The 2015 World Series of Poker Europe has opened the doors of the Spielbank Berlin Casino in Germany with action in its first event on the schedule. The €2000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament’s Day One action saw a nice turnout and a popular British pro take the top slot for the day’s play.
From the start it was obvious that there was going to be a strong contingent of players on the tables and that the play for the day was going to be serious. Looking to knock off 12 levels of play (after a 2PM Berlin Time (8AM Eastern Time) start), the players would be driving straight through the day with no dinner break in the plans. With the players starting with 10K in chips and facing 40-minute levels, the players were jamming the chips in at every opportunity.
Only one level into play (and with late registration going on until Level 9), 169 players had made their way to the felt and a couple of them mixed it up frequently. Former “November Niner” Sylvain Loosli saw his chip stack fluctuate in the early going and Benjamin Pollak routinely saw his chip stack go from healthy to heart attack, usually within a few hands of each other. Unfortunately, Loosli wouldn’t be able to survive the fluctuations, hitting the rail before the late registration period ended. Pollak, on the other hand, survived the variations and will return to play on Day 2.
Once the final entries were counted in following the close of late registration (which Phil Hellmuth barely made), the prize pool was announced for the tournament. 197 players had shown up for the inaugural event of the 2015 WSOP-E, building a prize pool of €382,180. 21 players will take home at least €3520 for the efforts and the eventual champion walks off with the latest WSOP bracelet and a €105,000 payday.
Now ripe with the knowledge of what they were playing for, the action heated up around the Spielbank Berlin Casino. WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro was knocking off players frequently, including defending World Champion (for a little longer anyway) Martin Jacobson, to push his stack over the 45K mark. Lisandro, looking to add to the six bracelets he already has in his possession, finished off the day with slightly more than 47K in chips and will be lurking in the pack when Day 2 starts.
Hellmuth, after making his traditional late start, almost made it through the day. He was able to nearly triple up his stack but, by the close of Level 11, Hellmuth’s fortunes had turned. Losing most of his stack while holding Big Slick against an opponent’s K-J, Hellmuth would see his final chips go in pre-flop against Artur Koren and Peter Feiertag. The duo checked a Q-8-5 rainbow flop and, after a second Queen on the turn, Koren put out a toke 1500 chip bet and was called by Feiertag. Both checked the ten on the river and, after Koren showed an 8-7 for Queens up, Feiertag topped him with an A-10 for a better two pair. Hellmuth tried to muck his cards but, because he was all in, his A-7 was shown to the table as Hellmuth headed to the rail.
For the most part, the United Kingdom’s Oliver Price was quiet throughout the day. By the midpoint of the day, he had built his stack up to 75K in chips and, entering the last level of the day, was in the chip lead with 115K. In one of the final hands of the night, Price was able to get an opponent to commit his remaining stack with only the nut flush draw. Price, only holding a pair of eights himself, was able to dodge all the outs for his opponent to rake in a massive pot and sit proudly atop the leaderboard for the day:
1. Oliver Price, 171,000
2. Frederic Schwarzer, 122,900
3. Alexander Debus, 112,000
4. Giacomo Fundaro, 104,600
5. Onguin Yagci, 86,000
6. Stephen Chidwick, 84,200
7. Max Pescatori, 75,300
8. Benjamin Einert, 72,500
9. Artur Koren, 70,800
10. Sebastian Malec, 60,400
Other players such as Andrew Lichtenberger (13th place, 55,000), Scott Clements (15th, 49,000) and Lisandro (17th, 47,700) will be dangerous players to watch among the 35 who will return for Friday’s Day 2 action.
Along with the continuation of Event #1, “The Oktoberfest” will rule the weekend action in Germany. The €550 buy in tournament is expected to have the largest field of any event at the 2015 WSOP-E and will fill the Spielbank Berlin to its brim with poker players. “The Oktoberfest” will go through the weekend as Event #1 will crown a champion on Saturday. It promises to be a big weekend for poker on the Old Continent as the 2015 World Series of Poker Europe kicks off with a bang.
