Day two of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour saw 142 players settle down for a day of world-class poker with such big-name participants as Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Roland De Wolfe, Surinder Sunar, Pascal Perrault, Thomas Bihl, Liam Flood, Dave Colclough, Per Hildebrand, Barny Boatman, Patrik Antonius, Erik Friberg, Liz Lieu, Jeff Lisandro, and Ville Wahlbeck.
Dozens of lesser-known tournament pros and online qualifiers joined them in the push to enter the money, which started with £8,153 for 32nd to 25th place right up to £611,520 ($1.24 million) for the winner.
Incredibly, play lasted just six hours as 102 participants fell on their swords in record time. Television dictated that play should stop before the bubble so it could be captured in all its agonizing glory, and by 8:30 p.m., 40 players were left and play was suspended for the evening.
PokerStars-sponsored Moneymaker jumped into an early chip lead when his quad twos well and truly spanked aces, and he was up to 130,000, while Negreanu, seated with Flood and Ola Brandborn, headed for an early bath, unable to improve his A-Q against K-K. Lieu gathered some chips early in the day but was gone by dinner time. Brandborn, among the chip leaders going into the day, followed a short time later.
Hendon Mobster and Full Tilt pro Boatman also exited early in the evening when his top pair and nut flush draw didn't improve on the river versus trip tens.
Around three hours into play and Frenchman Perrault was among the chip leaders and Lisandro and Mark Vos were gone. Other casualties included Antonius and early chip leader Nicholas Levi.
The last significant action of the evening started with a mid-position raise from Flood and a call from Sunar on the button and Friberg in the big blind. A flop of 9
8
4 looked harmless, and flood moved all in. Sunar called and Friberg went over the top for all his chips and was instantly called by Sunar. Flood had A K, Erik had pocket fours, and Sunar had pocket nines. Neither Flood nor Friberg improved and play for the evening ended with Flood exiting in 41st and Friberg virtually felted but returning for day three.
The top 10 in chips going into day three are:
- Surinder Sunar, UK – £403,400
- Ben Grundy, UK – £220,000
- Anthony Lellouche, France – £213,800
- Lam Trinh, UK – £207,400
- Phidas Georgiou, Cyprus – £200,200
- Pascal Perrault, France – £172,800
- Josh Egan, New Zealand – £162,300
- Fredrik Haugen, Sweden – £152,400
- Stuart Nash, UK – £125,100
- Alan Smurfit, Ireland – £122,100
Play resumes at 2 p.m. BST with Tony Cascarino, De Wolfe, Fuat Can, Moneymaker, and Carlo Citrone still in the hunt.
