Marc Wright Leads Final 24 at EPT Berlin
The remaining 24 will play down to an eight-handed final table on Friday, then on Saturday will play down to a winner to determine who gets the €825,000 and winner's bracelet made by Shamballa Jewels, estimated to be worth yet another €10,000.
They've made it through three days' worth of action at the European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event, with Marc Wright (pictured) the current leader with 2.4 million chips. Just 24 players remain, with Andrew Chen, Anton Wigg, Davidi Katai, Kevin MacPhee, and Andrey Zaichenko among those who will be returning for Friday's Day 4.
A total of 745 players entered the €5,000+€300 no-limit hold'em tournament, just a bit down from the 773 who played in last year's event won by Ben Wilinofsky of Canada. The cash bubble burst just before the end of Day 2 on Wednesday, with Bill Chen the first player to go out once the money had been reached.
"I anti-bubbled," tweeted Chen afterwards, who earned €7,500 for his 112th-place finish. Others also anti-bubbling to earn min-cashes late Wednesday included Jeff Sarwer (107th) and Stefan Modde (103rd).
The remaining 102 then returned for Thursday's Day 3 with Anton Wigg the leader with nearly 700,000 chips followed closely by Vladimir Geshkenbein. Also just outside the top 10 to start the day were Kevin MacPhee and Vanessa Selbst.
Among those hitting the rail early on Thursday included Ana Marquez (97th) and Dan Smith (90th), both also earning min-cashes of €7,500. A little later it was J.P. Kelly going out in 70th, Scott Baumstein in 64th, Martin Jacobson in 60th, and Kevin Iacofano in 58th, all of whom took away €11,000.
Not long after it was Selbst going out in 48th place (€13,000) after losing the last of her stack to Andrew Chen.
In her last hand, Selbst pushed all in on the river with the board showing Qc-Jh-2d-8d-7d and Chen called to show he'd made a runner-runner flush. Afterwards, Selbst tweeted that she'd had a set. Philip Gruissem soon followed her in 45th and Will Molson in 42nd, both like Selbst claiming €13,000 for their efforts.
Meanwhile, Marc Wright had already begun his climb up the counts, knocking out Jan Bendik (50th, €13,000), Gereon Sowa (44th, €13,000), and Kenny Hicks (30th, €17,500) along the way.
William Thorson was among the last eliminations on Thursday, getting knocked out in 28th (€17,500), and when Simon Persson got felted in 25th (€17,500) play was done for the night.
Here's how the top 10 shape up to begin play on Friday:
1. Marc Wright -- 2,400,000
2. Thomas Cibak -- 2,311,000
3. Andrew Chen -- 1,827,000
4. Florian Dohnert -- 1,270,000
5. Jordi Riba Corrons -- 1,265,000
6. Andreas Vlachos -- 1,140,000
7. Bahadir Kilickeser -- 1,114,000
8. Pratyush Buddiga -- 1,110,000
9. Cesar Garcia Dominguez -- 1,099,000
10. Vladimir Geshkenbein -- 1,053,000
Also returning for Day 4 are Anton Wigg (11th, 973,000), Davidi Kitai (13th, 946,000), Kevin MacPhee (17th, 430,000), and Andrey Zaichenko (22nd, 278,000).
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
