Among the 155 players still with a chance at becoming the champion of the inaugural PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus after Day 2 are a select few who have been this far before.
Just over a month ago, Carl Shaw made a run to the final table of the massive EPT Barcelona field. He ended up in third place, and while the title narrowly eluded his grasp that time, he’s back at another shot at a title.
Shaw ended Day 2 in fifth place with 628,000 and he tries to make it back-to-back deep runs on the EPT. Gary Miller is the chip leader with 718,000, while Francisco Benitez (690,000) and Andreas Tomazou (648,000) are also in the top-five heading into Day 3.
Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Miller | United Kingdom | 718,000 | 144 | |
| 2 | Francisco Benitez | Uruguay | 690,000 | 138 | |
| 3 | Andreas Tomazou | Cyprus | 648,000 | 130 | |
| 4 | Carl Shaw | United Kingdom | 628,000 | 126 | |
| 5 | Anton Wigg | Sweden | 614,000 | 123 | |
| 6 | Gerard Carbo | Spain | 568,000 | 114 | |
| 7 | Angelos Michael | Cyprus | 549,000 | 110 | |
| 8 | Viliyan Petleshkov | Bulgaria | 534,000 | 107 | |
| 9 | Parker Talbot | Canada | 532,000 | 106 | |
| 10 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 509,000 | 102 |
Other notable big stacks include 2010 EPT Copenhagen champion Anton Wigg (614,000), Team PokerStars Pro Parker Talbot (532,000), Kenny Hallaert (509,000), Fabrice Bigot (463,000), Kayhan Mokri (403,000), Teun Mulder (376,000), $50,000 Super High Roller champion Juan Pardo (360,000), and 2013 EPT Monte Carlo champion Steve O’Dwyer (304,000). Start-of-day chip leader Milos Skrbic fell back to the pack and ended up with 174,000, while Joao Vieira (200,000), EPT Barcelona champion Simon Wiciak (191,000), and Paul Newey (91,000) are also returning tomorrow on short stacks.
Day 2 Action
Day 2 began with 408 players from a total of 1,286 entries from the two Day 1 flights being joined by 34 new arrivals to create a field of 1,320 in the EPT’s first-ever trip to this Mediterranean island resort. Notables who busted early included Benny Glaser, Sam Greenwood, Jen Shahade, and Japanese vlogging star Masato Yokosawa. Streamer and PokerNews' own Lukas Robinson was the victim of a brutal cooler as he and Mokri both flopped two pair, but Mokri made a full house on the turn to bust Robinson short of the money. Team PokerStars Pro Alejandro Lococo was eliminated less than 10 spots off the money after shoving with king-10 but ran into Wigg’s queens.
Only 199 players would finish in the money, and a lengthy bubble finally ended when Andras Vaczo was all in for 46,000 with ace-king but missed a flush draw against the kings of Kim Wittendorff.
Once the bubble burst, Alexandre Vuilleumier (193rd), Albert Daher (185th), 2019 EPT Sochi champion Uri Gilboa (173rd), and Conor Beresford (164th) made their way to the payout desk. The remaining 155 players are guaranteed $9,275 out of the $6,402,000 prize pool, with the eventual champion taking away $1,042,000, the gold-plated trophy, and the title of EPT champion.
The action on Day 3 kicks off at noon local time on Level 16 with blinds of 2,500-5,000 and a 5,000 big blind ante. The plan is to play an additional five levels as the field continues to whittle down towards the final table here at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Spa.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow providing live updates from what has already been an historic event here in Cyprus.
