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EPT Grand Final Day 2 – The Norwegians Lead The Way

Riisem and Lodden complete a Norwegian one-two at the top of the chip count, but a WSOP Champion is in hot pursuit

Tuesday 15th April 2008



Monte Carlo: home of the rich and famous. At the start of Day 2, it was also home of 382 poker players who were still in the hunt for the EPT Grand Final title. Come the close of play, the field had been decimated, with only 129 players making it through to Day 3.

The casualties included some of the game’s biggest stars and brightest talents. Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Jason Mercier, Ross Boatman, Thierry van den Berg, Martin Wendt, Thomas Wahlroos, Michael “Timex” Mcdonald, Bill Edler, and Josh Arieh all hit the deck. Some of the Team PokerStars brigade fell in action too, with Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Victor Ramdin, Humberto Brenes, and Noah Boeken all hitting the rail.

One of them did make a strong showing on the second day though, 2006 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem. His work was even more admirable considering he was on a tough table, too with the likes of Luca Pagano, Surinder Sunar and Anna Wroblewski keeping the Australian company. They couldn’t keep their chips though, as Hachem gathered 260,000 of them by the end of the day.

Another pro who had a rewarding day was Johnny Lodden. The Norwegian pro might not as big a name as fellow countrywoman Annette Obrestad, but the young pro managed to play a forceful day of poker with his big stack, ending the day in second place on 320,000. He’s trailing the overnight chip leader Oyvind Riisem, another Norwegian who ended up bagging 411,000 chips. If the name sounds familiar, it would be due to his fourth place finish in last summer’s WSOP Europe.

The leaders coming into Day Three are:

Oyvind Riisem - 441,400

Johnny Lodden - 380,300

Borge Dypvik - 380,300

Andreas Hagen - 276,800

Joe Hachem - 255,30

James Campbell - 241,700

Luca Pagano - 229,000

Amit Makjiha - 219,100

Andreas Fluri - 205,900

Sorel Mizzi - 203,200

 


Source: OnlineCasinoNews