The World Poker Tour has taken to Europe for the next couple of weeks with its first stop in Venice, Italy, taking center stage this week. The rather cozy field of 173 entrants has worked its way through Day Two on Wednesday with France’s Ludovic Lacay moving into the lead as play gets ready to start this afternoon (Venice Time).
The overall leader as play began yesterday was Day 1A chip leader Steve Behm, but a host of notable contenders were arranged behind him in the roughly 100 players that remained. The biggest threat may have been that of defending WPT Champion Marvin Rettenmaier, who came into the day with the fourth largest stack, while Finland’s Lauri Pesonen and WPT announcer and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton also looked to provide a challenge to Behm.
In the early action, two other popular pros were able to work their way up from smaller stacks. Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates was the first of those pros, earning a double up when his A-J off suit was able to withstand all challenges. The United Kingdom’s John Eames also was on a tear, eliminating three players on his way to building his once-short stack up to more than 70K in chips.
The ladies were also doing well during the early action on the felt in Vienna. Liv Boeree kept her name on the table, although she needed to double up with an A-9 against A-K after losing considerable chips when her A-K was defeated by A-J. Doing a bit better was Kara Scott, who burst over the 100K point when she was able to work Gianluca Rullo for three bets while holding pocket Aces.
Lacay began to surge during the late afternoon action. He had built his stack up to 180K (good for second at the time), while Sexton tried to keep pace by eliminating Eames from the tournament. Pesonen, meanwhile, outpaced them both by rocketing up to 230K in besting Grzegorz Wyraz while Pesonen held pocket Queens. Behm was able to stay in the mix but wasn’t able to add many chips to his stack as darkness fell on the Venetian canals.
The action away from the big names was frenetic, however, as the players dropped from the event. Originally set to go deep into the night, officials with the tournament were forced to call a halt to the festivities once the players hit the 36 player mark. When the chips were bagged and tagged, Lacay had emerged as the leader of the pack:
1. Ludovic Lacay, 351,400
2. Lauri Pesonen, 287,300
3. Erion Islamay, 281,200
4. Steve Behm, 263,800
5. Giuseppe Pastura, 254,000
6. Marcello Montagner, 249,000
7. Mike Sexton, 241,500
8. Francesco Delfonco, 225,000
9. Gianluca Speranza, 205,400
10. Angelo Recchia, 205,000
There are at least three ladies left in the battle in Venice, with Boeree (93,600), Scott (113,400) and Giorgia Tabet (190,000) leading the female charge. Rettenmaier (187,700) is lurking off of the Top Ten, joined by two other WPT Champions’ Club members in Matt Salsberg (100,100) and Giacomo Fundaro (97,400). Cates, for his part, will have some work to do with his 87,600 stack if he is to take anything home from Italy, as will veteran pro Max Pescatori (57,800).
The 36 players returning on Thursday will have to work out who will be getting the money first. Only the final 21 players will earn the $6964 minimum payday from the nearly $650,000 prize pool, but all have their eyes set on the first place prize of $180,097. The plan for action on Thursday is for the players to try to whittle the field down to the final nine players, meaning it could be a long day of action for the contenders to the WPT Venice crown.