Action folded to Albert Daher in the small blind and he pushed all in. Big blind Christoph Vogelsang, who had about 140,000 behind, called.
Albert Daher:
Christoph Vogelsang:
It wasn't that uneven a fight, but after the flop, Vogelsang was done for. The on the turn and river were effectively blanks and Vogelsang hit the rail.
Ryan Riess opened under the gun for 40,000. Big blind Sam Greenwood shoved and Riess beat him to the pot with his calling chips.
Ryan Riess:
Sam Greenwood:
It was a coin flip to start the hand, but the flop would make Riess the heavy favorite: . The on the turn was a blank and the on the river wasn't one of the cards Greenwood was looking for either.
Down to 9 players now, a full redraw is in the works.
Stefan Schillhabel opened under the gun plus one for 40,000 and action folded around quickly to Albert Daher in the big blind. The man from Lebanon shoved and Schillhabel snap called for about 400,000 total.
Stefan Schillhabel:
Albert Daher:
The flop of brought nothing to worry about for Schillhabel but the on the turn was possibly (apart from a queen) the worst card in the deck. The on the river paired up Schillhabel but made Daher's straight and the former stood up while the latter started raking in the chips.
Down to 8 players, the official bubble has started.
Out of the small blind, dominating chip leader Albert Daher raised to 55,000 and Mustapha Kanit in the big blind three-bet all in for what appeared to be 310,000. Daher didn't need to ask for a count, because he snap-called for a reason.
Mustapha Kanit:
Albert Daher:
The board came and Kanit was left drawing dead on the turn to let the money bubble burst. The Italian left the table with a "good luck guys" and Daher further extended his lead.
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau moved all in twice to scoop the blinds and antes, boosting his stack. Oleksii Khoroshenin seemed interested in the first hand, but folded when the shove was deemed to be for 168,000.
After losing a big portion of his stack to Ryan Riess a few minutes earlier, it was then Bartlomiej Machon that moved all in first to act. Vaskaboinikau in the big blind asked for a count and the all in was for 182,000, which Vaskaboinikau had covered and indeed called after brief consideration.
Bartlomiej Machon:
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau:
The flop improved Vaskaboinikau to a pair of queens, and the turn and river were both blanks to send Machon to the rail in 7th place for €64,300.
After returning from the break, Adrian Mateos scooped the first two hands and Oleksii Khoroshenin then raised to 105,000 on the button. Albert Daher asked for his stack size and shoved from the big blind, Khoroshenin folded.
Only moments later, the action started once again with a raise by Mateos, who made it 90,000 to go. Khoroshenin moved all in for around 850,000 from one seat over in the cutoff and Mateos snap-called once the he was to act again.
Oleksii Khoroshenin:
Adrian Mateos:
After the flop, Khoroshenin let out a dry "that's a good flop" and all four opponents cracked up in laughter. Neither the turn nor the river brought a miracle and Daher joked "welcome to Adrian's world." Khoroshenin racked up yet another High Roller cash and received €104,000 for his 5th place finish.
A bunch of EPT champions, some bracelet winners, a WSOP Main Event victor, and a lot more high rollers gathered in the Hilton Hotel in Czech Republic's capital for the first of two Single-Day High Roller events at the PokerStars Championship Prague. After just 11 hours of play, Albert Daher lifted the trophy. Daher beat a field of 50 entries, taking home €324,727 for his hard day of work, the biggest prize of his career by some margin.
Position
Player
Country
Prize
Prize in US$
Original Prize
1
Albert Daher
Lebanon
€324,727*
$384,090*
€386,000
2
Ryan Riess
United States
€278,475*
$329,382*
€278,700
3
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau
Belarus
€239,098*
$282,806*
€177,600
4
Adrian Mateos
Spain
€134,800
$159,424
5
Oleksii Khoroshenin
Ukraine
€104,000
$122,998
6
Rocco Palumbo
Italy
€79,600
$94,141
7
Bartlomiej Machon
Poland
€64,300
$76,046
* A three-handed deal was struck
Play got underway just after midday with 3 tables. The field eventually grew to 37 entrants, 13 of which did a reentry to grow the prize pool to €1,225,000.
Timothy Adams, who won the €50,000 Super High Roller earlier this week, was the first to bust. Adams got it in before the flop with queens to Ole Schemion's kings and found no help. Not much later, after the first break, Adams would be the first to bust again as he got it in with kings to Roccco Palumbo's ace-queen. An ace on the turn guaranteed Adams would not cash, as just a single reentry into this event was allowed.
All the big names in poker present in Prague entered the event. Dominik Nitsche, Ivan Luca, Bryn Kenney, and Stephen Chidwick were just some of the high rollers that tried their luck but would eventually fail as they all busted midway through the day.
Sam Greenwood, Stefan Schillhabel, and Mustapha Kanit came closer to cashing but wouldn't make the cut either. Sam Greenwood bubbled the final table as he lost with tens to WSOP Champion Ryan Riess' ace-king. Stefan Schillhabel exited after getting a bad beat by Albert Daher. Schillhabel, who's had quite the year cashing for millions, got it in good with ace-king to Daher's ace-queen but the latter made Broadway on the river to send the German to the rail. As a rare feat, the bubble then started without a single German player still left in.
Mustapha Kanit would be the unlucky last player to depart without making the money. He found himself on the short side and shoved from the big blind over a small blind open. Daher called with aces and Kanit tabled king-queen. No help on the flop, turn, or river and Kanit bubbled the €25,500 Single-Day High Roller.
That left 7 players guaranteed €64,300. The one to pick up that amount was Polish high roller Bartlomiej Machon. He lost with ace-eight to Mikalai Vaskaboinikau's king-queen as the flop brought a queen.
Next to go was Rocco Palumbo after losing with ace-four to Daher's queen-eight. A queen on the flop ended it all for Palumbo who had to settle for 6th place, worth €79,600.
Daher had over half the chips in play after that hand but it wasn't the end of it by any means. Players kept on doubling up and it took a bit before Oleksii Khoroshenin exited in 5th place. The EPT Vienna champion lost with jack-ten suited to Adrian Mateos' kings and the tournament was 4-handed.
Adrian Mateos was leading after that hand but a series of unfortunate hands made him into the shortest not even 2 levels later. He first doubled Ryan Riess and eventually busted to Daher with ace-four against ace-king.
With just three players remaining, play continued until Riess requested a short break.
Player
Chip Count
Big Blinds
Albert Daher
2,605,000
52
Ryan Riess
1,395,000
28
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau
1,000,000
20
When Riess returned from the bathroom, the three started talks of a deal as Albert Daher and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau were both tired.
Riess was firm in stating he was willing to play. In the end, though, the three found some common ground but then Riess found out the tournament would be over, and the trophy would go to Daher who was the overwhelming chip leader. Riess demanded to get ICM after that, and eventually got his way as Vaskaboinikau was willing to give up some. With that, the tournament was over and Daher was crowned champion.
In two days time, another €25,500 Single-Day High Roller will commence. Before that, the Main Event starts Day 2 and PokerNews will be once again on the ground to bring you all the updates.