Home / Poker News March 2009 / PokerStars EPT Dortmund Day 1B and Day 2 report
PokerStars EPT Dortmund Day 1B and Day 2 report
Posted by: James Carter. - Fri, 2009-03-13 16:05
The attendance record set by last year’s
EPT Dortmund was shattered on Day 1B of this season’s event, when no fewer than 358 players showed up, to round the overall starting field up to 664. Germany’s Marco Noll had an excellent day as he became the first player to muster a stack larger than 100,000. That placed him firmly in the overall chip lead of the tournament ahead of Day 1A chip leader, Sweden’s William Thorson.
There were 137 survivors on Day 1B, which means a total of 252 will belly up to the tables on Day 2.
The German was followed by fellow countryman Peter Bueermann, and Canadian Mike McDonald who is the reigning champion of this event.
Davidi Kitai, Luca Pagano and Max Pescatori have also managed to move on as several big names hit the rail. Betrand Grospellier, Marcel Luske, Dario Minieri and reigning WSOP Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate have all been eliminated.
Day 2 of the EPT’s Dortmund Main Event saw only 34 of the 252 starters survive. Apparently as the game wore on, Germany’s dominance became more and more obvious. Day 2 saw the emergence of Holger Kanisch, who took over the overall chip lead with an over 500,000 large stack. As a matter of fact, the top three were all German, as Kanisch was joined atop the provisional leader board by Mark Gork (with 441,500) and Sandra Naujoks (with 410,500).
Half of the remaining 34 players are German, so there are good chances for the title to stay in Germany this year. William Thorson and Marco Noll, the two Day 1 chip leaders are both still in contention a well as the only American left, Brandon Hall, who is currently in 8th place with 249,500 chips.
The money bubble was reached on Day 2, after about 8 hours of play. Two former EPT Dortmund Champions, Norway’s Andreas Hoivold and Canada’s Michael McDonald are both among the survivors and they’re both well-positioned for a successful repeat or title defense. The first prize will be a staggering €917,000 and Day 3 will decide who takes it home.
