The two starting days of the €3,300 buy-in WPT European Championship are now history. As many as 295 entries joined the tournament’s field. Of those, a total of 151 made it through Days 1A and 1B and will progress into Day 2, which is set to be played later today at the host venue, Spielbank Berlin.

Austrian poker pro Gerald Karlic will enter Day 2 action as the overall chip leader with a total of 182,800 in chips. The player secured his top leaderboard position on Day 1A. And Zikai Li, who finished 12th in the WPTDeepStacks Berlin Main Event a few days ago, bagged and tagged 133,000 at the end of Day 1B to finish as the overnight chip leader.

Registration for the tournament remains open through the first level of Day 2, which means that more players could join the field. It is important to note that the event features a guaranteed prize pool of €1 million. Organizers will announce how the money will be distributed once registration closes. The tournament will run through Monday, January 15, when the official six-handed final table will be played.

Local poker pro Marvin Rettenmaier is headlining the remaining hopefuls. The player is eying his third WPT Main Tour title. And if he takes down the ongoing WPT European Championship, he will join the elite club of the few players who have managed to scoop three Main Event titles from the popular poker series. These select few currently include Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Anthony Zinno, Darren Elias, and Chino Rheem.

Rettenmaier currently boasts live tournament earnings of over $6.6 million. The player has cashed in more than 143 live tournaments since 2009 when his first in-the-money finish was recorded.

The German was the winner of the 2012 WPT World Championship $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em. The player topped a field of 152 entries back then to scoop the largest portion of the prize pool. His share of the money totaled $1,196,858. This has actually remained the player’s largest-ever live cash.

It can be said that 2012 was a lucky year for Rettenmaier, as the player won a second WPT title only several months after his first one. He bested 328 other players to win the 2012 WPT Merit Cyprus Classic $4,400 Main Event for $287,784.

Other notables who will try to win the WPT European Championship title at Spielbank Berlin include a former WPT champion Julian Thomas and WPT’s very own Tony Dunst. Rettenmaier is advancing into Day 2 with 82,900, which accounts for an average chip stack, while the other two currently hold 43,500 and 16,600, respectively.

Action at the host venue is set to resume shortly. The Day 1A and Day 1B players could be joined by more participants willing to try to win the exciting event. Registration is set to close once the first level of play is concluded.

Image Credit: WPT

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