The World Poker Tour is in the middle of the second leg of its European Texas (Hold’em) Two-Step, finishing up Day Two at the Casino Baden in Austria earlier this afternoon (U. S. time).
131 players returned to the felt, joined together for the first time after two separate Day Ones started the tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday. Finland’s Kimmo Kurko was atop the heap at the start of the day with his 149,700 chips, but there were challenges aplenty from the crème of the European poker world. Andrey Shatilov, Marvin Rettenmaier, Lukas Berglund and Dermot Blain were some of those contenders, while Kara Scott held the Canadian flag high and Steve O’Dwyer held the honor for American players.
Rettenmaier made an early move up the leaderboard, pushing Irina Batorevich off of a pot in a blind versus blind battle, while Blain also added chips to his stack when he refused to give up pocket nines on a 7-4-3-K-6 (three diamond) board against Ferdi Ciorabai. When Blain showed those pocket nines, surprisingly Ciorabai didn’t have a thing; Blain moved close to the 70K chip mark after taking that stunner of a battle.
O’Dwyer, on the other hand, moved in the opposite direction through no fault of his own. O’Dwyer would open the betting pre-flop and Dogan Gungor three bet the action, which O’Dwyer called. The A-5-3 flop brought several intriguing possibilities and the two men wasted no time getting their chips to the center. O’Dwyer’s A-3 had caught up with Gungor’s A-J on the flop, but a Jack on the river reversed those fortunes. O’Dwyer saw his stack plummet to 55K in chips, while Gungor leapt up the leaderboard.
Bodo Sbrzesny began to make some noise in the tournament when he eliminated Veselin Mareshki from the event. The two players saw a J-10-4 flop, which brought a bet from Sbrzesny and a call out of Mareshki, but the nine on the turn brought the fireworks. After another Sbrzesny bet, Mareshki moved all-in and Sbrzesny made the call. His pocket fours were in a dominant position over Mareshki’s 10-9 and, after an innocent deuce on the turn, Mareshki was out and Sbrzesny reached the upper echelons of the table with 175K in chips.
Sbrzesny continued his upward movement, knocking off Blaz Svara when Sbrzesny’s pocket Queens held up over Svara’s K-Q. He would then take out Tezer Cetindog after a K♦ 6♦ 2♣ flop caught Sbrzesny’s A-K to push him to the knockout, although he would have to sweat Cetindog’s diamond draw with the J♦ 10♦. After the smoke cleared, Sbrzesny was sitting on 300K in chips and looking to do more damage.
That further influx of damage came when he knocked off Erik Scheidt in a rather brutal fashion. On a Q♥ 10♣ 6♣ flop, Scheidt bet out and, after Sbrzesny announced he was all in, nearly beat him into the pot with the call while showing his pocket Kings. Sbrzesny had the statistical edge, however, with his 8♣ 7♣, which came home on the turn 2♣. Now Sbrzesny wanted the clubs to stop coming, as one of Scheidt’s Kings was a club, and his wish was granted on the 2♠ river. With that hand at the end of the evening, he moved to 403K in chips and will hold the chip lead over the 44 players who will be heading to Friday’s action.
1. Bodo Sbrzesny, 403,000
2. Vishal Pundjabi, 401,000
3. Kimmo Kurko, 395,500
4. Ryan O’Donnell, 361,000
5. Stjepan Jokic, 342,500
6. Martin Staszko, 287,500
7. Paul Berende, 286,500
8. Mitchell Johnson, 285,000
9. Cristian Mihu, 260,000
10. Marvin Rettenmaier, 248,500
Other notable names that have survived to see the Day Three action include Ismael Bojang (212K), Raul Paez (56K) Scott (35.5K) and Shatilov (43.5K), while Berglund, Blain and O’Dwyer would not make it out of the Day Two carnage.
As you can see, the field is pretty tightly bunched at the top of the leaderboard for the 44 players who are remaining in the event. Friday’s Day Three action will be tense, however, as only 27 of those players will earn the minimum $8,634 payday for their investment. On Sunday, the champion of the WPT Baden will be crowned, with that fortunate soul taking home the $271,258 first place prize, the seat to the 2013 WPT Championship later this year and the right to put their name on the WPT Champions’ Cup.
