Marek Blasko Takes a Huge Lead Into Day 3 At WPT Bratislava

Day 1 was all about the total dominance of Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. Today the Golden Vegas Casino witnessed an even greater display of dominance as Marek Blasko simply bulldozed his way through the competition. Day 3 was simply a battle for the runners up spot. First place was never there for the taking.

Alessio Isaia is fast becoming a WPT legend on the European circuit. After winning WPT Venice he then went on to make the final table at WPT Vienna. So I suppose it is no surprise to read that the first person to eclipse ElkY as the WPT Bratislava chip leader was Isaia. He amassed a stack of over 300,000 as early as level 11. But then for the rest of the day he played an extremely tight and solid game but has made it through to Day 3 in 3rd spot with 421,500 chips.

WSOP bracelet winner Pascal Lefrancois was a hot tip to do well here after his great showing at Vienna. Party Poker Online qualifier and WPT NS Paris final tablist, Ingo Paulus, crippled Lefrancois after Lefrancois had moved all-in on a flush draw that never materialised. Lefrancois was out not long after but Paulus is still on course for a second WPT final table as he heads into Day 3 with 165,000 chips.

James Akenhead, Ludovic Lacay, Alexander Kuzmin and Martin Jacobson were all early challengers to the crown Isaia had ripped off ElkY’s head. Neither of them managed to make it through to Day 3 though. Firstly Blasko disposed of Kuzmin to come within reach of Isaia but it was Jacobson’s departure that propelled Blasko into such a dominant position. The hand just magnifies the fine lines between success and failure in this great game. Jacobson moved all-in for over 200,000 chips in search of a heart while Blasko was sat on the stone cold nuts. One heart was the difference between Jacobson being the chip leader and getting a taxi back to the hotel. In the end it was Taxi for Jacobson and Blasko had one foot firmly planted in Day 3.

Then after the dinner break Roberto Romanello started to make his presence felt in the tournament. The recent EPT winner is on a mission to find WPT glory and it was a case of what might have been for the Welshman. Each time he grinded himself into contention he would lose a huge pot and would have to start right back over again. It is the measure of the man that he never gives up – the heart of a true champion – and at the end of the day despite losing all in pots with v , [kx][kx]v [ax][qx]and [kx][kx]v [qx][tx]he finished the day with 350,000 chips and will be a man to watch during Day 3.

Chris Williamson, Jakob Carlsson and Fabian Quoss shared table space all day and all three of them looked like strong contenders. Then Party Poker Team Pro Bodo Sbrzesny moved onto their table and started to shake things up a bit. Sbrzesny eliminating Quoss with when Quoss was holding pocket aces. Williamson (376,000), Carlsson (326,500) and Sbrzesny (339,000) will all return for Day 3 at 14:00 (CET) tomorrow.

Other players who played out of their skins today were Mayu Roca (481,500), Hiren “Sunny” Patel (163,000), The Speranza brothers (Alessandro – 272,500 and Gianluca 183,100) and Simon Charette (260,000).

Right at the death, Day 1 chip leader ElkY was eliminated and the baton was passed on to a new man. His name was Marek Blasko and today he just kept coming up with the goods, single handedly eliminating everyone who arrived at his table and he will start Day 3 with 903,500 chips.

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