After another 10 levels of play, Day 2 of the €25,000 High Roller at 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino?? is in the books. Leading the 21 remaining players is Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis, who tops the leaderboard with 1,525,000 chips. This number will amount to 102 big blinds at the start of Day 3.
Mikolaitis takes over the end-of-day chip lead from Day 1 Chip Leader and fellow countryman Marius Kudzmanas, who busted in 26th place for €50,150 on Day 2. Mikolaitis is no stranger to these buy-ins, most recently cashing for $90,350 when he finished ninth in a $25,000 buy-in event during the PCA 2023. Looking to best that score, he will have his eyes set on the final table and beyond with his chip lead in the bag.
Roman Samoylov sits second in chips and trails Mikolaitis by a fair margin, as he will bring 1,120,000 into the start of Day 3. Not much is known about the Israeli player, except that has already won a hyper turbo side event here in Monte Carlo for €36,160. High stakes phenomenon and recent runner-up in the EPT Monte Carlo €100,000 Super High Roller Mikita Badziakouski meanwhile, rounds out the top 3, bagging 1,055,000. The likes of Steve O'Dwyer and PokerStars Ambassador Alejandro Lococo also make the top ten chip counts, sitting in fourth and eighth place respectively
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Stacks
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | 1,525,000 | 102 |
| 2 | Roman Samoylov | Israel | 1,120,000 | 75 |
| 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 1,055,000 | 70 |
| 4 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 705,000 | 47 |
| 5 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | 690,000 | 46 |
| 6 | Natan Chauskin | Belarus | 675,000 | 45 |
| 7 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 663,000 | 44 |
| 8 | Alejandro Lococo | Argentina | 575,000 | 38 |
| 9 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | 480,000 | 32 |
| 10 | Markkos Ladev | Estonia | 475,000 | 32 |
95 players bagged back on Day 1. However, the late registration period only ended at the start of Day 2, resulting in a last-minute addition of 28 entries. Together, they brought the total field to a very respectable size of 211. Of the 123 that started Day 2, 31 would make the money for a guaranteed cut of €43,550 out of the €5,066,110 prize pool.
The bubble ended up lasting about an hour of playtime. Some pots were played and the players applied a lot of preflop pressure, but no all-in and calls occurred. Then, in the penultimate level of the day, Isaac Haxton became the unfortunate bubble boy when his ‘’disaster prevention bell’’ could not prevent Mikita Badziakouski from hitting his gutshot straight draw against the top pair of Haxton.
Recap of the Rest of Day 2
As mentioned, Day 2’s field grew significantly before the start of play. Many of the 28 players who decided to make use of the option to maximum late register were familiar faces. Among them were Martin Jacobson, Erik Seidel, and most recent €100,000 Super High Roller Champion Alex Kulev. However, only Conor Beresford and Markkos Ladev were able to cash in on their impulse to buy in at the latest moment, as both have made it to Day 3.
Throughout the day, famous names in the poker scene busted left and right. Among the carnage were Sam Greenwood, Artur Martirosian, Timothy Adams, Justin Bonomo, and Christoph Vogelsang. Seth Davies, Davidi Kitai, Juan Pardo and PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas fell nearer to the money, but they too did not last long enough to experience bubble play.
After the bubble was done and over with, there were mincashes for Sam Grafton, Tom-Aksel Bedell, Romain Lewis, and Orpen Kisacikoglu (€43,550). Nick Petrangelo, Aliaksandr Hirs, and Masashi Oya made it one pay jump further, and cashed for €50,150. The final bust-outs of the night were Finnish powerhouse Patrik Antonius and Barak Wisbrod, who each cashed €57,600.
Among the ones who did make it to Day 3 but will return with a shorter stack are Adrian Mateos (275,000), Ben Heath (220,000), and Dominik Nitsche (150,000). They will each bring 20 big blinds or less into Day 3.
As mentioned before, when Day 2 had reached its completion after ten hours of play, only 21 players remained. Each of them is guaranteed €57,600 and will restart Day 3 Saturday, 6th of May at 12.30 p.m. local time. Blinds will restart in Level 21: 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante. A long and arduous day is ahead of the field as the €25,000 EPT High Roller will play down to a champion, who will take home the €1,070,260 top prize and, of course, the coveted trophy.
PokerNews will also be present to bring you the exciting grande finale of the last High Roller of what has been a wonderful EPT Monte Carlo stop, so stay tuned to this very page.
