By Lisa Yiasemides
WPT and partypoker’s Online Series continues to wow players, with another day of meticulously planned tournaments offering deep structures and huge guarantees.
Last night saw the culmination of the $10,300 High Roller, as well as the 6-Max and Mini 6-Max events… and one of them gave us our first WPT Online Series two-time winner!
There were also three tournaments that got out of the starting blocks last night, a $25,500 Super High Roller, $1,575 8-Max and $162 Mini 8-Max, and there’s lots more to look forward to, with some fantastic tournaments getting underway this evening and throughout the weekend.
High Roller – $10,300
The High Roller was always going to be a highly anticipated event and with just 11 left when the clock resumed for Day 2 at 7 pm* yesterday, there were some big names still in with a shot of the $281,750 prize for first place.
Three players needed to bust before the final table was set and Umut Kara, Mark Radoja and Juan Pardo Dominguez were those three, bagging $28,750 each for the result. Benjamin Rolle ($37,375), Artur Martirosian ($46,000) and Giuseppe Iadisernia ($57,500) – who won the $2,650 Bounty event the day before – were next to fall.
Nick Petrangelo
With five left, the two Finns hit the rail next as Elias Talvitie took 5th place and Day 1 chip leader Samuel Vousden was unable to progress past 4th place. Pascal Lefrancois’s deep run came to an end in 3rd, which paved the way for Nick Petrangelo and Wiktor Malinowski to battle it out for the title, trophy, and the $80,500 difference in prize money. The online high stakes specialist sealed the deal, leaving Petrangelo to take the runner up spot.
6-Max – $1,050
As reported yesterday, the 6-Max event smashed it’s guarantee when it kicked off on Wednesday. A total of 401 entries had been whittled down to 23 and the battle was a hard-fought one, taking Gustavo Mastelotto six-and-a-half-hours to make it all the way to the top, after he defeated Fausto Tantillo heads up.
Gustavo Mastelotto
Steven Van Zadelhoff, Day 1 chip leader Alexandru Papazian, László Molnár and Ivan Deyra all made it as far as the final table, while Sylvia Hewitt Mockler bubbled a seat, after she finished in 7th place for $9,825.
Gianluca Speranza (9th), Mini Opener winner Evgeny Galakhov (13th), Thomas Muehloecker (15th) and Romain Lewis (20th) were some of the other notables who couldn’t convert their deep runs in to a final table result.
Mini 6-Max – $109
The conclusion of the Mini 6-Max event was a historical moment for this series so far, banking the first two-time win for any player yet. Vitor Dzivielevski did the double after reigning supreme, the last player standing of a 1,532-strong field. Very impressive considering the huge 2,548 field size the Brazilian triumphed over in the $215 Mini Knockout at the beginning of the festival! Those two results alone have secured Dzivielevski just shy of $80,000 in winnings!
History was made after Dzivielevski saw off the last of his opposition, with Tristan Taylor taking the runner up spot. David Ivers, Tautvydas Tukaciauskas, Arran Fletcher and Belgian pro Thomas Boivin’s fantastic runs also landed themselves a seat at the final table.
Concludes tonight
Super High Roller – $25,500
The second SHR event in the festival calendar got underway yesterday and, as with the first, the player list was packed with some of poker’s most recognisable names. At the end of Level 20, the 87 runners had been reduced to eight and they will all return at 7 pm to continue their campaign. Each survivor has already locked up a return worth at least three-times the value of their investment, with $76,125 paid to 8th place. They will not want to stop there though, with a huge $565,000 up top for the winner!
The end of day chip counts saw Juan Pardo Dominguez (799,968) take the top spot, with Elio Fox (669,530) and Pauli Äyräs (427,724), bagging the second and third biggest stacks and Christopher Hunichen (224,728) and Mark Davies (178,680) rounding out the top five. Samuel Vousden (169,968) made his second final table appearance of the night (after taking 4th in the HR), and Timothy Adams (80,723) and Andrii Novak (58,751) return extremely short-stacked, with less than ten big blinds apiece.
Elio Fox
Sam Greenwood, Linus Alarik Loeliger, Dario Sammartino, Daniil Kiselev and Elias Talvitie all made it to the money with 13 places paid. Meanwhile, Ilya Anatski bubbled and Andras Nemeth, Viktor Blom, Fedor Holz, Leo Fernandez, Team partypoker representatives Nikita Bodyakovskiy and Ludovic Geilich, Kahle Burns and David Peters were just a few of the huge names who took a stab but failed to progress.
8-Max – $1,575
The last two tournaments of the night also far exceeded their guarantees, with the 8-Max drawing a field of 451 to create a $676,500 prizepool. By the time the clock was paused at the end of Level 22, just 22 were left and Phillip Mighall starts in front after accumulating 1,377,145 chips.
István Birizdó (1,223,201), Stefan Schillhabel (1,163,383), Teun Mulder (958,013) and Viktor Ustimov (895,655) are best placed to challenge, taking the rest of the top five spots in the chip counts. Samuel Vousden’s night concluded with his third deep run, as fellow notables Jerry Ödeen, Ivan Deyra and Niklas Åstedt are also among the remaining hopefuls.
The well-known entries didn’t stop there with Martin Jacobson, Sergi Reixach, Mohsin Charania and WPT500 Champion Fabio Sperling among those who reached the money.
Mini 8-Max – $162
Ευαγγελος Αργυρης topped the 71 survivors of the 1,627 entries in the Mini Event. He takes through 2,434,675 and is best placed to challenge for the $41,172 top prize. The closest rivals are Peter Rees (1,786,921) and Leon Sturm (1,530,591), with Simon Deadman (1,086,338) and Dorian Rios (980,236) also featuring in the top ten.
WPT Super 50 continues
Another $51,800 was collected towards the $1,000,000 guaranteed prizepool in the WPT Super 50, as 1,086 players tried their best to make Day 2, which commences in four days’ time, on Tuesday May 19. Pawel Czyrnek (763,803) bagged biggest and Denison Barreiros Da Silva (498,736) and Kerry Anne Heapy (389,617) also had a fruitful night.
As if there weren’t already enough reasons to take part in this incredible value tournament, tonight WPT’s very own Alex Gray will be jumping in to play and you can join her when it kicks off at 8 pm this evening!
Coming up tonight
With another weekend upon us, it is time for the second series of Weekender tournaments to begin! The format and buy-ins are different to last week, with a $2,100 6-Max and $215 Mini 6-Max on the menu. Day 1a in each play tonight, with Day 1b tomorrow and a Turbo Day 1c flight taking place ahead of the Day 2 final on Sunday.
For those of you who like a tournaments with a faster pace, the $530 6-Max Hyper and $55 Mini 6-Max Hyper also get underway at 9 pm.
Leaderboard
Please note this takes into account results up to and including May 13
As predicted yesterday, Norbert Szecsi features in the top ten places on the Leaderboard, flying straight into 1st place. That pushes Rui Ferreira, Fabio Sperling and Leo Fernandez down a place each, with Artur Martirosian climbing into the top five for the first time.
*All times stated are BST