A new day, a new chance to turn your tournament around. Isn’t that the spirit? Some will think that, but if your chip stack makes more of a riffling noise when it’s tipped out of the plastic bag your sights will be on greater things. Then again if you believe in the romance of poker you might say anyone still permitted sit and pay tournament blinds has a chance of final table glory. Like the old lottery saying - you have to buy the ticket to have any chance of winning.

But luck forms only a part of a poker player’s repertoire – as anyone will say - and a little more is needed to prevail at this level. Enter the realists who might look towards the top of the chip counts, to people like Lusovic Lacay and Liam Flood, or PokerStars qualifiers Michael Martin and Phidias Georgiou, as among those likely to succeed. They are at the top of the pile, but such is the game their fall can come as quickly as the rise of tail end Charlie.

One thing is for certain. If the most valiant of valiant stories is to be written it will involve the man coming to Industry Hall today with the lowest number of chips, and for the sake of 150 that man is PokerStars qualifier Seth Blackman with 5,000, behind fellow PokerStars qualifier Mark Bointon with 5,150.


PokerStars qualifier Seth Blackman

"I think it's pretty obvious..." said Seth, aware that his situation is most acute today. "I'll look for a chance to move all-in and see what happens. I figure I'm only four double ups from the chip lead."

It's the kind of spirit in the face of adversity that makes this game so great.

As the day winds on we’ll find out how much romance is left. We’ll also see just how likely a double EPT winner will be, with Team PokerStars Pro Noah Boeken, Andreas Hoivold and Poker Stars player Brandon Schaeffer still focused on that goal.

Among the collective chips counts on day 2:

Ludovic Lacay – France – 85,225
Liam Flood – Ireland – 75,750
Tronde Eidsvig – Norway – 70,475
Mike Mcdonald – Canada – 67,250
Philip Hardy – Ireland – 62,600
Dave Colclough – Wales – 59,350
Michael Martin – USA – PokerStars player – 57,950
Mark Roland – USA – PokerStars qualifier – 56,625
Phidias Georgiou – Cyprus – PokerStars qualifier -- 55,475
Barry McGrath – Ireland – PokerStars qualifier -- 54,625
Jacques Zaicik – France – PokerStars qualifier -- 48,225
Arshad Hussain – UK – 46,425
Runar Runarsson – Iceland – PokerStars qualifier -- 46,400
Andrew Black – Ireland – 45,675
Simon Christensson – Sweden – PokerStars qualifier – 45,000
Christoffer Egemo Hansen – Denmark – PokerStars qualifier – 43,050Thor Hansen -- Norway – PokerStars qualifier – 42,900
Marcel Baran -- Germany – 40,150
Henric Stråth – Sweden – PokerStars qualifier -- 39,000
Johnny Lodden – Norway – 37,225
Casper Hansen – Denmark – PokerStars qualifier –37,150
Johannes Steindl – Austria – 36,500
Justin Francis -- US – PokerStars qualifier – 35,750
Andrew Grimason – Ireland – PokerStars qualifier – 35,400
Sebastian Ruthenberg – Germany – PokerStars sponsored player – 35,175
Tommi Lindfors – Finland – PokerStars qualifier -- 35,000
Annette Obrestad -- Norway -- 34,925
Andreas Hagan -- Norway – 31,150
Kenneth Hicks Jr. – USA – PokerStars qualifier – 30,950
Tony Cascarino -- Ireland – 30,600
Aleksandr Arutjonov – Estonia – PokerStars qualifier – 30,150
Luca Pagano – Italy – Team PokerStars pro – 27,975
Noah Boeken – Holland – Team PokerStars pro – 27,825
Daniel Ryan – USA -- PokerStars qualifier -- 27,550
Surinder Sunar – UK – 27,250
Michael Durrer -- Germany -- PokerStars qualifier – 27,225
Brandon Schaefer – USA – PokerStars player – 26,725
StigTop-Rasmussen – Denmark -- 26300
Andreas Hoivold – Norway – 25,800
Albert Smith – USA – PokerStars qualifier -- 25,200
Martin Wendt – Denmark – 25,125
Jonothon Butters – UK – PokerStars qualifier -- 24,375
Ziad Kaady – US – PokerStars qualifier – 24,100
Jan Veit -- Germany – PokerStars qualifier – 22,575
Chris Bush – Canada – PokerStars player – 22,225
Roman Yitzhaki – USA – PokerStars player -- 21,525
Anders Pettersson --- Sweden – PokerStars qualifier -- 20,725
Christopher Hamman -- USA -- PokerStars qualifier – 18,875
Florian Langmann – Germany – 18,725
Mark Segal -- UK – 18,500
Mika Paasonen – Finland – PokerStars qualifier – 18,450
George Mckeever – UK – 18,325
Juha Helppi – Finland – 18,100
Paul Testud – France – 17,750
Reijo Manninen -- Finland – PokerStars qualifier -- 17525
Jonas Molander -- Sweden – 16,850
Michael Hogbom – Sweden – PokerStars qualifier – 16,100
Katja Thater – Germany – Team PokerStars Pro – 15,650
Johan Storakers – Sweden – 15,050
Thierry Van Den Berg – Holland – PokerStars qualifier -- 14,250
Ben Grundy – England – 13,750
Robert Glavin – Ireland – PokerStars qualifier -- 13,650
Ramzi Jelassi -- Sweden – 12,075
Richard Ashby – England – 12,000
John Conroy – Ireland -- 11,525
Reuben Peters – USA – PokerStars qualifier – 11,050
Antoon Kleynen – Holland – PokerStars qualifier – 10,950
Alexander Fitzgerald – USA – PokerStars qualifier – 10,800
Alan Smurfitt – Ireland – 10,125
Martin Green – UK – PokerStars qualifier – 9,500
Patric Fredriksson – Sweden – PokerStars qualifier – 5,850
Jan Sjavik – Norway – 5,450
Mark Bointon – UK – PokerStars qualifier – 5,150
Seth Blackman – USA – PokerStars qualifier -- 5,000