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Saturday, February 13, 2016

EPT12 Dublin: Dream start for Anton Bertilsson in 25K High Roller

It's not uncommon for a player to come out of nowhere, take the lead and stay there for a while, but at some point you expect the run to falter. Not so with Anton Bertilsson today in the €25K High Roller event in Dublin.

It's not that Bertilsson is unknown to us - the Swede came second at EPT Prague in Season 11, missing out to Stephen Graner, and has since scored well in EPT side events. But today his attention was well and truly on bigger things, and the high roller, which he leads tonight with 1,375,000.

Chip leader Anton Bertilsson

His day was one of those which as a player you sit back and enjoy. He'd played well to amass a big stack by the third break of the day, then promptly found aces as he sat back down, and someone to pay him off. Before long he was the first player to the million mark. Actually you can make that the only player.

So he'll be the player to beat when play restarts tomorrow, the point where this event switches from an all-welcome jamboree to a freezeout.

With the (albeit quite expensive) safety net withdrawn it will be all or nothing for the remaining players as the money becomes the focus of the day. Joining Bertilsson for the trip will be a list of players with chips, which includes the following top ten:

Nick Petrangelo 878,000
Kim Wittendorf 852,000
Timothy Adams 729,000
Davidi Kitai 696,000
Charlie Carrel 613,000
Daniel Dvoress 565,000
Jason Mercier 555,000
Paul Newey 482,000
Sam Chartier 469,000
David Peters 461,000

A late but successful entry for Charlie Carrel

If you're wondering what it looks like in the middle of a high roller event like this, "volatile" would be one half-good description. All but Bertilsson endured the high rolling swings from one extreme to another.

Chance Kornuth, Andrew Lichtenberger, Mike McDonald, Daniel Dvoress, Max Silver, and Steve O'Dwyer could vouch for that. They were among those firing second bullets at this event having found the first one to be a dud. O'Dwyer also lost all that his second bullet could bring, and that's that for him.

Chance Kornuth

Steve O'Dwyer: Cannot win

Others slipped away today, although we're reluctant to report them permanently gone until they decline a re-entry before tomorrow. That's when play, and our live updates from Dublin, resumes. But officially there are 42 players remaining from 66 entries (from 56 unique players).

For now, get the complete chip count list on our chip count page, and update yourself on all the action from today with our live updates page.

If you're still looking for some action though you'd do well to check in on our UKIPT Main Event live updates. Coverage started on Wednesday, and the money bubble burst today. They play on until the small hours tonight, and you can follow updates here.

High Rollers meanwhile will be back at 12.30pm* tomorrow. Join us then.

*Our apologies. This report originally stated that play resumed at 12 noon on Saturday, not 12.30pm.

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Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog.