The 2014 European Poker Tour (EPT) Vienna Main Event rolled along on Tuesday as nearly 500 players of the original 910 took their seats together on Day 2 of the tournament. After six 75-minute levels, Sebastian Trisch ended the day as the chip leader with 568,000, more than 100,000 more than the second place player, Artur Koren.
One of the most interesting, and perhaps controversial, hands of Day 2 came just at the end of the night. According to the PokerNews.com report, Matas Cimbolas raised pre-flop and both Carter Swidler and Simeon Naydenov called. On the flop of 9-6-5, Naydenov checked, Cimbolas bet 10,000, Swidler called, and Naydenov got out of the way. Cimbolas check-called a 17,500 chip bet when the J was dealt on the turn, bringing about the 7 on the river. So far, so good. Standard hand. On the river, Cimbolas checked and Swidler bet 36,000. At that, Cimbolas pondered his decision for several minutes, long enough for the clock to finally be called on him. Right when his time was about to run out, Cimbolas put out a handful of chips, apparently without even counting them. The chips added up to about 60,000, which was less than the required minimum raise.
Cimbolas was required to increase his bet to the minimum raise, but complicating matters was the fact that Swidler revealed his hand as soon as Cimbolas made his illegal bet, showing pocket 8’s for a straight. Naydenov told PokerNews.com that everyone knew that Cimbolas had intended to only call, but he was still required to complete the raise, anyway. Thus, Cimbolas lost more chips than he had intended (well, nobody INTENDS to lose chips, but you know what I mean). At the same time, Swidler was assessed a one-round penalty for exposing his cards early. You just can’t win for losing.
The calls that were made by tournament officials were probably correct all the way around, but Naydenov’s sentiment seemed like he thought it would have been nice if Cimbolas was allowed to just call, as it was readily apparent that a call was his intent.
The money will be reached today, as the payout structure goes down to 135th place and there are fewer than 200 players remaining. If the schedule is the same as yesterday, there will be six more 75-minute levels played.
2014 European Poker Tour Vienna Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Sebastian Trisch – 568,000
2. Artur Koren – 463,000
3. Ali Abdalla – 451,800
4. Marko Neumann – 421,900
5. Ivan Neytchev – 377,100
6. Torsten Pischl – 360,600
7. Justas Vaiciulionis – 357,000
8. Julian Herold – 355,000
9. Jonathan Roy – 337,900
10. Wilfried Sigmund Harig – 330,600
