There were 217 poker players competing in Day 1b of the European Poker Tour’s Dortmund event, and when combined with the 198 from the previous day created a total player field of 415 players. Of the 217 who played on Day 1b, only 83 survived to make it to Day 2 where the fields from Days 1a and 1b would be combined. Day 1b held a number of famous names and recent tournament winners. Annette Obrestad, winner of the WSOPE Main Event was there, as was Bertrand Grospellier, who won the EPT PCA to start off his year. Reigning EPT Dortmund Champion Andreas Hoivold was also in attendance on Day 1b.
Daniel Negreanu made an entrance when he turned up late to the tournament, but he wasted no time in building up his chip stack, finishing the day with 59,900 in chips, placing him eighth in the chip count heading into the combined Day 2. Another big name that survived the day was the charismatic “Flying Dutchman” Marcel Luske, who finished the day in the middle of the pack with a respectable 27,600 in chips.
Several big names fell throughout the day. The winner of the EPT Prague event, Arnaud Mattern, lost to Annette Obrestad after going all-in before the flop and Obrestad’s [4s][6s] made a straight on the turn to defeat Mattern’s [Ac][3h]. Annette Obrestad would finish the day with 50,200 in chips. Ram Vaswani, a member of the famous Hendon Mob, was another player who did not live through Day 1b. Bertrand Grospellier and Roland de Wolfe were two other big names who would not make it through to Day 2 with any life left in their stacks.
Day 1b finished with an elimination on the very last hand of the day. Andreas Hoivold, who won the EPT Dortmund Event in 2007, was eliminated when his pocket kings did not hold up against Nicolas Levi’s [Ad][Qd] when Levi made quad aces. Hoivold was sent home, and the remaining competitors were sent on to Day 1b. This pot brought Levi’s chip stack to 56,100 in chips, a good amount to have heading into Day 2.
American Tyler Friederich was the chip leader of Day 1b, finishing with 70,900 in chips, good for third place overall in the standings. When Day 2 commences, there will be the 70 players from Day 1a and the 83 players from Day 1b combining to form a field of 153 players. Chabot Cyrille of France is the overall chip leader with 111,100 in chips. The short stack going into Day 2 is Dustin Mele, the American who won the Poker Stars Passport which is sending him to ten poker tournaments at exotic locales around the world. His chip stack consists of a mere 4,300 chips.
Play will continue at the lovely Casino Hohensyburg in Dortmund, Germany, where the players will be eager to find out who will walk away as the champion of the 2008 EPT Dortmund Event.