Kyne Elmouloua Leads After Day 2 of the 2015 bwin.be WPT National Brussels
The second day of the 2015 bwin.be World Poker Tour National Brussels Main Event saw 145 survivors from a 391-entry field return to the tables of the Grand Casino Brussels Viage. Ten 60-minute levels later and there were only 21 players that remained in contention for the WPT National title. Along with that title will come €88,000 in first-place prize money.
Kyne Elmouloua was the only player above one million in chips, bagging up 1,094,000 at the end of Level 22. He also played the biggest pot of the event so far with aces against the kings of Tonny van Eck.
Other big stacks include Day 1a chip leader Mike Gerry (952,000), Julien Duveau (855,000), and Mohamed Mamouni (821,000). Still in contention with an average stack are Jean Marie Vandeborne (561,000) and PMU Pro and French poker player of the year Erwann Pecheux (506,000). Miroslav Alilovic (357,000) and Stephen Woodhead (275,000) are among the short stacks.
Play resumed with blinds at 1,000/2,000 and a running ante of 300. Within the first two levels more than 50 participants were sent to the rail including Paul Hofer, Alexandre Reard, Bert Geens, and fellow Belgian Matthias de Clercq.
Tobias Peters, Michael Gathy, David Taborsky, Guy Goosens, Charles Chattha, Isabel Baltazar, and the "Flying Dutchman" Marcel Luske didn't make it into the money, either. Just shy of the paid spots, Anthony Rodrigues took a horrendous runner-runner bad beat and 2014 WPT Nottingham champion Matas Cimbolas bluffed away the vast majority of his chips. Start-of-the-day chip leader Yves Senterre busted two away from the money and Cimbolas was crowned "bubble boy" after losing his short stack with the against the of Mathieu Alciato.
As soon as the bubble burst, Niko Koop busted three players in a row including former World Series of Poker Main Event finalist Antoine Saout. The Russian then cashed in 25th place. EPT11 Prague finalist Bjorn Wiesler started Day 2 with seven big blinds and made it all the way to 39th place. Other familiar names in the money included WPT National Cyprus finalist Marco Della Tommasina (30th - €2,710), Pieter de Korver (27th - €3,085), and WSOP bracelet winner Barny Boatman (24th - €3,500).
Ultimately, 21 players bagged up chips and will return Sunday at 2 p.m. local time on three seven-handed tables to Level 23 with blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a running ante of 3,000. Everyone is guaranteed at least €3,920 for their efforts.
Saturday also featured Day 1 of the €2,200 High Roller with a starting stack of 50,000 chips and levels of 40 minutes. Thus far, a total of 82 entries emerged and the registration as well as single reentry option will remain available until the start of Day 2 at 4 p.m. local time on Sunday. Leading the field of the 29 survivors was Michal Mrakes (327,500). Govert Metaal (280,500), EPT11 Deauville Main Event finalist Carlo Savinelli (253,000), and Pascal Vos (247,500) also bagged up decent stacks.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be back in action at 2 p.m. local time when a new WPT National champion will be crowned in the capital of Belgium. That's all for now, good night and see you tomorrow!