Lang Leads in Prague

(Photo: Marco Lang)

Day Two of the PartyPoker World Poker Tour (WPT) has come to a close with just 78-players remaining from a starting field of 287; just six places shy of the money. Leading the way is the Canadian, Marco Lang, with 694,000 chips, but there a host of big stacks nestled in behind him led by the former WSOPE Main Event champion Elio Fox.

Here is the Day Two recap

The first level on Day Two always starts with a small bang, as the short stack stragglers get it in. Gaelle Baumann and WPT Champions Club member Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier fell into that category. They both bought a ticket, but neither of them won their respective lotteries. Baumann running [Qx] [Jx] into the [Ax] [9x] of Todd Terry to become one of the earliest eliminations.

When it comes to ElkY you can’t help but feel he only has himself to blame. I mean who are we to knock the man who has won everything this game can provide. But does a Level Six arrival really give you time to get into the groove? It took the mighty Madonna at least three-minutes. ElkY running [Kx] [2x] into the [Ax] [Qx] of the chip leader, Mikhail Mazunin, and he was out. Later on we spoke to ElkY’s best buddy – and fellow WPT Champions Club member – Eugene Katchalov, to ask him what he thought about the late registrations. Have a listen to his thoughts on the matter.

(Photo: ElkY Back on Day 1C)

The chip lead changed hands fairly quickly and was handled like a leper until we reached Level 12. The first person to grab it did so in the first 90-minutes of play. WSOP bracelet holder Brian Lemke taking down the young Spaniard, Ana Marquez, in a five bet pot AK v JJ after Lemke rivered the king. Unfortunately, Lemke would not grow from that point and didn’t end the day with chips in a bag.

So two of the more regularly photographed faces on the circuit had left the cameraman focusing their lenses on vases of flowers, and then there was a third. PartyPoker Ambassador Kara Scott playing a three-bet pot with ace-king, and then flopping the king only to lose to the flush draw.

We finished the level with two of our WPT Champions Club members looking for a sled to play in the snow that was falling outside. Rinat Bogdanov showed the world why it isn’t always a good play to be sneaky with the best pre flop starting hand in No-Limit Hold’em. Bogdanov just flatting, in the small blind, with pocket aces and allowing Stanislav Barshak to sneak in the back door, from the big blind, and crush him with the mighty [6x] [5x] – a [6x] [6x] [2x] flop doing the damage and Bogdanov just barreled his life away on all three streets.

Sean Jazayeri was the next WPT Champion to leave. [Ah] [8h] was Jazayeri’s line in the sand, only to find Sean Barbarez kick that sand in his face with pocket eights. The snowmen sending Jazayeri outside to play with their friends.

The first level of the day ended with Brian Lemke as the chip leader with 270,000 chips.

The 11th level of the day exploded to life with the exit of Paul Volpe. We are not sure how the action fluctuated but we know that Volpe was holding pocket queens and his opponent, Konstantin Danilov, was holding pocket aces. The ladies were subservient and Danilov was the new king with 290,000 chips.

(Photo: Konstantin Danilov)

If you are going to place a bet on a player you feel would make a deep run, then the smart money would be on Steve O’Dwyer. The American has three final tables and a WPT National Series victory on his resume. But PartyPoker Team Pro, Bodo Sbrzesny, didn’t care about that one iota when he was turning the tables to cooler the man. It was O’Dwyer in the lead with pocket kings, Sbrzesny heading out of the door with pocket jacks, until a third jack appeared on the river to double him up. O’Dwyer was down to 20,000 but then immediately doubled to 40,000 and it is where we left him during that level.

The level ended with 189-players in the field and our new chip leader was the British born pro Daniel Rudd sitting on 330,000 chips. Mikhail Mazunin was holding 320,000 and Konstantin Danilov 300,000.

We rejoined Steve O’Dwyer in the 12th level and it would be the last we saw of him. O’Dwyer opening his short stack with ace-jack before calling off a jam from Tibor Nagygyorgy and pocket kings. There is a pun in there somewhere, but we are far too tired to try and extract it.

(Photo: Steve O’Dwyer)

Then one of the more melancholy moments of the level; we lost Thor Hansen. He had played like a trooper for two days, never really getting any chips to play with. Eventually Shannon Shorr had the unfortunate task of eliminating him. It was bittersweet for Shorr, who picked apart Hansen’s [Ad] [7d] with his pocket fives. The world of poker applauds Hansen for even sitting down to play. We wish him and his family all the very best.

(Photo: Thor Hansen)

Joining Hansen on the wrong side of the tournament entry list were Mohsin Charania, Stanislav Barshak and the roommates Mathew Frankland and John Eames. But the biggest talking point of the level concerned the play of Daniel Ospina who handed the chip lead to Marco Lang on a silver plated platter. We joined the action on a flop of [Jc] [7d] [3s] and Lang had called a 25,000 pot-sized bet, the turn was the [9d] and this time Ospina check-raised jammed and it would cost him dearly. Lang called with bottom set and Ospina turned over [Ac] [8c] for the gutter. The gutter never came and Lang moved up to 400,000 chips and became our new chip leader.

The level ended with 142-players in the field.

WPT Champions Club member Eugene Katchalov was the main attraction to be closed down in the fairground of fun that was Level 13. Katchalov getting the short stack in with pocket jacks only to lose out to Mikhail Mazunin and ace-king. The king on the turn doing the damage whilst simultaneously keeping Mazunin in second spot.

(Photo: Eugene Katchalov)

We said it was a fairground of fun, and Lucille Cailly decided to have a go on the roller coaster. Her only problem? She never got off. Lars Bonding reducing her to just 6,000 chips after hitting a backdoor straight. Then Cailly doubled and doubled and doubled until she reached 100,000. But just before anybody could congratulate her along came that party pooper, Shannon Shorr, to knock her back down to 40,000.

(Photo: Lucille Cailly)

The level ended with 107-players and Lang still had over 100k chips on Mazunin.

After a well-deserved meal break, play resumed in the 14th level. One player who was able to go back for desert was Leo Margets. The Spaniard flopped middle set, in a four-bet pot against Matej Kokalj. Not bad you may think? Well not when the flop is [Jx] [9x] [8x] and your opponent is holding [Qx] [Tx].

One lady took her things and left, but another one refused to move. Elisabeth Hille also finding a set in a hand against Jonathan Duhamel. The board was showing [Ad] [6s] [2h] [Jh] [Kd] and Hille had raised the turn and jammed the river. Duhamel called both times and mucked when he saw the pocket jacks pop out from under the hand of Hille.

(Photo: Elisabeth Hille)

Then it became the Dermot Blain Pocket Jacks show. The young Irishman cracked pocket kings – holding pocket jacks – not once, but twice in short succession. In the first hand he called a three-bet in position against Zolton Szabo and flopped [Jd] [5s] [4d] to stack him. Then he picked them up against, this time all-in against Julian Herold (KK) and once again Zsabo (33). The jack on the turn turning Herold as green as the country that Blain calls home. Blain had close to 500,000 chips.

(Photo: Dermot Blain)

Running Dermot Blain a close second for the man of the level was Toby Lewis. Lewis had grown his stack by nearly 300,000 chips and had this to say when we asked talked to him at the last level of the break.

The level ended with 90-players on the clock and Manuel Bevand had replaced Lang at the top of the counts with 610,000 chips.

If you are going to win a WPT event, then you are going to have to get through players of the caliber of Jonathan Duhamel or Mike "Timex" McDonald. Or maybe not? Instead, why not let someone else bust them for you instead? Two of our biggest guns eliminated in the last level of the day.

The former WSOP Main Event champion, Duhamel, was eliminated by Alexander Lakhov. Duhamel called a three bet, in position, before getting it in on a [Qx] [Jx] [2x] (two spade board) holding [Kx] [Qx], but Lakhov was holding [Qx] [Jx] for two-pair. Neither the turn nor the river helped Duhamel and he was out just shy of the money.

Then Timex and Elio Fox had a disagreement that ended the tournament hopes of the Canadian, and pushed Fox into second place in he chip counts. You read all about it right here.

That’s a wrap. We will be back tomorrow at 13:00 (CET) for Day Three, so make sure you join us at WPT.com.

Check out the day in full colour, courtesy of the talented Alin Ivanov