Drobina Leads Final Six Players; Bracelet Winners Donev and Dudley in Contention
After a long day at King's Resort for the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe, Event #2: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed is in its final six players, hunting the second gold bracelet of the festival and a payday of €51,600. After the first two starting flights, a combined 38 players returned to the tables of Europe's biggest poker arena for Day 2, out of a 476-entry field.
Almost thirteen 40-minute levels of play needed, in order for the field to reach the six finalists, and in the end it was Ukraine's Denis Drobina who bagged the chip lead with 3,875,000 chips. Despite entering the unofficial nine-handed final table as the shortest stack with just 16 big blinds, Drobina managed to dominate his opponents and close with almost six times his final table starting stack. The Ukrainian player is familiar with poker success, since he already counts more than $600,000 in total live earnings. One accomplishment that he hasn't achieved yet though is winning a WSOP bracelet and tomorrow he will get as close as it gets.
His mission won't be easy, since he will have to face some steep competition in the six-handed final table. Two bracelet winners in Ivo Donev (2,130,000) and Dash Dudley (1,700,000), Christopher Back (2,880,000) with $680,000 in total live earnings, and experienced players Ming Juen Teoh (965,000) and Oshri Lahmani (360,000) are those he will have to surpass in order to win the gold.
Ivo Donev had a great day and he managed to chip up from the first until the last hand of the day. He started with 466,000 chips and he turned them into more than two million winning one pot after the other and busting many players over the course of the day.
A player that comes off a hot summer in Las Vegas and the 2019 World Series of Poker there is Dash Dudley, who recently won his first bracelet and over a million dollars in prize money. This event might be smaller than his previous conquest but the trophy is the same, with a gold bracelet being on stake here too. He started Day 2 third in chips and he finished it fourth, mostly maintaining his stack and without big ups and downs.
Another notable still in contention is Canada's Christopher Back who had two final tables during the summer's WSOP, one in Event #24: $600 Pot Limit Omaha - WSOP.com Online and one in Event #60: $1,100 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better finishing sixth in both. Tomorrow he will have the chance to finish in a better position, starting with the second biggest stack in the six finalists.
Final Table Seat Assignments
| Seat | Player | Country | Chipcount | Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denis Drobina | Ukraine | 3,875,000 | 39 |
| 3 | Christopher Back | Canada | 2,880,000 | 29 |
| 5 | Ming Juen Teoh | Malaysia | 965,000 | 10 |
| 6 | Dash Dudley | United States | 1,700,000 | 17 |
| 7 | Ivo Donev | Austria | 2,130,000 | 21 |
| 9 | Oshri Lahmani | Israel | 360,000 | 4 |
Action of the Day
Only 38 players returned for Day 2 after combining the field of the two starting flights and action was fast-paced. At some point of the day there were discussions by the officials whether they should continue the event until it is finished and cancel the third day that was initially in the schedule.
The story of the day was Shaun Deeb and his run to the fifth bracelet, along with the required points to surpass Robert Campbell in the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year race. He started Day 2 as the overall chip leader with almost one million chips but he lasted five levels before hitting the rail. He lost a couple of big pots to drop to less than ten big blinds and then clashed with Christopher Back who hit a straight with eight-five in a nine-nine-seven-six-six board where Deeb had just a pair of tens in his hand.
Until then Jeff Madsen had already fell earlier and by Deeb's hands, while Anthony Zinno was the only multiple-bracelet winner who entered the last two tables, where he was the first to bust. With the eliminations of Yehuda Cohen, Sebastian Pauli and Alfredo Vega Meister in the final table bubble, a nine-handed final table had been set and Back was leading as the only player over three million chips.
Despite the fast pace until the final table, play started to get slow as soon as there were nine finalists left. The slow-pace was broken by Sebastian Obermeier's elimination in ninth place, where he put his chips in the middle with a pair of kings in his hand, found a set in the turn but Drobina hit a flush in the river to send him packing. This is the second year in a row that Obermeier reaches the final table, as he had finished fourth in last year's event.
Israel's Naor Slobodskoy was the next player to depart, again by the hand of Drobina and Anson Tsang was the last player to leave the field before the end of the day, with Drobina finishing in the best possible way his streak of eliminations.
Here is what the last six are playing for:
| Place | Prize in EUR) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 51,600 |
| 2 | 31,825 |
| 3 | 21,825 |
| 4 | 15,225 |
| 5 | 10,900 |
| 6 | 7,850 |
All remaining players will return on Thursday, October 17th, 2019, as of 1 p.m local time to determine a champion. Stay tuned as PokerNews live reporting team will be bringing all the updates until the end of the event.