Day 2 of the 2013 European Poker Tour (EPT) London Main Event was held Tuesday as the 230 survivors from Days 1A and 1B got together in a single field at the beautiful grand Grand Connaught Rooms. Just 107 players made it through the day; emerging on top was the only player with over 600,000 chips, Tudor Purice. With 628,200, he has about a 50,000 chip lead over Yngve Steen, who happens to be the only player with over 500,000 chips.
Purice’s chip stack grew over the course of the day thanks in large part to two big hands. The first came during Level 11. On a board of 5-4-3-A, Mike “timex” McDonald was all-in with A-Q, giving him top pair. Purice’s pocket 2’s gave him the wheel, though, so McDonald’s only chance to stay alive was a chop using one of the last remaining 2’s. There was probably a split second of excitement for McDonald when the 3 appeared on the turn, but it only looks like a 2, so that was it for the top pro. At that point, Purice was up to almost 200,000 chips.
Then, very close to the end of the night (Level 14), Purice found himself in a big hand against Onur Guvan. Giovani Gouveia raised to 5,000 pre-flop and Purice re-raised to 15,000. Guvan four-bet to 28,000 and it was back to Purice. He decided it was a good time to move all-in and Guvan showed no hesitation in making the call for 130,000 after Gouveia got out of the way. The two men revealed their cards: Purice had A-K and Guvan had Q-Q. The race was on. The flop produced a King, pairing Purice, and making Guvan a long-shot to win. Guvan was unable to find another Queen, resulting in Day 2 exit. Purice was flush with chips now, seeing his stack grow to 568,000.
According to TheHendonMob.com, Tudor Purice has a very short live tournament resume, having accumulated less than $50,000 in lifetime winnings. He has one cash in a European Poker Tour Main Event, that coming at last year’s EPT Prague where he placed 95th and won €10,000 ($13,071). His most recent sojourn into the money in a live tournament was this past March, when he finished 14th for £4,400 ($6,569) in the World Poker Tour National Event in London.
Purice and the rest of the field still have a little ways to go before making the money, as the tournament pays to 87th place. Day 3 is currently underway in London; check back tomorrow for further updates.
2013 European Poker Tour London Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Tudor Purice – 628,200
2. Yngve Steen – 576,400
3. Ludovic Geilich – 487,100
4. Joey Lovelady – 447,500
5. Andy Moseley – 436,000
6. Mark Newhouse – 380,800
7. Robin Ylitalo – 362,200
8. Ruben Velasco – 350,900
9. Wai Kin Yong – 307,200
10. Daniel Reijmer – 305,800