Dario Sammartino at the Summit After Day 2 of PokerStars.fr EPT Main Event
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On Tuesday, Day 2 of the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event concluded. While no one could hit it rich on the second day of action, the players would discover how much they could win as registration closed and the prize pool information was released.
With 671 players in the field, a prize pool of €3,220,800 was generated and the top 95 spots were set to earn a minimum of €9,500. All eyes were at the top of the ladder, though, as a whopping €614,000 would be waiting there for the eventual winner.
The man best positioned of the 137 players still in contention was Dario Sammartino. His day was one built on good folds and a little bit of luck, but the Italian does have experience with making a deep run in an EPT event. Previously, his best EPT result came from a 19th-place finish in the Season 9 Grand Final. He's also riding a little bit of a current hot streak after placing third in the France Poker Series Deauville High Roller earlier this week for €63,800.
Other players who enjoyed a successful Day 2 included EPT8 Loutraki champion Zimnan Ziyard (392,500), Norbert Szcesi (386,900), Jonathan Abdellatif (351,700) and Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (345,700). Although, of course, all of these players must be aware as a big stack can be gone in minutes — just ask Ayman Zbib, who started the day as chip leader, but was out inside two levels after losing half his stack early on.
Katchalov is the name that sticks out from that bunch of top stacks, and he will enter Day 3 fifth overall in chips. We're still a few days away from crowning a champion, but if Katchalov can win he will complete the Triple Crown. During Day 2, Katchalov won a big pot against EPT9 Barcelona champion Mikalai Pobal and eliminated Bruno Lopes.
The Ukrainian won't be the only member of Team PokerStars back for Day 3, either. He'll be joined by teammates Jan Heitmann (88,000), Alex Kravchenko (105,000), Julien Brecard (44,400), and Friend of PokerStars Pierre Neuville (50,400).
On the flip side of things, other members of the team weren't so fortunate. It was a frustrating day for Marcin Horecki, as he lost a big pot with ace-queen against pocket kings to leave him short before he busted. Friend of PokerStars Natalie Hof was also eliminated.
Tuesday was the first day of the live streaming on PokerStars.tv, and if viewers were as late as some of the players were in joining the action they'd have missed EPT6 champion Anton Wigg losing a huge 180,000-chip pot. The Swede busted shortly thereafter, and was joined by the likes of fellow former champions Toby Lewis and Kevin MacPhee. Later on in the day, the late exits of Jannick Wrang and Nicolas Chouity confirmed Ziyard as the only player able to win a second EPT Main Event title and become the first to accomplish such a feat.
On Wednesday, Day 2 will commence at 12 p.m. local time. You can find all of the event updates right here on PokerNews.com, so be sure to stay tuned for more poker action from the tournament floor in Deauville.
In the meantime, enjoy the following interview with European poker legend Barny Boatman: