season 2

UKIPT Dublin, S3: Champion performance tops Day 1A of UKIPT Dublin

It’s not quite an aptronym, where your name suits your job*, but it’s not far off. William Champion leads the Day 1A field with 129,700. The fast talking 46-year-old father of four got chipped up in a big pot where he turned top set against Barny Boatman and got paid on all three streets. That set him up for a rollicking performance which rolled the beaming Northern Irishman up the chip counts into the lead. Those chasing him are Paul McCaffrey (112,000), Marc McDonnell (106,600), Michael Farrelly (90,400) and Graeme Crozier (86,900).

Champion, a data storage engineer by day, classes himself as a poker enthusiast who has thrown himself into the game, partly in thanks to working in Paris where he plays live tournaments four or five nights a week. Between that and all the strategy reading something seems to be paying off: he is well above the 32,802 chip average of the 91 players that made through Day 1A. A total of 199 entered today, we should see that many and more tomorrow.

*Think Bill Hammer for a blacksmith or Angela Spam for a marketing executive.

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William Champion, Day 1A chip leader

The big stacks at the top may not be names that you’d recognise but that’s certainly not to say that plenty of known faces didn’t turn up to play today. Notable players that made it through include Sam Razavi (20,800), Robert Csire (12,700), Richard Haile (20,400), David O’Connor (10,500), Max Silver (21,100), Jason Tompkins (34,100) and Dara O’Kearney (20,700). To see all the players that made it through click through to our chip count page.

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UKIPT Season 2 leader board winner Sam Razavi

Plenty of others bust including two-time UKIPT winner Nick Abou Risk who was the second player out, much to the relief of the rest of the field, after running kings into aces, while plenty of the old guard ultimately met the same fate. Surinder Sunar ($4,588,736 in live winnings) and the Boatman brothers (a combined $3,994,819) both failed to make Day 2 but as Barny said: “You don’t win anything for making Day 2.” But neither do you make anything for busting Day 1.

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Ross Boatman, brother of Barny

Rob Yong, owner of the Dusk Till Dawn poker club, fell in the penultimate level of the day five-bet jamming close to 20,000 into Bruce Jones who made the call with pocket queens. Yong held five-nine offsuit. His club’s poker director, Simon Trumper, will not be in Day 2′s chip counts either. Jones finished the day with 73,000.

Team PokerStars Pro Jude Ainsworth had an up and down day, some of the former but unfortunately ending on the latter thanks to the last season’s leader board champion Sam Razavi. It wasn’t the most straightforward of days for Razavi either who seemed to bemoan suck out after suck out before turning the corner and finishing the day a little below average. Ainsworth will have to console himself with the thought of winning his second SCOOP $10,300 main event this weekend. We caught up with Ainsworth which you could read about by clicking on this link and scrolling to 3.05pm: Catching up with Ainsworth.

Day 1B starts at 12 noon tomorrow and we expect to see a larger field than today. Join us for all the fun and frolics.

To catch up with today’s action click through the links below:
Levels 1-4
Levels 5-8

All images are copyright of Mickey May and must credited as such. She’ll force feed you with Danish liquorice until you lose your mind in a sugar-induced psychosis if you don’t.

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Estrellas Poker Tour Ibiza: Let’s get started!

The Estrellas Poker Tour is once again underway, this time on the party island, where Casino Ibiza plays host to the third event of the season. The €1,000 + €100 main event takes place from now until May 20th.

On Wednesday’s day 1a, 115 players began their tournament, including 27 who qualified online on PokerStars. Amongst them, a majority of foreign players and at least 20 Swedish players!When play concluded for the day, after eight levels of play, there were 49 players remaining.

It was a fierce battle today in Ibiza and many players were eliminated, including Friend of PokerStars Poli Rincón and Dutch player Joeri Zandvliet, winner of 2 UKIPTs.

Last year’s winner here in Ibiza, Grzezgor Gosk and finalist, Javier Tazón alias “MuckedBoy”, both played today and made it through the day. They will be back on Friday for Day 2 of the Estrellas Poker Tour Ibiza.

Our current chip leader is French player Amaury Legait with 109,000 chips, followed by Belgium player Kevin Michel Decwael with 98,500 and Javier Tazon with 80,900.

Amaury Legait

Thursday’s Day 1B will see Team PokerStars Pros Ana Marquez and Juan Manuel Pastor begin their tournaments. Estrellas poker Tour 2011 Tournament Leaderboard winner Álvaro Santamaría Velasco and his follower on the board German player Fabian Deimann will also be in attendance.

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Eureka set for next event in Bulgaria

Eureka! It’s the second event of Season 2, and Eureka wants to give you a seat for free. Well, some of you anyway.

The Eureka tour announced this morning that it will kick off Eureka Bulgaria in less than a month at the sunny Golden Sands Resort, near the town of Varna, Bulgaria. The festival runs June 4-10, with the main event slated to begin on June 7.

PokerStars will be running qualifiers for both the main event and High Roller. If you make it there, you will be playing alongside Team PokerStars Pro Toni Judet.

Eureka will be giving away three full packages to Eureka Bulgaria. You can either win one of the new daily freerolls and get a ticket to weekly full package finals, or you can take part in a Facebook contest on the Eureka page and win a seat to weekly final directly. Only one catch: the Eureka Bulgaria promo is available only for players from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. That said, three of the winners will get upgrades to junior suites at the Melia Grand Hermitage hotel!

For more information on the tour, visit the Eureka home page.

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EPT8 Monaco: Joining the winners roll is…

Tomorrow night someone will win €1,500,000. Count the zeroes, it’s a hell of a lot money. Enough to let you buy a small fleet of Bentleys, a flat here in Monaco (they do not come cheap) or possibly even a round at Jimmy’z nightclub. Of course, there is a strong likelihood that there will be a deal between the final two players that will see both of them winning in excess of €1,000,000. That really is life changing money whether you’re an amateur or a pro. Jam it into securities and play the occasional tournament or bankroll yourself to play the next 20 seasons of the EPT. It’s your money, it’s your choice.

The previous seven champions have largely taken the pro poker player route, some grinding live and some online. Last year’s champion, Ivan Freitez, hasn’t exactly followed his win with a string of scintillating results despite being a regular fixture on the tour. He’s made one cash: 12th place in a £400 turbo bounty at EPT London for £750. He seems largely to be the exception to the rule, although he has had less time to score follow-up results.

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Twelth in the £400 turbo? COME ON!!!

Season 1: Rob Hollink, Netherlands
€635,000 (total live winnings $3,253,404)

Season 2: Jeff Williams, USA
€900,000 (total live winnings $1,963,268)

Season 3: Gavin Griffin, USA
€1,825,010 (total live winnings $4,636,754)

Season 4: Glen Chorny, Canada
€2,020,000 (total live winnings $3,535,814)

Season 5: Pieter De-Korver, Netherlands
€2,300,000 (total live winnings $3,288,350)

Season 6: Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon
€1,700,000 (total live winnings $2,686,136)

Season 7: Ivan Freitez, Venezuela
€1,500,000 (total live winnings $2,456,071)

Season 8: tbc

Nicolas Chouity has cashed in three EPT main events since his win here in Monaco as well as enjoying prodigious online success. Pieter De-Korver has had plenty of cashes since his win three years ago but only one major, a $1,000 6-max score of $110,050 beating Kevin Eyster and Mike Leah to book first place.

Gavin Griffin followed his Grand Final victory with a WPT title which completed his triple crown, the first player to ever do so. Four other players have followed in his footsteps since; Roland De Wolfe, Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier , Jake Cody and, just last week, Davidi Kitai.

Jeff Williams’ 2006 win here in Monaco was his first live cash, he still wasn’t old enough to play in casinos in his native US after all. That changed a couple of years later and Williams tore into the WSOP twice narrowly missing out on bracelets but booking large six-figure scores nonetheless.

After Glen Chorny’s 2008 title there’s been moderate amounts of live tournament scores but it’s all been Stateside with no live scores after 2009. He’s still alive I’ve been told but beyond that we know little.

This year’s winner will get to line up against some of his forerunners. I’ve been told De-Korver, Chouity and Freitez are among those confirmed for Tuesday’s Champion of Champions.

Tournament snapshot
Level 26: blinds 20,000-40,000, ante 5,000
Players: 14 of 665
Average stack: 1,425,000
Click here for live coverage and more features from The PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.

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APPT Cebu: The crosses we bear

We may have a medical crisis brewing in Cebu.

It started with tournament floor Chris Sandaman. He turned up yesterday not wearing his customary suit, dressed instead in shorts and a t-shirt. “I cracked a tooth and it got infected,” he told us. “I’m not working right now. I’m hopped up on painkillers.”

Then this morning, PokerStars blogger Heath Chick and PokerNews reporter Josh Bell arrived at the media desk complaining of an upset stomach and a head cold, respectively. Heath is no stranger to medical catastrophes on the APPT. At Macau in Season 3, he came down with what he calls bird flu and what the rest of us call “the flu” that took him out of action for two solid days.

Josh (center) and Heath (right) looked alright eating the “bottomless bowl of rice” at dinner last night with former MMA fighter Heath Herring.

With the media desk already short-staffed and the floor expected to swell due to a heavy schedule of side events, we couldn’t afford to lose any of the three. Time to check in with the local medical establishment.

Chris took himself to the dentist to have his tooth repaired and to procure an amoxycilin prescription. The first dentist that he found was also an eye doctor – I mean, why not? – and offered Chris an immediate appointment.

“You’re an eye doctor too?” Chris asked. “Thanks, I’ll take a miss.”

His second choice dentist, who to me seemed far less qualified with his only bona fides being in dentistry, had a better bedside manner and put Chris more at ease. He got the necessary antibiotics.

Heath didn’t have the luxury (nor feel the urgency) of going to look for a doctor. He opted to tough things out, in the true Tassie style. But media coordinator Sam Dawson was having none of it. He flagged down one of the local casino staff, sending her on a rescue mission. She returned with a few suspiciously unmarked tablets that Sam recently deposited in Heath’s hand, telling Heath, “Take two of these and call me in the morning.”

Heath eyed the tablets dubiously.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Sam told him. He may have used a slightly stronger word than ‘baby’.

“I’m not being a baby, I’m being careful about what I put in my body!” Heath replied. “This is the Philippines. I don’t know what this stuff is.” The tablets currently sit, unopened, on the media desk between Heath and Josh.

For his part, Josh is silently suffering his head cold as he trudges between the tables, looking for notable hands and endlessly scribbling down chip counts. That’s youth for you.

These are the lengths to which we go at the PokerStarsBlog to make sure to bring you riveting hand updates, timely chip counts, and lively color posts. It’s not an easy job; the headaches we’ve suffered from being forced to drink heavily at PokerStars parties around the world – all so that we could report on them for you, our readers – are countless. Some are legendary, like that night in Seoul in Season 2.

But the last thing we need is a medical crisis. Where else would you find out that Jacky Wang is the far and away chip leader? And how are you going to know what happens at tonight’s player party at the VUDU club if none of us are healthy enough to report on it?

We are PokerStars. We bleed for you.

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APPT Cebu: A Steicke wicket

The first APPT event I ever covered was back in Season 2 at Macau. At the time I was working for PokerNews. That event was remarkable for any number of reasons, and you’d certainly have to include a bubble hand played by David Steicke among them.

On the bubble, in the 1200-2400 level, Steicke took over the chip lead by winning a pot worth 350,000 chips when he called all in against the chip leader, Kenny Hicks, on a [kd][9c][kc][tc][9h] board. That Hicks had a total airball and that Steicke correctly picked off a bluff wasn’t what made the hand remarkable. What made it remarkable was that he found the stones to make the call, on the bubble, for 100,000 chips (a definite cashing stack), with [ac][td] on a paired, straighting, flushing board.

Steicke just missed the final table in that event, finishing in 10th place. Since then, however, he has gone on to earn more than $2.5 million playing tournament poker. He’s among the chattier players that you’ll find at a poker table, having no compunctions event chatting about his own recent play – as he spent part of the day today.

Steicke flew to Cebu from Manila, where he recently played in an Asian Poker Tour event. He made a ten-handed final table there but finished in 10th place after making what he thought was a questionable re-raise shove with ace-ten over a min-raise after folding for two straight orbits.

“Everyone says it was reasonable,” Steicke explained to the player on his right. “They said the play was standard. I guess that’s why I don’t like it.” As evidenced by his Macau call, standard play has never been the line that Steicke has preferred to take.

He stopped chatting long enough to open a pot to 2,400. The player on his left three-bet to 6,100, folding everyone else out of the hand. That’s when the Steicke magic began. Steicke cut 3,700 in chips off of his stack, and squeezed them back and forth between his hands. After a minute of thought, he grabbed another 6,000 and four-bet the pot. His opponent called.

The flop came [8c][jd][ks]. Steicke stared at the board, pondering his action. He leaned forward in his seat a bit and craned his neck to eyeball his opponent’s stack before setlling on a bet of 9,900. After throwing the chips into the pot, he turned around to a side table, saw me, stuck his tongue out as if to say “yikes!”, and then poured himself a cup of tea. When his opponent folded, Steicke uttered just one word.

“Wow.”

We’ve been saying that about Steicke for four years. And as his stack crests 60,000, to right around average, we’re hoping that we get to say that about him again later on in this event. His unusual style of play, and the success it brings him, is a delight to watch.

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APPT Cebu: The return of Carter Gill

I don’t remember where I first met American Carter Gill. It had to be during Season 2 of the APPT, in 2008. At the time Carter was a brash, swaggering American kid who was (if you’ll pardon the antiquity of the expression), “cruisin’ for a bruisin’”
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To give the 2008 Carter Gill some context, I’ve never been thrown out of a bar in my life – except for one week in Sydney when I was thrown out of two. Both times Carter was with our party. One of those times he left with half his shirt after a scuffle with a bouncer. Suffice it to say, spending time with 2008 Carter Gill was always an exercise in patience and hilarity. And isn’t that a nice little metaphor for poker itself?

Carter’s had a small amount of success on PokerStars, going all the way back to 2007 when he took down a $109 tournament for $8,250. Since then he’s added more than $700,000 in tournament winnings to his poker resume. He’s also had some success in the live tournament arena. His best individual results, oddly enough, have both come at the WSOP, where he has two final tables: a 3rd-place finish in a $2,000 NLHE event in 2008, and a 4th-place finish last year in the $2,500 Pot-Limit HA. Last year’s final table took place a few weeks before he was banned from all Caesars properties. I never did hear the full, true story of what happened. All I know is that after his Day 1 flight of the WSOP Main Event, he was banned from all Caesars properties for throwing a woman’s clothes out his hotel window. (Caesars recently rescinded the ban.)

There was a time when Carter’s face was popping up all over the world: the NAPT, the EPT, the LAPT and of course the APPT. But we didn’t see much of Carter during 2011. since Black Friday, Carter has relocated to southeast Asia. He currently makes his home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a country with a phenomenally cheap cost of living for a Westerner like Carter. He spends his time playing in some crazy cash games in tournaments in and around Cambodia, and executing whatever hare-brained idea happens to pop into his head. Most recently, Carter offered to do a shot of whiskey for every new twitter follower he received during a specified time period. The number was double digits, but Carter dutifully poured the requisite shots – and took video of himself drinking them.

Here in Cebu he’s off to a good start. He came in a few days early with his Cambodian girlfriend to enjoy a few days of rest and relaxation at the Shangri-La Mactan. His hair is short and he’s dropped a number of pounds that he had acquired from a lifestyle of heavy drinking and partying. In short, he looks good and could be one to watch here in Cebu. As long as he doesn’t start lining up whiskey shots.

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Eureka Croatia 2: Final Table – Level 24 Updates & Recap

Four days of hard-fought poker, seeing bad beats, bustouts, big pots, epic clashes and thousands of hands have finally been brought to a close with just one standing at the end.

Here is the man who came to the Golden Sun Casino and conquered all his competitors along with our recap of how the final played out.

9.45pm: Alija Filipovic is crowned Eureka Croatia Champion!

Alija Filipovic – Champion of Eureka Croatia

271 players in total appeared at the doors of the Golden Sun Casino at Hotel Antunovic to have their shot at the title, but by the time we’d played through three attritional, highly competitive days of poker, just 8 remained standing.

Those 8 returned today to play to a winner and it was a fiercely contested final.
Dragan Galic was the man tipped for glory by many pundits, the Croatian player having amassed $1.2 million in live tournament winnings as well as a huge databank of big tournament experience. Galic came into the final as a dominant chip leader, with almost double the next player and the early levels only served to reinforce the notion that he was a nailed-on, odds-on favourite for the title.

For a while Galic looked like the man to back

Galic was gaining chips, but the shorter stacks were finding life tougher, Slovenian Karolj Kis succumbing first in 8th place for €5,910 before a mis-timed bluff saw Dutchman Ruud Van de Goor also hit the rail – his 7th spot worth €7,300.

Alija Filipovic was the man who sealed Van de Goor’s fate and the Croatian was a quiet but effective force throughout the final, steadily accumulating chips.

Another homegrown hero, Verdan Premuzic is a dentist by trade and much of the final was like pulling teeth for him – never able to get traction and ultimately extracted from proceedings in 6th, collecting €9,050.

The dentist wasn’t able to brush away the competition.

Ivan Brkicic had worked his shortstack like a champion but eventually one of his multitudinous shoves was called by Filipovic, who outdrew him with an inferior ace to send him to the growing throngs on the rail in 5th spot, €11,200 his chunky consolation prize.

It was at this point that Mate Mecs started to grow in stature, having endured a frustrating final thusfar, he secured a big double up from Dragan Galic after flopping trip queens, the Croatian’s aggression working against him for once.

Mecs tamed the Dragan

Galic was in trouble but it was Nikolay Bibov who would suffer the next elimination, the sun-glassed Bulgarian losing a flip to Galic to end up in 4th place with €13,450 in his back pocket to take home.

Galic was never going to go quietly into the night, and three-handed he pushed for a double through, but was picked off by the efficient Filipovic who busted Galic in 3rd for €16,400 much to the chagrin of the crowd of Galic supporters on the rail.

With Galic out of it, it was between Mecs and Filipovic to contend the title – the two players cutting a deal that would ultimately flatten the prize structure. Mecs had almost a 3-1 chip disadvantage when play started but early aggression saw him even out the stacks and it looked like the momentum was swinging toward him.

Mecs dominated the early exchanges in the heads-up

However Filipovic was just warming up and a series of big pots stormed him back into the lead before he applied the finishing touch to Mecs, busting the Hungarian A-K to K-J in 2nd place for €32,000.

That left Alija Filipovic free to lift the trophy, crowned champion of Eureka Croatia, he collected €42,700 as well as plaudits and respect from all those who saw him conquer this tough, competitive field.

“It feels amazing,” he told us.

Our heartfelt congratulations to Filipovic, who may have been the oldest man at the final, but used every ounce of experience he has gleaned in those years to turn in what proved to be a winning performance.

Thanks for following the updates, we hope you’ve had as much fun as us and you will join us for the next leg of the Eureka Poker Tour, to be staged in Bulgaria.

Here is a shot of our winner Alija Filipovic, enjoying the moment he became a champion.

We all love comedy cheques – especially when it’s your name on them!

8.55pm: It’s all over – Filipovic wins the heads-up!

As expected it didn’t take long to play down to a champion.

The final hand of the tournament saw Alija Filipovic raise from the button and Mate Mecs push all-in with [Kh][Jd] in a bid to double through.

Unfortunately for him, Filipovic held [As][Kd] and was going nowhere, making the call and finding himself in a dominant position to take down the tournament.

The tournament director announced the hands and the rail squeezed in tight, all eager to scan every detail of this dramatic confrontation.

A board of [Kc][8c][5d] gave both players top pair, but Filipovic’s kicker still made him the strong favourite.

A [5c] on the turn brought in a few more split outs for Mecs, but when the river bricked in the form of the [Qc], it was Filipovic who was the last man standing as the audience broke out in rapturous applause for the local favourite!

So, Mate Mecs collects €28,900 for his second place finish and it is Alija Filipovic who takes down the first prize of €45,800. (In fact we think there was a deal done that saw the cash prizes flattened out somewhat.)

Filipovic also wins the Eureka trophy, a bundle of leaderboard points that will put him at the top of the standings for now and the respect and plaudits from all who saw him best this competitive field.

Well played to both players, as well as everyone who made the final table and contributed to what has been an exciting, action-packed tournament..

We’ll be posting up a recap of the final shortly along with winner photos but for now thanks for following our coverage. It’s been a blast!

In the epic heads-up struggle, Filipovic rolled back the years to defeat his younger opponent.

8.40pm: LEVEL 24 IN EFFECT – BLINDS 15k/30k/3k

We’re back for level 24, with Mecs needing to stage another comeback if he is to wrest the title from the grasp of Alija Filipovic, who withstood Mecs earlier assault before counter-attacking himself.

The players are not so deep now that they can avoid going broke with a good hand so if both of them get dealt something pretty pre-flop, we may see our first all-in and call of the day.

Let’s find out how this dramatic finale plays out…

Mano a mano, who will strike first?

To see updates from levels 20-23, click here.

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Eureka Croatia 2: Final Table – Level 20 (6k/12k/1k)

3.35pm The long Kis goodnight

Karolj Kis has been in danger for sometime, folding down to just 60k, so when the aggressive Dragan Galic raised and he found pocket 8s, he went for a double through.

Someone revealed they folded K-J, putting him in good shape for a double-up but no problem for Galic who is running very well (and playing well also.)

The flop came [Ks][Js][7h] to give him top two and when he filled up with the [Jd] on the turn Kis was drawing dead.

Good game Karolj Kis, you finish in 8th spot, collecting €5,910.

Galic meanwhile has a stack worth 850k now and is really the dominant force on this final table.

Karolj Kis made his move just too late..out in 8th

3.26pm: Fillip for Filipovic

Dragan opened for 27k and was three-bet by Mate Mecs to 55k, leading Alija Filipovic to 4-bet to 147k in the first show of real aggression we’d seen from him,

Fold from Galic and ultimately aso from an unhappy Mecs who showed A-Q, only to see Filipovic had him pipped, showing A-K.

Mecs has run pretty bad so far in this tournament but he still has over 250k to his name… Filipovic up to over 400k though…

3.25pm LEVEL UP – BLINDS 6k,12k,1k

3.01pm: Karolj Kis-sing his chances goodbye?

It’s not looking great for Karolj Kis who came into the day as the shortstack and has just lost two pots, leaving him very short.

The first pot saw him raise preflop to 21k, picking up a call from Mate Mecs in the BB.

He c-bet the [As][Qs][6h] board for 25k, but when called shutdown on the [Jd][4s] turn and river.

Mecs showed [Ac][7h] which was good for the pot – Kis’ [8d][9d] not good enough.

Next up he raised UTG to 20k, called by Filipovic in the SB and Bibov in the big.

The flop fell [Ah][8h][7h] and all three players checked.

The turn was the [7c] and when Filipovic led out for 31k, Bibov folded, as did Kis, the latter showing pocket kings with a rueful shake of his head.

Kis now in severe danger with just 125k…

2.43pm: Cagey start sees Mecs take a hit

The players are being careful here, understandable really as many of them are 20 big blinds or less deep.

Mate Mecs and Dragan Galic played out the major pot of note, Mecs raising pre to 20k and Galic calling from the big blind.

The flop fell [7d][3c][7s] and when checked to, Mecs lef out 25k….Galic called.

The turn was the [Jh] and both players checked.

Come the [Kd] river, Galic bet out 45k and Mecs quickly called, only to be shown [7h][6h] in Galic’s hand for trips.

Mecs shook his head frustratedly – his stack pushed back down to 330k, whilst Dragan is up just over 700k.

Galic lost some of those chips moments ago though, raising the button to 25k only for Ivan Brkicic to shove the small blind. Galic folded and Brkicic rises to 200k…

2.25pm: Eureka Croatia – The FInal Table

Welcome one and all to the Golden Sun Casino here in Zagreb as we reconvene for the final of the Croatian leg of the Eureka Poker Tour.

178 players arrived shiny-eyed and fresh-faced to take their shot at securing the crown, but one by one they were picked off and busted until just eight remained to contend the title.

Here are those eight along with their final chip counts…

Dragan Galic Croatia 699000
Nikolay Bibov Bulgaria 419000
Mate Mecs Hungary 419000
Alija Filipovic Croatia 325000
Marius Van de Goor Netherlands 241000
Verdan Premuzic Croatia 185000
Ivan Brkicic Croatia 174000
Karolj Kis Slovenia 152000

Those eight have taken their place at the final table and are keen to get started, riffling chips and eyeing each other’s stacks carefully.

Dragan Galic leads the way, the Croatian player one of the most successful in the country’s history and he will be a tough man to topple from the head of the chip rankings.

We’re primed and read to start so let’s get it on! Good luck all.

He’s a big, bad dangerous man. He’s called Dragan Galic.

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Eureka Croatia 2: Day 2, Level 18 (3000,6000,500)

1.25am: Tournament enters the post-Ante period

Ante Varnica has a great name, but sadly no more chips. He had been squeezing an increasingly short stack for a while devoid of opportunities and finally he shipped his last 65k ish into the middle in an unopened pot with [Jc][8c].

Marko Gasparovic was not to be fooled however, re-shoving with [Ac][Jd] and a flop of [Kd][3h][9c][Kh][Ah] was sufficient to sent Ante Varnica to the rail in 12th spot.

He collects €3,300 for his finish. Play continues 11 handed…

Ante Varnica: The best name in poker

1.03am: The latest news, er there’s not so much

The last 20 minutes haven’t seen any more bustouts or major hands of note. The players are taking things a little cautiously – all keen to make it through the day and onto that final table.

We have seen Marius Van de Goor 3-betting the fairly active Mate Mecs several times, most recently showing down Q-Q when Mecs threw his hand away.

There was a hand that has really wound up Karolj Kis, leaving him pretty short and ranting to himself and the table.

In a blind on blind confrontation, Kis check-raised a [9c][5c][2c] flop before firing 25k on the [9d] and 30k on the [Kc] river.

The big blind in this scenario, the aforementioned Mate Mecs called him all the way, having finally made a jack-high flush with his [Jc][Qs] on the river.

We don’t speak Slovenian, but his gesticulation and various words that seem to bleed through the languages such as “fish” and “river” told the story of what he thought of Mecs there. Kis down to under 100k…

Mecs just collected the pot that boosts him up to 380k, vying for the chip lead again…

Anyone know the Slovenian for “fml?”

12.45am: Georgiev roasted by Dragan

Dragan Galic and Stelyan Georgiev have had a few battles already at the table and there was the sense that this was turning personal.

Moments ago, Georgiev raised while laughing with a fellow player, making it 13k which Galic called on the button.

The flop fell [Ks][6s][3h]

Georgiev checked and Galic did likewise. The turn fell the[3c]

Once again Georgiev checked and this time Galic led out for 10k. Georgiev check-raised to 30k and Galic quickly threw in the call.

The river was the [6c].

Georgiev led out 72k but now Galic quickly announced, “I’m allin” – his stack being around 152k.

Georgiev looked surprised at this outcome and tanked for a while considering his options.

“You’ve stopped laughing, that’s good,” said Galic. “Now you can fold.”

“I can think about it though so you can shut up while I do,” countered Georgiev.

“I’m allowed to talk, so I’m going to talk,” Galic fired back.

The exchange petered out, and eventually Georgiev did make the call with A-K, only to be shown Galic had rivered trips with [6h][7h]

That hand left Galic heading the field with around 390k whilst Georgiev’s stack sustained heavy damage and he will need to marshall all his mental forces if he is to force his way back into this. He has around 80k left…

Galic snatches the chip lead

12.22am Campan’s campaign draws to a halt in 13th place

Christian Marius Campan has gone about his business quietly and efficiently today, but finally he succumbed in 13th spot, moving his 50k stack into the middle and getting looked up by Alija Filipovic’s [Kc][Qs].

A flop of [Qc][Tc][9d] was bad but not disastrous for Campan, outflopped but with a straight draw to get him out of jail but the [7h] on the turn and [5d] on the river proved of little assistance as he became the latest man to taste bitter defeat.

Well played but Campan busts out in 13th, winning €2,750.

12.10am LEVEL 18 – BLINDS 3,000/6,000,500

Click here to view the updates from levels 14-17.

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