A total of 671 players entered the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €1,100 National here at the Hilton Prague, and after playing down to 15% of the field, or 101 players, the second starting flights gets underway at midday today.
Last year Georgios Vrakas defeated a field of 2,117 players, earning himself €338,000, therefore an equally big Day 1b is expected today.
Several players who played and busted yesterday are expected to join the field, including Sander van Wesemael, Ismael Bojang, Vojtech Ruzicka, Antoine Labat, Martin Kabrhel, Matas Cimbolas, 2016 EPT Prague Main Event Champion Jasper Meijer Van Putten, Jack Sinclair, Sam Grafton, Bart Lybaert, Walter Treccarichi, Martin Staszko, and Alexander Lakhov.
Here is the structure for the day:
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
100
100
2
100
100
100
3
100
200
200
4
100
300
300
5
200
400
400
6
200
500
500
7
300
600
600
8
400
800
800
9
500
1000
1000
10
600
1200
1200
11
800
1600
1600
12
1000
2000
2000
Levels continue until 15% of the field remain
Players will receive 30,000 chips. There will be 20-minute breaks every three levels, with a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 9.
Stay tuned to PokerNews.com for continued coverage of the festival, including from the final day of the €10,300 High Roller.
Three players saw a flop of including Markus Durnegger who checked, along with a second player, to a third who bet 1,500. Durnegger was the only caller.
The pair checked the turn and the river was the .
Durnegger bet 8,000 and after a short tank, his opponent called. Durnegger turned over for a king-high flush and took down the pot.
Martin Kabrhel defended his big blind after an open to 4,600 from middle position.
The pair checked the flop and turn, and the river was the . Kabrhel then bet 30,000, a considerable overbet.
Not to be dissuaded, his opponent took his time and appeared to be contemplating a genuine decision. Eventually, he folded and Kabrhel gathered in his chips.
Why the need for such a hyperbolic title?
Throughout the entire hand, and in the moments after the hand was complete, Kabrhel was silent. He didn't utter a single word. Well, there's a first for everything!
Jean-Noel Thorel raised to 15,000 from the hijack and Marcin Kreft shoved for 127,500 in the cutoff and was called by Thorel after he tanked for a while.
Marcin Kreft:
Jean-Noel Thorel:
The board ran out for Thorel to hit two pair in the end to eliminate Kreft on the bubble.
Terje Alvseike & Harpreet Padda Celebrate Having Big Stacks During the Bubble
In total 1,200 players entered Day 1b making it the biggest starting flight of the €1,100 EPT National and 180 players have made it through to Day 2 which starts at noon, Monday, December 11 here at the Hilton Prague. After the field was reduced to 15%, Harpreet Padda took the chip lead with 994,500 in chips.
The Canadian went and did his business without really being noticed until the latter stages of the day. He chipped up big during those levels and ended up losing a bit at the end as he had more than a million in chips just before the bubble. Trailing Padda is Florian Duta with 887,000 and Terje Alvseike with 775,000.
Other notable players bagging big at the end of the day include Martin Kabrhel (651,000), Arthur Conan (580,000), Artan Dedusha (474,000), Alexandre Reard (450,000), Viliyan Petleshkov (433,000), Kayhan Mokri Roshanfekr (322,500), Bryan Paris (304,000), and Martin Finger with 251,000.
Jean-Noel Thorel also has a stack for Day 2 that can’t be missed. Thorel bagged 587,000 after bursting the bubble by eliminating Marcin Kreft. Thorel called the shove of Kreft after he had raised initially with ace-king. Kreft held pocket jacks but Thorel flopped a pair of kings which was already enough and improved to two pair by the time the river was dealt. As the floor announced that everyone else was in the money, this meant they could all start bagging their chips up and go to bed to get some rest before what promises to be an eventful Day 2.
Jean-Noel Thorel Burst the Bubble by Eliminating Marcin Kreft
Not everyone was lucky enough to make it through the day, players like Eyal Bensimhon, Jason Wheeler, Kalidou Sow, Preben Stokkan, Jan-Eric Schwippert, Bart Lybaert, Maria Konnikova, Rens Feenstra, Ognyan Dimov, Timur Margolin, Paul Michaelis, Ismael Bojang, [Removed:510], Orpen Kisacikoglu, Ana Marquez, Jack Sinclair, Walter Treccarichi, Michal Mrakes, Scott Margereson, Francesco Delfoco, and many more were all sent away from Day 1b. But they still had a chance to make it through via Day 1c which started at 7 PM local time.
Day 2 will start at noon local time on Monday, December 11, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the action from the floor so make sure to come back then!