Tom Vogelsang Gunning for Second Trophy as Overlay Looms in €10,300 PLO Grand Slam Championship
Diamond Poker Series had set out a huge guarantee of €2,000,000 for the PLO Grand Slam €10,300 Championship, double that of last edition's event. The 136 entries made on Day 1 yesterday already surpassed the total entries of the previous edition but, with two more levels of late registration, the field will need to grow by about 50 percent to prevent an overlay for the organization.
Among the 51 players returning to Arena Casino Tirana today looking to profit from the possible added money to the prize pool is Tom Vogelsang. The Dutch high roller was victorious in the €5,200 PLO Opener earlier this series and bagged 1,579,000 on Day 1 of the Championship. With nearly eight starting stacks he is second in chips, looking to go two for two.
The first objective for Vogelsang is to close the gap to chipleader Andreas Zampas, who amassed 2,388,000 yesterday, good for 239 big blinds when play resumes at 4 p.m. today. Germany's Leon Freiholz completes the top three with 1,514,000, while Dario Alioto, Amir Mozaffarian, and Ronald Keijzer also battled their way to a top ten spot.
Start of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andreas Zampas | Greece | 2,388,000 | 239 |
| 2 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | 1,579,000 | 158 |
| 3 | Leon Freiholz | Germany | 1,514,000 | 151 |
| 4 | Dario Alioto | Italy | 1,251,000 | 125 |
| 5 | Michail Karapanos | Greece | 1,215,000 | 122 |
| 6 | Andrew Ige | United States | 1,084,000 | 108 |
| 7 | Amir Mozaffarian | Germany | 1,017,000 | 102 |
| 8 | Fahredin Mustafov | Bulgaria | 1,000,000 | 100 |
| 9 | Daniel Tordjman | France | 884,000 | 88 |
| 10 | Ronald Keijzer | Netherlands | 851,000 | 85 |
Diamond Poker Series Ambassador and bracelet winner Max Kruse will sit down with 358,000 today, while Lautaro Guerra (357,000) and "Phil Ejri" (545,000) are looking to make back-to-back final tables in the PLO Grand Slam Championship. Youness Barakat brings a bag with 633,000 chips to Day 2, aiming to improve on his fourth-place finish in the Opener. Runner-up in that event Sean Rafael also made it through Day 1 but is one of the shortest stacks with 128,000.
Day 2 will kick off with blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante. The field will have three levels of 60 minutes to reach the guarantee as the late registration will close at the start of Level 13: 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante. Unlimited reentries are permitted throughout those two levels to encourage maximum action and drive up the prize pool. Day 2 will play down to at least the final 16 players, although it may be decided to play longer than that depending on when that point is reached.
PokerNews will be on the floor to keep track of all the action, so stay tuned to find out if the PLO Grand Slam Championship will reach its massive guarantee.