PokerStars.com EPT Prague, Day 1b: Christer Johansson Takes Overall Lead

December 10 2008, John "Falstaff" Hartness

Nearly 300 players joined the field at the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague Main Event on Wednesday for Day 1b action, bringing the total number of entrants to 570. Among the stars present on Day 1b were EPT champs Will Fry, Pascal Perrault and Mats Iremark, plus WSOP bracelet winners Dario Minieri and Davidi Kitai. Also in the field were international superstars Chris Moorman, Anthony Lellouche, Katja Thater and Alex Kravchenko, as well as WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate, touring the tournament circuit after his recent appearance at the APPT Grand Final in Sydney.

The action was fast-paced, with several notable eliminations early in the day. EPT Dortmund champ Andreas Hoivold headed to the rail when he moved all in with for the overpair on a board of . He found one caller, who tabled for the flopped set, and Hoivold never caught up. Peter Eastgate was another early casualty when he ran afoul of Stuart Rutter. Eastgate led out preflop, and Rutter was his lone caller. The flop came down A-Q-8, and Rutter check-called once more. Eastgate led out again on the trey turn, and Rutter once again called. Eastgate moved all in when a six came on the river, and Rutter thought for a long moment before making the call with A-3 for two pair. Eastgate mucked what he claimed was A-K and headed to the rail.

Also eliminated on Day 1b were Will Fry, Nicolas Levi, Katja Thater and Davidi Kitai. Kitai busted late in the day at the hands of Petr Masojidek when he got all his chips in preflop with to Masojidek's . The board ran out , as Masojidek's rivered flush sent the WSOP bracelet winner to the rail.

Dario Minieri fared considerably better on the day than several of his Team PokerStars pro counterparts. Minieri finished the day near the top of the leader board, helped in part by a hand near the end of play when his pocket jacks made a straight on the board to crack his opponent's pocket queens. Other notable survivors included Anthony Lellouche, Steven "allinstevie" Devlin, Juha Helppi and Thierry van den Berg. WPT champion Christer Johansson finished the day with the chip lead, holding an edge over not just his Day 1b opponents, but also Day 1a chip leader Ludovic Lacay as well.

Join PokerNews at 12PM Prague time on Thursday as the 177 combined survivors from Day 1a and 1b combine for the first time at the Hilton in Prague. The top ten chip counts from Day 1b play:

Christer Johansson - 108,100
Manuel Bevand - 97,200
Alessio Isaia - 95,300
Fredrik Nygard - 86,400
Mikhail Tulchinsky - 81,400
Niko Hanninen - 73,100
Dario Minieri - 64,400
Joris Jaspers Holland - 63,700
Raul Mestre - 55,900
Mika Puro - 55,700

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