EPT Grand Final Day 2 Completed; Max Martinez Leads
Martinez will start Day 3 with a massive stack containing 456,300 chips and that is bad news for those on his table because he certainly knows how to play this crazy game we all love
Day 2 of the European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event has been written into the history books after the 394 players who returned their seats yesterday lunchtime were whittled down to 130. The man whose name is displayed at the very top of the official chip counts is the Italian pro Max Martinez.
Martinez will start Day 3 with a massive stack containing 456,300 chips and that is bad news for those on his table because he certainly knows how to play this crazy game we all love. Martinez was recently awarded sponsorship after a superb showing on The Big Game where, as the so-called "Loose Cannon," he terrorised the much more seasoned pros and really made a name for himself.
The Italian plays predominately online but has started to test the waters in the live arena over the past 12 months and already has almost $350,000 in live tournament winnings. He is only 34 players away from yet another live cash but making it even to the end of Day 2 looked unlikely at one point yesterday. During the last level of play he got his chips In with pocket aces against the queens of Fabrice Soulier and he would have been helping himself to a 210,000 chip pot had a third queen not landed on the flop. That hand left him nursing just 65,000 chips but he went on an amazing tear in the last level to end the night with a tournament leading 456,300 chips.
As mentioned there are still 130 players left in this tournament with 96 of them making it into the money places. Another player who looks locked in to at least make it into the money is the seasoned American pro and the winningest live tournament player of all time, Erik Seidel. "The Seiborg" starts Day 3 with 362,200 chips, enough to place him in third place and now that he has an ample stack he is certainly one to keep an eye on because he rarely makes mistakes or gives away chips.
Also still in the running for some glory are the likes of EPT Deauville champion Vadzim Kursevich, David "Doc" Sands, Amit Makhija, UK pro Chris Brammer, the recent Super High Roller winner Justin Bonomo and a whole host of other big names and well-known faces.
Join us tomorrow to discover who made it to the money and who did not in the EPT Grand Final Main Event. Good luck to all those participating today.
EPT Grand Final Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts
1st: Max Martinez - 456,300
2nd: Mohsin Charania - 413,500
3rd: Erik Seidel - 362,200
4th: Anatoly Gurtovoy - 339,100
5th: Geert-Jan Potijk - 324,600
6th: Vadzim Kursevich - 317,800
7th: Lawrie Inman - 303,500
8th: John Andress - 301,200
9th: Giuseppe Pantaleo - 294,400
10th: Tudor Grangure - 293,900
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
