EPT Warsaw: Day two, level eight updates

Live updates from day two, level eight of the EPT Warsaw Main Event event brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Blinds: 400-800 (75 ante)

1.50pm: Take a break
That's the end of the level. Players are on a 15 minute break.

1.49pm: Pagano cut down to size
Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano has a face like thunder. And it's no surprise, as his day starting stack of just over 100,000 has been cut in half. We did not see how that came about, but Alexander Debus, a PokerStars qualifier from Germany sitting in seat four, has a suspiciously monstrous stack of 145,000.

Twitter to the rescue, however. Luca just Tweeted this in Italian, but you get the general idea..

Luca Pagano

"dopo essere salito a 130.000 e' tornato al mondo reale con 48.000 chips. AA crackati da 99 - board: Q 5 9 8 9 vaaaaa beeeeeeneee :-)"

Hope you understood all that. If not here are cliff notes: Luca's aces were cracked by quad nines. Ouch.

1.47pm: ElkY trying, and trying again
ElkY clearly had a bright start to his day, up as he is to more than 30,000 from his 13,000 starting point. He's trying to use that to typical ElkY effect by raising a lot pre-flop, but he's getting re-raised and forced to lay down.

First Oleksandr Vaserfirer went over the top, then a few hands later Umberto Vitagliano did the damage.

Also sharing ElkY's table is fellow Team PokerStars Pro: France player Arnaud Mattern, currently on around 32,000.

1.45pm: Dario the comedian
Dario Minieri sits at the same table as chip leader Carter Phillips and, as you'd expect, they're at it. Phillips, from North Carolina but sporting a Virginia shirt, made it 2,100 pre-flop. Andrzej Siemieniak called, as did Minieri.

"How many chips do you have?" asked Minieri, aimed at Siemieniak. He lifted his arms out of the way of his stack, but so too did Phillips who has around 180,000.

"No, not you. You do not need to show me!"

The flop came [7d][2s][kh] and the Italian checked, Phillips fired out 4,100. Too much for Siemieniak who folded, but Minieri still looked interested.

"So now how many chips do you have?" he joked. "OK, I raise." And with that he fired out 10,700. Insta-fold from the American, and Minieri is up to 36,000.

1.40pm: Orpe in action
Michelle Orpe just re-raised to 6,800 behind a bet of 2,200 from Paolo Della Penna. "I'll show if you fold," said Orpe. It was hard to note whether this was mind games or a genuine plea to reason. Penna did anyway and Orpe turned over [ac][qd].

1.35pm: The number 22
Christophe Benzimra opened for 2,200. "How much?" asked David Gomez Morante, next to act. "Twenty-two," said Thierry van den Berg next to him. "2,200," repeated the dealer. Morante folded and the action was on Van den Berg. "How much?" he asked, which was an obvious joke but still funny. He passed too and Artur Wilczyński took the blinds.

He made it 2,200 on the next hand as well. "Same cards?" asked Van den Berg, "Back to back?" No reply. The action was folded to Wilczyński in seat four who called for a flop of [4d][2h][ac]. He checked and Benzimra threw in a 5,000 chip although his bet, although indecipherable, was less. Regardless it was enough to take this pot as well.

1.30pm: Cretu crushes Lellouche
Table 19 was one of the first to break today and send its inhabitants scattering across the rest of the tournament floor. Corneliu Cretu was one of the biggest stacks there and he was moved into good company on table eight, where Antony Lellouche and Jeff Sarwer, both with more than 100,000, were camped. It was a good move for Cretu as he won a huge pot from Lellouche.

Antony Lellouche

Aleksey Yuzikov started it, raising to 2,100 from early position. Lellouche, to his left, called and Cretu squeezed from the button, making it 7,300. Everyone folded to Yuzikov, who also threw them away, but Lellouche called. The flop came [10s][2h][5h] and Lellouche checked. Cretu bet 16,500 and Lellouche called. The turn was [2s] and the pattern was repeated. This time Lellouche check-called Cretu's 30,600 bet. The river was [kc] and now both of them checked. Lellouche insisted Cretu showed first, which he did, revealing [ac][ah]. Lellouche mucked and the 100,000+ pot went to Cretu.

1.25pm: Tolokonnikov out
Yep, that's true. The hyper-aggressive Russian, who was third in Kyiv this season, has departed. No details are known, but I'm guessing he didn't call all in for his last 1,000. There will have been raises. Nico Behling, who was second here last year, is also on the rail. He's watching his countryman Sebastian Ruthenberg, who has also been characteristically active in these early exchanges.

1.20pm: Kravchenko departs
Team PokerStars Pro has suffered its first casualty of the day. Alexander Kravchenko shoved his last 6,000 in with pocket sixes but ran into Alexander Debus' pocket eights. Luca Pagano is on that table, and he's doing better: he recently took down a pot from Oleh Okhotskyi, who called Pagano's button raise of 2,500 but then check-folded to Pagano's 4,000 bet on a flop of [9s][4h][7c].

Alex Kravchenko

1.15pm: Think carefully
Ishak Noyan opened for 1,725. When the action reached Domantas Klimciauskas two seats down he picked off 4,500 and raised from the cut off. "How much do you have?" asked Noyan then asking the dealer to count it. Klimciauskas had 47,500 and Noyan just 16,000 back. To call would be to be for his tournament. He passed. Ivo Donev arrived to rub shoulders. I mean that literally, Donev was actually rubbing Noyan's shoulders.

1.10pm: Shock news... Hedlund getting refreshed
It may be very early in the day, but it's never too early for Sweden's Peter Hedlund to have a drink. He's got 75,000 and is in jovial mood.

"Would you like a drink," asks a passing waitress, no doubt used to his custom yesterday.

"Of course. I'll have a vodka and coke,"says Hedlund. "But I only want one ice cube."

You sense it will be a noisy day for the others at his table, who include Dave Hardy, the PokerStars qualifier from the UK who works on the oil rigs.

1.05pm: First 'Ouch' of the day
As is customary during these early day-two skirmishes, the short-stacks are getting busy trying to double up to a more healthy position. Often, it ends in tears.

Witness this hand involving Rafał Arendt, from Poland. Facing a 2,000 bet from French PokerStars qualifier Mamouni Smain, he moved all in for 9,975. It took a minute or so for Smain to call:

Arendt: [kh][kd]
Smain: [ad][9c]

It looked good until the flop came [5c][2c][qc], and then the [8c] turn completed the Frenchman's unlikely winning flush. The [6h] river was meaningless, and Arendt has a proper bad beat story to take home.

This table also features a newly shaven-head Peter Eastgate, who is down to 24,000, and Olaf De Zeeuw, the PokerStars player from Holland who has continued his good form from yesterday to move above 100,000.

1pm: Doubling up or going home
In the first category, Inan Mustafa, who got involved with Vitaly Tolokonnikov. There was 13,500 in the pot pre-flop and more went in on a board of [7d][kd][6d]. Tolokonnikov bet 9,000, Mustafa was all in for a total of 23,600 and Tolokonnikov called. The Russian showed [ad][9s] for an overcard and the nut flush draw, but Mustafa had [ks][kc] for top set. He was going to need to fade a diamond, and managed it. The turn was [as] and the river [ac], giving Mustafa the boat.

In the second category, that of the departed, is Felipe Luyanda, the PokerStars qualifier from Puerto Rico. He was all in for his small stack against Nick Gibson in a typical race. Luyanda had [6s][6c] and Gibson had [ah][jc]. The [jd] on the turn was the last thing Luyanda saw before he was knocked spark out.

12.55pm: Attacking the leader
Alessio Isaia raised to 2,200 from under-the-gun and Carter Phillips reraised to 6,000. Pierre Potier shoved all in for a total of 12,350 and although that was too much for Isaia, Phillips made what was probably a mandatory call. Phillips showed [8c][7s], Potier had [9h][9d] and although the Frenchman was made to sweat on the flop of [5c][6h][6s] and the turn of [8h], the harmless [3c] rivered and he doubled up through Phillips.

12.50pm: A gentle reminder for Carter Phillips
The chip leader Carter Phillips is sharing a table with Dario Minieri this afternoon. On the neighbouring table is Shaun Deeb, who seems to feel a bit left out of the party. Deeb came over to Phillips within the first few minutes of the restart, though, to remind him: "Remember, me and Dario had that last longer." Phillips took the hint: "How much do I get if I knock him out?" Deeb considered before saying: "Drinks for the rest of the week." It seemed to suit Phillips fine.

12.45pm: Mozdzen takes an early hit
Clayton Mozdzen was one of the dominant forces on day 1a, but day two hasn't started particularly well for the Canadian. There was about 16,000 in the pot, a flop of [jh][9d][8h] and two players, Mozdzen and Oskar Lind, staring at it. Lind was first to act and he checked, Mozdzen bet 10,150 and Lind moved all in for his last 25,000 or so. Mozdzen called instantly, and had all kinds of tasty draws, as well as middle pair, with his [10h][9h]. Mozdzen was ahead, however, with his [ah][jc] and when turn and it swung this way and that on turn and river. First, the turn came [10d] to give Mozdzen two pair, but the river was [as] to give Lind a better couple. The Finn stacked up about 60,000, and Mozdzen is down to about 70,000.

12.45pm: Early action
Jeff Sarwer starting things with a 2,200 raise from the cut off then Alessandro Lusso on the button re-raised to 6,500. It didn't stop there. Aleksey Yuzikov raised again from the big blind making it 14,000 total. That was enough for Sarwer to fold but Lusso took some convincing. Eventually the clock was called but Lusso folded before his time elapsed. Yuzikov showed [3c][qd] to rub it in.

12.31pm: Michelle's day
While we settle down for today's action, here's a video with EPT TV presenter Michelle Orpe, which follows her progress (yes, she's still in!) during yesterday's day 1b...

12.30pm: Back to the action
The 148 remaining players from the two day ones have now consolidated in one room for the first time. Our plan today is to play either five 75-minute levels, or down to 56 players, whichever target is reached first.

We have seven players with more than 100,000 chips. They are:

Carter Phillips, USA, PokerStars qualifier, 194,850
Antony Lellouche, France, 131,475
Alexander Klimashin, Russia, 105,650
Jan Bendik, Slovakia, 105,575
Clayton Mozdzen, PokerStars qualifier, Canada, 103,250
Jeffrey Sarwer, Canada, 102,025
Luca Pagano, Italy, Team PokerStars Pro, 101,575

There are many more players with significantly fewer. Action started, so stick with us for all the info.

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS
CLICK HERE FOR PAYOUT STRUCTURE