EPT COPENHAGEN: NEUVILLE LEADS DEFENDING CHAMP TURENIEC, OTHERS TO THE TOP 24

PHOTO (credit Neil Stoddart)/SOURCE: POKERSTARS.com

Belgium's Pierre Neuville - Team PokerStars Pro - has taken over the chip lead as Day 3 has come to an end at EPT Copenhagen. A veteran on the poker circuit, Neuville (2011 PTPR Rank: 234th) has surprisingly never won a significant event on tour. Neuville has enjoyed some success on the EPT - of note, he finished second to Antonio Matias at EPT Vilamoura back in 2009.

WSOP November Niner Martin Staszko finds himself in the Top 10 after Thursday's play. Staszko (2011 PTPR Rank: 182nd) - who finished second in the Main Event - built an extreme short stack into a Top 10 stack today.

One person to keep an eye on Friday is defending champ Michael Tureniec. Tureniec (2011 PTPR Rank: 112th) has quietly been amassing chips and currently sits 15th out of 24. Tureniec is about 500K off-pace but, you should never count out a former champion.

Our feature player from Wednesday's post died a horrible death (at least, her chips did) on Thursday. Melanie Weisner went from the penthouse to the outhouse in no time - the hand of death coming at the hands of Steve O'Dwyer when Weisner's ace-queen ran into O'Dwyer's aces.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS
Pierre Neuville 780,000
Alexander Manson 730,000
Aage Floenes Ravn 691,000
Alejandro Sanchez Fernandez 620,500
Keld Volquardsen 523,500
Mickey Petersen 451,500
Martin Staszko 432,500 (Runner-Up, WSOP Main Event)
Steve O'Dwyer 423,500 (Day 1 Chip Leader)
Andreas Wiese 344,500
Michael Tureniec 294,500 (Defending Champion)

NOTABLE DAY 3 PLAYER ELIMINATIONS
Juha Helppi, Mads Wissing, Melanie Weisner, Simon Ravnsbaek, Kevin Iacofano, Luca Pagano and Johnny Lodden.

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EPT COPENHAGEN TOP 24 PAYOUTS (DKK) 1- 2,515,000 2- 1,600,000 3- 1,000,000 4- 740,000 5- 490,000 6- 390,000 7- 290,000 8- 191,400 9,10- 140,000 11,12- 110,000 13,14- 90,000 15,16- 75,000 17 to 24- 70,000 RELATED POSTS >> O'DWYER IN CONTROL >> TURENIEC CONQUERS COPENHAGEN >> WEISNER LEADS AT AUSSIE >> KURSEVICH WINS DEAUVILLE DEFENDING CHAMPION Michael Tureniec 2011 PTPR Ranking: 112th

PTPR PREMIER EVENT PokerStars.com EPT Copenhagen EPT Copenhagen NLH Main Event February 20-25, 2012 Casino Copenhagen | Denmark Buy-in: $6,635 | Prizepool: $1,789,625 Entries: 299 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 127 2nd place 77 3rd place 47 4th place 37 5th place 32 6-7th place 27 8-11th place 12 12-15th place 10 16-18th place 7 NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Madrid March 12-17, 2012 EVENT COVERAGE >> POKERSTARS BLOG

EPT COPENHAGEN: IS THIS FINALLY MELANIE WEISNER'S TIME TO SHINE?

PHOTO (credit Neil Stoddart)/SOURCE: POKERSTARS.com

Melanie Weisner is widely recognized as one of the top live tournament pros on the circuit, yet, most are surprised when they learn that Weisner has yet to pickup that one big score on the circuit, which is something that most assumed had already happened given her skill.

Weisner has been close before - most recently starting final day play with the chip lead at a NLH Bounty Side Event at the Aussie Millions. It goes without saying that Weisner is one of the best players without a major victory.


This may be about to change. Weisner (2011 PTPR Rank: 1155th) holds the chip lead with 72 players left EPT Copenhagen, presented by PokerStars.com. Weisner takes a 48K chip into Day 3, she has accumulated an impressive 368K in chips the first two days of the tournament.

WPT Venice Grand Prix fourth place finisher Simon Ravnsbaek sits second in chips. Ravnsbaek (2011 PTPR Rank: 283rd) won the Danish Poker Championship in this very casino last October. Ravnsbaek also earned a third place finish at WPT Vienna last March.

Another familiar face to the Danish crowd at Casino Copenhagen rounds out the Top 3. Kevin Iacofano (2011 PTPR Rank: 238th) - who finished fourth in this event last year - is about 15K in chips behind Ravnsbaek.

Of the four players featured in yesterday's EPT Copenhagen recap, only two survived second day play - Steve O'Dwyer and Juha Helppi. Roberto Romanello and Marcel Bjerkmann were both eliminted during Day 2.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS (MIN. 40K CHIPS)
Melanie Weisner 368,200
Simon Ravnsbæk 320,800
Kevin Iacofano 305,200
Pierre Neuville 221,300
Michael Tureniec 214,500 (Defending Champion)
Juha Helppi 160,300
Steve O’Dwyer 122,000 (Day 1 Chip Leader)
Mads Wissing 119,300
Mickey Petersen 82,200
Luca Pagano 59,000
Johnny Lodden 41,100
Martin Staszko 27,900 (2011 WSOP Main Event Runner-Up)

NOTABLE DAY 2 PLAYER ELIMINATIONS
Anton Wigg, Martins Adeniya, Will Molson, Allan Baekke, Roberto Romanello, Samuel Chartier, Mario Puccini, Marcel Bjerkmann, Theo Jorgenssen, Arnaud Mattern, Byron Kaverman, David Vamplew, Vojtech Ruzicka and John Eames.

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EPT COPENHAGEN PAYOUTS (DKK) 1- 2,515,000 2- 1,600,000 3- 1,000,000 4- 740,000 5- 490,000 6- 390,000 7- 290,000 8- 191,400 9,10- 140,000 11,12- 110,000 13,14- 90,000 15,16- 75,000 17 to 24- 70,000 25 to 32- 65,000 33 to 40- 60,000 41 to 48- 55,000 RELATED POSTS >> O'DWYER IN CONTROL >> TURENIEC CONQUERS COPENHAGEN >> WEISNER LEADS AT AUSSIE >> KURSEVICH WINS DEAUVILLE DEFENDING CHAMPION Michael Tureniec 2011 PTPR Ranking: 112th

PTPR PREMIER EVENT PokerStars.com EPT Copenhagen EPT Copenhagen NLH Main Event February 20-25, 2012 Casino Copenhagen | Denmark Buy-in: $6,635 | Prizepool: $1,789,625 Entries: 299 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st place 127 2nd place 77 3rd place 47 4th place 37 5th place 32 6-7th place 27 8-11th place 12 12-15th place 10 16-18th place 7 NEXT TOUR STOP EPT Madrid March 12-17, 2012 EVENT COVERAGE >> POKERSTARS BLOG

2012 AUSSIE: IRISHMAN PARKHILL WINS THE BOUNTY/SHOOTOUT

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Congratulations to Ross Parkhill, the latest winner at the Aussie Millions! Parkhill was able to fend off 32 opponents on Sunday to pickup the coveted gold ring.

The tournament, which started as a standard bounty tournament Saturday, transformed into a shootout on Sunday, where the last two remaining players at each of the four tables met up for a final table showdown.

Parkhill (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) defeated Michal Polchlopek heads up. Polchlopek (2011 PTPR Rank: 2091st) earned a WPT Venice score last season.

Jamie Pickering (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), 2011 Aussie Millions Rebuys winner Oliver Speidel (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th) and James Obst (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) were other notables that finished in the Top 8.

Day 1 chip leader Melanie Weisner (2011 PTPR Rank: 1156th) had a tough day on Sunday. Things looked good as the day started but, unfortunately, it wasn't too long for Weisner - the new Lock Poker Pro - to hit the rail.

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FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1- Ross Parkhill 119,500 2- Michal Polchlopek 73,000 3- Sam Capra 50,000 4- Mark Betts 34,000 5- Jamie Pickering 24,000 6- Oliver Speidel 16,000 7- Adam Cusenza 13,000 8- James Obst 10,000 RELATED POSTS >> WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR SIDE EVENT Aussie Millions NLH 1.5K Bounty/Shootout Event January 21-22, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $1,570 | Prizepool: $495,250 Entries: 315 FINAL RESULTS ROSS PARKHILL 75 MICHAL POLCHLOPEK 40 SAM CAPRA 25 MARK BETTS 15 JAMIE PICKERING 10 OLIVER SPEIDEL 8 ADAM CUSENZA 5 JAMES OBST 5

2012 AUSSIE: WEISNER LEADS FINAL 32 IN BOUNTY/SHOOUTOUT PRELIM

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERENEWS.com

Melanie Weisner leads the way as the final 32 1.5K NLH Bounty players come back to a Sunday Shootout!

That's right, after a day full of bounties, the final four tables of eight players will turn into shootout tables with each table's winner meeting up in the final four!


Weisner (2011 PTPR Rank: 1156th) had some success on the circuit in 2011 but was never able to secure a major score.

Aussie veteran Jamie Pickering (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) is second in chips - about 50K behind Weisner.

Harry Demetriou (2011 PTPR Rank: NR), Oliver Speidel (2011 PTPR Rank: 346th), Eric Crain (2011 PTPR Rank: 680th) and James Obst (2011 PTPR Rank: NR) are a few other notable players still alive in the event.

SHOOUTOUT TABLE LINEUPS

Table 1: Melanie Weisner, Joshua Foster, Fabian Craib, Radoslaw Kopec, Oliver Speidel, Trung Tran, Sam Capra, Peter Dykes

Table 2: Jamie Pickering, Ross Parkhill, Sandeep Pulusani, Rhys Jones, Aaron Lim, Guang Lu, Tom Rafferty, Clemens Manzano

Table 3: Hans Dorn, Michal Polchlopek, Todd Bailey, Harry Demetriou, Bill Argyros, James Obst, Eugene Juczenko, Veselin Zmukic

Table 4: Mark Betts, Aleks Brkovic, Sayed Jabbour, Tsugunari Toma, Eric Crain, George Moussa, Louis Srour, Adam Cusinza

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TOP 10 EVENT PAYOUTS (in AUD): 1st $119,500 2nd $73,000 3rd $50,000 4th $34,000 5th $24,000 6th $16,000 7th $13,000 8th $10,000 9th $7,500 10th $7,500 LIVE UPDATES >> POKERNEWS.com PLAYER TWEETS >> #aussiemillions RELATED POSTS >> PEDLEY OUTLASTS KARAMALIKIS >> MIDDLETON DEFEATS DODDS >> MAD MARVIN LEADS FT CHARGE >> RUBIE WINS AUSSIE OPENER >> GOING INTO OVERTIME DOWN UNDER >> BLOOD, GUTS AND GORR!!! (2011)

PTPR SIDE EVENT Aussie Millions NLH 1.5K Bounty/Shootout Event January 21-22, 2012 Crown Casino | Melbourne Buy-in: $1,570 | Prizepool: $495,250 Entries: 315 PTS AT STAKE 1st place 75 2nd place 40 3rd place 25 4th place 15 5th place 10 6th place 8 7-9th place 5

EPT GRAND FINAL: WE'RE IN THE MONEY IN MADRID

PHOTO/SOURCE: POKERSTARSBLOG.com

Ole-Kristian Nergard (pictured) leads the way for the second straight day at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid. Nergard was the Day 1B chip leader following Sunday's play; he kept things going today and will come into Tuesday's action as the chip leader!

The group chasing Nergard includes Kristoffer Thorsson, who sits second in chips, about 15k in chips behind the leader.

French pro Hugo Lemaire is fourth in chips while US pros Melanie Weisner and the electrifying William Reynolds are right behind Lemaire.

EPT Berlin champ Ben Wilinofsky refuses to go away - he is 8th in chips and is looking to make it two EPT titles in two months.

There are a bunch of other big names also in the race as Day 3 action approaches - Weinman, Ramdin, Gomes, Karr, Sunar, Reinkemeier, Palovic to name a few.

We're down to 104 runners, here are some of the notable chip stacks:

Ole Kristian Nergard 726,000
Kristoffer Thorsson 701,500
Daniel Weinman 676,000
Hugo Lemaire 658,000
Melanie Weisner 543,500
William Reynolds 541,500
Ben Wilinofsky 533,000
Victor Ramdin 494,500
Alex Gomes 476,500
Juan Maceiras 430,000
McLean Karr 422,000
Surinder Sunar 381,000
Tobias Reinkemeier 334,000
Dag Palovic 289,500
Tim Finne 218,500
Lucien Cohen 198,500
Ivan Demidov 198,500
Xuan Liu 168,500
David Sonelin 155,000
Ted Forrest 130,000
Allen Bari 127,000
Pierre Neuville 110,900
Leo Fernandez 106,000
James Bord 96,000
Will Molson 90,500
Eugene Katchalov 66,500
Daniel Heimiller 60,000
Mikhall Shakhnovich 56,500
Raymond Wu 39,000
Fatima Moreira de Melo 26,000

We lost many big names on Monday as well - the list includes: Pastor, Thorson, van Zadelhoff, Busquet, Brooks, Lundmark, Tureniec, Strassmann, Chouity, Boeken, Cajelais, Medic, Kravchenko, Lewis, Margets, Boeree, de Wolfe, Brenes, Vamplew, Langhamm, Phillips, Black, de Korver, Jason Mercier, Luske, Vandersmissen, Naujoks, Visser and Mattern.


PTPR GRAND SLAM EVENT
European Poker Tour Madrid Grand Final
EPT Grand Final
May 7-12, 2011

Casino Gran Madrid
Madrid, ESP

Buy-in: $15,295
Prizepool: $9,833,810
Entries: 686

Defending Champion: Nicolas Chouity

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 156
2nd position 96
3rd position 81
4th position 71
5th position 66
6th position 61
7th position 56
8th position 51
9th position 41
10th position 31
11th position 26
12-14th position 24
15-17th position 21
18-20th position 18
21-23rd position 14
24-27th position 11