2015 WSOP Europe Day 2: First Final Table Set, "Oktoberfest" Kicks Off
Day 2 of the 2015 World Series of Poker Europe festival took place on Friday in Berlin, Germany. Two events were in action, with Event #1: �2,200 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em reaching its official final table of six players, and the first two starting flights of Event #2: �550 "Oktoberfest" No-Limit Hold'em playing out.
Michaelis Leads Final Six in Opening Event
Germany's first WSOP gold bracelet event reached the final six competitors on Friday with Paul Michaelis in the lead of Event #1: �2,200 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em. The event had attracted 197 players with 35 advancing to Day 2.
Michaelis is a German native and he will be looking for his second gold bracelet of 2015 after he scored first place in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event over the summer for $189,818.
Joining Michaelis at the final table were Rick Alvarado, Stephen Chidwick, Frederic Schwarzer, Makarios Avramidis, and Marvin Rettenmaier. Along with Michaelis, Schwarzer and Rettenmaier are German and looking to keep the gold on home soil should one of the trio emerge victorious.
Each of the final six has locked up a minimum of �16,740, but it's the �105,000 top prize that they're all gunning for. Michaelis and his stack of 670,000 have him in great position to take the title, as he's 235,000 in chips ahead of Alvarado's second-place stack. Rettenmaier was the shortest stack remaining with 90,000 in chips.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Michaelis | Germany | 670,000 |
| 2 | Rick Alvarado | USA | 435,000 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | UK | 354,000 |
| 4 | Frederic Schwarzer | Germany | 242,000 |
| 5 | Makarios Avramidis | Greece | 179,000 |
| 6 | Marvin Rettenmaier | Germany | 90,000 |
Entering Day 2 of the event, the UK's Oliver Price led the final 35 players. Only the top 21 reached the money, and that happened when Benjamin Einert his the rail in 22nd place. According to event reports from WSOP.com, Einert was eliminated by Italian Max Pescatori.
After nailing down two more gold bracelets during the summer, Pescatori went on to finish in eighth place in this event and collect �12,120. The man known as "The Italian Pirate" is also one of the players over in Europe for the series that could possibly catch Mike Gorodinsky for WSOP Player of the Year honors. Entering the event, Pescatori sat in 23rd place with 1,301.22 points. From this finish, he should earn 183.13 points to add to his total to give him 1,484.35, and Gorodinsky sits atop the leaderboard with 2,157.19 points. It'll be hard for Pescatori to catch Gorodinsky, but every little bit counts in narrowing the gap, and Pescatori earned a solid chunk in the opening event.
To set the official final table of six, it was Jeff Lisandro going home in seventh place, also for �12,120.
With slightly less than 30 minutes left in Level 19 (3,000/6,000/1,000), the players will return to action on Saturday at 12 p.m. local time. Be sure to stay tuned right here to PokerNews.com in order to see who wins the first gold bracelet ever awarded on German soil.
First Two Flights of "Oktoberfest" in the Books
Day 1a and 1b of Event #2: �550 "Oktoberfest" No-Limit Hold'em took place on Friday, with fields of 375 and 473 generated, respectively, the total field size thus far moved to 848 entries. At the end of both flights, it was none other than Shaun Deeb in the lead with his stack of 212,000 in chips. Deeb took the overall chip lead in Day 1b.
Day 1a's chip leader was Erik Scheidt, but his finishing stack of 129,000 was nowhere near that of Deeb.
Also advancing from Day 1a were Georgios Sotiropoulos (119,500), David "ODB" Baker (94,500), and Phil Hellmuth (43,500). From Day 1b, Felix Bleiker (202,500), Alex Rocha (189,500), and Christian Krupp (50,500) all moved on.
On Saturday, the final two starting flights will take place in this event, with Day 1c kicking off at 10 a.m. and Day 1d at 7 p.m. local time.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews.com from now until Oct. 24 as we continue to provide coverage from the 2015 WSOP Europe.
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