Thursday, 28th March 2024 17:53
Home / Uncategorized / EPT Tallinn Day 2: Level 10 & 11 updates (800-1,600, 200 ante)
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2.52pm: BREAK TIME
Two out the five levels for today are completed. The players are on a short break.–MC

2.50pm: Really bad timing
Fabian Quoss should have worn a watch today because his timing was completely off. He raised to 3,300 from the button and was raised by Andrea Benelli to 10,100. Quoss moved all-in for around 40,000 and Benelli instantly called.

Quoss: A♦ 3♥
Benelli: A♥ K♣

The board paired both players’ ace but no miracle three-outer came for Quoss who will be regretting that shove intensely. — RD

2.45pm: Another scalp for Wahlbeck
Ville Wahlbeck has taken another big scalp. It’s big because the player is NBA star and PokerStars sponsored player Martin Muursepp. The pot was opened by a third party under-the-gun raise to 4,600 that Wahlbeck treated to a 12,000 three-bet. Muursepp then moved all-in for 35,000 and was called quickly by the Finn after the original raiser folded. Showdown:

Muursepp: Q♥ Q♦
Wahlbeck: K♦ K♠

The board ran low to hand the pot to the Finn who has 175,000 chips now. –MC

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Things got a lot better for Ville shortly after this picture was taken

2.35pm: Pro on pro action
Team Poker Stars Pro Ville Wahlbeck has eliminated fellow Pro Juan Manuel Pastor after a squeeze play went wrong. Wahlbeck raised to 4,700 from the cut-off and was called by the next two players before Pastor moved all-in for 36,500 from the BB after a long think. Wahlbeck then moved all-in too and isolated his team mate as the two other players folded. Showdown:

Pastor: 9♣ 10♣
Wahlbeck: Kâ™  Qâ™ 

The board ran Aâ™  6♥ 5â™  A♦ J♥ . The Spaniard seemed very disappointed (maybe at himself) as he left the room. Wahlbeck’s stack is touching 130,000 now. –MC

2.30pm: Big chick beats big slick
From under the gun Alessandro De Michele made it 3,800 to go, then from middle position Maxime Conte popped it to 20,100 total. It folded back to De Michele who had perhaps 26,000 in total. He eventually moved all-in and was called.

Conte: A♥ K♣
De Michele: Aâ™  Qâ™ 

The board: 8♠ 6♥ 10♠ Q♣ 8♦

De Michele doubled through and Conte was left with around 60,000. –NW

2.28pm: He just can’t miss
Ali Tekintamgac that is, he just amalgamated Martin Green’s 76,800 stack into his own. Green raised to 3,800 from under the gun +2, Tekintamgac three-bet to 10,000, Green moved all-in and Tekintamgac tanked for two to three minutes, during which quite a crowd gathered, before eventually calling.

Green: A♠ K♣

Tekintamgac: Q♦ Q♠

Flop: K♦ 8♣ 3♦

Turn: Q♥

River: 9♦

Green made a swift exit.–NW

2.25pm: Russian smash up
Artem Litvinov has just won a 50,000 pot from Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov with pocket jacks. It was a cagey pot that led to some heated words in Russian afterwards. My Russian isn’t so good but it’s something along the lines of “Why didn’t you believe me?” “Well, you may have been bluffing.” Okay, that’s entirely fabricated. They could have been talking about the state of Brazilian volleyball for all that I know. — RD

2.17pm: Alex not great
Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko busted a short while back. We don’t have all the details but he got it all in pre-flop with pocket threes and was called by an opponent with pocket jacks. The Russian failed to find the two outer he needed to survive. –MC

2.10pm: Big double up for Donato
Attilio Donato let out a large shout as he doubled with A♦ K♥ through Eliran Argelazi’s pocket queens. It’s fair enough really as the hand puts him on 160,000 which is way above average at this stage in the game. — RD

2.05pm: Sherwood bests Bilyaver
Rob Sherwood opened to 3,700 and was flat called by Ali Tekintamgac, next to act was Konstantin Bilyaver and he moved all-in. Sherwood asked for a count and after being informed it was 39,600 the Brit announced he was all-in (Sherwood had 88,000) Tekintamgac quickly folded, showing the A♥ as he did so.

Sherwood: J♥ J♦

Bilyaver: 10♠ 10♣

The board: 3♥ 2♦ K♥ 8♥ 4♣

Sherwood is now up to around 130,000. –NW

2pm: Epic tank
Manuel Bevand folded to Jussi Jaatinen after a ten minute tank. He might’ve taken another ten minutes too if the clock hadn’t been called on him. He opened the pot with a raise pre-flop and was called by the Finn who also called a c-bet on the Q♥ 8♣ A♥ flop. The turn came 7♣ and Bevand continued to be aggressive with a 16,000 bet but was soon raised up to 38,000 by Jaatinen. Cue the think tank! Javed Abrahams eventually called the clock and Bevand waited until he had two seconds left before folding, leaving himself with 150,000. –MC

1.55pm: Bukara boats up
Perica Bukara entered the day as chip leader and it’s a position he’s just re-assumed after winning a 140,000 chip pot against Christopher ‘Noel’ Murphy. I didn’t witness the hand myself but Murphy filled me in as I passed his table. Murphy held ace-king and Bukara King-two, the flop contained a king and a two, Murphy turned an ace, but Bukara rivered a two to make a full house. Murphy is still in with 35,000, Bukara has around 370,000. -NW

1.50pm: Sarwer plays it tight
Jeff Sarwer has just insta-checked behind on the river with the queen-high flush. “Full houses and not the nut flush, you know,” said Sarwer with a smile. He had called preflop with J♥ Q♥ in the cut-off after Eliran Argelazi had opened from middle position and called 4,400 on the 4♥ 5♥ 5♣ flop. Argelazi shot out another bet on the J♦ turn, 10,600 this time, and again Sarwer called. A 7♥ on the river slowed the Israeli down and he checked. Sarwer checked firmly behind him and showed the flush to take the pot. — RD

1.45pm: Tekintamgac on a tear
The German now has a stack approaching 300,000 after eliminating an unknown player. His [3][7] connecting better than his unknown opponent’s [A][8] on a 3â™  8♦ 3♦ flop. The 9♦ 2â™  turn and river changing nothing. Tekintamgac is likely the chip leader at this point. — NW

1.30pm: Qualifier of the year
EPT Qualifier of the Year Pierre Neuville was happily stacking chips as everyone around him started leaving for break. He told me that he’d won a couple of nice little pots and is now up to 175,000 – over twice the chip average.

As you may have noticed from the first sentence it’s a 15-minute break. We’ve lost 36 players in the first level. — RD

1.25pm: Patrioism fails to pay
Alessandro Meoni is wearing a rather fetching hat, the Italian obviously feeling some love for Estonia. However the poker gods are not smiling on him as he just exited the tournament, here’s the hand that did him in. On the river of a 6♦ 2♣ 4â™  A♣ 8â™  board Kevin Stani had moved all-in for his last 28,100 into a pot of around 39,000. Meoni had barely 30,000 himself and took his time: “You have six-five,” he asked of Stani, although it was as much to himself as to the Norwegian. Eventually he announced call.

Stani: 8♣ 6♠
Meoni: J♣ J♠

A frustrated Meoni said: “Nice hand,” he was out shortly afterwards. –NW

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Alessandro Meoni wins hat of the day contest

1.15pm: Neuville flushed out
Pierre Neuville is down to a still very respectable 149,000 after losing a pot to Martin Papiernik. Papiernik opened pre-flop with a raise from mid-position and was called by the Friend of PokerStars in the hijack . The flop came 2♦ Q♥ J♥ and Papiernik check-called a 6,000 bet to see the 4♥ turn where he check-called an 11,000 bet. The river came 10â™  and both players checked. Papiernik tabled the nuts with A♥ 10♥ , beating Neuville’s Kâ™  Q♦ . –MC

1.10pm: Nice flop to raise
Tomer Berda raised under to the gun to 3,000 and was called by Mattias Jorstedt on the button. Berda led out for 6,000 into the juicy A♥ Q♥ 5â™  flop and Jorstedt opted to calmly raise to 16,000. It was enough to take the pot. — RD

1.08pm: Perica pads his stack
And the rich get richer. Perica Bukara just eliminated Tuomas Jalonen and added another 25,300 to his stack in the process. Jalonen’s pocket twos were way behind Bukara’s pocket jacks, Bukara flopped a set and that was that. –NW

1.07pm: Flush over flush over flush
Sort of… by the river the board was A♣ 2♣ 9♣ 7♣ 4♣ and three players were contesting a near 9,000 chip pot. Ignacio Palau, Ali Tekintamgac and Marc Naalden all checked and Naalden’s 3♣ was enough to earn him the pot. –NW

1.05pm: Top pair good for Sarwer
Jeff Sarwer is up to 110,000 after winning a heads-up pot against Eliran Argelazi. The Israeli opened to 2,700 from the hijack and was only called by Sarwer on the button to go to a 2♦ J♣ 9♦ flop. Argelazi continued with a 4,800 bet. Call. The turn came 4♣ and Argelazi upped the ante with an 11,600 bet but it didn’t scare off the Canadian who called again.

That was all the betting, though, as both players checked through the 7♥ river. Argelazi opened K♣ 9♥ for a pair of nines, losing out to Sarwer’s J♦ 10♣ for top pair. –MC

1pm: Pretty as a picture
For those who would like to know what Tallinn looks like, rather than the inside of a poker room, here’s a scenic shot taken by our resident snapper Neil Stoddart this morning. This place is rather pleasing to the eye. It has cheap beer trees, spires, sea, nice people… everything. — SY

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12.55pm: Nice man out
He became Team PokerStars Blog’s super hero at EPT Berlin, where he finished runner up, but Ilari Tahkokallio is out with nothing to take to the bank here in Tallinn.

After the drama of the robbery, Tahkokallio famously allowed his hand to be played out hours later, despite him being well behind to an all-in player. That good sportsmanship won him many friends, but counted for nothing this morning.

Having started with a decent stack today, but lost a huge chuck and then finally succumbed to Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern.

Mattern opened for 2,800 and it was folded around to Tahkokallio in the small blind. With just 3,410 remaining, he made the auto call with 7♦ 4♣ , up against Mattern’s A♦ 9♦ .
The board was a French friendly A♥ J♦ 10â™  2♣ Aâ™  , and Tahkokallio was on his way home. — SY

12.50pm: Some short stacks surviving
As is tradition at the start of day twos there’s a rash of all-ins. Hannu Peltola just moved his micro stack of 6,500 in from the cut-off, next to act Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano briefly considered the call before returning to perhaps the biggest coffee we’ve ever seen, it’s definitely bordering on a pint. The small blind folded and then big blind Robert Peltecci folded his K♣ 7â™  face up. Peltola showed Q♥ Q♦ and Peltecci said: “I know that I call.” — NW

12.45pm: Some short stacks busting
It folded to Pat Carron in the small blind who moved all-in for his last 18,000, Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern swiftly called.

Carron: 10♠ 8♣
Mattern: Kâ™  Qâ™ 

The flop of 8â™  K♦ 3â™  was pretty good for Mattern and the 4♥ turn and 7♦ river changed nothing. Mattern is now on 117,000. –NW

12.40pm: Those with shattered dreams
Out already today are:

Thomas Mühlöcker
Simao Barbosa
Hamid Nateghi Baneh
William Ross
Vasily Fursov
Christophe Castin
Zennawi Petros
Alfonso Amendola
Alexander Lukyanov
Mikhail Glushankov
Liutauras Armanavicius
Jukka Moilanen

12.35pm: Easy for Vadim
This post was initially going to read ‘Team PokerStars Pro Vadim Markushevski hasn’t got off to the best of starts’ as he had lost a substantial pot to Steven van Zadelhoff after being forced to fold to a check-raise on the river of a 3♥ A♣ 8♦ 3â™  6♥ board. However the very next hand he opened from the cut-off for 2,700 and was three-bet to 7,000 by Mikhail Glushankov. Markushevski waited a short while being four-betting to 14,500 and Glushankov moved all-in for over 50,000. The PokerStars Pro insta-called.

Glushankov: A♥ 10♣
Markushevski: A♠ A♦

The flop delivered suck out potential with Q♣ J♥ 2♥ but a 2♦ turn and Jâ™  river saw it all going to Markushevski who chips up to 120,000. — RD

12.30pm: Set over set
Jukka Moilanen has more than doubled-up to around 28,000 with pocket queens. Konstantin Bilyaver opened the hand with a raise to 1,700 from under-the-gun and was called by Brian Jensen in mid-position before Moilanen moved all-in from the BB. Bilyaver then re-shoved to isolate and it worked as Jensen open folded pocket jacks.

Moilanen: Q♥ Q♣
Bilyaver: 10♦ 10♥

The board ran Qâ™  6â™  7♦ 10â™  4♥ . –MC

12.20pm: That’s the trouble with random table draws
Sometime table draws can be, dare we say it, a bit boring, still they’re random after all and this time the computer seems to have spread out the notables and chip leaders well, pretty randomly. There is though one table that jumps out that is table 12. Two players there had to un bag a whole truck load of chips Ali Tekintamgac (203,800) 
and Oleksandr Vaserfirer (136,900) are both in the top ten entering day 2 and they’re joined by the sole remaining female in the field Team PokerStars Pro Katja Thater and Johan van Til. –NW 

12.15pm: Seat open
Awe, you gotta love Day 2. Cries of “Seat open” are ringing around the room as the short stacks desperately get their chips in the middle. For many it ends badly and they exit stage left, leaving an empty chair and their dreams in tatters. — SY

12pm: Why would you no show?
I’ve never quite understood it. Why would you not bother coming back for the start of a tournament with €400,000 up for grabs when you’re short stacked? Kristaps Andersons has just 12,000 (ten big blinds) and isn’t in his seat. It might be the lift situation here at the otherwise wonderful Swissotel. They are bloody awful. — RD

11.50am: Welcome to Day 2 of EPT Tallinn
For some, the real EPT tournament starts here on Day 2. All the survivors from Day 1A and Day 1B combine in the same room so every player can look around and see who they have to defeat to become the inaugural EPT Tallinn champion. Our chip leader from yesterday, Perica Bukara, is actually the chip leader for the whole tournament with 210,600. He’s closely followed by his friend and chip leader from Day 1A Ali Tekintamgac with 203,200 for a Germany one-two.

We’ve got five 75 minute levels to get through to today before everyone heads off for the first EPT party of the season. For now though players are ripping open their chip backs and formulating a plan for the day. Some call this moving day where the aim is to move up the chip leader board and position one’s self for an attack at the money. We’ll be back in ten minutes for the start of play to see who can implement this plan this best.

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Current chip leader: Perica Bukara

PokerStars Blog reporting team (in order of arrival time this morning): Marc Convey (11.30am), Simon Young (11.31am), Nick Wright (11.45am) and Rick Dacey (still dreaming about bingo we think)

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