Felix Schneiders having played the short stack for most of the day jammed all of his chips in 14,200 and found two calls from the sizeable stacks of Eugenio Bastos and Marcos Thielke.
The flop came 2♥9♦4♥ and Thielke bet 17,500 with Bastos making the call.
The turn brought the K♣ and again Thielke bet, this time 32,000 and his big stacked opponent made the fold.
Schneiders at risk turned over K♠K♦ for the turned set of kings and Bastos showed 8♣8♦ and was drawing dead on the river.
The PokerStars Ambassador stayed alive in the main event and his patience all day finally paid off.
PokerStars has unveiled the full schedule for the 2024 European Poker Tour (EPT) season, which shows five destinations, including a return to EPT Paris and EPT Cyprus. Both Paris and Cyprus made their EPT debut in 2023, and they return for 2024, much to the delight of the players.
EPT Paris is the first stop of the 2024 European Poker Tour season. It takes place between February 14-25 at a new venue. The stunning Le Palais des Congres has a 120-table capacity, meaning there will be a more extensive schedule for the festival. Cedric Billot, Associate Director for Live Events and Operations, believes the new-look EPT Paris could be one of the largest EPT festivals on record.
The first day of the €5,300 Main Event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague wrapped up after ten one-hour levels in the Hilton Prague. A total of 412 entries were made and out of those, 131 found a way to Day 2.
It was Joao Mestre who collected the most chips throughout the day as he ended with a stack of 359,000 from a starting stack of 30,000. Others with a big stack include Yulian Bogdanov (315,000), Cheng Zhao (306,500), and Steve O'Dwyer (251,500).
Ramon Colillas (95,500) and Felix Schneiders (80,500) are waving the flag for the Red Spade brigade. The two PokerStars ambassadors managed both to survive the day. Leo Worthington-Leese collected a little over five starting stacks when he ended Day 1a with 156,500. The Brit had an incredible run at the 2023 EPT Monte-Carlo Main Event where he finished third for €397,450 and he’s looking to repeat his success.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Name
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Joao Mestre
Portugal
359,000
239
2
Yulian Bogdanov
Bulgaria
315,000
210
3
Cheng Zhao
China
306,500
204
4
Enzo Vito
United Kingdom
280,000
187
5
Steve O'Dwyer
Ireland
251,500
168
6
Pawel Krol
Poland
250,500
167
7
Ka Kwan Lau
Spain
250,000
167
8
Marcos Thielke
Spain
239,500
160
9
Gonzalo Veiga
Spain
237,000
158
10
Patrik Jaros
Czech Republic
209,000
139
Day 1a action
The day started at noon local time with plenty of hopefuls seated when the “shuffle up and deal” was announced. Some of the early faces in the field were Barny Boatman, Julien Sitbon, and Niall Farrell. Boatman managed to survive the day with a stack of 61,500. Sitbon wasn’t as fortunate as he tried his luck later on in the €10,200 Mystery Bounty.
Farrell also wasn’t fortunate enough to make Day 2. With about an hour left in the day he found pocket aces but the runout wasn’t in his favor when Brandon Leetz flopped a set of tens before the chips went in. A clean runout for Leetz followed and Farrell’s efforts weren’t awarded with a bag at the end of play on Day 1a.
Ka Kwan Lau ended the day with a top 10 stack of 250,000. Lau isn’t a stranger to success on the European Poker Tour. Earlier this year at EPT Barcelona, Lau had a deep run in the €5,300 Main Event finishing 31st (€36,100), only to take down the €10,300 EPT High Roller in Barcelona for €910,400 and the trophy a few days later.
The second flight of the EPT Prague Main Event starts on Tuesday, December 12 at noon local time with the same structure as Day 1a. Everyone starts with a fresh 30,000 stack and blinds begin at 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante. Registration is open until Day 2.
Stay tuned for more live coverage of the 2023 EPT Prague Main Event as the PokerNews live reporting team brings you all the action straight from the source.