Roman Wieczorek from Germany won a specieal "Deuces Wild" event. Photo courtesy of the EPT.
Another preliminary event that has completed here at the EPT Vienna was Event #6 €120 NLH Deuce Wild Deepstack. The tournament attracted 192 players and created a prize pool of €18,624.
The Eureka Poker Tour Main Event, which was happening the same day, meant the “Deuces Wild” tournament began with just eight tables. There was a long list of alternates, and over the course of the next two hours the field swelled to approximately 200 players. The tournament organizers seemed a bit overwhelmed, but they were no doubt pleased with the turnout.
Now there are two important rules you must understand in the “Deuces Wild” event. The first is that five of a kind is a legitimate hand, and according to their rankings it beats a straight flush, but not a Royal Flush. The second rule was that a player couldn’t play with pocket deuces. If a player happened to wake up with “ducks” (which happened just once at our table in the first ten levels), they simply tabled the hand and won the blinds and antes. The reason for this, according to one floor, is that having pocket deuces ensures you the nuts no matter what, thus all skill is removed from the game.
Everyone involved seemed to have a good time, though most would admit the strategy was much different than a normal NLHE tournament. Here’s a look at the eight players who figured it out best:
He's not even 20 years old but already Adrian Diaz ranks third on the Spanish all-time money list after winning the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event last fall. Diaz took home a cool million in Paris after beating a stacked final table with including Fabrice Soulier, Dominik Nitsche and Benny Spindler.
Before Diaz burst onto the scene with this epic victory he had already won the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event in Madrid for €103,053. Diaz has been a regular on the EPT circuit ever since cashing in Prague and twice in Deauville.
The youngest closes in on Raul Paez on the Spanish all-time money list with every cash, but he's still about $10,000,000 short of overtaking the legendary Carlos Mortensen for the top spot.
Barny Boatman opened to 250 under the gun and the small blind tossed in the chips to call. EPT Campione winner Jannick Wrang had other plans though and raised it up to 1,050. Boatman didn't need much time to make the call, the small blind folded.
Wrang continued his preflop aggression with a 1,100 bet on the flop. Boatman again didn't waste much time and tossed in a red 1,000 chip and a black 100 chip to call.
The fell on the turn and Wrang checked. Boatman searched for more 1,000 chips and slid two of them over the line. Wrang made the call and awaited the river.
With the on the river Boatman was already counting out chips before Wrang even made his move yet. When Wrang eventually checked, Boatman already had figured out he wanted to bet 6,500 and placed that in the middle. Wrang thought about it for quite some time and even had the 6,500 in his hands before making up his mind. He folded adfter some thinking and Boatman got the chips from the dealer.
Ignat "0Human0" Liviu, who has been featured in PokerNews' popular Online Chat series, is one of the most prolific players in online poker. The man from Bucharest, Romania has been traveling the EPT for awhile now looking to make his mark in the live realm, but thus far he has yet to find success. That may change in Vienna as he is playing in the Day 1a field.
In a recent hand, there was around 600 in the pot and a flop of when the player in the big blind checked and Liviu bet 350. The button folded, and then the big blind did the same to give Liviu the tiny pot.
Ivo Donev's first tournament cash dates back to April 1999 and he's without a doubt one of the most recognizable faces of Austrian poker.
Donev has $1.4 million in live tournament earnings while his biggest score is just $87,525. For today's standards Donev is not one of the big players, but over the years he has shown that poker is a game of stamina. Donev has 155 live tournament cashes, which puts him 69th on the all-time list of cashes.
Interestingly enough Donev also ranks fifth on the all-time list of countries cashed in with 19 only trailing Barny Boatman, Marvin Rettenmaier, Team PokerStars Pro Marcel Luske, Dominik Nitsche and Casey Kastle.
A new flag won't be added to Donev's resume this week in Vienna as most of his results stem from his home country, but he's likely to be looking at making a deep run to finally notch up a six figure score.
Max Silver got involved in the first hand of the day; playing short-handed he opened for 300 from early position and got a caller from the big blind. They saw a flop of which was checked to Silver who continued for 275. The bet was called and they saw a turn card of . Both players checked and the river card was again checked by the two players. Silver showed and his opponent tabled .The Full house on board meant they chopped it up.
Steve O'Dwyer is the number 63 on the USA all-time money list and 31st on the GPI, and those numbers are largely due to his amazing victory in last year's EPT Grand Final.
Last season O'Dwyer locked up a €1,224,000 score after beating Andrew Pantling heads up to one up his result from the 2011 EPT London where he lost heads up to Benny Spindler.
O'Dwyer's one of the most accomplished players in today's Day 1 flight and we'll be keeping a close eye on him throughout the day.
Just before the start of the main event we caught a table in the Flip Out Freeroll* involving Full Tilt Poker Professional Gus Hansen. The nine players threw their single chip in the middle and got their cards. Gus turned over his and a couple of others showed better aces. A few players chose not to show and a couple didn’t even look. The board ran out missing one player's flush draw. The last player to look at his cards turned over for the rivered straight, and while he was through to the next round, Gus Hansen was eliminated.
*For more information on just what the Flip Out Freeroll is, click here.
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flop. Boatman again didn't waste much time and tossed in a red 1,000 chip and a black 100 chip to call.
fell on the turn and Wrang checked. Boatman searched for more 1,000 chips and slid two of them over the line. Wrang made the call and awaited the river.
on the river Boatman was already counting out chips before Wrang even made his move yet. When Wrang eventually checked, Boatman already had figured out he wanted to bet 6,500 and placed that in the middle. Wrang thought about it for quite some time and even had the 6,500 in his hands before making up his mind. He folded adfter some thinking and Boatman got the chips from the dealer.
when the player in the big blind checked and Liviu bet 350. The button folded, and then the big blind did the same to give Liviu the tiny pot.
was again checked by the two players. Silver showed 
and his opponent tabled 
and a couple of others showed better aces. A few players chose not to show and a couple didn’t even look. The board ran out 
for the rivered straight, and while he was through to the next round, Gus Hansen was eliminated.