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Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi won the 2012 WSOP Poker Players Championship, the second time he has won the prestigious $ 50,000 buy-in bracelet event. The championship tournament, a rival to the WSOP Main Event’s claim as being the most prestigious event of the entire series, mixes up the eight most popular forms of poker. Outlasting a starting field of 108 of the best poker players in the world brought Mizrachi the first place prize of $ 1,451,527. It was the third WSOP gold bracelet of Mizrachi’s career. 

Mizrachi, a 30-year-old poker professional from Florida, has won his three bracelets in three consecutive years. He was one of the November Nine finalists at the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing in 5th place for a $ 2,332,992 prize. 

Next up for Mizrachi is the $ 1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop event, which kicks off today in Las Vegas. 

Mizrachi’s win in the Poker Players Championship in 2010 brought him a prize of $ 1,559,046. His second gold bracelet was in the €10,400 buy-in Split-Format event at 2011 WSOP Europe, and his prize was €336,008 (about $ 420,000).

According to media sources, Mizrachi is called “the Grinder” due to his never-give-up mentality.

The Poker Players Championship was Event #45 in the 2012 World Series of Poker schedule. The total prize pool for the event was $ 5,184,000 and the top 16 players got paid. Winning the event gave Mizrachi the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy named for the late Chip Reese, who won the inaugural event in 2006. 

Chris Klodnicki finished second in the event for a prize of $ 896,935, and Andy Bloch was third for $ 561,738.

The poker world lost one of the legends of the game a few weeks ago, Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston Jr.  For at least 25 years, Slim was poker’s premiere ambassador.  He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1992 and died at the age of 83.

1972′ WSOP Champion

Amarillo Slim won the 1972 World Championship and parlayed his gift of gab (which was better than Muhammed Ali and Minnesota Fats combined) and that WSOP title into a media three-ring circus.  Nobody promoted poker better than Slim.  He appeared on the Tonight Show eleven times and to my knowledge, no other poker player has ever been on the Tonight Show.

Talk the talk and sure walked the walk

I know a lot of players thought Slim talked a better game than he played, but make no mistake, he was a closer.  He didn’t play a lot of tournaments, but the first four times he made a final table at the WSOP, he won the bracelet.  The fifth time, he finished second to a young guy who was taking down his first of eight WSOP bracelets – none other than Phil Ivey.

Road Trip

Stories about Slim are legendary – the road games in Texas with Doyle Brunson and Sailor Roberts, his world-class pool skills, playing ping-pong against tennis champion Bobby Riggs and others using Coke bottles and skillets, his rafting trip down the River of No Return (in winter), his trademark cowboy boots, rattlesnake Stetson, gold buttons on his shirts, his talent at shooting free throws, playing golf, etc., etc., etc..  One thing I always loved about Slim – if he talked about something, he’d bet on it.

My first cash

My first cash in a poker tournament was at Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker in 1981 in Lake Tahoe.  I’ll never forget it.  I was so happy to cash because in Slim’s tournaments, only three places got paid.  That’s right – 3 places – 60%, 30%, and 10%.  He did that for years until he finally realized that he needed to pay more places to keep players happy.  Slim believed that people played tournaments to “turn a toothpick into a lumberyard” and wondered why players would want a lot of payouts.

European Vacation

My favorite Amarillo Slim story happened in 1985 when many of the top players took a two-week vacation, cruising from NY to England on the QEII, staying in London for a week, and then flying back on the Concord. It was an amazing vacation.  Eric Drache (TD at the WSOP at that time) put it all together and most of the biggest names in poker went on that trip (Doyle, Chip Reese, Puggy Pearson, Amarillo Slim, Bob Stupak, & actor Telly Savalas among others).

Anyone for tennis?

One day while in London, about 15 of us went to Wimbledon to watch the semi-finals.  They had a medium size bus for us and I was sitting in the front row. Slim was standing in the front of the bus conducting his usual BS session.  He finally said, “Who are we waiting on?”  And someone said, “Mickey Appleman”.  (Mickey’s hair always looks like a combo of Harpo Marx and Don King.)  Slim quickly said, “Oh, he must be blow-drying his hair.”

Well, Mickey finally gets on the bus and all of a sudden the bus driver starts making a U-turn in the middle of the street.  Traffic started screeching to a halt on both sides, and Slim’s knuckles turned white holding onto the pole. It really was frightening.  Finally, after nobody hit us and we started down the road, Slim gathered his breath, turned to the bus driver and said, “Pardner, if you ever get tired of driving a bus, just let me know.  I’d love to stake you playing poker ’cause you sure as hell aren’t afraid to move in on ‘em.”   It was classic.

With eight seasons of the European Poker Tour now passed, the circuit has amassed more than 80 champions. They come from all places, backgrounds, and bankrolls, but only a couple are the Champion of Champions. This week, Season 6 EPT Warsaw winner Christophe Benzimra became one of them.

For the past couple of seasons, the EPT has hosted the Champion of Champions event at the season-ending Grand Final. The €100,000 freeroll is open to anyone who has an EPT title. Last year, Jason Mercier cemented his place among the champs. This year, the honor went to Benzimra.

Benzimra got heads-up with EPT Loutraki champion Zimnan Ziyard heads-up and took down the win for €35,000 worth of buy-ins to EPT Season 9 tournaments. The 49-year-old Frenchman beat out 39 champs for the title.

“It feels fantastic! I’m very happy,” he said. “I haven’t been playing much this season but I will be next season.”

In 2009, Benzimra won EPT Warsaw for €400,000 just a few years after taking up poker. Though he’s been out of the game for most of the year, he and five other champs now have a lot of buy-ins to spend in Season 9.

Here are the final results to the Season 8 Champion of Champions tourney.

Congrats to Benzimra on his win.

EPT Season 8 Champion of Champions results

1st – Christophe Benzimra (EPT Warsaw champion) – €35,000
2nd – Zimnan Ziyard (EPT Loutraki champion)- €25,000
3rd – Jake Cody (EPT Deauville champion) – €17,500
4th – Arnaud Mattern (EPT Prague champion) – €10,000
5th – Frederik Jensen (EPT Madrid champion) – €7,500
6th – Mohsin Charania (EPT Grand Final champion) – €5,000
The bubble was EPT Dortmund champion Sandra Naujoks.

Every Sunday on PokerStars is a big day. There’s a reason the big tournaments that play out on Sundays are called “the majors.” Big guarantees and even bigger prize pools award millions of dollars to players who compete and make it into that money. January 29 was no different – maybe even a little better than usual.

That is attributed to TCOOP, the inaugural Turbo Championship of Online Poker, which wrapped up its 11-day, 50-event series tonight. The last day of action offered six tournaments, with the Main Event boasting of a $ 1.5 million guarantee and coming up with an actual prize pool of $ 2,438,555. The other finale events found similarly positive outcomes, making for a busy Sunday of poker action.

Players were pleased to find that the Sunday Million was also in the lineup, along with some of their other favorite Sunday tournaments, and they showed up in force. Here were tonight’s Sunday Million numbers:

Players: 7,302
Prize pool: $ 1,460,400.00
Paid players: 1,080

The first Team PokerStars Pro to cash in tonight’s tournament was Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic, finishing in 1030th place for $ 306.66 just after the money bubble burst. Fellow Team Pro Angel Guillen of Mexico exited in 550th place, followed a bit later by Nuno Coelho in 126th and Jose “nachobarbero” Barbero in 104th. That left Andre “aakkari” Akkari of Brazil waving the PokerStars flag well into the deeper levels of the event.

Akkari made a run at the final table but unfortunately exited in 25th place with $ 3,402.73.

As the 10-hour mark passed, only two tables remained, and 20 minutes later, hand-for-hand play ensued after the 11th place finish of gforrai83. That led to the all-in move by yoohoo79 with [Qd][Qc] against the [Ac][Jc] of hownorez, and the board of [8c][Ad][5d][8h][2d] gave hownorez the best two pair. Yoohoo79 exited in tenth place with $ 8,032.20.

Curiplop leads final table action

The final table was set in Level 37, with blinds of 125,000/250,000 and a 25,000 ante. Players’ starting stacks were listed as follows:

Seat 1: CharlesTY. (12,454,649 in chips)
Seat 2: Meewams (1,968,672 in chips)
Seat 3: hownorez (14,354,996 in chips)
Seat 4: bas0r (7,129,652 in chips)
Seat 5: rasputoon (2,972,269 in chips)
Seat 6: curiplop (17,658,012 in chips)
Seat 7: Joroy70 (2,919,884 in chips)
Seat 8: Chikakaa (7,103,988 in chips)
Seat 9: K0VAK (6,457,878 in chips)

After the 10.5-hour break, Meewams made a move and doubled through curiplop to get things going.

Rasputoon then made a move, all-in from the button for little more than 2.1 million chips with [Th][Ts]. Original UTG raiser Chikakaa called with [9h][9d] and immediately hit the flop of [9c][2h][8c]. The [7s] on the turn and [7c] on the river then gave Chikakaa a full house and eliminated rasputoon in ninth place with $ 11,318.10.

Joroy70 was the next player to move. After a raise from curiplop, Joroy70 pushed all-in with [Ac][8s], and curiplop called with [Ks][Th]. The very first card on the flop was [Kc] to give curiplop the advantage, and the other cards that followed on the board were [7s][Qc][4d][2s]. Joroy70 did not improve and finished in eighth place with $ 17,524.80.

K0VAK doubled through curiplop, and Meewams scored another double through hownorez.

Meewams still had trouble, though, and moved yet another time. The hand started with an UTG raise from Chikakaa, and Meewams responded by moving all-in for nearly 3.5 million chips with [Ac][Kc]. It just so happened that Chikakaa was able to call with [Kh][Ks], and nothing could save Meewams on the [8s][2d][2c][7d][4h] board. Meewams finished in seventh place with $ 31,398.60.

Then it was Chikakaa’s turn. When curiplop made a preflop raise from the button, Chikakaa called all-in for just under 10 million chips with [Ac][As]. Curiplop showed [8d][3h] but flopped an amazing [Jh][8h][3d] two pair. The [5h] on the turn and [2c] on the river gave the pot to curiplop, and Chikakaa departed in sixth place with $ 45,272.40.

CharlesTY. doubled through bas0r in a huge pot shown here:

RSS readers click through to see replayK0VAK got involved in a raising war preflop with curiplop, and the two were dealt a [4s][6c][Kc] to start the board. K0VAK moved all-in for 1.8 million, and curiplop check-called with [Qs][9h]. K0VAK was ahead with [Ac][Kd] and top pair, but the [Td] turn and [Js] river gave curiplop the straight. K0VAK exited in fifth place with $ 59,876.40.

Bas0r doubled once through hownorez but had to move again soon and did it with [Ad][Ks]. Hownorez was in the hand holding [Kc][9c] and hit the nine on the [4d][8h][9d][5c][4s] board. Bas0r had to leave in fourth place with $ 77,401.20.

Three to a deal

The final three players paused the tournament in order to discuss a deal, and with a few adjustments to chip-chop numbers, they found harmony. With $ 20,000 set aside for the winner, these were the payouts agreed to by the players:

Seat 1: CharlesTY. (18,000,298 in chips) = $ 148,000.00
Seat 3: hownorez (16,106,977 in chips) = $ 148,000.00
Seat 6: curiplop (38,912,725 in chips) = $ 181,080.74

Big pots and action ensued, and hownorez finally moved all-in with [Ad][3c]. Curiplop reraised, which prompted original raiser CharlesTY. to fold. Curiplop showed a dominating [As][Ks], which only improved on the [2d][8h][Td][Qc][Js] board to a straight. Hownorez left in third place with $ 148,000.00.

South American heads-up battle

The final two players – CharlesTY. from Brazil and curiplop from Chile – started their match with these counts:

Seat 1: CharlesTY. (16,879,298 in chips)
Seat 6: curiplop (56,140,702 in chips)

On the second hand, CharlesTY. doubled through curiplop with pocket jacks over 3-2, and the former was able to keep the stacks close to even for more than a few rounds, even taking the lead toward the end.

The two then got involved in a raised and reraised pot to see a flop of [4c][Qh][Kh]. CharlesTY. bet, and curiplop raised to 12.8 million. CharlesTY. reraised all-in, and curiplop called all-in with [Qs][Js]. But CharlesTY. showed [Kc][Jh] for top pair, and those kings faded the [Ah] turn and [2d] river to eliminate curiplop in second place with $ 181,080.74.

CharlesTY. of Brazil won the Sunday Million and $ 168,000.00 to go with the title. Congrats!

Sunday Million Results for 01/29/12 (reflects deal):

1st place: CharlesTY. ($ 168,000.00)*
2nd place: curiplop ($ 181,080.74)*
3rd place: hownorez ($ 148,000.00)*
4th place: bas0r ($ 77,401.20)
5th place: K0VAK ($ 59,876.40)
6th place: Chikakaa ($ 45,272.40)
7th place: Meewams ($ 31,398.60)
8th place: Joroy70 ($ 17,524.80)
9th place: rasputoon ($ 11,318.10)

7.20pm: Richard Sinclair is the UKIPT Champion of Champions

Richard Sinclair today won the UKIPT Champion of Champions event at Dusk Till Dawn and the prize of buy-ins and hotel to all regular UKIPT Season 3 stops.

The Scotsman had won his seat to this star-studded sit-and-go by winning UKIPT Newcastle back in June. The online tournament specialist told PokerStars blog back then that he didn’t travel to that many events because of the overheads involved. That’s something he won’t have to worry about now.

Richard Sinclair with his spoils
“This means I’m freerolling Season 3 of the UKIPT which is great,” he said. “Cutting down on expenses and hotel costs is huge, I’m really looking forward to defending my title in Newcastle and coming back to Dusk Till Dawn.”

Two time UKIPT Champion Nick Abou Risk
With just two players remaining it looked as if Season 2 was going to end as it started – with a Nick Abou Risk victory. After winning a huge three-way all-in with just three players left he took a 100,000 to 20,000 chip advantage into heads-up play but couldn’t claim another title. “Richard played really well heads-up,” he graciously conceded.

McDerra dominated the first half of the final table
It was very much a final table of two halves, for the first half it was Matthew McDerra who dominated. With six players left he was well in command and eliminating Chris O’Donnell (6th) and Joeri Zandvliet (5th) only strengthened his position. But then his and Sinclair’s fortunes intertwined as he doubled up the Scotsman twice in quick succession. Despite re-claiming the chip lead after eliminating Sam Razavi in fourth, he then lost another big pot to Sinclair as the Scotsman took control. He exited in third soon after.

The eight finalists
In a quick fire final table that lasted a little over four hours players were always going to need a combination of cards and luck, something which deserted Fintan Gavin (8th) and Gareth Walker (7th).

With Season 2 now in the books, attention turns to Season 3 of the UKIPT and the first stop in Galway between Feb 16th-20th. Qualifiers are running now on PokerStars. Richard Sinclair will be there, will you?

Richard Sinclair – UKIPT Champion of Champions Season 2
6.10pm: Richard Sinclair wins UKIPT Champion of Champions

And it’s all over.

Richard Sinclair raised to 5,100 from the button with [As][9s], Nick Abou Risk moved all-in for around 40,000 holding [Kc][6d] and Sinclair made the call.

The flop was [4c][Jh][Jc] and when the [Ad] hit the turn Abou Risk was drawing dead, meaning a meaningless [6d] completed the board.

A full wrap of today’s Champion of Champions will follow shortly.

Abou Risk couldn’t quite get over the line
6.10pm: Richard Sinclair doubles through Nick Abou Risk

With a second double through, the chip counts have now flip-flopped and Sinclair holds the lead.

He raised to 5,100 from the button, Risk set him in for 38,300 total and Sinclair called. On their backs:

Abou Risk: [Qh][8s]

Sinclair: [Ks][Qs]

The board of [6s][Kh][Jd][2s][3h] ensured Sinclair’s hand held and he now has 76,600 to Abou Risk’s 43,400.

6.05pm: Back from the break

Cards are back in the air and with just 50 big blinds in play now, I’d expect the winner to be determined in the next level or the one after.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,200-2,400

 

5.55pm: Break

That’s the end of level 12 and Richard Sinclair and Nick Abou Risk are on a 10 minute break. Stacks are 75,000 for Abou Risk and 55,000 for Sinclair.

5.50pm: Richard Sinclair doubles through Nick Abou Risk

And the comeback is on!

About seven hands into heads-up play Richard Sinclair found pocket queens and moved in for his last 19,800 after eyeing up Sinclair’s stack Abou Risk made the call with [Qd][7s].

“Surely not even you can get there this time,” said Sinclair.

The board ran [4s][2h][2d][6s][2c] stacks now around 80,000 – 40,000 in Abou Risk’s favour.

5.40pm: Three-way cooler leaves us heads-up

Nick Abou Risk had continued to move in frequently pre-flop and got up to second in chips when the following happened.

From the button Matthew McDerra moved all-in for around 30,000 with [Qd][10d], next to act Richard Sinclair moved all-in over the top with pocket sixes and then Abou Risk overcalled with pocket kings! If Sinclair could catch a six or make a straight he would win it right here.

Flop: [Qc][Jh][10d]

Turn: [4h]

River: [4d]

So McDerra exited in third, and Abou Risk now has a 100,000 to 20,000 advantage going into heads-up play.

McDerra out in third 

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 1,000-2,000 ante 200

 

5.30pm: Sinclair wins big pot, takes chip lead

From the button Richard Sinclair opened to 3,400, Matthew McDerra three-bet to 9,600 from the big blind and Sinclair called.

It was the first flop for a while and McDerra led for 9,000 on a board of [10h[Kc][7s], call from Sinclair.The turn was the [8d] and McDerra checked to Sinclair who bet 9,800 (about half his stack), with a shake of the head McDerra near insta-mucked. After that hand Sinclair climbs to around 60,000, whilst McDerra drops to 40,000.

5.25pm: Risky business

Nick Abou Risk certainly isn’t going to get blinded away here in Nottingham. In the last five hands he’s shoved all-in three times and moved all-in over the top of an opening raise once.

As it stands chip counts are roughly: Abou Risk (25,000), Richard Sinclair (40,000) and Matthew McDerra (55,000).
5.20pm: Short handed, plus winner takes all, equals aggressive play

The ratio of three-bets is soaring right now. First Matthew McDerra three-bet to 8,000 over a 3,200 open from Richard Sinclair, the latter folded and McDerra showed [Ad][Kh].

The very next hand roles were reversed, the outcome the same with the three-bettor winning, Sinclair showing pocket threes as he took the pot.

5.15pm: Sam Razavi eliminated in fourth place

First to act, Matthew McDerra opened to 3,400, Sam Razavi then moved in for 18,100 and after getting a count McDerra made the call. On their backs:

McDerra: [Ks][Qs]

Razavi: [As][Js]

The board ran [5h][4s][9d][3c][Kh] and McDerra spiked the river to eliminate yet another player.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 800-1,600 ante 200

 

5.05pm: Chip counts

After that flurry of action here are the approximate chip counts:

Seat One: Richard Sinclair, 39,500

Seat Three: Nick Abou Risk, 20,300

Seat Five: Matthew McDerra, 40,100

Seat Seven: Sam Razavi, 18,500

Sinclair is second in chips
5pm: Three double ups and a exit

And it’s yet again Matthew McDerra who’s at the centre of all the action. First he doubled up Richard Sinclair, with pocket sixes against pocket tens. Then shortly afterward he eliminated Joeri Zandvliet. The Dutchaman shoved [Q][4] but ran into McDerra’s [A][K] blind on blind.

And he has just now doubled up Richard SInclair again the latter holding [Qd][8h] and all the money going in by the river of a [3h][Qs][Qc][3s][9d] board.

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 600-1,200 ante 100

 

4.50pm: Nick Abou Risk doubles through Joeri Zandvliet

Perhaps taking part in James Bond style skits for the UKIPT show helps you win flips, either way Nick Abou Risk just escaped from a sticky situation in a manner befitting of 007.

Joeri Zandvliet had opened to 1,600 from under-the-gun, it folded to Abou Risk in the big blind who moved all-in for 9,700, swift call from Zandvliet.

Abou Risk: [Ah][Jh]

Zandvliet: [9d][9s]

The flop was [10h][Qs][4c], giving Abou Risk more outs, the [2c] missed him, but the [Ad] didn’t after that hand Zandvliet is down to about 11,000.

4.40pm: Chris O’Donnell eliminated in sixth place

We’re down to five here in Nottigham, Chris O’Donnell shoved with for 15 big blinds with [A][2] over the top of a Matthew McDerra raise, the latter called with [A][K]. Despite a paired flop bringing the possibility of a chop, McDerra held firm to extend his chip lead.

4.30pm: Back in their seats

The six remaining players are back in their seats, below are the chip counts of the half dozen who are still in a chance with winning entry and hotel to all Season 3 stops of the UKIPT (except EPT London)

Seat One: Richard Sinclair, 7,400

Seat Two: Chris O’Donnell, 12,200

Seat Three: Nick Abou Risk, 11,600

Seat Four: Joeri Zandvliet, 23,800

Seat Five: Matthew McDerra, 39,100

Seat Seven: Sam Razavi, 25,900

McDerra holds the chip lead

We started the day with eight hopeful souls all hoping to become the World Poker Tour (WPT) Malta Season X Champion. The Portomaso casino has been an amazing venue and one that players will continue flocking to in the future and the final table set looked stunning. Unfortunately, only six players would be gracing it meaning that our first task of the day was to eliminate two players. The first to be eliminated was Mats Karlson who fell victim to the pocket nines of Tristan Clemencon. Then the final table bubble boy was WPT Bratislava Season IX final tablist Christofer Williamson, Williamson becoming another one of Cecilia Pescaglini’s many casualties of this tournament.

So we had our final six players and leading them was our Golden girl Cecilia Pescaglini with 2,245,000 chips. Pescaglini had been giving Fabien Sartoris a torrid time all day and eventually it was Sartoris who was eliminated in 6th place after Simon Trumper called his short stack shove with pocket fives. Next to be eliminated was the man who started the day as the chip leader. Tristan Clemencon must have thought his chances of holding aloft that trophy were good but they were dashed by the woman on the amazing run. Clemencon had set a perfect trap for Cecilia Pescaglini.

Cecilia Pescaglini was on course to be the first ever-female WPT Champion in its ten-year history. She seemed to have all of the momentum and so it was the case when she eliminated Simon Trumper in fourth place. Once again Pescaglini took a chance and once again she hit her cards to send the experienced UK pro back to England €53,430 the richer.

Then the competition hit a bit of a stale patch when it went three-handed. The pace was almost pedestrian at times with only Pescaglini trying to push the pace. Then it looked like Matt Giannetti would be the finishing third when he found himself short stacked and all-in with pocket sevens against the pocket kings of Pescaglini. But just when it seemed as though he was a goner he spiked a full house on the turn and he was back in the game. Then after five hours of play Filippo Bianchini was eliminated by Matt Giannetti, but not after having most of his chips stolen away from him by the young Italian woman.

Going into the heads-up confrontation and Pescaglini had a slight chip advantage and in fact won the first five hands.

Congratulations to Matt Giannetti who wins a €200,000 first prize and consolation to Cecilia Pescaglini who won €116,700.

The poker world crowned a new world champion last night as the heads-up battle for the WSOP Main Event title played out. So, who is the newest, brightest star in the poker firmament, which name is now inscribed alongside the greatest legends of the game?

Well, I’m not going to tell you. Because there are lots and lots of people out there who deliberately wall themselves off from news and information so they can enjoy the final table coverage in blissful ignorance. One day, some day, the final table will be broadcast from start to finish for everyone to watch in real time. Actually that did happen this year (and last year as well) as ESPN streamed the final table online, but there are still folks who want to watch the final production with the hole cards and Lon and Norm without knowing what’s about to happen.

I can respect that, and so will respect their wishes. ESPN will be televising the final table tonight starting at 10pm ET. I’ll be posting a review of the final table and, having followed along during the live-streaming coverage, there will be a whole lotta interesting hands to talk about.

For those of you who WOULD like to know who won but for some reason don’t have access to the Google, check out our Twitter feed (we’ll probably be tweeting about tonight’s broadcast as well) to find out who won the bracelet and the $ 8.9 million first prize. For the rest of you, stay in your bunker and we’ll see you at 10pm ET.

UPDATE: ESPN just tweeted that the final table broadcast will end at 12:05AM ET, not at midnight sharp, so if you’re recording the final table you’ll want to set your DVR’s accordingly.

After 11 hours of play, the field of 157 who started Day 2 is now down to 27 players who move forward to Day 3 and a have shot at cashing here at IPT Nova Gorica.
Ciro Calabrese, from Italy, is the chip leader with 1,019,000 chips, followed by Mustapha Kanit with 978,500 chips.

Sadly, the day’s play had its share of causalities with 130 hitting the rail along with PokerStars Team Online Luca Moschitta, while PokerStars Team Pro Salvatore Bonavena survived the day and he will start day 3 with more than 200,000 chips.

Today our 27 remaining players will play into the money (56 places are paid) and excellent action is assured given the quality of the field here in stunning Perla Casino in Nova Gorica.
With a massive €768,240 prize pool and a €200,000 first prize, the show must go on.

Ciro Calabrese