EPT Warsaw: Day two, level nine updates

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

Blinds: 500-1,000 (100 ante)

3.30pm: Drexel gone as the level ends
Antony Lellouche opened for 2,500 in middle position which Thor Drexel, in the seat on Lellouche's left, raised to 6,900. The action was folded back to the Frenchman who called for a flop of [4h][5d][4c]. Lellouche checked and Drexel made it 5,600. Lellouche then raised to 30,000. Drexel moved in for a few thousand more and Lellouche called, showing [9c][9d] to Drexel's [ad][ks]. The turn came [8h], the river [7s]. Drexel out as players head out on a 15 minute break at the end of the level.

3.25pm: Eastgate on the ropes
Peter Eastgate was forced to fold, leaving himself only 25,000, when Olaf de Zeeuw bet 10,500 on the river, looking at this board: [ac][8d][10d][kd][9d]. Tough spot, and the World Champ seemed reluctant to give up. But give up he did.

3.20pm: Come armed to the Battle of the Blinds
It was folded to the blinds, containing Oskar Lind and Paul Schulmann. They conspired to get all their chips in the middle pre-flop in a battle of the blinds that turned nasty. It was easy to see why, however, as Lind had aces and Schulmann kings. There was nothing special on the flop and the aces held, putting Lind back close to 40,000 and taking Schulmann down to about 15,000.

3.15pm: Three Italians. And Scotty. And Carter
No prizes for guessing which table is attracting the most attention this afternoon. In a row, we have Dario Minieri, Scotty Nguyen, Alessio Isaia, Luca Pagano and Carter Phillips. It's especially wretched for Pagano, who sat opposite Phillips for much of his dominant day 1a, and is now immediately to his right. Minieri, though, has to get a raise through all of them. He's not scared, of course, however and is still getting his chips in pretty much every other hand.

3.10pm: Straight flush!
You don't often see this, but a straight flush just sent Clayton Mozdzen up to the dizzy heights of 125,000.

The board was showing [9c][qc][jd][10c] when I caught up with the action, just in time to hear Oskar Lind from Finland announce all-in - and Mozden to immediately announce: "Call. Straight flush."

He turned over [jc][8c] for the monster hand, and crestfallen Lind flipped [ah][kc] for the turned straight, and what he thought was a [kc] for a flush draw as well. The [3h] river was routine, and Mozdzen raked in a monster.

"Wow, you could never get away from that," said Peter Hedlund, sandwiched between the two players.

"That was a real TV hand."

3.05pm: Phillips takes a chunk more
Carter Phillips continues to tear up the leaderboard, now up to 245,000. He just dispensed with the unfortunate Nicolo Calia from Italy. Calia made it 2,500, Phillips re-popped to 6,500. "All-in," said the Italian. "Call," replied the American, and they were on their backs:

Calia: [kd][kh]
Phillips: [as][jc]

Nice for Calia, but the [10d][9c][ah][5s][5h] was horrible, and he leaves empty-handed.

Carter Phillips

3.02pm: Orpe out
PokerStars EPT TV presenter Michelle Orpe has bitten the dust. We did not catch all the action, but it seems she got it all in with A-K after hitting a king on the turn, but had walked into her opponent's gutshot straight. Ouch.

Get her take on the day and the tournament:

Watch Ept6_WarsawDay2_MichelleOrpe_exit on PokerStars.tv

3pm: Full, official counts
The full, official counts from the end of the last level are on the chip count page. Carter Phillips is at the top, with Jeff Sarwer now breathing down his neck. You know where to find them:

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS
CLICK HERE FOR PAYOUT STRUCTURE

There have been some movements since then, most notably the removal of Michelle Orpe and Davidi Kitai to the rail.

2.55pm: Biggest hand so far
Part of this report came from witnessing it. The rest was relayed by a spectator on the rail. There was a mass of chips in the middle, close to 200,000. Jeff Sarwer was all-in and Corneliu Cretu in seat nine looked worried. He was the last player in what was shaping up into the biggest hand of the tournament so far. Sebastian Ruthenberg was grinning, the look of a man not at risk and enjoying another man's pain. Sarwer kept still, his chin on his hands, sunglasses on as Cretu ran complex equations in his head. He had the 45,000 ready to call. But would he?

It had started several minutes earlier. As one eye witness reported: Sarwer made it 2,100. Jari Mahonen raised and then Cretu did the same. Then Sarwer raised again, forcing Mahonen to quit before Cretu raised once more. Sarwer moved in, asking Cretu the big question.

Jeff Sarwer

After several minutes the hand ended with Cretu folding. "Tens?" asked one player of Cretu, but getting no reply. "Geld he didn't call, right?" asked Thor Drexel of Sarwer. Sarwer often talks after a hand, giving a quick resume, but this time he stayed quiet. "Nice hand," said someone on the rail. "Thank you," replied Sarwer.

2.45pm: Again!
Michele Limongi, the genial Italian, was just heard to bellow: "Again!" as he flipped over pocket aces, with Wojciech Frankowski all in and behind with [As][Kc]. The flop came [ac][10s][3h] and Frankowski was made to dally a moment longer by the [jc] on the turn. But the miracle queen did not appear - the river was the [5s] - and so Limongi rapped the table, shook Frankowski's hand and stacked up some more chips. "When you have the aces, it's very easy," he said. Never a truer word.

2.40pm: Dialogue
Peter Eastgate, newly shorn of his hair, is sitting silently by the far wall of the casino, all but untroubled by reporters. There was something of a brouhaha on his table, though, between Michael Lundell and Danilo D'Ettoris, which seemed pleasant enough on the surface but seemed to have some kind of undercurrent. The flop was out: [ah][2d][4c] and D'Ettoris checked, prompting a bet of 5,900 from Lundell. D'Ettoris went into the tank and this set Lundell chattering. It went something like this:

Lundell: Do you want advice what do to with your hand?
D'Ettoris: Yes.
Lundell: I think that you should...
D'Ettoris: Lay it down?
Lundell: No! My dream is that you move all in. I have a very strong ace. I promise on my mother's life.
(Pause)
Lundell: Aah, you do what you want.
D'Ettoris: I don't call. I raise or I fold.
Lundell: I now know that you are behind. I am just trying to hurry the game along.
D'Ettoris: I am not a calling station.
Lundell: What do you have? Let's talk about your hand.
D'Ettoris: I have kings.
Lundell: No you don't. Why did you raise that much.
D'Ettoris: I do have kings. And I will fold them.
[D'Ettoris folds [kh][ks] face up.]
Lundell: Wow. I am a man of honour. [He shows [ac][js].
Olaf De Zeeuw (also on this table): But if he shoves, you fold.
Lundell: Are you insane? I fold this [pointing at his hand] with this [showing his stack of about 20,000]?

Etc., etc., until Godot either came or the curtain came down.

2.35pm: Small pots growing
A lot of action goes unreported at poker tournaments, simply because its seemingly too innocuous to mention. Ever the contrarian, I'm going to report this one nonetheless. It was a three-way limped pot, with Thomas Alenius and Tome Cardoso Moreira making up Lisa Taphanel's big blind. She checked. The flop came [6d][qs][2d] and Taphanel checked, as did Moreira, but Alenius bet 2,500. Taphanel had seen enough, but the only thing Moreira hadn't seen enough of was chips, and he raised to 6,000. Call from Alenius. The turn was [4c] and Moreira bet 9,000. Called. The river was [jc] and this time Moreira's bet of 15,000 was enough to shift the obdurate Swede.

2.30pm: Tricky for Horecki
Marcin Horecki made it 3,000 from the big blind. Gilbert Diaz then raised to 13,000. It was all that the Team PokerStars Pro had left which probably decided it for him. Horecki looked again for old time sake and then folded, down to 10,000. "Good fold," said Diaz, although Horecki didn't look like he felt any better.

Marcin Horecki

2.25pm: Silent Lunkin lurking
Vitaly Lunkin hasn't made quite the splash on the EPT as he has at the World Series, but this might be his event. Without any fanfare, he is up to around 80,000+, while Jan Bendik, who was one of the big stacks at the start of play, is down to about 70,000.

2.20pm: Sarwer end for Yuzikov
Sebastian Ruthenberg is up to 60,000 after taking down a pot against Corneliu Cretu. But usually it's Jeff Sarwer in the hand and winning it. Aleksey Yuzikov opened the next hand making it 2,600 pre-flop from early position. The action was folded to Sarwer on the button who made it 6,100. Then Yuzikov raised again to 14,000. Sarwer asked if this was the same trash hand as last time (referring to the queen-five of earlier) but Yuzikov said something like he wouldn't discuss the hand until afterward. Sarwer was fine with this so paid to find out.

The flop came [qs][th][jc]. Yuzikov checked to Sarwer who made it 11,000. Yuzikov was now on the back foot. He thought for a while but folded. "Straight draw," said Sarwer, showing a nine. He's now up to 135,000.

2.15pm: Van den Berg on the move
Thierry van den Berg raised to 2,800 from UTG+2. Christophe Benzimra, in the small blind, made it 9,000 and the two of them were left alone for some chattering. "How much do you have?" asked Van den Berg. "More than me, right?" It was close: they each had between 60,000 and 70,000. Van den Berg decided to play, and re-re-raised 15,000 more. Benzimra tapped the table and folded.

2.10pm: Here's some moving pictures
Much as we love the written word, it does no harm to watch videos as well. So here's the video blog team's take on the start of the day...

2.05pm: Return
That's one break done and dusted, and there have been some movements at the top of the leaderboard in the first 75 minutes. Carter Phillips remains imperious, but Antony Lellouche has slipped some, to be replaced up there by Corneliu Cretu.

CLICK HERE FOR CHIP COUNTS
CLICK HERE FOR PAYOUT STRUCTURE