The two Day Ones have been completed at the Casino San Remo as the European Poker Tour’s latest stop in Italy continues action to determine a champion later this week.
Between the two Day Ones, a field of 837 players was created, with the €5000 put up by each player creating a prize pool of €3.73 million. The final 128 players in the event will earn at least €7000, with the eventual champion walking off with a €800,000 payday. As play began Sunday, one of the top online players in the game was at the head of the field.
Taylor “ambiguosity” Paur, the 2010 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year, played Day 1B of the EPT San Remo and, by the end of play on Saturday, had moved into the chip lead with 188,200 in chips. Several other players in the Day 1B action, including Brandon Cantu and Vanessa Selbst, joined him on the leaderboard in passing Day 1A’s chip leader, Gianluca Trebbi, in the Top Ten. Also among the 482 players who began play on Sunday were two of the women who have claimed an EPT title, Liv Boeree and Sandra Naujoks, as well as Sorel Mizzi, Kevin MacPhee and Shaun Deeb.
One of the big movers of the early play on Sunday was Lex Veldhuis. After seeing an early position raise pre-flop, Veldhuis made the call along with another player to see a 9-8-5 (two clubs) flop. After the original raiser opened the action, Veldhuis made the call, only to see the third player make a big raise to 12,000. After the initial raiser left the hand, Lex three bet him to 28K, at which point Lex’s nemesis moved all in. Veldhuis made the call quickly, tabling 7-6 of clubs for the straight and a flush redraw against his opponent’s 7-6 of spades for an equal straight but no redraw. Magic came on the turn for Lex as the ten of clubs fell, giving him the unbeatable straight flush and giving Lex Veldhuis the knockout.
Veldhuis used the momentum of that elimination to push his way into the upper echelons of the leaderboard. Currently holding 227,000 in chips, Lex is sitting in ninth place, but in excellent shape as the Top Ten looks like this:
1. Sergey Tikhonov, 378,000
2. Kevin Ayow, 370,000
3. Joseph Cheong, 305,000
4. Ondrej Vinklarek, 304,000
5. Nicola Grieco, 289,500
6. Marco Traniello, 260,000
7. Jon Spinks, 255,000
8. Domenico Cordi, 255,000
9. Lex Veldhuis, 227,000
10. Pier Paolo Ruscalla, 225,000
Ayow’s ascension to the top of the leaderboard is one of the big stories of the early action on Sunday. In a hand against noted pro Praz Bansi, Ayow saw the two time World Series of Poker bracelet winner put the remainder of his stack in the center pre-flop. Ayow had a difficult decision, but made the call and tabled his pocket eights against Bansi’s suited K-J. The flop brought an eight to virtually seal the hand and, after a small sweat on the turn and river, Kevin Ayow had knocked out Bansi. Commenting on the hand as he stacked his newfound chips, Ayow said, “My first thought was that he (Bansi) was squeezing.”
There are plenty of threats sitting just off of the Top Ten. Selbst is lurking in eleventh place at the moment, joined by Melanie Weisner, Johnny Lodden, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Deeb and Cantu in the Top 25. Players who need to get their games going to avoid elimination include Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, James Dempsey and Eugene Katchalov.
There is still a great deal of play to go before the latest champion on the European Poker Tour is determined. With 303 players still alive as of press time, the final table is still a dream for many of the players. There will be eight players who make it there, however, when the final table plays out on Thursday.
