After just 104 players hit the Spielbank Berlin for Day 1A yesterday Day 2 at the WSOPE Main Event today brought significantly more players to the tables.
With 209 entries this time around the overall tally hit 313 players - better, but still slightly disappointing as it's the lowest total for any WSOPE Main Event ever.
Like yesterday, though, plenty of big names made appearances with the biggest name certainly Phil Hellmuth, who won this event in 2012 in Cannes.
This time around he could only muster a rather short visit.
WSOPE Berlin Main Event Quick Stats
- Players: 186 / 313 (after Day 1A and 1B)
- Buy-In: €9,800 + €650
- Prize Pool: €3,067,400
- Chipleader: Niall Farrell
Romanello, Aido, MacPhee Among Day 1B Leaders
One-hundred and twenty-nine players bagged chips after 6 levels of play were over.
Notable big stacks are Roberto Romanello (91,900), who’s trying to finish the 3rd leg of his triple crown (after winning an EPT in 2010 and a WPT in 2011), Mark Teltscher (80,000), Spanish pro Sergio Aido (74,000) and EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee (73,600).
Others that made it through the day were Brian Rast (67,400), Shannon Shorr (59,850), Faraz Jaka (58,000), 888 Pro Dominik Nitsche, Ismael Bojang, Brian Hastings and Dominik Panka.
American player Peter Norman bagged the most chips today – 129,000. But Day 1A chipleader Niall Farell is still in the lead with more than 157,000 chips.
Hellmuth Enters Late, Leaves Early
One of the last players to sign up for this Main Event was Phil Hellmuth. It’s one of his habits to enter tourneys very late and in Berlin he didn’t come until the fourth level of Day 1B and the dinner break was over.
Yesterday he expressed his determination to win this tournament; today he promised to simply play his best poker and see where it took him:
I'm in #WSOPE Main Event in Berlin. All I want to do is play my best possible poker and see where it leads. Could it be #WSOPBracelet15?— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) Oct 19th 2015
His best possible poker didn’t lead him very far. After less than two hours he was already short stacked and wound up all-in with pocket queens.
Two opponents, Akin Tuna and Keven Stammen, came along for the ride and on an
Hellmuth looked a bit sad but kept his cool and jokingly remarked “now I don’t like Germany anymore” while leaving the table.
At least there’s a high roller coming up tomorrow that he might still play.
Only an Hour of Play for Zinno
Hellmuth wasn’t the first to fall today, however.
Many hours before it was triple WPT Champion and this year's WSOP PLO High Roller champ Anthony Zinno, who busted first.
He played only a bit more than an hour. Then he got all his chips in as a slight favorite on a
His Italian opponent, Andreas Goeller, held
He got there on the
Déjà Vu and Early Exit for Barny Boatman
Zinno wasn't the only player to fall quickly. He was joined by Barny Boatman who experienced a déjà vu at his table when the infamous Doug Lee was seated right next to him.
The two already battled a couple of days ago in the €550 PLO tourney, where both made the final table and Boatman eventually took it down.
This time around Boatman was less fortunate as they both got it all in on a
Both players had almost full stacks before this hand and it was still the first level, meaning this was a huge pot in terms of big blinds.
Boatman was in it with 3rd pair and only five outs. None of those outs materialized on the river and he was sent packing.
Triple Flush-Draw Sees Hastings Eliminate Two Players
One rather spectacular hand happened shortly before the dinner break. Brian Hastings, Bryn Kenney and a local player got it all-in on a
Bryn Kenney:
Local player:
Brian Hastings:
Three flush draws and a straight draw for Kenney. After the turn and river fell
More Famous Busts
German all-star Ole Schemion busted three hours into the day after losing a coin-flip with queens against ace-king.
He was accompanied by Swiss high stakes player Ronny Kaiser who got it all-in with ace-king against Christoph Vogelsang's kings with the kings holding up.
Another big name to fall early was Dan Smith who finished third in two WSOP championship events this year in Vegas ($10k PLO and $10k Lowball). Here in Berlin he lost his stack with tens against kings.
More players to leave day 1 without any chips: Dusk Till Dawn poker director Simon Trumper, November Niner Joshua Beckley, Canadian bracelet winner Timothy Adams and Main Event champion Greg Merson.
Day 2 and a €25k High Roller Tomorrow
Tomorrow at noon local time the remaining 186 players will return and play Day 2 of this Main Event.
Until this time players still may register (re-entries are not possible). At 4 pm the €25k High Roller starts which is scheduled to run for three days.
The main event will conclude on Saturday and starting tomorrow the feature table will be live streamed on twitch.
