PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville Main Event Day 2: Zimnan Ziyard Second Overall
With only 137 players remaining in the PokerStars.fr European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event, excitement is building to fever pitch. The money bubble is on the near horizon and it will not be long before chatter among the poker media starts asking the question of will this be the EPT that crowns the first-ever double champion. If Zimnan Ziyard continues in his current form, he will be at the forefront of such discussions.
Ziyard, winner of the EPT Loutraki Main Event in Season 8, goes into Day 3 with a mountainous stack of 392,500 chips, which are enough to place him second overall. Ziyard is forgiven for thinking he is experiencing déjà vu because at last year’s EPT Deauville Main Event, he ended Day 2 second in chips; it is funny how history often repeats itself. He will, however, hope last year’s 69th place finish is not repeated and is improved on instead.
Also looking to progress deeper in this €5,300 buy-in tournament are 16 other players who are flying the flag for either the United Kingdom or Ireland. Alex Goulder is the best placed of the chasing British and Irish heroes, having bagged up 272,200 chips at the end of Day 2, a figure that Goulder seems delighted with.
Oioi #EPTDeauville day three with 272k! Avg 140 with 144 left and 95 paid. #allez
— Alex Goulder (@cambridgealex)
Joining Ziyard and Goulder in the hunt for a slice of the massive €3,211,200 prize pool – of which €614,000 is reserved for the winner – are the likes of JP Kelly (247,000), Ludovic Geilich (237,000), Oliver Price (219,300), Stephen Chidwick (212,400) and Mathew Frankland (83,500).
British and Irish Chip Counts From Day 2 of EPT Deauville
| Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Zimnan Ziyard | UK | 392,500 |
| Alex Goulder | UK | 272,200 |
| JP Kelly | UK | 247,000 |
| Ludovic Geilich | UK | 237,000 |
| Oliver Price | UK | 219,300 |
| Chun Ho Law | UK | 216,500 |
| Stephen Chidwick | UK | 212,400 |
| Eli Heath | UK | 184,500 |
| Keith Johnson | UK | 177,500 |
| Fergal Nealon | Ireland | 144,200 |
| Andrew Sweeney | Ireland | 119,200 |
| Iaran Lightbourne | UK | 111,200 |
| Danny Blair | UK | 104,100 |
| Javed Abrahams | UK | 102,500 |
| Mathew Frankland | UK | 83,500 |
| Mitch Johnson | UK | 76,900 |
| James Mitchell | UK | 35,700 |
When play resumes at 12:00 noon CET, it is Italy’s Dario Sammartino who sits down with the envious title of chip leader. Sammartino sits down at Table 17 armed with 427700 chips. A regular on the EPT, Sammartino has given himself a chance of improving his best-ever EPT finish, a 19th place finish at Season 9’s Grand Final.
Among the 137 players returning for Day 3 are four Team PokerStars Pros in the shape of Eugene Katchalov (345,700), Alex Kravchenko (105,000), Jan Heithmann (88,000), and Julian Brecard (44,400), plus such luminaries as Alessio Isaia (177,800), Jeffrey Hakim (163,800), Anthony Lellouche (163,200), Ondrej Vinklarek (140,900), Martin Schleich (100,800), and Paul Berende (80,000).
Season 10 EPT Deauville Start-of-Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 427,700 |
| 2 | Zimnan Ziyard | UK | 392,500 |
| 3 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 386,900 |
| 4 | Jonatahan Abdellatif | Belgium | 351,700 |
| 5 | Eugene Katchalov | Ukraine | 345,700 |
| 6 | Loredan Hanganu | Romania | 329,100 |
| 7 | Sotirios Koutoupas | Greece | 317,100 |
| 8 | Kamel Boukhalfa | France | 289,700 |
| 9 | Anthony Lerust | France | 288,600 |
| 10 | Patrick Bruel | France | 277,400 |
Keep your browsers locked to the UK & Ireland Live Reporting pages to follow hand-for-hand coverage of the EPT Deauville Main Event and why not have another window open and watch the excellent EPT Live Stream.
Good luck to all of the UK and Irish contingent today and for the rest of the Deauville Main Event.
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
