European Poker Tour Prague Day 1A Update

Day 1a of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague attracted 272 players paying €5,000 + €250 but by the end of the day over two-thirds of the field would have fallen on their swords.

Some of the notables who took to the felt were Alain Roy, Luca Pagano, Marcin Horecki, Christoffer Hansen, Johannes Strassmann, Gino Alacqua, Casey Kastle, Joe Elpayaa, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Ludovic Lacay, Michael Martin, Arnaud Mattern, and recent EPT Hungarian Open finalists Albert Iversen and Martin Jacobson.
 
Late arrivals included Voitto Rintala, Johnny Lodden, and Trond Erik Eidsvig while Gus Hansen showed up three hours into play and got knocked out within three hours of taking his seat.
 
An early casualty was former Card Player European bureau chief Rolf Slotboom when he was left cruelly crippled with one measly green chip (worth 25) after his pocket kings were beaten by A-Q. No chip and a chair scenario to come, he left shortly after. To rub salt in the wounds, the dealer responsible for the hands dealt was his own girlfriend.
 
The defending champion Arnaud Mattern had it rough from the start losing a pot worth 7,000 with top two pair against a set. Later, in a pot worth over 20,000 chips Mattern's overcards and flush draw on the flop were bested when his opponent hit his flush draw. Mattern, who recently came fifth at EPT Warsaw, will now have to wait until next year for a pop at a second EPT title.

At the end of level three 232 players remained.

Mid-session exits included a short stacked Luca Pagano (with about 4,000 left in chips) who was all in three ways with pocket eights versus A-K and A-Q. His opponent with A-Q hits his straight on the river and Pagano was gone.

Albert Iversen was knocked out of the event holding jacks versus A-K. Despite his recent final table performance at the Hungarian Open, where he came fourth for $214,502, it wasn't to be for the young Dane this time around in Prague.

Marcin Horecki exited the tournament running Q-J into A-K on a flop that only offered him an open ended straight draw.

Other mid-session exits included Joe Elpayaa, Markus Golser and Theo Jorgensen.

Two Frenchmen fought it out all day were Ludovic Lacay and Otto Richard. However, their ultimate battle resulted in Lacay's aces beating Richard's kings to send him to the rail. Lacay would end the evening as resounding chip leader. Christoffer Hansen, Mads Anderson, and Michael Martin were late casualties.

Johnny Lodden had a typical rollercoaster ride of a day. Very few people can double up, triple up, and quadruple up like Lodden can. Earlier in the day he made a comeback from 1,500, eventually to 8,000. He then turned that 8,000 into 20,000 when he rivered a straight versus pocket aces. He finished the day with about 34,800.

The top ten in chips at the end of the day were:

1. Ludovic Lacay (France) -- 94,200
2. Dan Pedersen (Denmark) -- 71,200
3. Constantin Cirstea (Romania) -- 69,500
4. Lukas Gideon Schwartz Orbach (UK) -- 69,200
5. Vasilis Chantzaras (Greece) -- 67,700
6. Jose Luis Navarro (Spain) -- 63,500
7. Philip Hepburn (UK) -- 62,500
8. Allan Baekke (Denmark) -- 62,300
9. Henrik Lundstrvm (Sweden) -- 60,500
10. Roy Von Der Locht (Germany) -- 58,300

Only 83 players were left standing but they will be joined by the successful players from today’s expected field of around 300. Join CardPlayer.com for live updates from the Hilton Hotel Casino, Prague today at 12:00 noon CET.

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