Day 2 of the €10,300 Championship at the PLO Grand Slam was a busy one. With three hours of late registration left at the start of the day, many entries and reentries were made at Arena Casino Tirana. When the registration desk closed, the clock read 191 entries, blowing the previous edition’s numbers out of the water. At the end of the night, only 12 of them were left standing, with Daniel Tordjman towering over them in the chip counts.
Tordjman bagged a stack of 12,575,000 for Day 3, nearly a third of the chips in play, and a whopping 210 big blinds when play resumes. Tordjman started the day as one of the bigger stacks and grabbed a big lead when Leon Freiholz doubled him up just before the late registration closed. Tordjman never really looked back from that point on, taking pots left and right throughout the day.
Freiholz bounced back and was also one of the final 12 at the end of Day 2, ending with 2,460,000. Meanwhile, Tordjman nearest contender is €5,200 Opener champion Tom Vogelsang, who is looking for his second title in two Diamond Poker Series tournaments. However, Vogelsang will have his work cut for him, as the 5,695,000 he put inside his bag is less than half of Tordjman’s stack.
Other survivors of Day 2 include Lautaro Guerra, who was involved in the four-way deal last edition and are is working towards another final table appearance. Andrew Ige also found a bag as he is looking for his second final table this week. Other notable players who made it to Day 3 include Norwegian high roller Tom-Aksel Bedell and two-time bracelet winner Oleksii Kovalchuk, the latter of which bagged the least amount of chips, having just over 10 big blinds for Day 3.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 3 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Tordjman | France | 12,575,000 | 210 |
| 2 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | 5,695,000 | 95 |
| 3 | Gergo Nagy | Hungary | 4,300,000 | 72 |
| 4 | Tom-Aksel Bedell | Norway | 3,485,000 | 58 |
| 5 | Kasparas Klezys | Lithuania | 2,875,000 | 48 |
| 6 | Andrew Ige | United States | 2,815,000 | 47 |
| 7 | Leon Freiholz | Germany | 2,460,000 | 41 |
| 8 | Lautaro Guerra | Spain | 1,650,000 | 28 |
| 9 | Sofoklis Palekythritis | Cyprus | 1,255,000 | 21 |
| 10 | “Jay” | 755,000 | 13 | |
| 11 | Maksim Shuts | Belarus | 705,000 | 12 |
| 12 | Oleksii Kovalchuk | Ukraine | 645,000 | 11 |
Day 2 Action
The day began with just 51 players returning from Day 1, but they would be joined by many more throughout the first three levels of the day. When Level 13 started and late registration was closed, 55 entries and reentries were made. Although the number was spectacular, the tournament fell just short of the €2,000,000 guarantee. After the communicated deduction for tournament costs had been taken, a prize pool of €1,880,000 was left for the players, and the top 23 would see a return on their investment.
Bracelet winners Jan-Peter Jachtmann and Stanislav Zegal were among the early casualties of the day, far away from making the money. Ronald Keijzer joined them at the rail not much later, while defending champion “Benjamin N” busted shortly after the late registration had been closed.
Hossein Ensan did not pick up his second cash of the week as he departed at the final five tables. Youness Barakat made another impressive run but fell just short of the money at the final four tables. Eventually, hand-for-hand was announced when 25 players remained, two spots away from the money.
“Appie” managed to double up and triple up during hand-for-hand play but still ended up as the first one to go out. Meanwhile, Tomas Ribeiro was trying to squeeze into the money with less than one blind in his possession, but lost once he was forced to put his chips in from the big blind, becoming the official bubble boy.
After the bubble, the eliminations were racked up in rapid speed. The min-cash of €22,000 was all that was in store for Finnish legend Joni Jouhkimainen, while Diamond Poker Series Ambassador Max Kruse picked up a pay jump to €23,500. Day 1 chipleader Andreas Zampas fell in 16th for €26,500, followed by Dario Alioto in 15th, who took home €29,000.
During the final three hands of the night, both Ismael Bojang (14th -€29,000) and Espen Myrmo (13th – €32,000) waved goodbye, leaving 12 players to progress to Day 3. They have secured themselves the same payout as Myrmo for their efforts, while six-figure payouts are awaiting the top six. The eventual champion will take home €438,000 and of course the beautiful Diamond Poker Series Trophy
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | €438,000 |
| 2 | €296,000 |
| 3 | €197,500 |
| 4 | €161,500 |
| 5 | €129,500 |
| 6 | €100,500 |
| 7 | €74,500 |
| 8 | €54,500 |
| 9 | €43,500 |
| 10-11 | €36,500 |
| 12 | €32,000 |
The tournament will recommence tomorrow, January 29 at 2 p.m. local time. The blinds will resume at 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante, and the players will play as many 60-minute levels as it takes to crown a champion.
Tune back in to PokerNews then as you do not wanna miss the thrilling conclusion of the PLO Grand Slam Championship.