With so many players flocking to the European Poker Tour’s stop in Prague, the Czech Republic, Day 2 turned out to be another “survive and advance” day rather than the popping of the money bubble. By the end of the action of Saturday a new leader had emerged in Gleb Tremzin while the overall Day 1 leader Samuel Chartier and 2015 EPT Malta champion Niall Farrell looking to chase him down.
Just how big was the crowd that came back on Saturday? It was 603 strong and, with late registration going on until the first card was pitched, the 1035 player field could still grow. Another nine players came forward to inch the final number of players up to 1044, just short of last year’s 1107 but still damn impressive for a tournament this close to the holidays. The extra buy-ins created a prize pool worth over €5 million, with the eventual champion that is crowned Wednesday walking off with a €921,540 Christmas (or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa…you pick the holiday) gift.
With only 151 of the original runners earning a min-cash for the event (€8910), the 603 people left in contention were still too far off to even give concern for the money bubble. They still had to stay viable in the tournament, however, and some of them looked to double up early or hit the streets of Prague for a little entertainment. Stephen Chidwick, Liv Boeree, Bertrand Grospellier, Sylvain Loosli, Andrey Pateychuk and Faraz Jaka were all out of the tournament within its first few moments on Saturday, while World Poker Tour Prague runner-up Pavel Plesuv was able to get a double through Shyam Srinivasan to get just back over the starting stack and stave off elimination…at least for the meantime.
Chartier didn’t waste a moment getting back into his groove. Chartier would challenge Gerald Karlic in a blind on blind battle on a 5-9-3-2 flop and turn, putting out a bet of 21K into a 33K pot after Karlic had checked the turn. Karlic was still interested in proceeding, however, with the river six putting several options up as the fourth diamond on the board. Both players would check that river – with its multiple straight draws as well as the flush potential – with Karlic tabling pocket eights with the 8♦; never behind, Chartier showed pocket Queens with the Q♦ to capture the hand and move up to 250K in chips.
The steamroller Chartier was driving continued onward and, once again, Karlic was the man standing in its path. After Chartier opened the action from under the gun, Karlic defended his blind, looking to get some of the chips back that he’d previously lost. Karlic would see a 9-2-8 hit the felt and check call a flop bet out of Chartier. ON the turn, an A♦ made an appearance and Karlic repeated his actions. Another nine on the river had both men completely lost as to what the other had, with both men checking their options. Karlic showed a pocket pair of tens and, unfortunately for Karlic, Chartier once again had him all the way with pocket Jacks, improving his stack to 350K.
While Chartier was continuing to hold his lead, Tremzin was beginning to mount his assault from across the arena. His 320,000 in chips put him in second just before a level up to Level 13 and, after the blind and ante change, he rocketed ahead of the field. Within 20 minutes of the start of Level 13, Tremzin had accumulated 505K in chips and become the dominant chip leader. Chartier would attempt to strike back, eliminating soccer star Jimmy Kebe to reach 505K himself, but by that time Tremzin had continued to add to what would eventually be his Day 2 leading chip stack.
1. Gleb Tremzin, 610,500
2. Niall Farrell, 547,000
3. Simon Persson, 468,300
4. Colin Lovelock, 458,200
5. Samuel Chartier, 444,000
6. Ivan Deyra, 391,300
7. Mustafa Biz, 388,100
8. Sam Greenwood, 365,500
9. Ori Miller, 365,000
10. Adrian Mateos, 346,000
252 players will return on Sunday with some serious business to attend to. First up for the field will be to determine the 151 players who will earn an EPT cash from their trip to the Czech Republic. The second issue of business will be for the individual players to put themselves in the best spot to win this title. While Chartier, Farrell and Tremzin are running good now, it may be a completely different story come Wednesday.
