EPT COPENHAGEN DAY TWO

We are down to the final 8 players! The strong Mads Andersen had AK, and that was enough to bust out the unlucky Bubble Girl Xuyen Pham. She had been so strong all along, but just went it mattered most, things just couldn't go her way.

OK, so there we have it, the final 8 players for tomorrow and their respective seats:

1. Markus Gonsalves, US, 156,000
2. Edgar Skjervold, Norway, 186,000
3. Philip Hilm, Denmark, 600,500
4. Shek Chi Hung, Denmark, 307,000
5. Mads Andersen, Denmark, 1,023,000
6. Marc Naalden, Netherlands, 273,000
7. Johan Berqvist, Sweden, 47,500
8. Anina Gundesen, Denmark, 223,500

All in all, one could say that it's Danish Dynamite around here. Let's see if tomorrow the Danes will be able to clinch things. One would say that with the three biggest stacks in the event this should be possible. Tournament director Thomas Kremser has confirmed that almost certainly, the blinds will be reduced to 4K-8K / 800 ante, or else 5K-10K / 1K ante. Coverage starts at 5 p.m. local time.

Anyway, that's about it from me for today. Take care - and see you all tomorrow!

Markus has just knocked out Hans Eskilsson, meaning that we are down to nine now. These nine players are all on one table now, in this order:

1. Markus 157K
2. Edgar 187K
3. Philip 600K
4. Shek 308K
5. Mads 937K
6. Xuyen 67K (has lost almost all of her chips in the past hour)
7. Marc 274K
8. Johan 60K
9. Anina 221K

And indeed: Chister is out! After this last pot that he lost, he couldn't afford to wait for very long. He then found an AJ - a reasonable hand to commit fully. He did, but then ran into Anina's AQ. The final board 98769 sent home the excellent Swede. Down to 10 players - 2 more to go.

The current chipleader: Mads Andersen. He carries no less than 960,000.

Down to 11! Three more Scandinavians have left the stage, Per Andersen, Lennart Nystrom and in 12th place Adam Nilsson. Adam's jacks fell prey to Philip Hilm, who had his queens hold up. Three more players to go, and we will have our Televised Final for tomorrow.

The strong Chister Johansson has suffered a blow. From the small blind, he moved in with a J9, but shortstacked big blind Markus Gonsalves made a stand with a Q4 for 55K total - and got rewarded by flopping top two pair. Important, because in the shorthanded situation we have now, basically every pot needs to be won. 

Down to 14. Morten Jensen took a hit when holding big slick, he was a clear favorite over the "Varkonyi", QT. But the final board KAJ3...Q gave Mads Andersen a straight, and sent home the strong Morten. And we have also lost Peter Davidsen.

And just when I wrote down we had a new chipleader, we already have a newer one: Philip Hilm, who carries no less than 492,000. And not just that: He also has position on two other big stacks, Xuyen Pham (234K) and Mads Andersen (290K).

All in all, with blinds of 4,000-8,000 / ante 800, we are down to two tables, 16 players:

Table 1

1. Xuyen Pham
2. Morten Jensen
3. Mads Andersen
4. Philip Hilm
5. Peter Davidsen
6. Adam Nilsson
7. Johan Berqvist
8. Lennart Nystrom

Table 2

1. Anina Gundesen
2. Hans Eskilsson
3. Chister Johansson
4. Edgar Skjervold
5. Per Andersen
6. Markus Gonsalves
7. Shek Chi Hung
8. Marc Naalden

We have a new chipleader! Shek Chi Hung had his J7 and the J74 flop match perfectly. Chipleader Marc Naalden called the flop all-in bet by his opponent with an unimproved AT. No surprises, and the aggressive Asian now has a 300K+ stack. Also very strong are still Marc (obviously), Bad Girl, Morten Jensen, Mads Andersen, Chister Johansson and Edgar Skjervold. Out: Bjorn Erik Glenne, Karin Lundgren, Nicky Smits and, as I am writing this, Ram Vaswani. Ram's KQ couldn't improve enough against Philip Hilm's AJ, the money going in before the flop. 17 players left, with now also Hilm as one of the bigger stacks. 

The reigning champion is out! Noah first lost a very big pot against Morten Jensen with sevens against queens - a queen on the board. Down to just 35K, "Exclusive" was eliminated a few moments later.

With 23 players left and blinds 3K-6K / ante 600, things look like this:

Table 1

• Seat 1: Xuyen Pham 180K
• Seat 2: Morten Jensen 85K
• Seat 3: Mads Andersen 220K
• Seat 4: Hans Eskilsson 195K
• Seat 5: Peter Davidsen 90K
• Seat 6: Noah Boeken 175K
• Seat 7: Johan Berqvist 47K
• Seat 8: Jasper Stolpe 120K

Table 2

• Seat 1: Anina Gundesen 35K
• Seat 2: Bjorn Erik Glenne 90K
• Seat 3: Chister Johansson 148K
• Seat 4: Edgar Skjervold 190K
• Seat 5: Lars Soderlund ?
• Seat 6: Markus Gonsalves 35K
• Seat 7: Shek Chi Hung 100K
• Seat 8: Marc Naalden 302K

Televised Table

• Seat 1: Philip Hilm 145K
• Seat 2: Ram Vaswani 75K
• Seat 3: Lennart Nystrom ?
• Seat 4: Per Andersen ?
• Seat 5: Adam Nilsson ?
• Seat 6: Karin Lundgren 82K
• Seat 7: Nicky Smits ? 

The last 27 players are in the money, and that means both Luca and Julian get at least some money. Because of a few factors (it is extremely crowded in the casino so we cannot get near the tables, and the fact that all prize money is in Danish Krones, not in Euros), I will give you the exact rankings & payouts at a later time.

Some more developments, just before the dinner break:

• Julian Thew & Luca Pagano are both out. Unfortunately, I could not get to see much of the action as I cannot get close to the action on the Televised Table, but I will try to come up with the exact information  later. Also out is Thomas Grundy.
• Mads Andersen is challenging Marc Naalden when it comes to the chip lead, and may in fact have already surpassed him. 

A few recent developments:

• The blinds are now 2,000-4,000 with a 400 ante.
• Action has slowed down considerably now that we are getting closer to the money. One of the few players we have lost in the past 60 minutes is Littlewoods man Anthony Chessa, who moved all-in with an ace-ten from the button, but ran into kings. We still have 36 players left.
• To serve both the ladies in the audience, and the Eurosport viewers,  two of the biggest young charmers in today's poker are now both at the TV table: Noah Boeken & Luca Pagano. Luca will be happy to have been removed from the ugli seat to the immediate right of the chipleader-who-just-seems-to-hit-everything, Marc Naalden. Luca has worked his stack up to 80K now, for a way-above-average stack.
• Julian Thew has stayed alive in a coin flip with QJ suited versus a small pocket pair. He flopped a queen. 

Anders Berg has just survived miraculously. Raising all-in to 12K from the button with a mere 94 offsuit, Peter Davidsen woke up in the big blind with aces. So, down and out it seemed for Anders - but he caught a four on the flop and another four on the river to stay alive. Still, Peter cannot complain too much I guess - as he still has a 100K+ stack.

Reigning champion Noah Boeken just has made a massive step forward. On the turn 55T6, with 40K in the middle, he bet 27K all-in, acting very weak and nervous. Now, being in the small blind in a pot this big, for him to bet all his money here (especially knowing he would probably get called), there could be no question that he had the third five. But after long deliberation, Simon Young fell for it, and called him with AT for tens up / ace kicker. No surprises on the river and the Dutchman, who had been on a very short stack during the entire first day, now has crossed the 100K mark. Simon, reporter for the Sun and someone I had seen at the poker tables for the very first time during the EPT Baden, is out.

It is amazing how some days can be so different from others. While the past two days were not exactly what one could call exciting, today the action is fast and furious. Within just two hours, we have lost almost half of the 97 players we started with. We have a little break now, and after this break the blinds will move up to 1,000-2,000 with a 200 ante.

We've got a few cracking tables at this moment. For instance table 5, where as I said, Luca Pagano finally has a decent stack early in the event. But with his 47K, he is sandwiched between the two biggest stacks in the event, Morten Jensen (135K) and chipleader Marc Naalden (240K). Also at this table is Julian Thew, who has just busted out Robin Reed.

But table 4 is not bad either. Not only does Karin Lundgren sit there with 95K, she has just gotten Ram Vaswani in her back with 100K - now, not an enviable position to be in, obviously.

Then again, the most exciting table of all is probably the televised one. First Roy van der Locht had been moved there, and now also Chister Johansson with about 80K. Add to that Simon Young (45K), Noah Boeken (62K), Johan Berqvist (75K) and Bad Girl (125K), and it is easy to see that this is a table of firework. Other big stacks in the event include Markus Gonsalves with 80K, Philip Hilm with 125K and Christian Grundtvig with 88K. Out: Henric Olander, Nils Paulsen & David Layani. 55 players left.

Some latest developments after 45 minutes of play:

• Table 1: On the TV table, we have lost Ken Lennaard and Runar Pedersen, while Noah Boeken has worked his way up to 47K. The colorful Roy van der Locht has been transferred to this table now.
• Table 2: OUT - Mikkel Haga
• Table 3: OUT - Brian Clausen. Peter Eichhardt now has doubled to 40K. Holding ATo, he called Philip Hilm's resteal to 19K (K 7 ), and flopped both an ace and a ten.
• Table 5: OUT - Ben Sprengers. Marc Naalden has just gotten lucky, when his A2 managed to make a split pot against Robin Reed's A9 - the money in before the flop.

• Table 6: OUT - David McGeachie
• Table 7: This table has turned into a true massacre. Jan Busch raised under the gun all-in to 8,000 with 88, got called all-in by Janos Spada with AJ, and then Ram Vaswani woke up in the small blind with kings. No less than two kings on the flop: Quads for the Crazy Horse, who eliminated two players on one single hand. Also out: Thomas Olavsrud and Birgitta Johansson.
• Table 8: OUT - Mark Boudewijn.  
• Table 9: OUT - Runar Runarsson, Ole Busberg Jensen, Chris Hancock.

Blinds now 800-1,600 with a 150 ante.

Just a few minutes until the start of day 2. Some characteristics of the line-up after the draw are:

• Table 1: Has second chipleader Xuyen Pham (89K) in great position with two short stacks to her left (Chister Lovas 5K, Runar Pedersen 7K). Also seated on this table: Johan Berqvist (41K) and reigning champion Noah Boeken (27K). Has been chosen as TV table.
• Table 2: Has colorful Roy van der Locht as the big stack (64K), but he has drawn badly with three aggressive Scandinavians to his left, all with about 40K stacks.
• Table 4: Italy Rules at this table with Daio Alioto in seat 2 (62K) and Luca Pagano in seat 4, carrying - for him unusual at this stage - a rather large stack, 46K.

• Table 5: Has the current chipleader in seat 9, Marc Naalden, with David Berggren to his immediate right (51K), and Roy Tommy Vekseth to his immediate left (42K).
• Table 7: Crazy Horse Ram Vaswani is in seat 1 (73K), while strong Christian Grundtvig is in seart 9 (58K).
• Table 8: An all-Scandinavian line-up here, barring the sole Dutchman Mark Boudewijn (12K), with Chister Johansson (39K) as the biggest name.
• Table 10: Has the former chipleader on day 1 Shek Chi Hung (67K), with Edgar Skjervold (40K) two seats to his right.

All in all, 97 players left. We've got a long day ahead of us because my guess is we will play down to the final 8. I will try to follow things as closely as possible, so I would say: Make sure you tune in every now and then.