Dario Sammartino Storms to the Top on Day 2 of the EPT Cyprus $10,300 High Roller
The sun has almost set on the PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus, and Italy’s Dario Sammartino put himself in a position to ensure he’ll be leaving this island resort with a trophy thanks to a late-night surge to the top of the counts.
Sammartino leads the 23 survivors from Day 2 of the $10,300 EPT Cyprus High Roller, bagging up 2,210,000 on the festival's penultimate day. Sammartino was just inside the top 10 on the leaderboard when the lengthy bubble finally burst, but three pivotal pots pushed him to the top.
First, Sammartino called a bet of 300,000 from Karen Nazarian with a rivered pair of aces to win a massive pot. He then picked up kings to bust Sven Stok in 38th place. Finally, he won a race with jacks against Kubanychbek Abakirov’s ace-king for 350,000 to move clear of the rest of the field.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 2,210,000 | 111 |
| 2 | Martin Diaz | Argentina | 1,855,000 | 93 |
| 3 | Nariman Yaghmai | Iran | 1,330,000 | 67 |
| 4 | Selahaddin Bedir | Turkey | 1,205,000 | 60 |
| 5 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 1,090,000 | 55 |
| 6 | Nicolas Vayssieres | France | 1,045,000 | 52 |
| 7 | [Removed:452] | Montenegro | 1,000,000 | 50 |
| 8 | Danil Rafikov | Russia | 1,000,000 | 50 |
| 9 | Ilia Pavlov | Russia | 980,000 | 49 |
| 10 | Markkos Ladev | Estonia | 960,000 | 48 |
Martin Diaz is in second place with 1,855,000, helped along the way by busting Senol Ardic with a pair of kings. Nariman Yaghmai (1,330,000), Selahaddin Bedir (1,205,000), and Spanish superstar Adrian Mateos (1,090,000) round out the top five who will return tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time to play down to a champion. Other top stacks include Pablo Silva (890,000), Sergi Reixach (735,000), and Quan Zhou (650,000).
Day 2 action
Day 2 began with 205 players from a starting field of 407, but only 55 would make the money. Benny Glaser, Joao Vieira, Jack Sinclair, Niklas Astedt, Ren Lin, Johan Guilbert, Conor Beresford, and Team PokerStars Pro Benjamin Spragg were all sent to the rail short of a payday.
Bart Lybaert, coming off a deep run to 20th place in the Main Event a day earlier, was eliminated in 57th place, setting up a lengthy hand-for-hand period that lasted more than an hour-long level. Team PokerStars Pro Parker Talbot found himself down to just one big blind on the bubble and was forced all in with four-deuce. But he hit a miracle deuce on the river amid a raucous celebration to beat Sammartino’s ace-high, chanting “Dario! Dario! Dario!” as he kept alive his hopes of sneaking into the money.
Giovani Torre finally ran his ace-king into the kings of Stok to finish on the bubble. Talbot (51st), Dominik Nitsche (50th), Farid Jattin (48th), and Fabrice Bigot (45th) soon accompanied him to the rail in a flurry of post-bubble eliminations.
Steve O’Dwyer picked up aces to knock out both Benjamin Winsor and Nikolai Mamut, then eliminated Alex Keating before he himself was eliminated in 36th place after Daniel Koloszar made a full house. Spanish high roller Juan Pardo (29th) and Cyprus native Andreas Christoforou (26th) soon followed on the walk to collect their payout.
The action on Day 3 picks up tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. on Level 22, with blinds of 10,000-20,000 and a 20,000 big blind ante. There will be a champion crowned by the end of the day to close out the festival and take home the $787,400 top prize. The remaining players are already guaranteed $33,600 for making it this far.
PokerNews will be back following the action and providing live updates tomorrow for the final day of EPT Cyprus until there is just one player left standing.