With previous action unknown on a flop, one thing was for sure: Lin Ruida did not have a good hand. The Chinese player had 27,000 in front of him, to which Adam Hari had responded with an all-in shove for 35,400 total.
While just 8,400 more to call, it was clear Ruida had a couple of ragballs hidden in the hole as he spent over five minutes figuring out whether he'd get the odds to climb out of the hole he'd created for himself. The clock got called and, reluctantly, he flung in the few extra chips.
Adam Hari:
Lin Ruida:
Ruida needed a creative backdoor escape if he was to win this one but the turn shut down every conceivable angle, rendering the river a mere formality.
Sebastian Malec raised to 1,400 from the cutoff and Gianluca Speranza three-bet to 6,000 on the button. The blinds folded and Malec made the call.
The flop came , Malec check-called the 5,000 continuation-bet of Speranza.
They both checked through the on the turn to the on the river. Malec took his time and then opted to fold. Speranza then tanked and bet 15,000. Malec tanked for a bit longer and shoved. Speranza asked for a count and dived back into the tank to end up folding eventually.
A frenzy was going on over on Table 24, where all players were frantically scrambling for their phones to film one of the most incredible bad beats that just transpired in front of their eyes. Three hands were tabled on a board, showing the following hands:
Antoine Vranken:
Florian Ribouchon:
Lukasz Grossmann:
While Ribouchon had flopped top full and Vranken trip sixes, it would be Grossmann who ended up with a runner-runner perfect to scoop the pot with quads.
Vranken, who got eliminated in the hand, relayed to PokerNews that Grossmann had raised from middle position and both he and Ribouchon had called from the blinds. Both flop and turn got checked around — each of the three players sneakingly trying to trap the other.
All the fireworks happened on the river: Ribouchon bet 4,500, Vranken raised to 10,000, Grossmann shoved all in for 28,400, Ribouchon came over the top with his sevens full, and Vranken called all in for his remaining 25,400. Grossmann scooped up the miracle pot, while Ribouchon will have a bad beat story for the ages to tell.
Paul Michaelis was seen leaving the tournament area but walked past his friend Robert Heidorn to explain what had happened:
"I ran my stack back up to 32,000 after being down to 4,000 at one point. We both had a set, I had fives, he (Kimmo Kurko) had jacks. All the money went in on the river."
Mihai Manole was the first player awarded a Platinum Pass, back in 2017 when the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship was first announced. He's back in action in the Czech capital in 2019, and he's looking to walk away with another Pass for 2020.
It's been the swingiest of days at the tables for Aleksandr Sheshukov, who was chip leading the EPT Prague Main Event by a sizable margin not long ago. Sheshukov broke the 200K mark mere hours into Day 1b and topped the standings for a while before plummeting back down to 62,500 in chips.
Just now, all of those went in preflop with into the of Vitalijs Zavorotnijs in a button-versus-big-blind situation. The board ran out to improve Sheshukov's jacks to a straight, barely escaping from the jaws of defeat.
Andras Nemeth seems to be having fun at his table, especially with Jussi Mattila who finished in second place last night in the EPT National for €247,978. They were kind enough to tell the PokerNews team about a hand earlier tonight in the 400/800/800 level:
Mattila had limped in from the button and the player in the small blind completed his small blind while Nemeth opted to check. The flop came , it was checked to Mattila who bet 1,600 which only Nemeth called. The turn was another , Nemeth bet 3,500 and Mattila snap-raised to 12,000 which Nemeth called. The river completed the board with the , Nemeth checked and Mattila shoved for around 35,000. Nemeth tanked.
Nemeth had a good hand but thought Mattila could be bluffing and voiced that.
"You think I have five-six," Mattila said and Nemeth ended up folding in the end. Mattila showed .
In the meantime, Mattila was playing a hand against Andreas Klatt and the board read , Mattila had bet 26,000 from the big blind and Klatt shoved from the middle position for a bit more. Mattila called with for the turned straight after they had checked through the board. Klatt tabled for the set of sixes. The river completed the board with the to not help Klatt as Mattila added another elimination to his list.
A hand was playing out on Table 12 but that is not what drew everyone's attention to the table. It was Gregory Armand, who claimed Giuseppe Zarbo accepted a pot that he didn't win, which Armand was supposed to win. Said hand happened two hands ago and in the meantime, the table lost Adam Chochola and Benjamin Chalot. Chalot immediately reentered but Chochola stayed at the table to witness it all.
Multiple members of the floor staff arrived at the table to assess the situation. Armand claimed he was supposed to win the pot with against the of Zarbo with only a deuce on the board. Armand's kicker should've earned him the pot but the chips were pushed to Zarbo.
Armand, meanwhile, had gotten to his feet to greet someone on the rail safe in the knowledge - he assumed - that he had won the pot.
Upon returning to the table, he counted his chips and realized that he had not been awarded the pot. Armand insisted on the floor staff checking the cameras above the table and went off against his opponent.
''He knows he lost and he took the pot!" he shouted. "He stole from me, he's a thief!''
Tournament director Toby Stone explained to Armand that it wasn't possible to check the cameras because it would take too long. Stone also explained he was trying everything in his power to see if they could find a solution.
Armand stepped aside from the table when Stone was trying to confirm what happened with the other players at the table. The general consensus was that Armand indeed should've won the pot and that Zarbo had put the 14,000-18,000 in his own stack.
It took about ten minutes before Zarbo gave 16,000 to Armand. Armand was happy with the solution and play continued at Table 12 with 35 minutes left on the clock before the end of the day.
An exciting Day 1b of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €5,300 Main Event saw 268 players advance from a field of 745 after ten levels of 60 minutes each. Together with the 391 players that registered for Day 1a, the field is currently up to 1,136 entries with 395 of them still in contention after both starting days. Late registration will be open right up until the start of Day 2, after which the total prize pool and payouts will be announced.
Well-known pro Bart Lybaert from Belgium bagged the biggest batch of them all, spinning his 30,000 starting stack all the way up to 333,400. Lybaert has already racked up over $3M in lifetime winnings — including a €1,100 EUREKA win for €115,000 (the predecessor of the EPT National) right here in Prague — and will be looking to add yet another big score to his already impressive poker resumé. Lybaert will come back second in chips overall, sitting behind Pierre Calamusa who bagged the overall lead with 457,000 on Day 1a.
Following Lybaert to round out the top 5 of the day were Niklas Lehnert-Rappel (267,000), Alex Kulev (266,800), Jonathan Therme (256,400) and Jakub Krawinski (236,600). Notables such as Dario Sammartino (168,000), Jussi Nevanlinna (155,800), Sebastian Malec (154,600), Alexandre Reard (88,100) and Ole Schemion (31,300) also soundly navigated their way through a stacked field.
Team PokerStars ambassador Fatima Moreira de Melo wasn't as fortunate as the aforementioned players as she'd be among those to run out of chips on Day 1b. Moreira de Melo wasn't the only notable to hit the rail: fellow PokerStars ambassador Ramon Colillas, Conor Beresford, Henri Buhler, Walter Treccarichi, Jason Wheeler, Morten Mortensen, Jasper Meijer van Putten, Parker Talbot, Kahle Burns, Julien Martini, and defending champion Paul Michaelis all joined the former Olympian on the sidelines after losing their stacks along the way as well.
Bizarre Bad Beat: Backdoor Quads Defeats Flopped Full House
Holding pocket sevens, Florian Ribouchon was the first to come out of the woodworks and bet the river with his flopped top full house. Antoine Vranken, with the six-four of hearts for sixes full, then raised it up one seat over. Lukasz Grossmann, however, held pocket fives for the miracle runner-runner quads and shoved all in over the top. Both Ribouchon and Vranken got their stacks in the middle as well, after which the entire table frantically whipped out their phones to film the improbable showdown that just unfolded before their eyes.
With both starting days wrapped up, the 268 surviving players from Day 1b will join the 127 that made it through on Day 1a and come back for Day 2 at noon local time on Friday, December 13. Make sure to check back to PokerNews as we get one step closer to crowning a new EPT champion!