Poker news tagged with 'sam el sayed'

The plan was to play 5 levels of 90-minutes but it wasn't necessary since the field had been narrowed down to only 18 players when 65-minutes remained of the final level. The new chip leader is Erik Cajelais, who has been in the top of the field since the very beginning of the tournament, with 1,190,000 chips. The Canadian poker pro finished runner-up in the 2007 Turks and Caicos Poker Classic and then finished 4th in the more recent Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event, and now he has a fantastic chance of winning his first WPT title.

Read more » WPT Merit Cyprus Classic: Erik Cajelais in the lead when only 18 players remain

Yesterday the second day of WPT Merit Cyprus Classic was played. There were 132 players left when the day started and Chino Rheem had the lead, and Sam El Sayed was in 3rd place and Robert Mizrachi in 6th place ("The Grinder"'s brother). 

Believe it or not but all of them did very, very well during Day 2 and are the in the top of the field with only 53 remaining players. Sam El Sayed, winner of of 2010 WPT Amneville, is the chip leader with 375,500 chips, closely followed by Erik Cajelais (371,500), Robert Mizrachi (365,000) and Chino Rheem (361,000). Many of the 53 players are relatively unknown players, so it's very nice to see some familiar faces in the top of the field.

The money bubble will burst when 36 players remain (28 - 36 place pay $8,070). The winner of the tournament will take home $287,784k and the runner-up gets $184,020.

The two starting days (Day 1a and 1b) of World Poker Tour Merit Cyprus Classic were played over the weekend. The main event attracted 329 players thus creating a total prize pool of $1,212,694. Now there are 132 players left and they will return to the tables in a few hours to play Day 2. The chip leader is no one else than David Rheem with 291,500. Doesn't ring a bell? David "Chino" Rheem is a well-known figure on the poker circuit having finished 7th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for 1,7 million and won WPT's Season VII Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, earning $1,5 million.

Read more » WPT Merit Cyprus Classic: Chino Rheem leads the pack!

Sam El Sayed raised 800,000 from the button, Franck called. The flop came 6[s]4[d]10[h] and Franck check/called Sam El Sayed's 800k bet. The J[c] landed on the turn, Franck Pepe checked and Sam El Sayed fired 2 millions into the pot. Franck called straight away and is now all in.

Sam El Sayed: K[h]K[c]
Franck Pepe: K[d]10[d]

Franck needed to hit a 10 (2 outs) to stay in the tournament. But the river card was the J[s] and it's all over. Sam El Sayed takes home the WPT Amneville with 2 pairs, kings over jacks, and the first place prize of €426,425. The runner-up, Franck Pepe, received €226,613.