Mick Heder Leads the Final 11 Players, Shaun Deeb in Contention in Event #15: €550 Colossus No-Limit Hold'em
It was a long 12-hour day at the felt on Day 2 of Event #15: €550 Colossus No-Limit Hold'em and the field was trimmed down to the final 11 players. The players have bagged up their chips after 15 levels and Mick Heder will be leading the way on the final day with a stack of 12,100,000 chips.
Heder had quite the successful day at the felt, spinning up a stack of 369,000 into double the average as the final table nears. A large portion of Heder's chips came from an all-in encounter with Balazs Bistei on the final two tables. Heder flopped a flush draw with two overcards to the pocket pair of Bistei. The two players got all of their chips in the middle and played for stacks in a chip-leading pot. Heder nailed his flush on the turn which vaulted him to the top of the counts.
While the Danish poker player is searching for his first WSOP gold bracelet, it's not his first go-around in a marquee event. Heder has four WSOP cashes to his name including a run in the Main Event earlier this summer in Las Vegas. He will have his work cut out for him on Day 3 with a few established pros trailing him on the leaderboard.
Shaun Deeb, who is not only in search of his fifth WSOP bracelet, but is also hunting down Daniel Negreanu in the Player of the Year race. Deeb will require at least a fifth-place finish in order to overtake Negreanu who is currently leading. Deeb will enter the final day as the third largest stack with 8,100,000 chips. The only other bracelet winner still in contention is Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier who bagged up a stack of 6,450,000.
Day 3 Seating Assignments
| Seat | Table 38 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 8,100,000 | 27 |
| 4 | Bertrand Grospellier | France | 6,450,000 | 22 |
| 6 | Marian Kubis | Slovakia | 2,150,000 | 7 |
| 8 | Christoph Peper | Germany | 7,250,000 | 24 |
| 9 | Alessandro Pezzoli | Italy | 2,675,000 | 9 |
| Seat | Table 40 | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergii Karpov | Ukraine | 4,725,000 | 16 |
| 2 | Francesco Candelari | Italy | 4,050,000 | 14 |
| 3 | Dieter Becker | Germany | 6,625,000 | 22 |
| 4 | Avraham Dayan | Israel | 8,700,000 | 29 |
| 5 | Mick Heder | Denmark | 12,100,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Pasquale Braco | Italy | 5,000,000 | 17 |
Day 2 Action
The day began with 313 players returning to their seats for Day 2, all with the hopes of reaching the final table by the day's end. It was a rush to the payout desk in the opening levels as nearly half of the field was eliminated by the first break. Some of the notable early eliminations included Daniel Negreanu and Robert Campbell, leaving the door open for Deeb to make a deep run to claim the WSOP Player of the Year title.
As the day went on and the field continued to shrink, Deeb's goal was suddenly within striking distance. He saw his tournament life flash before his eyes after three-bet shoving with jack-ten suited and getting called by pocket queens. With the majority of Deeb's stack at risk, he ran out a flush on the turn and river to build a stack that would get him closer to the final table.
Once the final three tables were reached, the players moved to the balcony in King's Resort. It was apparent that sitting in the "comfy" chairs wasn't enough to keep players in their seats though. It took less than a level for nine players to hit the rail and another seat draw took place for the final two tables.
One of the chip leaders coming into the day, Pierre Neuville, had a good start and was one of the big stacks throughout much of Day 2. However, a couple of mistimed bluffs led him to just 15 big blinds on the final two tables. Neuville appeared to be in a great position to double up with his pocket kings against the pocket queens of Dieter Becker but a queen on the river ended Neuville's tournament in 18th place.
Becker was also the main reason for Chris Ferguson's demise in 23rd place. Becker chose to make a move with a three-bet shove for 22 big blinds in the small blind but Ferguson snapped him off with pocket aces. Becker sheepishly tabled king-deuce offsuit but it was a four-flush on the board that gave Becker the win, leaving Ferguson with just two big blinds.
Day 3 will begin with the 11 players spread out among two tables but will be quickly formed into one after a single elimination. The cards will go on in the air at 3 p.m. local time with the blinds resuming on level 34 at 150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante. The levels will be 40 minutes in length throughout with a 15-minute break after every three levels.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here for the final day of the 2019 WSOP Europe to bring you all of the updates until a winner is crowned. The updates will be on a 30-minute delay to remain in sync with the live stream taking place.