Former Champ Chouity Stacked at EPT Campione

Chouity, who won the PokerStars EPT Grand Final in 2010, finished the day with 165,800, roughly 10,000 shy of Andreoni’s total from Day 1A.

Chouity will enter Day 2 third overall behind Andreoni and Chilean pro Nick Yunis.

The Casino di Campione was packed this afternoon as 392 players took to the felt. That’s more than twice the number that turned up for Day 1A.

All told 570 players kicked in their €5,300 buy-in to play in this tournament, creating a prize pool of over €2.76 million.

88 players will get paid with €640,000 waiting for first-place. The winner will also receive a Shamballa Jewels bracelet valued at over €10,000.

Chouity Benefits from Selbst Six-Bet Bluff

Nicolas Chouity wasn’t even on the radar as the second Day 1 heat hit the home stretch, but he managed to put himself in the right place at the right time, with pocket aces against an overly aggressive Vanessa Selbst.

Vanessa Selbst has never been afraid to make a move.

 

When Sebst won her second NAPT title at the Mohegan Sun she famously five-bet shoved 4♦ 8♦ into pocket aces and sucked out early in the event.

Today she six-bet shoved J-9 into aces but was unable to get lucky.

Chouity was the benefactor of that misstep and will put Selbst’s chips to work on Day 2 tomorrow.

Soulier, Vamplew Among Well-Stacked Pros

France's Fabrice Soulier has been on somewhat of a heater, winning his first WSOP bracelet last summer and winning a side event at the recent LA Poker Classic, and it’s continuing in Italy.

Soulier finished the day in the top ten with over 115,000.

Bagging up just over 100,000 thanks to a very active day is former EPT winner David Vamplew.

Vamplew shot up the leaderboard early on, thanks in large pot to flopping a set against top pair for an easy double-up.

Shortly after, Vamplew flopped a straight and got value on every street to win a pot of close to 15,000.

The young Scot’s heater continued when he flopped a set and turned quads, eliminating an opponent and shooting up to over 100,000 in chips.

Also on the board with big stacks are Matt “ch0ppy” Kay (101,200), Ivo Donev (100,100), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (90,200), online poker high-stakes pro Ronny Kaiser (69,600) and Chris Moorman (64,400).

Minieri, Candio, Headline Day’s Busted

Dario Minieri

 

Italy lost a few of its best players today as the frenetic pace pushed a steady stream of players out the exit.

But the list of busted big names extended beyond Italian stars, and it started growing in the very first level.

Former WPT Bucharest winner Guillaume Darcourt flopped a set and got his stack in to the middle against an over-pair, only to see his opponent’s two-outer come in on the river.

The bad luck continued as UK young gun John Eames turned a full house and got his stack in on the river, only to see his opponent flip over a bigger turned boat.

Eames finished third at the 2011 EPT Copenhagen main event and he won a €2,000 side event at the recent EPT Prague series, but he’ll have to wait until next time for another shot at a major EPT title.

Also taking an early exit was Martin Jacobson. The Swede has four EPT final tables, including two runner-up finishes, and he finished 10th in the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event.

Italian superstars Dario Minieri and Filippo Candio were also eliminated before day’s end.

Joining those players on the busted list were Canadians Will Molson and Jeff Sarwer, November Niners Martin Staszko and Joe Cheong, Michael Tureniec, Lex Veldhuis, Andrew Frankenberger and Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes.

Action continues tomorrow at the Casino de Campione in Italy as the latest European Poker Tour event continues. Check our Poker News Section for more updates.