by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Feb 24, 2012 | Updated on Feb 24, 2012While the European Poker Tour’s Copenhagen event may not have drawn the largest or most star-studded field of the year, big names have definitely dominated the tournament in the early going. After Day 2, it’s Melanie Weisner of the United States who has taken the chip lead with just 72 players remaining in contention.Weisner had a good Day 1A, finishing in 9th position after the flight that saw fellow American Steve O’Dwyer jump out to the early chip lead. But Weisner dominated the second day of play, bagging over 368,000 chips to become the clear leader. Her closest competition, Danish pro Simon Ravnsbaek, has just over 320,000 chips.Weisner has yet to put a major cash on her resume, but she has attracted attention for her solid and consistent results over the last two years. She cashed in five different events at least year’s World Series of Poker, and has also cashed in four EPT events over the last two years. In fact, the majority of her nearly $400,000 in career earnings have come from playing in Europe.Many other notables also made their way to Day 3 in excellent position to make a run at the final table. Former chip leader Steve O’Dwyer had a rough second day of play, but his big stack allowed him to still finish the day with 122,000 chips. Day 1B leader Mads Wissing similarly bagged 119,300 to put him in good shape for a deep run. Luca Pagano and Martin Staszko are both still in the field, though on short stacks, while last year’s EPT Copenhagen winner Michael Tureniec has a strong stack of 214,500 chips.Day 3 of EPT Copenhagen will be played on Thursday, starting at 12:00 CET. The plan is to play down to 24 players before stopping play. All of the remaining players are battling for a portion of the €1.3 million prize pool, with €340,000 reserved for the champion.
