Steicke, Seidel Lead for Epic Poker Main Event #2 Final Table

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 09 September 2011 / Leave a Comment

(Photo credit: EpicPoker.com)

The starting field of 97 for the Epic Poker League's second $20,000 buy-in Main Event has been whittled down to a final table of eight. David Steicke and Erik Seidel both lead the way with just over 1 million chips apiece, with Isaac Baron not too far behind in third with 876,000.

Early eliminations on Thursday's Day 3 included David "Bakes" Baker in 23rd and end-of-Day-1 chip leader Jaime Kaplan in 22nd, the latter being ousted in a brutal hand versus Erik Seidel.

After betting and raising preflop, both Kaplan and Seidel contributed more chips on the flop, turn, and river, with Kaplan ultimately all in and the board showing Kc-9h-9s-8h-8s. Kaplan showed 10c-9c for nines full, but Seidel held Kd-Kh for the better full house.

That hand pushed Seidel into the chip lead where he'd remain for much of the first half of Day 3. Meanwhile others hit the rail shy of the cash, including Dan O'Brien in 21st, EPL Main Event #1 champion David "Chino" Rheem in 20th, Marco Johnson in 19th, and Matt Marafioti in 18th.

Then came a double knock-out -- a three-way all-in involving Chris Moore who held Ah-Ks, Christian Harder with 3h-3d, and Steicke with Qd-Qc.

The flop came a dazzling Kd-Qs-3s, hitting all three players, with Steicke's set of queens the best of the bunch. The turn was the Kh, improving both Steicke and Harder to full houses and Moore to trips, but Steicke still led. The river was the 9s, and Harder and Moore were both eliminated in 17th and 16th, respectively.

Helped by that big hand, Steicke had pushed ahead of Seidel with 15 left, and he'd continue to gather chips as Jonathan Little went out in 15th, Mike Watson was eliminated in 14th, and Allen Bari became the tourney's bubble boy by going out in 13th.

The next four to be eliminated all stood to earn $46,020 for their three days' worth of work.

Matt Glantz went out in 12th in a hand versus Seidel in which the pair got all of Glantz' chips in the middle on a 9h-7c-6c flop with Glantz holding As-10h and Seidel Qc-Jc. The turn was the 9d and Glantz was still best, but the river 8c gave Seidel a flush and sent Glantz to the rail.

Tim West went out shortly thereafter in 11th when his As-Jd failed to hold against Baron's Ks-Qs, a river king sealing West's fate. Amit Makhija was then eliminated in 10th after putting his last chips in on a Jc-5h-5d flop versus Steicke only to see his Ac-9d well behind Steicke's Jh-9s. Steicke's hand held, and they were down to nine.

Near the end of play, Seidel scored a big double-up through Mike McDonald in another hand in which the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner managed to have the better of two full houses. Meanwhile, start-of-day-3 leader Fabrice Soulier continued to hold steady in the middle of the pack, with Dutch Boyd, Sean Getzwiller, and McDonald hanging on as well.

Nam Le continued to survive with chips, too, and he'd be the one to score the night's final elimination when he took pocket eights up against Adam Levy's Ks-Jd, then flopped a set, soon after sending Levy out in ninth.

Here's how the final eight look, chip-wise, heading into tomorrow's final day of play:

1. David Steicke -- 1,059,000
2. Erik Seidel -- 1,031,000
3. Isaac Baron -- 876,000
4. Fabrice Soulier -- 537,000
5. Dutch Boyd -- 393,000
6. Nam Le -- 362,000
7. Mike McDonald -- 357,000
8. Sean Getzwiller -- 235,000

Play resumes at 3 p.m. Vegas time at the Palms Casino Resort. With that $400,000 added to the prize pool, that means a lot of money is yet to be awarded, including a cool $782,410 for the winner.

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