Get ready to start at noon local time as Day 1b of the €1,100 EPT National at the 2019 European Poker Tour Prague is set to take off. The second of three starting flights in the Hilton Prague will feature 40-minute levels throughout the day to give players another shot at making it into Day 2 and the money stage. Tonight, at 7 p.m. local time is Day 1c which is a turbo edition as level duration will be slashed to 20.
The 2018 edition of Day 1 a the EPT National collected 671 players, this year it attracted 624 entries with 94 players making it through to Day 2 on Monday, December 9. Leading the pack right now is Andrew Hulme 551,000 in chips. Hulme is followed by Andrej Desset, Alexis Rozenblat, Narcis Nedelcu, and Danilo Velasevic.
Day 1b is traditionally the busiest day of all and last year a whopping 1,200 players coughed up the €1,100 buy-in. Who knows what this year will bring? Well-known players like Pascal Hartmann, Julien Martini, Pete Chen, Pierre Calamusa, Jason Gray, Tomas Jozonis, Josef Snejberg, Georgios Vrakas, Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy, Viet Vo, David Hu, Martin Staszko, and many more couldn’t hold on to their chips to put in a bag on Day 1a. They are expected to jump in again.
A starting stack is worth 30,000 in chips. A 20-minute break has been scheduled after every three levels with a 75-minute dinner break after Level 9. Players can register until the start of Level 9 and play will continue until there’s 15% of the field left. Players need to make Day 2 to be in the money. If players fail to make it through Day 1b, they can fire once more in Day 1c until the late registration time there closes.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be roaming the floor to bring you all the latest updates so keep following along to see who else will be making it to Day 2.
Day 1b Structure
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | BB Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 100 | 100 | |
| 2 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 3 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 4 | 40 | 100 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 40 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 40 | 200 | 500 | 500 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 7 | 40 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 40 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 40 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 10 | 40 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 11 | 40 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| 12 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 13 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 14 | 40 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 15 | 40 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 16 | 40 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 17 | 40 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| 18 | 40 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
. Houghland held 
.
, Houghland continued with a bet of 3,000 which Martini called. 
and Martini called another bet of 8,000.
, Martini now shoved for 15,000 when Houghland checked and got paid with the nut flush.
turn, Khalil checked once more and Fontaine bet 3,300 to force a fold.
board. First, it was for 2,000, followed by 6,500 and he then moved all-in on the river. Stancescu called all-in for 18,200 and Reichenstein tabled the 
.
turn and 
but Armand had that beat with the 
