Entries 987/Left 32
Okay, maybe we went too far. Facts say that today's chip leader at IPO Main Event Day 2, who likes to hide his real name behind the nick "Emmella", has been leading the count for most of the tournament. And this Day 3 was not a formality, though everything went smoothly.
We will discuss his exploit in depth in the following lines, but first, let's take a quick look at the numbers. The total amount of entries collected in the six qualifying flights, from Wednesday to this afternoon, reached 987, allowing about one-fifth of the field to advance to the next step: 197, to be exact, the players who showed up at 6:45 p.m. in the left wing of the GC Poker Room for the usual "shuffle up and deal."
"Emmelle" runs away
"Everything went right from the start," - says the day's star player (photo below), who began with just over 300,000 chips. The first hit was a coin-flip won with A-Ks against Q-Q, in a dynamic where he found himself 3-betting an opening and calling the 4-bet shove of the player to his left.
Not even time to stack the chips and the second double comes, this time post-flop: "I manage to draw the highs with A-K against my opponent's K-5." Finding himself double the average after the early stages of play, "Emmella" allows himself a few more luxuries (read float), as in the spot that sends him into orbit:
"I decided to float in position the 3-bet of Small Blind with Q♣️9♣️. The flop is A-A-x, he c-bets 1/4 pot and I call. The turn is another Club card that opens me flushdraw and on the opponent's check I decide to bet about half a pot: call. The river is a K♣️ that makes me hit my flush, not exactly the best in the deck because in the range he should still have A-K/K-K/A-A, but I still decide to bet for value with the knowledge that I can also be called by several A-x."
Said, done. The opponent turns over A-Q and "Emmelle" breaks through the 3 million chip wall when the tournament average barely exceeds 800,000.
Under pressure
More than the well-known British band's single, it is about the condition that the short/middle stacks had to live with throughout Day2 when players like Robin Roth, a cash-gamer lent to tournaments as well as Day1 D chip leader, have a significant stack for the Day.
The Swiss (photo below), will close at 2 million and change to fifth place in the provisional count, "I slept well last night!" - he comments wryly at the end of the day, after revealing to us (in last Friday's interview) that he had a sleepless night, or nearly so, before Day1. And judging by the stack, we have no trouble believing it.
The presence of Fatos Haxhaj (photo below) in the late stage of a Eurorounders tournament is hardly surprising anymore. Swiss, a finalist at the last Warriors last October, and able to impose his game here at the IPO Main Event as well. Just under 1.5 million chips for him, with an average of around 1.1 million, worth 12th in the count.
And who knows what he might have been up to if to his left was not "Giorgio73," still among the upper parts of the count with over 1.5 million chips already at the last break and two levels to play (he will close in third place at 2,415,000).
The Top 5
Three out of five names you already know: "Emmella" in first place, "Giorgio73 in 3rd, and Robin Roth in fifth.
We didn't tell you about the other two, Romanian Ciprian Bucatariu (pictured below) and Czech "O.H.," but let's fix that right away: Bucatariu closes at just under 2.5 million behind "Emmella," "O.H." outpaces Roth by a blind and a half and sits just behind the podium with 2,065,000 chips.
Day 3
It will get underway again at 2 p.m. after a slight variation on the schedule (it was supposed to start at 1 p.m.) with 75 minutes per level and 32 players ready to put all their skills on the line to reach the final table scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m.
Play is on for a €100,000 first prize plus a ticket to next December's WPT Main Event Championship in Las Vegas, worth €10,000. You also play for prestige, because raising the Italian Poker Open trophy to the sky is no small matter.
Unofficial Chipcount
Emmella IT 3.200.000
Ciprian Bucatariu RO 2.430.000
Giorgio73 CH 2.415.000
O.H. CZ 2.065.000
Robin Roth CH 2.010.000
Andrei Chiriliuc MD 1.830.000
Samiyel Duezguen CH 1.800.000
Antonio Camodeca IT 1.735.000
Space G CH 1.575.000
Omaha4Rollz DE 1.470.000
Tommaso Stassi IT 1.455.000
Fatos Haxhaj CH 1.335.000
Matteo Spozio IT 1.275.000
Martin Rapp DE 1.225.000
Gala 09 CH 1.200.000
Marius Wolf DE 1.150.000
Bekim Murtezi CH 1.120.000
Davide Ferrone IT 1.025.000
Daniele D'angelo IT 1.020.000
Carmelo Romeo IT 970.000
Ros Caballero Salvador ES 870.000
Giuseppe Biancoviso IT 850.000
Namir Dfaili CH 840.000
Marco Rottmair DE 690.000
Pham Nguyen CH 650.000
mgma CH 640.000
Patrick Schratz DE 475.000
Christian Niederer CH 425.000
Adriano Carpene IT 410.000
Ospite IT 355.000
Plachtak18 CZ 350.000
Mexxess CH 350.000
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