Day 2 Ends with 13 Players in Contention for First 2017 WSOPE Bracelet
Day 2 of the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe €1,100 MONSTER STACK saw 114 hopefuls out of a 561-entry strong field return to the tables of King's Casino in Rozvadov. After 10 levels of one hour each, 13 players are one step closer at winning the first of eleven elusive gold bracelets in Europe's biggest poker arena along with the first-place payout of €117,708 that comes along with it.
Leading the finalists for the big showdown on Monday October 23rd 2017 as of 2 p.m. local time is Italian poker pro Carlo Savinelli with 1,340,000 followed by Serge Danis (1,190,000), Ismael Bojang (1,120,000) and Viliyan Petleshkov (1,035,000) as only other chip millionaires for the final day. Savinelli has more than $1.1 million in cashes and recently met with Petleshkov at Europe's biggest poker arena when both made a deep run in the €1,650 WSOP Circuit Main Event here in Rozvadov. Savinelli eventually finished 12th for €11,874, while Petleshkov claimed €21,163 for his 8th place finish.
Among the other hopefuls still in contention are Day 1b chip leader Sergio Fernandez (980,000), Pierre Neuville (825,000), Greek poker pro Georgios Zisimopoulos (775,000), Ali Sameeian (760,000) and Walter Treccarichi (310,000). The action is set to resume at level 25 with blinds of 15,000/30,000 with a running ante of 5,000 as of 2 p.m. local time, and the live stream will get underway when the official final table of the last nine is set. The lion's share of the €538,280 prize pool is still up for grabs and the remaining players have €4,726 locked up for their efforts.
Seat Assignments for Day 3
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 2 | Ismael Bojang | Austria | 1,120,000 | 37 |
| 18 | 3 | Alexandre Viard | France | 640,000 | 21 |
| 18 | 4 | Serge Danis | Switzerland | 1,190,000 | 40 |
| 18 | 5 | Rene Crha | Czech Republic | 685,000 | 23 |
| 18 | 7 | Walter Treccarichi | Italy | 310,000 | 10 |
| 18 | 8 | Ali Sameeian | Germany | 760,000 | 25 |
| 19 | 1 | Sergio Fernandez | Spain | 980,000 | 33 |
| 19 | 2 | Peter Bstieler | Germany | 765,000 | 26 |
| 19 | 3 | Pierre Neuville | Belgium | 825,000 | 28 |
| 19 | 4 | Georgios Zisimopoulos | Greece | 775,000 | 26 |
| 19 | 7 | Viliyan Petleshkov | Bulgaria | 1,035,000 | 35 |
| 19 | 8 | Carlo Savinelli | Italy | 1,340,000 | 45 |
| 19 | 9 | Oleksandr Shcherbak | Ukraine | 780,000 | 26 |
Action of Day 2
Almost 30 players had to leave empty-handed without anything to show for and among those to bust before the money were such notables as Paul Michaelis, Dominik and Andrej Dessert, Tezer Cetindag and Eddy Scharf. The money bubble burst after four all ins on separate tables resulted in three eliminations and one double up. Viktor Katzenberger, Mario Mosböck and Konstantinos Tsirakidis split the first two prizes and collected €1,061 each.
After that the eliminations came at a quick pace and Arsenii Karmatckii as well as Ivo Donev fell in the first two payout steps. Defending champion Ryan Hefter had to settle for 67th place this time around after his ace-eight was no good against the ace-king of Sasa Stancic. Mike Leah took a cruel beat when his ace-king suited ended up second best to ace-queen, two diamonds on the flop gave Leah the nut flush draw while the turn paired the board twice to result in a likely split pot. However, an off suit queen on the river was the worst case scenario for the Canadian and he was gone in 62nd place.
James Akenhead was unable to hold up with pocket tens against ace-ten, two aces appeared right away on the flop and there was no runner runner spades miracle for the Brit. Allen Kessler added yet another WSOP cash to his poker resume and finished in 51st place while start-of-the-day chip leader Sander van Wesemael had to settle for 47th place. Maxim Lykov's tournament came to an end when his pocket jacks lost a flip against ace-king suited and Jan Bendik busted just before the last three tables were set.
Scott Stewart, who finished 13th in the 2017 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, bowed out soon after in a three-way all in with ace-queen after shoving over the top of the all in of Maciej Kondraszuk with ace-jack suited. Initial raiser Sergio Fernandez snap-called with pocket kings and dodged a sweat on a queen-high board with two hearts. Ryan Hughes scored vital points for the 2017 WSOP Player of the Year leader board and will be taking over the top spot once the current results are updated, the American finished in 21st place for €3,184.
Robert Schulz cashed in four events of the WSOP Circuit here at King's Casino and added another deep run to his collection after finishing 16th. During the last level of the night, Carlo Savinelli jumped into the lead when he just called a raise with pocket kings and Pawel Czichowski defended his big blind with eight-six suited. By the time a queen hit on the river, only Czichowski and Savinelli remained and the former shoved with the bottom end of the straight to run into the superior straight of the Italian.
Last but not least, it was nine-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Valentin Vornicu who became the last casualty of the night. Vornicu lost the vast majority of his chips with ace-five against the six-seven suited of Rene Crha, who flopped a gutshot straight draw and rivered a straight. Soon after the American with Romanian roots got it in dominated with ace-five against the ace-king of Walter Treccarichi and was drawing dead on the turn to finish 14th in his second-ever live tournament on European soil.
The first of eleven WSOPE bracelets will be awarded on Monday October 23rd 2017, so make sure to check back regularly as the PokerNews live reporting team will provide all the action until a winner is crowned.