Herold and Ji Lead the Pack After Day 2; Kenney and Calamusa Among the Big Stacks
An exciting day of poker at the Hilton Prague has concluded as Day 2 of the 2019 PokerStars EPT Prague €5,300 EPT Main Event has come to an end after five levels of 90 minutes. Another 19 players entered with a fresh stack of 30,000 to boost the field size of the flagship event in the Czech capital to 1,154 entries, and the third-biggest EPT Prague Main Event in 13 years has subsequently created a prize pool of €5,596,900.
Before the cards got in the air, there was excitement in the tournament area as the PokerStars online qualifiers who made it to Day 2 took part in a Crazy Pineapple Flipout for a Platinum Pass. Russia's Evgenii Shibaldin, who has just one live cash for fewer than $2,000 to his name, was the fortunate winner but didn't fare as well in the Main Event after and busted well before the money.
Several hours later in the last level of the night, it was a different kind of excitement as the bubble burst and more than two dozen hopefuls headed to the payout desk while 141 survivors have made it one step closer to becoming the next EPT Main Event champion.
Roman Herold was a big stack throughout the day and bagged up 769,000 to his name, a single chip ahead of Xiaqing Ji (768,000) as the duo pulled ahead of Bryn Kenney (656,000) at the very end. Other notables with big stacks include 2019 EPT Open Sochi runner-up Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (634,000), Luke Marsh (626,000), Giuseppe Carbone (611,000), start-of-day chip leader Pierre Calamusa (601,000) and Teun Mulder (573,000).
Top 10 Stacks After Day 2
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roman Herold | Germany | 769000 | 154 |
| 2 | Xiaqing Ji | China | 768000 | 154 |
| 3 | Bryn Kenney | United States | 656000 | 131 |
| 4 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Russia | 634000 | 127 |
| 5 | Luke Marsh | United Kingdom | 625000 | 125 |
| 6 | Pierre Calamusa | France | 601000 | 120 |
| 7 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | 573000 | 115 |
| 8 | Laurent Michot | France | 550000 | 110 |
| 9 | Fidan Zahiti | Sweden | 543000 | 109 |
| 10 | Akin Tuna | Germany | 536000 | 107 |
Several former EPT champions had a strong showing on Day 2 such as Dominik Panka (497,000), Ognyan Dimov (313,000), Aliaksei Boika (220,000), Hossein Ensan (180,000), Mikalai Pobal (162,000), Sebastian Sorensson (148,000) Martin Finger (118,000), Steve O'Dwyer (101,000), Davidi Kitai (93,000), and PokerStars ambassador Kalidou Sow (70,000) kept their hopes of a second EPT Main Event title alive.
Among the big names that didn't make it through and bowed out before the money were former champions Jan Bendik, Arsenii Karmatckii, Sebastian Malec, Maria Lampropulos, Bertrand Grospellier, and former EPT finalists such as Parker Talbot, Per Linde, David Boyaciyan and Gleb Tremzin to name just a few.
The money bubble burst in the last level of the night and it was Sami Shokry that became the last player to leave empty-handed without anything to show for when he flopped top pair with jack-six suited in three-way action. Yehuda Cohen had the best of it with pocket aces and that secured all remaining 167 players a min-cash of €8,960.
Two former EPT champions were among those to settle for exactly that amount as Simon Brandstrom and Adrian Mateos were among the casualties before bagging and tagging. Mateos was primed for a double up with ace-king against the ace-queen suited of Tomas Paiva but a queen on the flop spelled the end for Spaniard, who had already won a High Roller event during the festival.
Ultimately, only 141 players bagged up for the night and will return to their seats at 12 p.m. noon local time for Day 3, which will recommence with blinds of 2,000-5,000 and a big blind ante of 5,000. Another five levels of 90 minutes each are expected to be played to whittle the field down further.
Stay tuned for all the action right here on PokerNews to find out who will lift the trophy on Tuesday, December 17th, 2019.
2019 EPT Prague Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | 1 | Hiroki Nawa | Japan | 66,000 | 13 |
| 1 | 2 | Akin Tuna | Germany | 536,000 | 107 |
| 1 | 3 | Dan Serban Borlan | Romania | 435,000 | 87 |
| 1 | 4 | Lin Ruida | China | 34,000 | 7 |
| 1 | 5 | Francesco Delfoco | Italy | 172,000 | 34 |
| 1 | 6 | Pim Gieles | Netherlands | 282,000 | 56 |
| 1 | 7 | Gaby Livshitz | Israel | 301,000 | 60 |
| 1 | 8 | Valery Yantsevich | Belarus | 74,000 | 15 |
| 2 | 1 | Felix Kurmayr | Austria | 218,000 | 44 |
| 2 | 2 | Freek Scholten | Netherlands | 197,000 | 39 |
| 2 | 3 | Raphael Wimmer | Austria | 207,000 | 41 |
| 2 | 4 | Tomasz Cybulski | Poland | 268,000 | 54 |
| 2 | 5 | Laurent Michot | France | 550,000 | 110 |
| 2 | 6 | Nazim Shala | Sweden | 127,000 | 25 |
| 2 | 7 | Bryn Kenney | USA | 656,000 | 131 |
| 2 | 8 | Petr Hlavacek | Czech Republic | 118,000 | 24 |
| 3 | 1 | Hady El Asmar | Lebanon | 282,000 | 56 |
| 3 | 3 | Harry Ross | UK | 139,000 | 28 |
| 3 | 4 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | 573,000 | 115 |
| 3 | 5 | Ognyan Dimov | Bulgaria | 313,000 | 63 |
| 3 | 6 | Mateusz Szymanski | Poland | 217,000 | 43 |
| 3 | 7 | Serhii Leonov | Ukraine | 254,000 | 51 |
| 3 | 8 | Vlastimil Pustina | Czech Republic | 243,000 | 49 |
| 4 | 1 | Roman Herold | Germany | 769,000 | 154 |
| 4 | 2 | Yehuda Cohen | Israel | 209,000 | 42 |
| 4 | 3 | Tomas Paiva | Portugal | 237,000 | 47 |
| 4 | 4 | Zinan Xu | China | 35,000 | 7 |
| 4 | 5 | Vasileios Tsaknis | Greece | 228,000 | 46 |
| 4 | 6 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 101,000 | 20 |
| 4 | 7 | Bryan Paris | USA | 139,000 | 28 |
| 4 | 8 | Nikita Lebedev | Russia | 148,000 | 30 |
| 5 | 1 | Giuseppe Zarbo | Italy | 429,000 | 86 |
| 5 | 2 | Sorin Flutur | Romania | 334,000 | 67 |
| 5 | 3 | Kimmo Kurko | Finland | 181,000 | 36 |
| 5 | 4 | Nariman Yaghmai | Iran | 156,000 | 31 |
| 5 | 5 | Stefan Jedlicka | Austria | 82,000 | 16 |
| 5 | 6 | Niklas Lehnert-Rappel | Austria | 51,000 | 10 |
| 5 | 7 | Ouri Cohen | France | 66,000 | 13 |
| 5 | 8 | Sebastian Percy-Smith | Denmark | 185,000 | 37 |
| 6 | 1 | Michael Soyza | Malaysia | 411,000 | 82 |
| 6 | 2 | Gab Yong Kim | South Korea | 365,000 | 73 |
| 6 | 3 | Sven Krieger | Germany | 123,000 | 25 |
| 6 | 4 | Sylvain Loosli | France | 171,000 | 34 |
| 6 | 5 | Gereon Sowa | Germany | 71,000 | 14 |
| 6 | 6 | Gaelle Baumann | France | 343,000 | 69 |
| 6 | 7 | Henrik Hecklen | Denmark | 385,000 | 77 |
| 6 | 8 | Andrei Stoenescu | Romania | 236,000 | 47 |
| 7 | 1 | Michael O'Grady | Australia | 226,000 | 45 |
| 7 | 2 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 190,000 | 38 |
| 7 | 3 | Yake Wu | China | 100,000 | 20 |
| 7 | 4 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 332,000 | 66 |
| 7 | 5 | Dominik Panka | Poland | 497,000 | 99 |
| 7 | 6 | Jukka Paloniemi | Finland | 85,000 | 17 |
| 7 | 7 | Glib Kovtunov | Ukraine | 335,000 | 67 |
| 7 | 8 | Sergei Koliakov | Russia | 76,000 | 15 |
| 8 | 1 | Ionut Voinea | Romania | 132,000 | 26 |
| 8 | 2 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | 438,000 | 88 |
| 8 | 3 | Antonio Smeraglia | Italy | 58,000 | 12 |
| 8 | 4 | Xiaqing Ji | China | 768,000 | 154 |
| 8 | 5 | Hossein Ensan | Germany | 180,000 | 36 |
| 8 | 7 | Philipp Zukernik | Canada | 215,000 | 43 |
| 8 | 8 | Przemyslaw Glaner | Poland | 254,000 | 51 |
| 9 | 1 | Juan Pardo | Spain | 84,000 | 17 |
| 9 | 2 | Pieter Aerts | Belgium | 370,000 | 74 |
| 9 | 3 | Markus Durnegger | Austria | 407,000 | 81 |
| 9 | 4 | Stefan Egermann | Germany | 287,000 | 57 |
| 9 | 5 | Jakub Krawinski | Poland | 54,000 | 11 |
| 9 | 6 | Kalidou Sow | France | 70,000 | 14 |
| 9 | 7 | Vitaly Karayvan | Russia | 57,000 | 11 |
| 9 | 8 | Stanislav Koleno | Slovakia | 357,000 | 71 |
| 10 | 1 | Ricardo Da Rocha | Brazil | 120,000 | 24 |
| 10 | 2 | Fedor Kruse | Germany | 324,000 | 65 |
| 10 | 3 | Antonin Teisseire | France | 57,000 | 11 |
| 10 | 4 | Jean-Philippe Piquette | Canada | 304,000 | 61 |
| 10 | 5 | Oshri Lahmani | Israel | 50,000 | 10 |
| 10 | 6 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | 254,000 | 51 |
| 10 | 7 | Raymond Hibert | Luxembourg | 185,000 | 37 |
| 10 | 8 | Pierre Calamusa | France | 601,000 | 120 |
| 11 | 1 | Mikalai Pobal | Belarus | 162,000 | 32 |
| 11 | 2 | Boris Kuzmanovic | Croatia | 286,000 | 57 |
| 11 | 3 | Ranno Sootla | Estonia | 198,000 | 40 |
| 11 | 4 | Andrew Hulme | UK | 232,000 | 46 |
| 11 | 5 | Victor Bogdanov | Russia | 292,000 | 58 |
| 11 | 6 | Andrea Dato | Italy | 117,000 | 23 |
| 11 | 7 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 364,000 | 73 |
| 11 | 8 | Erwann Pecheux | France | 184,000 | 37 |
| 12 | 1 | Simon Mattsson | Sweden | 98,000 | 20 |
| 12 | 2 | Aleksandr Sheshukov | Russia | 58,000 | 12 |
| 12 | 3 | Sebastian Sorensson | Sweden | 148,000 | 30 |
| 12 | 4 | Roland Chassing | France | 349,000 | 70 |
| 12 | 5 | Erdal Gulseven | Turkey | 383,000 | 77 |
| 12 | 6 | Joe Mouawad | Lebanon | 317,000 | 63 |
| 12 | 7 | Paul Newey | UK | 97,000 | 19 |
| 12 | 8 | Waldemar Peter | Germany | 56,000 | 11 |
| 13 | 1 | Stephen Chidwick | UK | 70,000 | 14 |
| 13 | 2 | Luke Marsh | UK | 625,000 | 125 |
| 13 | 3 | Ibrahim Senoussi | France | 28,000 | 6 |
| 13 | 4 | Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy | Russia | 169,000 | 34 |
| 13 | 5 | Diego Zeiter | Switzerland | 75,000 | 15 |
| 13 | 6 | Erwan Louer | France | 310,000 | 62 |
| 13 | 7 | Joao Mestre Ferreira | Portugal | 427,000 | 85 |
| 13 | 8 | Alessio Di Cesare | Italy | 237,000 | 47 |
| 14 | 1 | Fulvio Sansanelli | Germany | 102,000 | 20 |
| 14 | 2 | Dinesh Alt | Switzerland | 271,000 | 54 |
| 14 | 3 | Kemal Aslan | Turkey | 52,000 | 10 |
| 14 | 4 | Mustafa Biz | Turkey | 269,000 | 54 |
| 14 | 5 | Wei Tso | Hong Kong | 240,000 | 48 |
| 14 | 6 | Dietrich Fast | Germany | 177,000 | 35 |
| 14 | 7 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | 74,000 | 15 |
| 14 | 8 | Renato Hysenbelli | Italy | 219,000 | 44 |
| 15 | 1 | Johann Zeitoun | France | 243,000 | 49 |
| 15 | 2 | Hariton Tonchev | Bulgaria | 170,000 | 34 |
| 15 | 3 | Giorgiy Skhulukhiya | Russia | 634,000 | 127 |
| 15 | 5 | Gianluca Speranza | Austria | 417,000 | 83 |
| 15 | 6 | Luigi Shehadeh | Italy | 160,000 | 32 |
| 15 | 7 | Bart Lybaert | Belgium | 296,000 | 59 |
| 15 | 8 | Davidi Kitai | Belgium | 93,000 | 19 |
| 16 | 1 | Paul Hoefer | Germany | 120,000 | 24 |
| 16 | 2 | Andreas Boelling | Germany | 323,000 | 65 |
| 16 | 3 | Paul Hong | New Zealand | 197,000 | 39 |
| 16 | 4 | Paul Theobald | Germany | 221,000 | 44 |
| 16 | 5 | Giuseppe Carbone | Italy | 411,000 | 82 |
| 16 | 6 | Fidan Zahiti | Sweden | 543,000 | 109 |
| 16 | 7 | Martin Finger | Germany | 118,000 | 24 |
| 16 | 8 | Krasimir Yankov | Bulgaria | 317,000 | 63 |
| 17 | 1 | Francesco Candelari | Italy | 421,000 | 84 |
| 17 | 2 | Cristinel Sandu | Romania | 195,000 | 39 |
| 17 | 3 | Vojtech Ruzicka | Czech Republic | 63,000 | 13 |
| 17 | 4 | Tom Vogelsang | Netherlands | 139,000 | 28 |
| 17 | 5 | Fredrik Andersson | Sweden | 235,000 | 47 |
| 17 | 6 | Marius Gicovanu | Romania | 101,000 | 20 |
| 17 | 7 | Wing Sang Lee | Hong Kong | 425,000 | 85 |
| 17 | 8 | Denys Shafikov | Ukraine | 361,000 | 72 |
| 18 | 1 | Carl Shaw | UK | 213,000 | 43 |
| 18 | 2 | Morten Hvam | Denmark | 301,000 | 60 |
| 18 | 3 | Ran Azor | Israel | 90,000 | 18 |
| 18 | 4 | Mohamed Mokrani | France | 444,000 | 89 |
| 18 | 5 | Ngoc Minh Hoang | Czech Republic | 297,000 | 59 |
| 18 | 6 | Aliaksei Boika | Belarus | 220,000 | 44 |
| 18 | 7 | Claudio Di Giacomo | Italy | 310,000 | 62 |
| 18 | 8 | Jakub Oliva | Czech Republic | 469,000 | 94 |
and the turn 
came behind it. However, the river 
turned the tides, leaving Wang dry on chips as Skhulukhiya earned the massive pot and the knockout shortly before chips are set to go into bags for the night.
and the former Grand Final champion was sent to the payout desk.
. Deveson and Zeitoun checked over to Cohen and he fired out 20,000, which Deveson called. 
and Deveson checked again. Cohen fired out another 25,000 and Deveson put out chips to match it.
and Deveson checked again.
and Kenney immediately called.
of Hossein Ensan. The 
flop left Vos in desperate shape and he was drawing dead after a blank on the turn.
flop changed nothing yet but the 
river officially secured the double knockout.
