet all in for 318,000. Spindler made the call and they went for a showdown.
Kurganov:
Spindler
The flop went Qh} pairing Kurganov's jack, but also giving Spindler a set of queens. The on the turn gave Kurganov hope to turn his two pair into a full house or hit a diamond for a flush. However, the on the river was not what Kurganov needed and he was eliminated from the tournament in 7th place. He will collect a cash prize of €32,900.
Norway's Kent Roed will enter the final table as the short stack, but he's fairly bunched up at the bottom of the pack with Igor Kurganov and Joseph Cheong not too far ahead of him. On Day 2, Roed seemed to have nine lives, and he has fought his way down to the final table.
There isn't much to be found on record for Roed. The only cash comes from August 2012 when he took 17th in the Estrellas Poker Tour €2,000 No-Limit Hold'em for €5,570. Roed is truly the least known player at this final table, but anything can happen in poker, so we'll see if he can run it up.
Benny Spindler is the winner of last year's EPT London Main Event for £750,000, but he hasn't had a live result since then. That's probably because Spindler's been spending all of his time crushing high-stakes cash games online.
With over $3.1 million in live tournament earnings and a very intelligent poker mind, Spindler will be one tough cookie at this final table. He also boasts the second largest stack returning to play with 844,000, which all makes for a deadly combination.
Spindler also has experience going deep in EPT High Roller events. He took fifth in the 2011 EPT Berlin High Roller for €34,000, second in the 2011 EPT Grand Final High Roller for €316,000, then won the EPT Tallinn High Roller later that year for €49,350.
Joseph Cheong most famously stormed onto the poker scene in 2010 when he made the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event. It was there that Cheong went on to finish third for over $4.13 million and ignite his poker career.
That same year, during the break before the WSOP final table played out, Cheong took second in the EPT London High Roller Turbo for £162,280 and first in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the Festa Al Lago in Las Vegas.
Cheong is having yet another very successful year in 2012 with nearly a million in live winnings. Most notably, Cheong took second the the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em — Mixed Max at the WSOP for nearly $300,000, then he came fourth in the WSOP Europe Main Event for nearly €300,000.
Here in the final seven, Cheong will be looking to continue his successful year with a win, and he'll enter the day fifth in chips with 392,000.
Chip leader Joel Nordkvist is a No-Limit Hold'em specialist focusing in online play, but he's brought his best game to the live felt here in the EPT Sanremo €10,000 High Roller.
On Day 2, Nordkvist climbed the ladder all the way to the top, where he seemed as though he was never going to look back. When the day was all said and done, Nordkvist amassed over 1.2 million in chips, good enough for nearly 400,000 more than second place.
In the live realm, Nordkvist's best result was a familiar result coming from players at this final table. He, too, was at the final table of the 2011 EPT London High Roller with Philipp Gruissem and Igor Kurganov. There, Nordkvist finished sixth for £72,950 and the largest score of his live career.
In total, the Swedish pro has just over $288,00 in live earnings, but with this cash, he'll eclipse the $300,000 mark easily.
flop, and action checked over to Spindler. He bet 30,000, and Nordkvist check-raised to 80,000. Stammen reraised to 161,000, and Spindler called. Nordkvist folded.
, and both players checked. The 
on the river was also checked by both to get to a showdown.
for trip tens with an ace kicker. Spindler mucked.
pair the board on the river. Here, Nordkvist checked, and Gruissem bet 135,000. Nordkvist tanked, then called.
, and Nordkvist mucked his hand.
![[user72235]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
