Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer is out after losing a 200,000 chip pot with to Conor Shelly's after all the money went in preflop. Danzer needed to spike but couldn't manage to do so after the board came .
We arrived on the turn with the board displaying . In the pot was a little under 60,000 it seemed, something that implied there had already been quite some action.
Steven Silverman was seated in the small blind and he pushed allin for 57,200. The decision was on Andrea Benelli and it was seemingly a tough one. He first counted out the calling chips, and then he counted out how much he would have behind.
Minutes passed and Benelli really looked unsure of what to do. Eventually he picked up the 57,200-stack between his thumb and index finger, and placed it in the middle.
Andrea Benelli:
Steven Silverman:
Benelli, who finished 4th in the EPT Sanremo for €166,700 last week, needed a heart to kick Silverman out. It wouldn't go like that. Instead the popped up on the river and Silverman doubled.
Sergey Rybachenko, one of a handful of players who bought in at the start of today, has been crippled by David Cowling. Rybachenko opened to 4,200 on the buton before Cowling made it 14,000 in the small blind. Rybachenko quickly moved all in and Cowling made the call.
Rybachenko:
Cowling:
The board was giving Cowling the pot and leaving Rybachenko with just 1,400 but the Russian survived in his next hand, quadrupling up!
We noticed a gentleman sitting with a heft stack of 280,000, and upon investigation learned that it was France's Idris Ambraisse. We're not sure how he got all the chips, but you could surmise that he has been on fire here on Day 2 as he initially started the day as a short stack with 13,600.
He no doubt expected it to be a short day, but as luck would have it, it's been anything but. Rest assured we'll be keeping an eye on Ambraisse throughout the evening.
Artem Litvinov’s table has broken and he has now been moved to a table with two other Russian speakers, Aliaksei Zhuk and Andrey Gulyy. There was some sort of disagreement and the floor was called once again to explain the “English only at the table.” rule. The three were laughing and joking, with Zhuk mock plaintively declaring the language close to his heart.
An angry Philippe Barouk from France however had had enough of Litvinov’s ebullient approach to the game and banging the table he demanded an end to his shenanigans, threatening to ask for a penalty if he continued. Everyone agreed to play by the rules and the floor left the table.
The table fell into an uncomfortable silence and now no one was willing to say anything. Barouk remained looking angry but Litvinov looked furious.
Barouk opened a pot for 4,000 and it folded round to Litvinov in the small blind who stared daggers at him. He looked at his cards and cut out a stack of 20 red T2000 chips, stroking them menacingly. Barouk was paying no attention to this however and Litvinov folded his hand as did the big blind.
Two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Praz Bansi was nursing a short stack the entirety of Day 2, but he has finally succumbed.
We didn't catch the hand, but Bansi stopped on his way out of the tournament area to tell us about it. He was clearly disappointed as he told us he had been playing tight before raising with . The player in the big blind called with , and the two saw a flop of .
Banzi bet, his opponent called, and the dealer burned and turned a . Bansi moved all in, and of course his opponent called.
"Goodbye Monte Carlo," Bansi said before taking his leave.
Phil Ivey is the life and soul of his table. Okay, let’s go back. Let’s just say he’s chatty this afternoon. Ivey is not typically the one to get the conversation going. Or at least he wasn’t when he played here last year. Back then he was embroiled in some minor disagreement about the definition of the word “win”, with some Londoners. Perhaps he had other things on his mind (all while turned in a ninth place performance in the €25,000 High Roller event). This year though things are different, as the PokerStars Blog reports.
Check out the EPT Grand Final side event results at the PokerStars Blog. PokerStars silver spade trophies (and big piles of money) have been scooped by players including EPT regulars Scott Seiver and Paul Berende. Click through to the PokerStars Blog to check them out.