Players are still filtering into the Hofburg Palace, where many of them are being bottlenecked at the security check point. Given the prestigious nature of the venue, security is high, meaning players must sign in everyday and have their backpacks checked. Needless to say, this takes a little time.
That said, the cards do not wait and Level 9 is underway. The plan for the day is to play six 75-minute levels with no dinner break, making it a relatively earlier night.
Welcome to Day 2 of the Season 10 European Poker Tour Vienna!
Two days ago, 341 players flooded the Hofburg Palace for Day 1a action, though just 182 players would survive the night. Yesterday, Day 1b attracted 560 entries, and after eight 75-minute levels of play, Danish player Mads Hansen emerged as chip leader of the surviving 306 players with 200,000, ahead of Day 1a chip leader Oleksii Khoroshenin who begins today with 171,900.
All told, 901 players have registered the Main Event, and 488 of those have advanced to Day 2. However, late registration is open until the start of play today, meaning both those numbers are likely to go up. In fact, a special Last Chance Hyper Turbo Super Satellite at last night created an additional five seats for Day 2, so the field will jump to at least 906 entrants.
Interestingly, tonight Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov returns to the €2,000 Eureka High Roller to finish his heads-up match against online sensation Niki Jedlicka. The two took a one-day break so they could both play the second starting flight. Jedlicka ended up busting midway through Day 1b, but Katchalov survived. Not only that, he is the highest-placed Team PokerStars Pro going in to Day 2. Other Team Pros who will be in action today include Marcel Luske, Henrique Pinho, Johnny Lodden, Maxim Lykov, Alex Kravchenko, Jan Heitmann, Liv Boeree, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Toss in Full Tilt Poker Professionals Viktor Blom and Gus Hansen, and it's shaping up to be quite the day.
Others who'll be in action today with big stacks are Olekssi Khoroshenin (171,900), Sergii Baranov (155,000), Joni Jouhkimainen (154,500), Dominik Nitsche (138,000), Jonathan Roy (130,800), Vladimir Geshkenbein (130,000), Kevin MacPhee (128,000), and the recent Eureka Poker Tour Vienna Main Event champ Zoltan Gal (135,100).
Action is set to kick off at Noon local time, which is about 90 minutes from now. We're not 100% sure, but we think the plan for the day is to play six levels with no dinner break. Join us shortly as we bring you all the action and eliminations from the Hofburg Palace. In the meantime, check out Krist Arnett's guided tour of Vienna:
There were 560 players for Day 1b today however players have until the start of Day 2 to buy in and a special Last Chance Hyper Turbo Super Satellite last night created an additional five seats for Day 2, bringing the overall field to at least 906.
A total of 306 players made it through Day 1b which, when combined with yesterday's 182 Day 1a survivors and the five satellite winners, means at least 488 players will be back in the spectacular Festsaal room for Day 2 of the €5,300 tournament.