| Buy-In: | $6,313 + $379 |
|---|---|
| Prize Pool: | $3,610,215 |
| Entrants: | 563 |
Here’s the seat draw for Day 4 of EPT Prague, where 23 players remain. Play begins at noon on Friday:
1 1 Josh Prager, USA, 141,000
1 2 Zoltan Szabo, Hungary, 253,000
1 3 Haykel Cherif Vidal, Spain, PokerStars qualifier, 572,000
1 4 Marco Leonzio, Italy, 1,064,000
1 5 Melanie Weisner, USA, 260,000
1 6 Salvatore Bonavena, Italy, Team PokerStars Pro, 1,166,000
1 7 Jan Bendik, Slovakia, PokerStars qualifier, 1,846,000
1 8 Denis Kipnis, Russia, PokerStars qualifier, 912,000
2 1 Sergio Rodriguez Sanchez, Spain, PokerStars qualifier, 513,000
2 2 Jean Sami Souleiman, Lebanon, 670,000
2 3 Roberto Romanello, UK, 512,000
2 4 Roberto Nulli, Italy, 605,000
2 5 Ion Pavel, Romania, 477,000
2 6 Andrea Ferrari, Italy, 303,000
2 7 Richard Toth, Hungary, Team PokerStars Pro, 680,000
2 8 Emilliano Bono, Italy, 371,000
3 1 Manuel Bevand, France, 849,000
3 2 Ludovic Marguerat, Switzerland, PokerStars qualifier, 335,000
3 3 Nikolay Losev, Russia, PokerStars qualifier, 971,000
3 4 Rob Hollink, Netherlands, 529,000
3 5 Kevin MacPhee, USA, PokerStars qualifier, 2,096,000
3 6 Peter Skripka, Russia, PokerStars player, 1,216,000
3 7 Marcin Horecki, Poland, Team PokerStars Pro, 739,000
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
The first three days of EPT Prague involved surprise leaders and challengers, the situation at the end of Day 3 is much clearer. The reason: the gradual dominance of tonight’s chip leader Kevin MacPhee. The PokerStars qualifier was already amassing a sizable lead before he won a three-way all-in against Kevin Stani and Paul Knebel, a pot that took him past the 2 million mark. Now he rests ahead of Day 4 with 2,096,000 in principle position to take down the title.
What makes this story all the more notable is MacPhee’s previous. Earlier this year MacPhee owned the EPT Berlin final table, winning his first major title and earning €1 million. Now, nine months later, he may be poised to banish the monkey on the back of all EPT champions, and win a second.
But should he fail, others are in position to step forward, they being Rob Hollink and Salvatore Bonavena.
For Hollink, who finished on 529,000 chips, it has been a long wait to get within sight of a repeat final, having won the Grand Final all the way back in Season 1. The sight of the Prague Hilton tournament room is a familiar one to Team PokerStars Pro Bonavena, who won his first major title in this very room two years ago. He bags up 1,166,000 tonight.
Their opponents tomorrow will not be quite so obligingly cordial to the record books. The likes of Team Pros Marcin Horecki (739,000) and Richard Toth (680,000), along with formidable players like Jan Bendik (1,846,00), in second place tonight, and Marco Leonzio (1,064,000), will return intent of reaching Saturday’s finale. Melanie Weisner and Roberto Romanello will be back, as will one half of the Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow of EPT Prague, husband and wife Helen and Josh Prager.
Mr Prager will be back but Mrs Prager will not. We were already down to 24 players, after an astonishing double elimination hand won by Horecki. But at the same time Prager, H, was shoving with queens against the jacks of Ion Pavel. Pavel made his set on the flop but Prager made a straight on the turn, only for Pavel to make quads on the river. A tearful Prager busted in 24th place.
While some records wait to be set, some have already been inked in to the ledger. Luca Pagano – how many times have we written that on the EPT blog? – recorded his 17th EPT cash today, busting in 43rd-place. His winnings in EPTs now stand at $1.2 million.
Pagano will not feature in Day 4 and neither will many others who fell along the way.
EPT Tallinn winner Stani was sent home by MacPhee, while Matt Affleck, Fabrice Soulier, Monte Carlo High Roller winner Tobias Reinkemeier, early pace setter Dirk Richter and Serial PokerStars Qualifier Pierre Neuville were also dispatched to the rail.
A final word for Dominik Nitsche, the EPT Prague bubble boy. The young German has big results in Barcelona, Marrakech, Barcelona again, and France this year, not to mention an LAPT win in 2009 and near WPT miss a few months later. Nitsche shows remarkable talent at the baize and this will surely be only a minor black spot in an otherwise Technicolor fledgling career.
Chip counts are here while all the details of today; the eliminations, the double ups, the fist fights and international incidents, can be found at the links below. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Day 3 seat draw
Level 16 & 17 updates
Level 18 & 19 updates
Level 20 & 21
Play continues tomorrow when the field will be reduced from 23 to eight, who will compete in Saturday’s final. All that remains to do is suggest the links above as well as those of our German, Dutch and Italian foreign bloggers. Like us, you might not understand a word of it, but there might be the odd picture. It should go perfectly with a European dinner, a late East Coast lunch, a regular West Coast lunch or as light relief to Australians about to watch their bowlers trounced by the top of the England batting order.
Our thanks also to photographer Neil Stoddart, who as well as being on the front lines all day has also ventured further outside than our furlough to the supermarket across the street.
We’re now heading, with about 500 other people, to the PokerStars Christmas Party, for turkey, a Bond film and a nap on the couch. We’ll be back at 12 noon local time tomorrow. Until then it’s good night from Prague.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
6.55pm: Not so pro Bono
The board was K
A
8[10h]2
and Emilliano Bono had put in a chunky 64,000 bet with around 90,000 in the middle already. The decision was on Manuel Bevand, who went deep into the tank. And there he stayed for around five minutes, eyeing up Bono who was busy playing with his chip stack. Eventually, Bevand made the call, and his KJ was miles ahead of Bono’s whiffy [J]7. — SY
6.52pm: Hollink can’t budge Leonzio
Rob Hollink was left wondering whether he would have won this pot should he have pulled the trigger on the turn or river. Marco Leonzio had called a three-bet totalling 108,000 from the Dutchman on a 96
5 flop, with Roberto Romanello translating the bet totals into Italian, but no further bets were laid out on the 8 turn or 4 river.
Leonzio showed A9 for top pair, top kicker and took the pot. — RD
6.46pm: Jan Bendik breaks the million mark
Jan Bendik has just broken the million mark after hitting a nut flush against Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki. Bendik is up to 1,150,000 and Horecki down to 250,000. — RD
6.40pm: Tres bon for Sal Bon
Team PokerStars Pro Salvatore Bonavena has taken big step towards regaining his crown here in Prague after eliminating Morgan Bauer to move up to 855,000. It was a bit of a cooler as Bauer picked up QQ on the button and Bonavena had AK in the small blind.
All the chips went in as you can imagine and the board ran out 78J25. The Italian made a flush on the river to take the lot and send Bauer home in 34th place with €11,000. — MC
6.30pm: Friendly fire
It started out a friendly hand from the blinds, but by the end of it one player was banging the table with delight while the other was quietly paying a heft bill.
When Melanie Weisner completed in the small blind Emilliano Bono wondered what was up. Why no raise.
“I’m being friendly,” joked Weisner. “I like you.”
This brought a laugh from Bono who checked for a flop of 27K which was checked for a 10 turn and 6 river. At which stage Weisner bet 36,000, much to the irritation of Bono who announced a raise, another 56,000 on top. Weiser wasted no time calling, but was forced to fold when Bono showed 36.
Bono’s delight was obvious. He banged the table and yelled a few things, then proceeded to explain his thought process to Weisner who did her best not to say anything. Bono up to nearly 500,000 now. – SB
6.20pm: MacPhee busts two, runaway leader
Kevin MacPhee has knocked out Kevin Stani and Paul Knebel in a double whammy that sends him up to 2,350,000 and the monster chip lead. Stani had open-shoved for 240,000, Knebl re-shoved for 470,000 and MacPhee called:
MacPhee: AK
Stani: QQ
Knebel: [10h][10c]
It was a huge three-way all-in, and it looked good for EPT Tallinn winner Stani on the 983 flop. The 6 turn added a flush draw for Knebel, but the river was A giving the massive 1.2million pot to MacPhee. He whooped in delight, then apologised for his celebration and got up to shake both his victims’ hands.
Dare we talk about a double EPT winner? MacPhee is certainly in great shape to repeat his EPT Berlin win as he now has 12 per cent of the chips in play with 34 players left. — SY
6.19pm: Big pot alert
News has reached us that a monster pot has just taken place, the first hand back after the break no less. Details to come shortly. — RD
6.10pm: Players return for final push
We have just 12 more players to lose before the day draws to a close. Three tables of eight players will return tomorrow at noon to play down to the final eight and a shot at the €640,000 first prize. — RD
PokerStars Blog reporting team at EPT Prague (in stages of post-sweet overload): and Simon Young (riding the rush), Marc Convey (still bouncing off the walls), Rick Dacey (migraine brewing) and Stephen Bartley (well and truly sugar-crashed). Photos by Neil Stoddart.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
8pm: Play ends
The dramatic events that just occurred brought day 3 to an end. 23 players will return tomorrow where we will play down to a final table of eight. A wrap of the day’s play will be up for your reading pleasure shortly, as will the official overnight counts. — MC
7.55pm: Brutal bust out for Mrs Prager
PokerStars qualifier Helen Prager has been eliminated in 24th place, just as everyone else was bagging up for the night, and it was a pretty disgusting exit.
Rob Hollink raised from under the gun before Prager moved all-in for 111,000 from the next seat – then Ion Pavel moved all-in from the small blind. Roberto Romanello was sat in the big blind and he thought for two minutes before folding big-slick (he revealed it at the conclusion of the hand). Hollink folded as well to leave it heads-up.
Prager: QQ
Pavel: JJ
The flop came 910J to see Pavel take the lead with top set. Prager’s husband joined the rail and shouted for an eight and it duly came on the turn with 8. The drama wasn’t over, though, as the river fell J to make the Romanian quads for the pot. — MC
7.53pm: Loose ends
Here’s how the end of the day looked to Kevin MacPhee as well as a round up by our very own Rick Dacey. — SB
7.52pm: Horecki double knockout
Marcin Horecki has just chipped up to 716,000 following a double knockout with pocket kings. He took out Salvatore Irace and Rasmus Nielsen in one fell swoop, which we believed was to be the final hand of the day. Another one was still in progress. That is to follow shortly. — RD
7.48pm: Back from break
This shouldn’t take, folks. Hold onto your hats.
7.32pm: End of level
We have just 26 players left in the main event. Two more to go before the day ends and it could be a brutal husband and wife axing. Both Helen and Josh Prager are periously short stacked. Back in 15 minutes. — RD
7.30pm: Irace crippled then partially healed
Salvatore Irace gave Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth a full double-up to be crippled to 14,000 and then he won the next two pots to recover to around 100,000.
Toth raised to 46,000 from the button and Irace called from the small blind along with the big blind. The flop came 542 and the Italian check-called a 46,000 bet (the BB folded). The turn came 4 and Irace check-called a 68,000 bet to see the 10 river where he moved all-in for around 180,000. Toth snap called all-in for 165,000 with 1010 for a full house. Irace could only muster A5 and was left with only 14,000.
These went in the next hand from the button and Rasmus Nielsen called from the big blind for the extra 2,000 with Q7. Irace tabled J9 and got there on the 10364J board.
He was all-in for 40,000 the very next hand after an early position raise to 24,000. Nielsen re-shoved to isolate and it worked to get the hand heads-up. The Dane was ahead again with 99 but couldn’t stay that way against the Italian’s Q6 through as a queen-high board appeared. — MC
7.29pm: Bonavena waves bon voyage to another
Salvatore Bonavena is on a heater at the moment and has just knocked out Nicolas Babel. Bonavena opened under-the-gun and was shoved on by Babel in the big blind. Sal Bon made the call.
Bonavena: AK
Babel: QQ
The flop smashed Bonavena with top two and no two-outer or backdoor draw appeared. — RD
7.25pm: Christmas presents
7.20pm: No action
Emilliano Bono and Manuel Bevand, who have been sparring a lot of late, saw a Q28 flop. Bono put out a 24,000 bet, and Bevand sussed something was amiss and folded quickly. Bono showed him the monster KQ. — SY
7.13pm: Standing Stancic
The main part of Sasa Stancic’s downfall ironically came from him standing up. In a three-bet pot against Denis Kipnis, Stancic faced a 66,000 bet into the 638 flop.
‘How much you got?’ asked Stancic already having been on his feet counting and recounting his stack for a good minute.
Kipnis took out his ear plug and sighed as he gestured to his 240,000 stack.
Maybe he took that exhalation as a sign of weakness, maybe he thought ‘if in doubt, shove’ but either way Stancic opted for the check-raise all-in. The Russian made the call with 1010 fearing the worst and was somewhat pleasantly surprised to see AQ. Stancic had to hit. He didn’t. He was left with 80,000 and was out moments later. Stancic has €12,500 more in his life while Kipnis and his 700,000 stack still have a shot at the big time. — RD
7.10pm: Souleiman makes Blain’s stack disappear
Jean Sami Souleiman has taken out the last Irishman standing – Dermot Blain. Souleiman raised to 35,000 then called when Blain moved all-in for just under 300,000.
Souleiman: AK
Blain: 77
The board ran A8K8A to make a full house for the main from Lebanon. A count of the stacks was carried out and Souleiman had 290,000 to Blain’s 289,000. — MC
7pm: So long Fernando
EPT season seven points leader Fernndo Britto has been eliminated. He was taken out by Marco Leonzio moments after the Italian took a chunk out of Rob Hollink. All the chips went in on the flop when it read 396. Britto tabled JJ but he was behind to Leonzio’s QQ. The K7 turn and river didn’t change anything and we edge ever closer to our final three tables. — MC
6.55pm: Not so pro Bono
The board was KA8[10h]2 and Emilliano Bono had put in a chunky 64,000 bet with around 90,000 in the middle already. The decision was on Manuel Bevand, who went deep into the tank. And there he stayed for around five minutes, eyeing up Bono who was busy playing with his chip stack. Eventually, Bevand made the call, and his KJ was miles ahead of Bono’s whiffy [J]7. — SY
6.52pm: Hollink can’t budge Leonzio
Rob Hollink was left wondering whether he would have won this pot should he have pulled the trigger on the turn or river. Marco Leonzio had called a three-bet totalling 108,000 from the Dutchman on a 965 flop, with Roberto Romanello translating the bet totals into Italian, but no further bets were laid out on the 8 turn or 4 river.
Leonzio showed A9 for top pair, top kicker and took the pot. — RD
6.46pm: Jan Bendik breaks the million mark
Jan Bendik has just broken the million mark after hitting a nut flush against Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki. Bendik is up to 1,150,000 and Horecki down to 250,000. — RD
6.40pm: Tres bon for Sal Bon
Team PokerStars Pro Salvatore Bonavena has taken big step towards regaining his crown here in Prague after eliminating Morgan Bauer to move up to 855,000. It was a bit of a cooler as Bauer picked up QQ on the button and Bonavena had AK in the small blind.
All the chips went in as you can imagine and the board ran out 78J25. The Italian made a flush on the river to take the lot and send Bauer home in 34th place with €11,000. — MC
6.30pm: Friendly fire
It started out a friendly hand from the blinds, but by the end of it one player was banging the table with delight while the other was quietly paying a heft bill.
When Melanie Weisner completed in the small blind Emilliano Bono wondered what was up. Why no raise.
“I’m being friendly,” joked Weisner. “I like you.”
This brought a laugh from Bono who checked for a flop of 27K which was checked for a 10 turn and 6 river. At which stage Weisner bet 36,000, much to the irritation of Bono who announced a raise, another 56,000 on top. Weiser wasted no time calling, but was forced to fold when Bono showed 36.
Bono’s delight was obvious. He banged the table and yelled a few things, then proceeded to explain his thought process to Weisner who did her best not to say anything. Bono up to nearly 500,000 now. – SB
6.20pm: MacPhee busts two, runaway leader
Kevin MacPhee has knocked out Kevin Stani and Paul Knebel in a double whammy that sends him up to 2,350,000 and the monster chip lead. Stani had open-shoved for 240,000, Knebl re-shoved for 470,000 and MacPhee called:
MacPhee: AK
Stani: QQ
Knebel: [10h][10c]
It was a huge three-way all-in, and it looked good for EPT Tallinn winner Stani on the 983 flop. The 6 turn added a flush draw for Knebel, but the river was A giving the massive 1.2million pot to MacPhee. He whooped in delight, then apologised for his celebration and got up to shake both his victims’ hands.
Dare we talk about a double EPT winner? MacPhee is certainly in great shape to repeat his EPT Berlin win as he now has 12 per cent of the chips in play with 34 players left. — SY
6.19pm: Big pot alert
News has reached us that a monster pot has just taken place, the first hand back after the break no less. Details to come shortly. — RD
6.10pm: Players return for final push
We have just 12 more players to lose before the day draws to a close. Three tables of eight players will return tomorrow at noon to play down to the final eight and a shot at the €640,000 first prize. — RD
PokerStars Blog reporting team at EPT Prague (in stages of post-sweet overload): Simon Young (riding the rush), Marc Convey (still bouncing off the walls), Rick Dacey (migraine brewing) and Stephen Bartley (well and truly sugar-crashed). Photos by Neil Stoddart.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
3.52pm: ‘Lucky Russian’
Riccardo Giacalone has just been knocked out by Nikolay Losev, who is a ‘Lucky Russian,’ according to Marius Heiene. Manuel Bevand had opened the pot for 18,000 from middle position and had been called by Losev. The action folded to Giacalone in the big blind and he shoved all-in for 160,000. Bevand quickly passed but Losev made the call.
Giacalone: QQ
Losev: AQ
Losev instantly flopped an ace and Giacalone was drawing thin to just one out departed to the rail shortly after. — RD
3.45pm: The horror
Another elimination. This time it’s Martial Blangenwitsch wailing in pain.
Kiril Zahariev bet 21,000 which was raised to 68,000 by the small blind Blangenwitsch. Next to him was Andrea Ferrari in the big blind who raised again to 140,000. Zahariev passed but Blangenwitsch went into the tank for a brief spell. He came out to announce with some grandeur “all-in.”
Ferrari called and watched as Blangenwitsch turned over KK.
“Aces?” asked Blangenwitsch.
“Of course,” replied Ferrari with no small degree of unnecessary drama, and promptly turned over AA.
The board ran 94925. Blangenwitsch tore his hood off. “Damn!”
They exchanged a polite handshake and that was that. Down to 57 players now in the Main Event. – SB
3.34pm: English only at the tables
This is a rule at every EPT as it helps clarity and battles collusion. John O’Shea is having another deep run in a side event (₤1,000 NLHE) where they are on the bubble. O’Shea has a broad Irish accent but speaks English, though this didn’t stop a dealer from asking him to refrain from speaking Swedish. – MC
3.38pm: Nice catch
Chaz Chattha was involved in a three-way pot that made it to the river leaving a 33JK8 board. The action checked to Chattha in the cut-off who bet 48,000 and was called by Drasutis Tauras Narmontas in the small blind. Chattha turned over 88 for a rivered full house, helping him move up to 295,000 in chips. — MC
3.32pm: Straight flush for Weisner
Melanie Weisner must have been praying that Rasmus Nielsen had the nut flush, as unlikely as that may have been, but when you have the immortal nuts with a straight flush it’s fair to hope that your opponent is packing a serious hand too.
Weisner, who had defended her big blind from Nielsen’s under-the-gun raise, had bet 16,500 into the turn and 37,500 into the river of the 873JQ board and after quite a tank the Dane called only to be shown 109 for the queen-high straight flush. She must be up to around 260,000 now. — RD
3.20pm: Ten high good enough
Alain Roy’s tournament has finally come to an end. He’s been short stacked for a lot of today and was all-in on the bubble at one point. He was in the small blind and pushed all-in with 75 for less than 20,000 when the action folded around to him. The big blind made the automatic call with 106 and the board ran 8AQ44 meaning the ten played to knockout the Frenchman. — MC
3.10pm: Back from the break
This is the first level we have started where every player is guaranteed to walk away with money in their pockets (or PokerStars account). Although most eyes will be on the €640,000 first place prize some of the shorter stacks will no doubt be more eyeing the next jump more greedily than most.
65th place is the last slot that pays €8,000 before a €2,000 jump to €10,000. Check out the glorious (moneyed) dead via this link.
PokerStars Blog reporting team at EPT Prague (in order of treasonable offences): Simon Young (none – his ear is glued to a conference call), Stephen Bartley (none – he doesn’t do that kind of thing), Rick Dacey (one – threatening to refuse to pay the final two points of last night’s Suffolk due to unfair treatment) and Marc Convey (‘accepted’ a coffee without getting the rest of us one). Photos by Neil Stoddart.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
6pm: Toth at the double
Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth busted Constantin Raducan and more or less doubled up to 440,000.The pair got all-in and Toth’s AQ overtook Raducan’s pocket nines on the 3J6Q8 board. — SY
5.55pm: Loud Italian in the house
Emilliano Bono has doubled up twice in recent hands, each time making an awful racket. First he pushed for 40,000 with 84 and was looked up by Nicolas Babel with [A][Q]. The board ran K634K giving Bono the pair. He shrieked with delight, several times, and then put his sunglasses cleaning cloth on his head, shouting: “Roma! Roma!”
I didn’t get this, nor did most people present, until someone explained it was something to do with the Pope. I am none the wiser.
A hew hands later Bono doubled again to around 160,000 when his 77 improved against Ludovic Marguerat’s AQ on the 987Q6 board. Cue more over-the-top celebrations. — SY
5.50pm: Nice flop for MacPhee
Kevin MacPhee raised under the gun and found an opponent in Paul Knebel in late position. Unfortunately I missed the action up until the river so I’ll have to skip that part (poor excuse, I know). What I did see was MacPhee lead 71,000 into the 8K10A8 river which was slowly and grudgingly called by Knebel. MacPhee showed JQ for a flopped flush and straight draw that had made Broadway on the turn.
‘I liked that flop,’ said MacPhee with a smile. No doubt, you did. — RD
5.45pm: Can you spot the link?
‘Can I have a beer?’ asked Josh Prager to a waitress, not for the first time today I might add. With the important part out of the way, Prager turned to the table of MacPhee and Stani, which he had moved from and returned to in a matter of minutes, and said: ’I’m losing all my chips here.’ Can you spot a possible connection between the two sentences?
Prager has about 185,000 left for a little under 20 big blinds. — RD
5.40pm: Towers of Babel
Tobias Reinkemeier is out. He ran ace-queen into the pocket aces of Sergio Rodriguez Sanchez. Meanwhile across the room Nicolas Babel and Emilliano Bono continue their habit of swapping chips with each other, Babel doubling through Bono with 87 to beat Bono’s 66. Babel now has 150,000 while Bono is reduced to just 35,000. – SB
5.35pm: Monfort hit out of the ground
Ronan Monfort is the latest player to be eliminated. He was down to his last 83,000 when he moved all-in from the small blind with J3. Peter Skripka was in the big blind and he made the call with K4 and the board ran 42578. We’re down to 40 players now. — MC
5.30pm: Huge bluff for Hollink
It may be some time since Rob Hollink won EPT Monte Carlo back in Season 1, but he’s just shown a flash of what it takes to take down one of these things. He had opened to 23,000 and Kaspars Renga moved all in for his last 17,000 before Liviu Ignat re-raised to 61,000. Hollink called.
The flop was 225 and Hollink called Ignat’s 46,000 bet. On the 6 turn, Hollink called another 120,000 from Ignat. Finally, on the 3 river, Hollink moved all in for around 300,000, enough to cover Ignat.
That prompted the mother of all dwells, with Ignat in the tank for fully nine minutes. It was long enough for me catch the end of the Pagano hand below and come back with time to spare.
Eventually, Ignat mucked, and Hollink showed K[10d] for nothing more than king high. Renga had K4 and won the small side pot. Ignat, meanwhile, claimed he had folded ace high. Wow! — SY
5.25pm: Pagano a gonner
Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano has bagged his 17th EPT cash, good for €10,000. He pushed with A5 but was called by Melanie Weisner in the blinds with 66. The board ran J548[10h], and Pagano’s day came to an end. — SY
5.19pm: Tough, tough table
The first table that you come across on the journey from the PokerStars news desk as you enter the tournament floor is arguably the toughest. Not only does it have the chip leader, EPT Berlin winner Kevin MacPhee, it also seats EPT Tallinn winner Kevin Stani, APPT Macau winner Dermot Blain and Season 3 EPT Grand Final 5th place finisher Josh Prager. The seating plan is as follow:
1. Haykel Cherif Vidal
2. Kevin Stani
3. Paul Knebel
4. Ronan Monfort
5. Peter Skripka
6. Dermot Blain
7. Josh Prager
8. Kevin MacPhee
Josh Prager opened the last pot making it 26,000 and was instantly three-bet by Kevin MacPhee to 71,000. Prager passed and MacPhee showed him AK. Just because someone’s aggressive it doesn’t mean they don’t ever have it. — RD
5.16: Gork for a walk
Marc Gork is out, sent to the rail by Salvatore Bonavena. Gork, short-stacked for some time now, pushed in for 74,000 with A9. Bonavena called with KQ. The board ran 9Q758 to send the former EPT Dortmund finalist out in 45th place. – SB
5.14pm: The gloves are off
Guillaume Darcourt and Jan Bendik have been tussling and Darcourt is well clear on points. First he three-bet all-in for 239,000 after Bendik raised 26,000 into his big blind.
Two hands later Darcourt raised into Bedik’s big blind from the button. Bedik called to see the 568 flop where he led for 35,000. Darcourt raised it up to 105,000 and Bendik called to go to the J turn.
It was Bendik’s turn to apply the pressure with an all-in punch, causing Darcourt to wince. Wince he might but he also made the call for his last 140,000 with 108. Bendik tabled the drawing-to-almost-everything 109, but it somehow missed on the J river to the delight of Darcourt. — MC
5.05pm: Prager needling
The board was 332[10s]8 and Drasutis Narmontas had bet 42,000 only for Peter Skripka to move all-in for around 300,000, just about covering Narmontas. He gave it a little dwell, made the call then mucked in disgust when shown A7 for the nut flush.
If busting was hard to take, the rubdown from Josh Prager—still drinking—was not welcome. “Terrible call,” Prager said, even though he was not even in the hand. “It was obvious you were behind.”
Kevin MacPhee jumped to Narmontas’ defence and Kevin Stani also asked if Prager was going to continue talking about every hand, but Prager was having none of it. “Everyone knows I am right and it was a bad call,” he said. — SY
4.55pm: No more Chattha from Chaz
Chaz Chattha’s EPT grind has come to an end. He completed from the small blind and called when Manuel Bevand raised from the big blind. The flop came down ten-high and all the chips went in. Chattha tabled jack-ten but was out-kicked by the Frenchman’s king-ten. — MC
4.50pm: Ronan versus Romanello
Ronan Monfort has doubled through the larger stacked Roberto Romanello. Monfort was first to act and moved all-in for 95,000 with QQ and Romanello called with AJ. The board ran 39926, and there is one very happy Frenchman right now. — MC
4.45pm: Shuffle up
Cards are back in the air. — SY
4.31pm: End-of-level joy
That’s the end of level 18 and players are on a 15-minute break. Joy? Bartley and Dacey have gone to the supermarket in search of bread and water. Hoorah. — SY
4.30pm: Split Gork
A near-miss for Marc Gork with less than ten minutes until the break. He shoved with king-queen but was called with king-queen. He needed hearts.
“Hearts!” he yelled prior to the 824 flop.
“Good, hearts!” he yelled prior to the A turn.
“Good, hearts!” he yelled prior to the 9 river. “Ahhh.”
Split pot.
Elsewhere Helen Prager has worked her stack up to around 340,000, much to the delight of her husband a table away. – SB
4.25pm: Zapletin zapped by aces
Kirill Zapletin has just crippled himself after making a move with pocket fives and finding his opponent packing pocket aces. Zapletin raised under-the-gun for 19,000 and was raised by Jan Bendik to 45,000. Zapletin called.
Zapletin then check-raised Bendik’s 38,000 bet on the 32J to 105,000 and then called off the remaining 100,00 or so when Bendik moved in. Bendik showed AA while Zapletin allowed himself a little chortle before turning over 55. The turn gave the chance of an outdraw with the 4 but no six or ace fell on the river.
Zapletin was left with just less than the 8,000 big blind but managed to quadruple through with J6. Somehow he’s still in. — RD
4.21pm: Horecki gathering pace
Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki has doubled-up to nearly 400,000 in chips through Rasmus Nielsen. The Pole raised pre-flop, bet 41,000 on the flop and moved all-in for 124,000 on the turn. The board read K3910; massive for Nielsen’s K5 but still behind to Horecki’s AA.
Any king, five or heart was needed to bust Horecki but it came a safe 2. Nielsen is down to around 400,000 chips himself. — MC
4.15pm: Richter hit by aftershock, MacPhee leads
He had led this event for two days, but now Dirk Richter is out. In the process, Kevin MacPhee has burst through the one million chip barrier and is runaway leader. Maybe we can start dreaming about a double EPT champion after all?
We did not catch all the action, but on the 72K flop, Richter had shoved for his last 200,000 with [a]9 but was called instantly by MacPhee with KJ. The 3 turn and 7 river changed nothing. — SY
4.10pm: Double for Marguerat
Ludovic Marguerat doubled up through Manuel Bevand. Bevand had raised to 18,000 with 66 and Marguerat re-raised all-in for 112,000 with AK. Call. The board ran Q9K58, sending Marguerat up to 225,000 and dropping Bevand to 300,000. — SY
4.05pm: Up, up and away
Cenzig Ulusu, forever known as the man who literally flipped a coin to determine his fate at an EPT final table, is out of EPT Prague.
On a flop of J28 Ulusu stood up, grabbed his coat and announced all in. This odd display was met with an insta-call by Rasmus Nielsen who turned over JJ to Ulusu’s AJ
The turn 4 and river 7 did nothing to keep Ulusu in the tournament, and he leaves in 55th place. Neilsen up to more than 500,000 chips. – SB
4.02pm: Take Dacey, no please, take him
Kevin MacPhee talks about his tournament so far while our very own Rick Dacey was gladly handed over to present the latest update from the tournament floor. — SB
4pm: Yo-yo Darcourt
Guillaume Darcourt’s stack has been up and down during this tournament. Fabrice Soulier described him as a “crazy” player yesterday, something that Jeff Sarwer would agree with after the two tussled on Day 1.
His stack is currently on the up after he doubled up with AA. Kiril Zahariev raised to 19,000 from the cut-off and called with K10 when the Frenchman shoved for 78,000 from the small blind. The board ran 27Q5J to see Darcourt’s hand hold. Time will soon tell if he can hang on to them. — MC
3.58pm: Please show
On a 46QK5 board, Paul Knebel bet 46,500 but was then faced with a re-raise to 127,000 by Mikhail Petrov. Knebel thought for no more than five seconds before announcing he was all-in. It was around 300,000 total, easily covering Petrov.
Petrov was unhappy. He counted his stack, dwelled, asked the dealer if he could stand up, sat down again, and thought some more. “Will you show if I fold?” No reply. “I will pay you to see your cards!”
With that, Petrov folded but Knebel put his cards into the muck. “No, no. I give you €100. Make that €200. Come on!” Knebel would not be persuaded, but at least Petrov saved himself some dosh. — SY
3.55pm: Pot for Nielsen
Tobias Reinkemeier raised to 16,500 and got calls from Rasmus Nielsen and Marcin Horecki. Nothing is easy at this stage. On the K5[10s] flop, Reinkemeier checked, Nielsen bet 22,500, Horecki folded and Reinkemeier called.
The turn was 7 and again Reinkemeier checked, then called when Nielsen made it 36,500. The river was 8 and by now Nielsen was sufficiently spooked to check behind Reinkemeier. He needn’t have worried as his KQ was good. — SY
3.52pm: Team PokerStars in the money
With 55 players left, we’re now nicely into the money, and four Team PokerStars Pros remain in the field. There’s Luca Pagano with 180,000, Marcin Horecki with 220,000, Richard Toth on 300,000 and Salvatore Bonavena on 230,000. — SY
3.50pm: ‘Lucky Russian’
Riccardo Giacalone has just been knocked out by Nikolay Losev, who is a ‘Lucky Russian,’ according to Marius Heiene. Manuel Bevand had opened the pot for 18,000 from middle position and had been called by Losev. The action folded to Giacalone in the big blind and he shoved all-in for 160,000. Bevand quickly passed but Losev made the call.
Giacalone: QQ
Losev: AQ
Losev instantly flopped an ace and Giacalone was drawing thin to just one out departed to the rail shortly after. — RD
3.45pm: The horror
Another elimination. This time it’s Martial Blangenwitsch wailing in pain.
Kiril Zahariev bet 21,000 which was raised to 68,000 by the small blind Blangenwitsch. Next to him was Andrea Ferrari in the big blind who raised again to 140,000. Zahariev passed but Blangenwitsch went into the tank for a brief spell. He came out to announce with some grandeur “all-in.”
Ferrari called and watched as Blangenwitsch turned over KK.
“Aces?” asked Blangenwitsch.
“Of course,” replied Ferrari with no small degree of unnecessary drama, and promptly turned over AA.
The board ran 94925. Blangenwitsch tore his hood off. “Damn!”
They exchanged a polite handshake and that was that. Down to 57 players now in the Main Event. – SB
3.34pm: English only at the tables
This is a rule at every EPT as it helps clarity and battles collusion. John O’Shea is having another deep run in a side event (₤1,000 NLHE) where they are on the bubble. O’Shea has a broad Irish accent but speaks English, though this didn’t stop a dealer from asking him to refrain from speaking Swedish. – MC
3.38pm: Nice catch
Chaz Chattha was involved in a three-way pot that made it to the river leaving a 33JK8 board. The action checked to Chattha in the cut-off who bet 48,000 and was called by Drasutis Tauras Narmontas in the small blind. Chattha turned over 88 for a rivered full house, helping him move up to 295,000 in chips. — MC
3.32pm: Straight flush for Weisner
Melanie Weisner must have been praying that Rasmus Nielsen had the nut flush, as unlikely as that may have been, but when you have the immortal nuts with a straight flush it’s fair to hope that your opponent is packing a serious hand too.
Weisner, who had defended her big blind from Nielsen’s under-the-gun raise, had bet 16,500 into the turn and 37,500 into the river of the 873JQ board and after quite a tank the Dane called only to be shown 109 for the queen-high straight flush. She must be up to around 260,000 now. — RD
3.20pm: Ten high good enough
Alain Roy’s tournament has finally come to an end. He’s been short stacked for a lot of today and was all-in on the bubble at one point. He was in the small blind and pushed all-in with 75 for less than 20,000 when the action folded around to him. The big blind made the automatic call with 106 and the board ran 8AQ44 meaning the ten played to knockout the Frenchman. — MC
3.10pm: Back from the break
This is the first level we have started where every player is guaranteed to walk away with money in their pockets (or PokerStars account). Although most eyes will be on the €640,000 first place prize some of the shorter stacks will no doubt be more eyeing the next jump more greedily than most.
65th place is the last slot that pays €8,000 before a €1,000 jump to €9,000. Check out the glorious (moneyed) dead via this link.
PokerStars Blog reporting team at EPT Prague (in order of treasonable offences): Simon Young (none – his ear is glued to a conference call), Stephen Bartley (none – he doesn’t do that kind of thing), Rick Dacey (one – threatening to refuse to pay the final two points of last night’s Suffolk due to unfair treatment) and Marc Convey (‘accepted’ a coffee without getting the rest of us one). Photos by Neil Stoddart.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
12.50pm: Shoving and doubling
PokerStars qualifier Felix Bleiker is in shoving mode and it’s working out well for him. First he shoved with ace-queen and showed it after taking the blinds and antes. A few hands later he moved all-in again, for 53,000, and was called by Elias Brussianos to create a showdown.
Bleiker: AK
Brussianos: A9
The board ran 29J73. Bleiker was out of his seat when he saw the flop but settled back in after the turn gave him the nuts. It’s the man from Greece that’s in real trouble now as he has just 30,000 chips left – his starting stack. — MC
12.45pm: A Montfort to climb</b
Ronan Montfort has taken his seat, confident that he can steer his stack of 81,000 into the money. The signs are obvious. He not only wears his game face, but more significantly he is eating a small $10 bar of chocolate from the hotel mini bar.
He just earned himself a slight increase, and a shot at the bag of mixed nuts, moving in from the big blind behind a raise from small blind Dominique Franchi who would show A10 as Montfort stacked his new chips, up to about 100,000.
Behind him Mikael Norinder (spell check name Coriander) is down to 55,000 after moving all-in with KQ only to be called by Mikhail Petrov with pocket jacks. The board ran 103872. Petrov up to 300,000. – SB
12.40pm: Happy shiny people
Ludovit Fischer is wearing possibly the shiniest jacket I have ever seen. It’s red and you can almost see your reflection in it. In fact, he looks like he’s wrapped up like a Christmas present. — SY
12.35pm: Prager lager
Actually, it’s white wine. But suffice to say Josh Prager has hit the booze already and the sound levels will increase as a result. — SY
12.32pm: Could it be?
A glance at the chip counts for the start of today reveals two former EPT winners reside in the top five. Kevin MacPhee (EPT Berlin, Season 6) and Rob Hollink (EPT Monte Carlo, Season 1), were in fourth and fifth place. Could it be that we finally get our first ever double EPT winner? Just imagine…
Cue romantic, stringed music, blurry film and Kevin MacPhee lifting the trophy here at EPT Prague as rose petals fall from the ceiling
Snap out of it! Of course a double winner won’t happen. Never does, never will. — SY
12.30pm: Revenge
Melanie Weisner was sat with Toby Lewis for a long time yesterday and did her best to knock him out, but her aces couldn’t stay ahead of his ace-deuce. Today she has her revenge. Ben Carpenter opened to 13,000 and Weisner called before Lewis moved all-in. Before Carpenter could call Weisner called out of turn, making his decision easier – fold.
Weisner: QQ
Lewis: AJ
The board ran 338K5 to bust the EPT Vilamoura champion. Weisner up to 320,000 chips now. — MC
12.26pm: Double for Prager after nit roll
Helen Prager just doubled up after a bit of an ace-king nit roll. Lennart Holz opened for 10,500 and was three-bet to 26,000 by Morgan Bauer on the button. Prager then moved all-in for 115,000 from the big blind. Bauer waited some time before calling and tabling AK. Prager showed down 77, which held as the board ran out 49332.
It was a big dent for Bauer who lost half of his stack and is down to 125,000. Prager is up to circa 245,000. — RD
12.19pm: First man down
Mikael Norinder brought everyone a step closer to the money except for Milous Artjoms, that is. The Latvian shoved for a little over 50,000 chips with AJ and the Norinder called with 77. The board ran a Sweden friendly 6392Q. — MC
12.10pm: We’re off
Thomas Kremser has finished the formalities, the button starts in seat number three, and play has begun. — SY
12.08pm: Nearly there
Play will be under way shortly. Meanwhile, here’s the Sal Bon Fashion Report, brought to you by the PokerStars Blog Fashion Editor, Simone Young…
Team PokerStars Pro Salvatore Bonavena today sports our favorite pink jumper, grey, short-brimmed Trilby hat and pastel blue scarf combination. A perfect choice for the winter season. Unfortunately this snazzy get-up is a ruined by his tracksuit trousers. — SY
11.45pm: Administration
If you’d like to catch up on what’s already taken place so far in Prague you can find yesterday’s wrap right here. You’ll also find all the chip counts.
11.30am: Morning
Sometimes you wake up in the morning asking yourself, “what am I doing with my life?” Your dreams have been shattered so many times they’ve turned to dust, your hopes too, once held up as a personal beacon, guiding you when times are hard, now lead you straight back into darkness.
Then there are other times you wake up as chip leader of a major poker tournament, 13 places off the money, and looking up at a potential €640,000 first prize. Like today’s chip leader Dirk Richter. Suddenly the hope is back, there’s a birdhouse in your soul, and who really cared about all that other stuff anyhow, there’s a tournament to win.
Welcome back to day three of the EPT Prague at the Hilton hotel. When we left you last night 93 players remained from a combined field of 563. Today 13 of them will leave empty handed before we hit the money, with not so much as a thanks for playing. It’s how we do things. It’s a bit like Top Gun. Except there are prizes for second place.
With all that out of the way we should be playing in about half an hour, something for Asia to read with dinner, Europe to read over lunch, the East Coast to read with their morning coffee, and the West Coast to read with a last Corona before the barman finally asks you to leave.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
3pm: Level done
That’s the end of an eventful level. We’re now on a 15-minute break with 68 players left. — SY
2.59pm: Trust your instincts
The board was [10h]QA69 and Constantin Raducan had bet 36,500. Fabrice Soulier looked less than impressed. He agonised the call, then made it reluctantly. Raducan showed KJ.
“I knew you had a good hand. I could see it in your face,” Soulier said. He’s down to 100,000. — SY
2.58pm: Double on the river
Riccardo Giacalone doubles through Nicolas Babel. Giacalone had paired his seven on the flop, but it was the fourth club on the river which made him the nut flush. He’s up to 220,000. — SY
2.56pm: Not the end of the line for toot, toot Torres
Francisco Torres has just doubled through Josh Prager. The Spaniard had picked up with 60,000 stack of chips, put them on top of his Thomas the Tank Engine toy and slid them forward saying: ‘Toot, toot, I’m all-in. Toot, toot.’ Well, there’s no arguing with that is there.
Josh Prager looked at the stack and said: ‘I min-raise this one,’ while pointing at the little train and pushed forward a stack of yellow 5,000 chips.
Prager: JJ
Torres: AK
Torres’ station appeared around the first bend with a king on the flop and Prager failed to catch up. Prager is on 200,000. Torres up to 130,000. — RD
2.55pm: She Liv’s for this
Liv Boeree talks about her San Remo win and her rise into the ranks of Team PokerStars Pro.
2.50pm: High stakes pillow fight?
My ears may be tricking me but I think I just heard Josh Prager propositioning a $1k high stakes pillow fight to Kevin MacPhee and Kevin Stani. Neither accepted. If that was what was being discussed anyway. — RD
2.48pm: 42nd Street
Friend of PokerStars Pierre Neuville is our 74th place finisher. He told us that he folded 41 hands in-a-row, got into the money, and then moved all-in with A10 on his 42nd hand. Fabrice Soullier made the call with pocket eights and they held up. — MC
2.40pm: Britto running away with it
Fernando Britto has just doubled up through Denis Kipnis to aid his quest to become EPT player of the season. He’s already top with 2,310 points, ahead of Yotan Bar Yosef on 1,377 and he’s guaranteed at least 100 more points by cashing here.
He raised to 14,000 and called when Kipnis three-bet to 33,000. The flop came 553 and Britto moved in for his last 37,000. Kipnis called with AQ but was behind to Britto’s KK and the JJ turn and river changed not a thing. — MC
2.35pm: Hat tip Pagano
With the bubble burst you can notch up another cash for Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano, his 17th (six of those being final tables), and his third of season seven alone. So far his combined earnings on the European Poker Tour amount to $1,189,365 and to that you can add at least €8,000 from this week. – SB
2.28pm: Slow rolling aces
’I’m a big proponent of slow rolling aces online to make sure that they hold up,’ admitted Kevin MacPhee. Before you start lining up with firebrands and pitchforks I’ve got to point out that I think that he was joking.
Meanwhile players are falling like flies here. We’re down to 73. — RD
2.20pm: Nitsche out on the bubble
Dominik Nitsche is the EPT Prague bubble boy. It’s always an unfortunate moment for the player, yet exhilarating for the rest of us. Nitsche, the young German with an LAPT title under his belt, opened with a raise to 12,000 before Jean Sami Souleiman re-raised to 32,000. It was folded back to Nitsche and he announced he was all-in – call!
But before the cards could be revealed, action on all other tables had to be played out to ensure there was not another all-in situation (and revealing Nitsche or Souleiman’s hands could influence the action).
It was an agonising wait for Nitsche, who was marginally covered by Souleiman. “I have a pair,” he said repeatedly. “Do you have a pair?” he asked his opponent. Souleiman shrugged, but seemed to suggest he did not.
Eventually, the action could unfold, and we had the showdown:
Nitsche: 88
Souleiman: [10d][10c]
“Sick,” rued Nitsche, and the board ran a solid J54AJ to eliminate him on the bubble.
All remaining players are now guaranteed €8,000. — SY
2.11pm: Toth take us to the bubble
Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth has eliminated Matthias Kurtz in 82nd place meaning we are now on the bubble. Kurtz shoved his short stack in with ace-six and Toth tank-called from the big blind with QJ. The board ran a Toth friendly 6J57K to take us to hand-for-hand play. — MC
2.05pm: Time to bubble?
Chaz Chattha was all ready to be the 82nd place finisher after his three-bet all-in was snapped off by Marius Heiene, but he binked a two-outer to stay alive. The action folded around to Heiene on the button who raised and called when Chattha moved all-in for 83,000 from the small blind.
Chattha: 1010
Heiene: AA
The board ran 7Q5104. Chattha found the two-outer on the turn and offered an “Unlucky” gesture to his Norwegian opponent.
“You just made 81 enemies”, said a table mate.
“Sorry everyone” shouted Chattha in response. — MC
1.55pm: Affleck’s pot
On a Q[10s]3 flop, Karl Heinz Klose bet 30,000 before Matt Affleck made it 110,000. The German folded sharpish. — SY
1.50pm: Toth doubles
Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth got a key double up just as the bubble approached. Ludovic Marguerat had opened for 14,000 and Toth pushed from the big blind for 125,500. It was around half of Marguerat’s stack, and after a little dwell he elected to call:
Marguerat: 44
Toth: 77
A great spot for Toth, then, and he zoomed further ahead when the flop came 7[10h]3 (at which point a member of the ‘impartial’ Hungarian media gave out a cheer), and the turn and river were 3J. Toth now on more than 250,000. — SY
1.45pm: MacPhee again
It was folded around to Kevin MacPhee in the small blind, who had Kevin Stani waiting in the big. “I am looking for a reason to give you a walk,” said MacPhee as he looked down at his cards. “No,” he added, firing out a bet of 16,000.
“I am looking for a reason to call,” Stani said as he studied his cards. He folded and MacPhee showed A9. “See, I had to raise.” — SY
1.40pm: We’re back
Play resumes in level 17.
1.26pm: Break time
Players are taking a 15 minute break at the end of the level. When they return blinds will be 3,000-6,000 with a 500 ante. — SB
1.25pm: Just to take the edge off
To some Jaegermeister is something you take before spending three hours starting at the Villeroy & Boch logo in the hotel bathroom, to others, like Kaspars Renga, it’s the celebratory tipple, taken from the small bottle he’s using as a card protector to celebrate good hands and take the sting out of bad ones.
He just found aces, red ones, and moved all in for 31,000. Unfortunately for him no one else had anything near, and passed. Just the blinds and antes for Renga with two more to the money. — SB
1.24pm: Nicht jetzt fur Nitsche
Dominik Nitsche has doubled up. He moved in for 65,000 and waited to see if anyone would call. Jean Sami Souleiman would. Nitsche turned to Lennart Holz next to him. “I have something,” he said, and have something he did.
AA for Nitsche, QQ for Souleiman.
The board ran 775J10. Nitsche not out of trouble but up to 140,000. – SB
1.23pm: Phew, that was Klose
Karl Heinz Klose was a card away from being dumped out in 82nd place, two short of the money. He had pushed for 58,000 with QQ and got called by Kirill Telezhkin with KQ.
The flop ran a teasing 654, and the 4 turn filled up Telezhkin’s flush. Klose was horrified and got up to leave – but then the Q appeared on the river to fill up his full house. He’s up to 130,000 now, while Telezhkin falls to 80,000. — SY
1.20pm: MacPhee up to 600,000
Kevin MacPhee is up to 600,000 giving him a stack that he is likely to drive deep into the money. The American PokerStars qualifier just took two small pots on the bounce but with fellow EPT winner Kevin Stani two seats to his left he’s not guaranteed an easy ride. — RD
1.18pm: No loss for Pavel
Ion Pavel just cracked the over pair of Cengiz Ulusu to hang on in there. Josh Prager opened the pot with a raise that Ulusu called before Pavel three-bet most of his stack. Prager folded but Ulusu moved all-in and Pavel made the call all-in.
Pavel: JJ
Ulusu: QQ
The board ran 4J4A5 to make Pavel winning full house to move up to 230,000. Ulusu down to 195,000 chips. — MC
1.17pm: Bubble nears
We’re down to 82 players, and with the money kicking in at 80, that means one thing. IT’S BUBBLE TIME (nearly). — SY
1.15pm: MacPhee gives it some lip
Also at Stani’s table is Kevin MacPhee, who now has more than 550,000. Francisco Torres, he of the black moustache and Thomas the Tank Engine card protector, came to sit down at the table and MacPhee remarked: “With a great moustache comes great responsibility.”
On his first hand, Torres raised under the gun to 11,000 and got calls from David Sonelin in the small blind and Mikhail Petrov in the big. The flop was 2Q4 and all three checked. On the 3 turn, Sonelin bet 23,500 and only Petrov called (Thomas the Tank Engine was kept in the depot). The river was 2 and now Sonelin made it 26,000. Again Petrov called but mucked pretty sharpish when shown 23 for the full house. — SY
1.10pm: Stani takes out Norinder
Mikael Norinder is out after being shown Kevin Stani’s pocket kings on a 5Q7J[10c] board. Stani now up to 300,000. — SY
1.08pm: Big bluff from Narmontas
I didn’t catch the action but the Lithuanian Drasutis Tauras Narmontas had laid out a bet of around 75,000 in front of him on a 2A9710 board. Frenchman Guillaume Darcourt was the player deciding whether to call. He finally decided against doing so and Narmontas instantly flipped his JK to show the naked bluff. Narmontas is up to 350,000. — RD
1.02pm: The cost of success
We’re into vocal celebration territory in Prague. A crucial double up can do wonders for your cash finish prospects, even if it does cost you a little self-respect.
Olivier Daeninckx opened for 12,000 which Melanie Weisner and Rasmus Nielsen called from the button and small blind. Also coming along for the flop was the big blind, Roberto Nulli.
The flop came J5J which Daeninckx bet at, 18,500 in total. Weisner and Nielsen folded but Nulli announced he was all-in for about 150,000. Daeninckx had the count confirmed and said call. Nulli showed J10 to Daeninckx’s AA and got up from his chair.
The turn gave Daeninckx a full house, but also gave Nulli quads. When Nulli saw the J land he yelled “yes!” “yes!”, making you wonder how he would react to the birth of a first child or signing off on a mortgage. Still, it was good to take Nulli up to 350,000 with five eliminations to go before the money. Daeninckx on the other hand slips down to 130,000. – SB
12.55pm: Relief for Darcourt
Guillaume Darcourt didn’t know how lucky he was until he saw his opponents hand. He had looked slightly frustrated at the river of the QJ8109 board, which had rivered a shared straight, until he saw his opponent’s hand; JJ.
Slovakian Ludovit Fischer had opened for 12,000 and Darcourt had called on the button. Fischer had fired 16,500 with his set and had been called. Fischer checked the 10 over to darcourt who bet 25,000 and the Slovakian check-raised to 55,000. Darcourt called before the 9 rivered the straight for both players. Darcourt showed JQ for flopped top two. ‘Nice flop for us both,’ said Darcourt realising how close he was to losing a big, big pot. — RD
12.50pm: Shoving and doubling
PokerStars qualifier Felix Bleiker is in shoving mode and it’s working out well for him. First he shoved with ace-queen and showed it after taking the blinds and antes. A few hands later he moved all-in again, for 53,000, and was called by Elias Brussianos.
Bleiker: AK
Brussianos: A9
The board ran 29J73. Bleiker was out of his seat when he saw the flop but settled back in after the turn gave him the nuts. It’s the man from Greece that’s in real trouble now as he has just 30,000 chips left – his starting stack. — MC
12.45pm: A Montfort to climb
Ronan Montfort has taken his seat, confident that he can steer his stack of 81,000 into the money. The signs are obvious. He not only wears his game face, but more significantly he is eating a small $10 bar of chocolate from the hotel mini bar.
He just earned himself a slight increase, and a shot at the bag of mixed nuts, moving in from the big blind behind a raise from small blind Dominique Franchi who would show A10 as Montfort stacked his new chips, up to about 100,000.
Behind him Mikael Norinder (spell check name Coriander) is down to 55,000 after moving all-in with KQ only to be called by Mikhail Petrov with pocket jacks. The board ran 103872. Petrov up to 300,000. – SB
12.40pm: Happy shiny people
Ludovit Fischer is wearing possibly the shiniest jacket I have ever seen. It’s red and you can almost see your reflection in it. In fact, he looks like he’s wrapped up like a Christmas present. — SY
12.35pm: Prager lager
Actually, it’s white wine. But suffice to say Josh Prager has hit the booze already and the sound levels will increase as a result. — SY
12.32pm: Could it be?
A glance at the chip counts for the start of today reveals two former EPT winners reside in the top five. Kevin MacPhee (EPT Berlin, Season 6) and Rob Hollink (EPT Monte Carlo, Season 1), were in fourth and fifth place. Could it be that we finally get our first ever double EPT winner? Just imagine…
Cue romantic, stringed music, blurry film and Kevin MacPhee lifting the trophy here at EPT Prague as rose petals fall from the ceiling
Snap out of it! Of course a double winner won’t happen. Never does, never will. — SY
12.30pm: Revenge
Melanie Weisner was sat with Toby Lewis for a long time yesterday and did her best to knock him out, but her aces couldn’t stay ahead of his ace-deuce. Today she has her revenge. Ben Carpenter opened to 13,000 and Weisner called before Lewis moved all-in. Before Carpenter could call Weisner called out of turn, making his decision easier – fold.
Weisner: QQ
Lewis: AJ
The board ran 338K5 to bust the EPT Vilamoura champion. Weisner up to 320,000 chips now. — MC
12.26pm: Double for Prager after nit roll
Helen Prager just doubled up after a bit of an ace-king nit roll. Lennart Holz opened for 10,500 and was three-bet to 26,000 by Morgan Bauer on the button. Prager then moved all-in for 115,000 from the big blind. Bauer waited some time before calling and tabling AK. Prager showed down 77, which held as the board ran out 49332.
It was a big dent for Bauer who lost half of his stack and is down to 125,000. Prager is up to circa 245,000. — RD
12.19pm: First man down
Mikael Norinder brought everyone a step closer to the money except for Milous Artjoms, that is. The Latvian shoved for a little over 50,000 chips with AJ and the Norinder called with 77. The board ran a Sweden friendly 6392Q. — MC
12.10pm: We’re off
Thomas Kremser has finished the formalities, the button starts in seat number three, and play has begun. — SY
12.08pm: Nearly there
Play will be under way shortly. Meanwhile, here’s the Sal Bon Fashion Report, brought to you by the PokerStars Blog Fashion Editor, Simone Young…
Team PokerStars Pro Salvatore Bonavena today sports our favorite pink jumper, grey, short-brimmed Trilby hat and pastel blue scarf combination. A perfect choice for the winter season. Unfortunately this snazzy get-up is a ruined by his tracksuit trousers. — SY
11.45pm: Administration
If you’d like to catch up on what’s already taken place so far in Prague you can find yesterday’s wrap right here. You’ll also find all the chip counts.
11.30am: Morning
Sometimes you wake up in the morning asking yourself, “what am I doing with my life?” Your dreams have been shattered so many times they’ve turned to dust, your hopes too, once held up as a personal beacon, guiding you when times are hard, now lead you straight back into darkness.
Then there are other times you wake up as chip leader of a major poker tournament, 13 places off the money, and looking up at a potential €640,000 first prize. Like today’s chip leader Dirk Richter. Suddenly the hope is back, there’s a birdhouse in your soul, and who really cared about all that other stuff anyhow, there’s a tournament to win.
Welcome back to day three of the EPT Prague at the Hilton hotel. When we left you last night 93 players remained from a combined field of 563. Today 13 of them will leave empty handed before we hit the money, with not so much as a thanks for playing. It’s how we do things. It’s a bit like Top Gun. Except there are prizes for second place.
With all that out of the way we should be playing in about half an hour, something for Asia to read with dinner, Europe to read over lunch, the East Coast to read with their morning coffee, and the West Coast to read with a last Corona before the barman finally asks you to leave.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
The table draw for Day 3 is as follows:
Table one
1 Nicolas Babel 157,000
2 Riccardo Giacalone 108,500
3 Marius Heiene 219,000
4 Charles Chattha 147,000
5 Manuel Bevand 179,500
6 Felix Bleiker DNR
7 David Stogel 314,500
8 Elias Brussianos 116,000
Table two
1 Ruslan Prydryk 210,000
2 Liviu Ignat 280,000
3 Dominic Linder 136,500
4 Rob Hollink 452,000
5 Sasa Stancic 262,500
6 Fernando Brito 101,500
7 Denis Kipnis 384,000
8 Omri Sason 96,600
Table three
1 Andras Koroknai 139,500
2 Kevin Stani 183,000
3 Cody Culp 57,000
4 Milous Artjoms 58,000
5 Mikhail Petrov 194,000
6 Mikael Norinder 201,000
7 Giuseppe Festa 105,500
8 Kevin MacPhee 483,000
Table four
1 Roberto Nulli 201,000
2 Andreas Berggren 29,500
3 Sergio Rodriguez Sanchez 245,500
4 Olivier Daeninckx 18,000
5 Oleksander Vaserfirer 91,500
6 Ben Carpenter 108,500
7 Melanie Weisner 211,500
8 Toby Lewis 93,500
Table five
1 Kiril Zahariev 197,500
2 Dirk Richter 593,000
3 David Sonelin 269,500
4 Emilliano Bono 114,500
5 Jonas Gutteck 144,000
6 Rasmus Nielsen 209,000
7 Marcin Horecki 219,000
8 Josh Prager 362,500
Table six
1 Pierre Neuville 94,000
2 Marc Gork 224,500
3 Fabrice Soulier 118,500
4 Zoltan Szabo 219,000
5 Dermot Blain 236,000
6 Alain Roy 164,500
7 Constantin Raducan 210,000
8 Salvatore Bonavena 80,500
Table seven
1 Marco Leonzio 231,500
2 Hugo Lemaire 71,000
3 Luca Pagano 146,500
4 Jaroslav Vajgl 73,000
5 Antonio Palma 545,000
6 Jan Bendik 87,000
7 Martial Blangenwitsch 84,000
8 Andrea Ferrari 192,500
Table eight
1 Dominique Franchi 152,000
2 Ronan Monfort 81,000
3 Salvatore Irace 127,500
4 Tayfeh Sokor Mohsen Jalal 172,500
5 Mikhail Lakhitov 283,000
6 Kirill Telezhkin 123,000
7 Kaspars Renga 52,000
8 Roberto Romanello 566,000
Table nine
1 Haykel Cherif Vidal 114,500
2 Joris Digregorio Zitella 108,000
3 Matthew Affleck 97,500
4 Ion Pavel 96,500
5 Karl Heinz Klose 88,000
6 Kirill Zapletin 192,500
7 Michael O’Grady 55,000
8 Cengiz Ulusu 277,000
Table ten
1 Christophe Pereira 107,000
2 Helen Prager 108,000
3 Dominik Nitsche 178,000
4 Lennart Holz 133,500
5 Radim Soudsky 81,500
6 Jean Sami Souleiman 207,500
7 Morgan Bauer 248,500
Table eleven
1 Besim Hot 207,500
2 Paul Knebel 299,000
3 Ludovic Marguerat 248,500
4 Matthias Kurtz 138,000
5 Petr Targa 75,000
6 Tobias Reinkemeier 325,000
7 Richard Toth 60,000
Table twelve
1 Francisco Torres 125,000
2 Filip Nechansky 220,000
3 Guillaume Darcourt 218,000
4 Peter Skripka 169,000
5 Drasutis Tauras Narmontas 334,000
6 Nikolay Losev 158,000
7 Ludovit Fischer 165,500
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
Last night, as Day 1B was ending, Roberto Romanello appeared to be the chip leader. Racing ahead of the competition, wearing a red and white striped headband with a spiky grey wig sticking out of the top, he was easy to spot from a distance of up to 50 yards, and his chip stack was a tower of multi-colour.
Then at the last minute, after most players had already drifted out for the night and the typewriters of media row stopped hammering, Dirk Richter was declared leader in front of stunned witnesses. From out of nowhere the German had amassed a stack of 296,700 within three hands of the bell, some 100,000 ahead. It was he that would lead the field into Day 2, not Romanello.
Well, Richter will lead going into Day 3 as well after another good day at the baize. Only this time we saw him coming.
This is all new to the German. Richter is playing the biggest event of his career since the live satellite he played two days ago, in which he won a seat to the main event. He led from start to finish today, bagging up 593,000 tonight, pursued, once more, by the Welshman Romanello. He kept the wig, and kept also the equally trademarkable eagerness, despite losing a huge pot early on. He finished second in chips with 566,000, ahead of third-placed Antonio Palma on 545,000.
While the snow fell all day outside, inside EPT Prague inched towards the money. With 80 players finishing to be paid the scheduled six levels would take us close, but not quite close enough. It means of the 93 players who return tomorrow, 13 of them will be leaving empty-handed.
Already left with that fate are the 160 players eliminated today, the lucky ones busting in time to register for the $2,000 side event.
Among them were the likes of Praz Bansi, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Theo Jorgensen and Laurence Houghton, as well as Florian Langmann and Michael Keiner, along with former EPT champions Joao Barbosa, Kent Lundmark, Christophe Benzimra, and within sight of the finish, Liv Boeree, who’s full house was busted by Josh Prager’s quad kings..
Fans of EPT trivia will have plenty to get their teeth into as Day 3 unfolds. Still on course for an it’s-about-time-someone-put-this-record-to-bed second title are Kevin Stani, Rob Hollink, Toby Lewis, Kevin MacPhee and former Prague champion Salvatore Bonavena, while Luca Pagano is a few places away from a 17th EPT cash.
For black belt anoraks there’s another deep run — an example to us all — Pierre Neuville and one last hat-tip to Karl Heinz Kloser, the 26th-placed finisher here last season. He’s back, and his tactic of open shoving has proven effective once more. He’ll make another well-earned run on the money tomorrow.
We’ll also see the return of husband and wife team Josh and Helen Prager, as well as Matt Affleck, Dominik Nitsche, Marcin Horecki and Tobias Reinkemeier.
Full counts for all of the above are available on our chip count page, while pictures and updates from all of today’s action can be found at the links below.
Day 2 seat draw
Level 10 & 11 updates
Level 12 & 13 updates
Level 14 & 15 updates
Play continues tomorrow when the field will be reduced to just 24 on Day 3 of EPT Prague. In the meantime allow us to point you in the direction of our foreign bloggers; Wo ist der Pub?, Een bier alsjeblieft, and denominilo un tassi. Our thanks also to photographer Neil Stoddart who spent some of the day working on his Christmas card range.
We’ll be back at 12 noon local time tomorrow. Until then it’s good night from Prague.
This EPT is brought to you by PokerStars, the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour. Win your way into the biggest events Europe has to offer at Europe.
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