Bubble Bursts in Last Level of the Day; Goel Leads Pack of 44 Heading into Day 3
After 10 levels of play, Day 2 of the €10,300 High Roller at PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris concluded, with Apoorva Goel topping the end of day chip counts. They ended the day with a stack of 1,410,000.
Closest to him are Christian Pedersen and Rui Ferreira, who bagged 1,120,000 & 1,060,000 respectively.
From Day 1, 173 players advanced to Day 2. However, as late registration was open until the start of today's session, 40 more players opted to hop into the fray.
These extra entries brought the Day 2 field to 213 players, taking the total number of entries to 431. This generated a whopping €4,137,600 prize pool, with €810,500 designated for the eventual champion.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Stacks
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apoorva Goel | India | 1,410,000 | 94 |
| 2 | Christian Pedersen | Denmark | 1,120,000 | 75 |
| 3 | Rui Ferreria | Portugal | 1,060,000 | 71 |
| 4 | David Miscikowski | United States | 1,050,000 | 70 |
| 5 | Aleksandr Shevliakov | Russia | 1,030,000 | 69 |
| 6 | Eros Calderone | Italy | 990,000 | 66 |
| 7 | Jun Obara | Japan | 885,000 | 59 |
| 8 | Chevan Tin | Hong Kong | 780,000 | 52 |
| 9 | Martin Stausholm | Denmark | 777,000 | 52 |
| 10 | Mauricio Ferreira Pais | Germany | 690,000 | 46 |
Bubble Play That Will Be Remembered for a Long Time
The big story of the day was that the money bubble burst. However, it was a long wait as the players made the money in the final level of the day.
Bubble play lasted nearly three hours, with several double-ups taking place. But in the end, Aleksandar Tomovic was the last player to leave the tournament room empty-handed.
Tomovic was forced all in from the small blind and got three callers looking to end the bubble trouble.
Action checked to Rui Ferreira on the flop of 
, and he bet 10,000. Only Tom-Aksel Bedell and Roman Hrabec called. All three players then checked on the 
turn, and Hrabec checked again on the 
river. Bedell bet 42,000, and Ferreira folded, leading Hrabec to use a time bank before check-raising to 225,000.
Hrabec's raise sent the Norwegian into the tank, and he exhausted through three time banks — a fitting end to the lengthy bubble — as spectators made their way to the table. Eventually, he folded, and Tomovic waited patiently as hands played out on other tables. Finally, the cards were on their backs.
Tomovic showed 
for just jack-high, while Hrabec held 
for a pair of queens to finally burst the bubble as the room erupted in applause.
Other Day 2 Highlights
As mentioned, the returning players from Day 1 were joined by many fresh faces who opted to take advantage of late registration.
Notable names who joined the festivities at the last minute included Julien Martini, Nick Petrangelo and Erik Seidel. However, all three of them missed out on the money.
Multiple players were also representing PokerStars. The likes of Sam Grafton, Rafael Moraes, Parker Talbot, and Ramon Colillas were in attendance, but like the names above, they fell short of seeing a return on their investment.
Bubble play brought some spectacular hands, with Pieter Aerts turning a set of kings to crack aces to survive. The United Kingdom's Conor Beresford had a bit better luck with pocket aces and doubled through Jenya Gavrilovich.
Vlada Stojanovic also made quad aces to breach the one million mark and left Marton Czuczor short. But as mentioned, it was Tomovic's elimination that resulted in celebration for the 63 final players, as they all secured the €17,100 min-cash.
However, when all was said and done on Day 2, only 44 players remained, and they return for Day 3, which kicks off on Sunday, February 25, at 12:30 p.m. local time. Those players have all locked up a minimum payday of €18,800, and to find the seat draw for Day 3, head over to the PokerStars Live app.
As always, be sure to keep locked in with PokerNews to discover this thrilling event's conclusion.