€25,750 High Roller
Day 2 Completed
2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta
€25,750 High Roller
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta
Buy-in
€25,000
Prize Pool
€1,813,000
Entries
74
Level
24
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000
Level 18
: 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante
Day 2 of the €25,000 High Roller of the PokerStars EPT12 Malta started out with some new players jumping into action. A couple of qualifiers and late registrants bumped the total amount of entries to 74 — down a bit from EPT11's 88 entrants — making for a total prize pool of €1,813,000.
World Series of Poker 2014 November Niner Jorryt van Hoof was the first to go, but it wouldn't take long before he got some company on the rail. Philip Sternheimer, Jean-Noel Thorel, Ivan Luca and many more all made their exit before the first level was done.
Many former EPT champions fell before the tournament was even close to the money. Steve O'Dwyer couldn't win the flip with tens to Juha Helppi's king-jack, and both Antonio Buonanno and Jason Mercier lost their stacks as well.
Last season's winner, Dzmitry Urbanovich, lasted a bit longer but wouldn't go back to back. He first lost a big hand to Dan Smith when the latter hit two pair while the Polish prodigy had flopped the nut flush draw. When Urbanovich failed to improve, he was left a bit short and busted not much later to Dietrich Fast with king-jack all in preflop against kings.
With Urbanovich's exit the tournament was down to 23 players, which is when EPT11 Grand Final champ Adrian Mateos busted. As the tournament halted for a redraw, just Brian Robert's table was still in action. Roberts played a remarkable hand where he three-bet preflop and bet flop, turn, and river. After his river bet he had just a single big blind behind, but he folded to Helppi's push nonetheless. Roberts did make the redraw, but he exited soon after to Jason Wheeler, who qualified for the tournament the night before in a satellite.
While Roberts didn't make a comeback from his single big blind, Wheeler had been in a similar position and made it work. At one point Wheeler was left with four big blinds instead of just one, and his comeback proved impressive. He stayed focused, didn't rush, and a couple of double ups later was right back in it.
Meanwhile, players fell left and right, but not many of them in such spectacular fashion as Charlie Carrel. Last season's Grand Final €25,000 High Roller champion four-bet preflop, and bet small on the turn to eventually ship it all in on the turn. Byron Kaverman just called him down with aces and Carrel couldn't show more than a turned gutshot with jack-nine. He didn't hit and Carrel's punishment for the failed bluff was a place on the rail.
After Chris Hunichen four-bet shoved ace-seven into Mike "Timex" McDonald's jacks, the tournament was getting closer to the money. Start-of-day chip leader Quan Zhou didn't have the best day and soft bubbled. The unfortunate bubble boy was Mikita Badziakouski, who couldn't beat out Christopher Frank's ace-king with his queens. Frank rivered a wheel and the high roller from Belarus was the last player to leave empty handed.
Andrew Chen was the first to go to the payout desk, receiving €45,325 for his 11th-place finish after his ace-queen failed to improve against Sam Greenwood's nines.
Fast, who started out the day second in chips, received the same amount for his 10th-place finish. Just before the bubble he had turned second pair into a bluff in a big pot, but his opponent had the seconds nuts and wasn't folding. Fast was short after the bubble and gifted his last chips to Greenwood with king-ten against pocket deuces.
Before the tournament could be paused for the final redraw, another player busted on the other table. Wheeler knocked out the very short Frank, and just like that the tournament was down to eight players. Interestingly, three of the remaining eight players didn't play on Day 1 as Wheeler qualified via the aforementioned satellite and both Benjamin Pollak and Sylvain Loosli just bought in on Day 2.
The eight finalists return tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time for the final. All eight of them are guaranteed €67,990 at this point, but they're gunning for that first place prize of €498,575. Here's how things stack up:
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juha Helppi | Finland | 2,215,000 | 44.3 |
| 2 | Nick Petrangelo | United States | 650,000 | 13 |
| 3 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 4,775,000 | 95.5 |
| 4 | Jason Wheeler | United States | 930,000 | 18.6 |
| 5 | Sylvain Loosli | France | 2,065,000 | 41.3 |
| 6 | Benjamin Pollak | France | 1,365,000 | 27.3 |
| 7 | Byron Kaverman | United States | 2,970,000 | 59.4 |
| 8 | Mike McDonald | Canada | 3,500,000 | 70 |
Check back tomorrow for continuing coverage of the €25,750 High Roller from the 2015 PokerStars.com EPT Season 12 Malta. In the meantime, check out this video where Jason Wheeler shares his vision on the movement away from third party software online:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
4,775,000
175,000
|
175,000 |
|
||
|
3,500,000
300,000
|
300,000 |
|
||
|
2,970,000
170,000
|
170,000 |
|
2,215,000
165,000
|
165,000 |
|
2,065,000
-135,000
|
-135,000 |
|
||
|
1,365,000
-535,000
|
-535,000 |
|
930,000 | |
|
650,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
Level 18
: 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante
As Dietrich Fast was eliminated over on the other table, the dealer was gathering the antes over on table 1. "Do we redraw now?" Christopher Frank asked the floor. "Did you start the riffle?" the floor asked the dealer who confirmed. "Than you play one more hand" the floor answered Frank.
"Is it the same hand? Do I get the same money if I bust now?" Frank inquired. The floor told him that would not be the case as he would bust later than his buddy Fast.
The next hand was dealt and Jason Wheeler moved all in under the gun. Action folded around to Frank in the big blind. He had just 170,000 left at this point and snap called.
Christopher Frank: 
Jason Wheeler: 
While Frank got up from the table to tell his friends on the rail what the showdown was, the dealer didn't make a big show out of it and just put the board out there: 
. Frank was eliminated in 9th place for €51.670, and just like that the day was done.
With still 51 minutes and 58 seconds left on the clock, the redraw was done and the players started the bagging and tagging proces. Final table draw and exact chip counts to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
930,000
80,000
|
80,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 18
: 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante
Sam Greenwood opened for 125,000 from the cutoff only to have Dietrich Fast, who won a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet a couple weeks back, three-bet all in for roughly 750,000 from the small blind. Nearly 90 second ticked off the clock before Greenwood suddenly grabbed a stack of chips and put them in the middle.
Fast: 
Greenwood: 
It was a flip, but not after the flop came down 
to give Greenwood a set. Fast began to stand up, but paused when the turn delivered him some hope to a gutshot Broadway draw. Unfortunately for him, the 
river was not what he needed and he took his leave from the tournament in 10th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
4,600,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 18
: 25,000/50,000, 5,000 ante
Jason Wheeler limped in from the small blind and big blind Juha Helppi bumped it up to 150,000. Wheeler called and check called the 125,000 continuation bet on 
as well. Both players checked the on the turn and the 
completed the board. Wheeler check called a bet of 175,000 but couldn't beat his neighbor's 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,050,000
450,000
|
450,000 |
|
|
850,000
-450,000
|
-450,000 |
Level: 18
Blinds: 25,000/50,000
Ante: 5,000
Level 17
: 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante
Action folded to Nick Petrangelo and he moved in from the small blind for his last 310,000. Sam Greenwood called from the big.
Nick Petrangelo: 
Sam Greenwood: 
The flop came 
, which got Petrangelo excited. The 
on the turn missed him but the on the river gave him the winning hand and he doubled up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,400,000
-400,000
|
-400,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
650,000
340,000
|
340,000 |
Level 17
: 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante
Sylvain Loosli opened the button for 90,000 and small blind Christopher Frank three bet to 255,000. Jason Wheeler folded from the big and Loosli moved all in for 840,000. Frank reluctantly called.
Sylvain Loosli: 
Christopher Frank: 
The board ran out 
and Frank was left with around 400,000 (10 big blinds).
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,750,000
1,250,000
|
1,250,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
400,000
-1,100,000
|
-1,100,000 |
Level 17
: 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante
Sylvain Loosli opened for 90,000 under the gun only to have Jason Wheeler three-bet all in for 560,000 from the button. Both blinds folded, and Loosli took about a minute before calling, which constituted half his stack.
Loosli: 
Wheeler: 
Loosli got it in good, but the 
flop paired Wheeler. Neither the turn nor river helped Loosli, and he watched the pot pushed to Wheeler.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,175,000
615,000
|
615,000 |
|
|
500,000
-600,000
|
-600,000 |
|
|
||
Level 17
: 20,000/40,000, 5,000 ante
Andrew Chen had a big hand on the bubble where he check folded the river to Byron Kaverman. He found a way to sneak into the money, but didn't last long after it burst.
Chen got his chips in before the flop with and found a challenger in his neighbor Sam Greenwood who had 
.
The board ran out 
and Chen hit the rail in 11th place, netting him €45,325. That same amount will be taken home by the next player to go, the first money bubble is with 9 players (€51,670).
"I can't, sorry man!" Byron Kaverman said as Chen wanted to know what he had in the hand on the bubble. "That situation will never come up again" Chen added but Kaverman didn't budge.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,800,000
620,000
|
620,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |