Day 1b of the EPT Budapest had a slow start, a frenetic middle and a finish that mixed everything together. Between the victorious and the defeated there will be those simply happy to be alive. A day on the EPT can be a harsh and unforgiving environment but 94 players tonight - give or take the usual vagaries of these things - have stuffed their chips in plastic bags and will focus on the battles they’ll encounter tomorrow.
The closing stages proved volatile with various eliminations catching us out. Sebastian Ruthenberg was spotted doing the walk of shame before anyone could figure out why, a walk performed by his countryman and fellow shooting star Jan Heitmann earlier in the day. While the Barcelona champ licked his wounds Italian player Mauro Corsetti left only a trail of dust as he sped away into the lead, ending the day as chip leader on close to 130,000.
Mauro Corsetti
He left a trail of contenders behind him looking towards tomorrow for their salvation. Frenchman Pierre Husson was probably next in line on 71,000. American pro Casey Castle was alongside him on 70,000 whilst Londoner Praz Bansi kept pace on 68,000.
For Team PokerStars Pro day 1b was a mixed bag. Noah Boeken was out early, out in the middle was Vicky Coren and out late was Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who could be forgiven for falling short having flown to Budapest on the back of a WPT win in Las Vegas only a few hours before. It had looked good for the Frenchman but then bad and ElkY drifted away courtesy of hand gone bad against a flopped set.
Team PokerStars Pro Dario Minieri
Dario Minieri flew close to the sun and looked set to re-appear a golden brown colour, a spell of relentless raising putting his table on the back foot almost permanently until he was shot down, crashing out at the mid way stage.
There was betting pickings for William Thorson and Alex Kravchenko however, both of whom were able to finish the day in the black but not by much in Thorson’s case. He lost a critical hand with minutes left on the clock to leave him with just 6,500. His Russian team mate will sleep easier on 40,000.
Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko
It was left to Team Pro’s adopted stars to shine. Johnny Lodden tried to break the habit of a lifetime but couldn’t, playing unplayable hands and winning with them to leave him with a stack of 42,000. Kara Scott’s more conservative approach served her well. Despite falling to around 4,000 before the half-way point she steered a careful course of survival, finishing with a flourish in the last few hands of the day and bagging up 20,500.
PokerStars sponsored player Johnny Lodden
So to tomorrow and day 2 when the surviving 88 from day 1a, including Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano, will merge to link up with the 94 of today, including Claudio Pagano. You can find out their chip counts and the rest from days 1a and 1b on our chip counts page.
Meanwhile, you can look back over the day's action by clicking on any of the links below, or see the video bloggers' work on PokerStars.tv.
Back for day 1b
Bringing it home
The early landscape
All quiet on the 1b front
Lodden signs on
Poker’s new hero
Know when to hold’em, know when...etc
Great Scott in uphill battle
All the way from London
Like father like son
Latest ins and outs
Chip leader in all but name
On court action
Ruthenberg on the up
Hope ends for two on the trot
Pittance or penance
Nearing the summit
You can read all about the tournament in various languages. Here in Budapest, our new Hungarian blog is ready for your attention, as is out ever present Swedish blog that is always worth checking out.
