Last year Davidi Kitai beat a field of 745 players to crown himself EPT Berlin and Triple Crown winner. The Belgian pro took home the €712,000 first-place prize after he defeated Andrew Chen heads up. Chen is playing as well today as is third place finisher [Removed:285].
We've also spotted EPT Madrid winner Frederik Jensen and former EPT Grand Final champion Nicolas Choity among the crowded EPT Berlin tournament floor. Team Pros Toni Judet and Martin Hruby have also sat down in the event.
After losing a recent pot listed below, Chris Brammer was a bit bummed out. Luckily, his good friend Sam Grafton is at the table to cheer him up.
"Relax," Grafton piped up. "It's not the end of the world. We're in Berlin, you have your mate at the table."
Brammer remained silent.
"Griffin!" Grafton turned to shout at Griffin Benger, who was sitting at the table behind him. "How much would we have to pay you to take a full level off and massage Brammer? We'll pool money. I know Toby [Lewis] is in."
Benger laughed.
"Can I use my phone during it?" he asked Grafton.
"No," Grafton shot back instantly.
"Do we have to use lotion?"
Jason Lavallee walked in to the area just as Benger asked that second question.
"That's a really weird conversation to walk into," the French Canadian chuckled.
"How much would we have to pay you?" Grafton asked Benger. "I know it's probably a lot — 12K?"
"I'd probably do it for two," Benger said, making most of the room laugh. "Maybe 3K pounds."
The two continue to bargain back and forth, until Calvin Anderson jokingly offered to do it for €500. Grafton immediately pulled out a purple €500 note, but Anderson eventually declined.
Sam Grafton basically wrote this headline for the post after Chris Brammer did indeed have to fold after a very bad looking river card fell for him.
The action was four-way to a flop and Brammer's 800 bet from the cut-off was only called by Luigi Serricchio on the button. Brammer cut 1,800 off his stack to bet on the turn and once again he was called.
The river dropped as the and Brammer check-folded to a 2,750 bet.
The ever energetic Grafton jumped to his seat and said, "Bad river card for Brammer! That's what's going in the blog, mate."
Picking up with the action on a board of , we found Olivier Busquet check on over to Kent Roed. Roed fired a bet of 5,000 into an already sizable pot and Busquet called.
The river brought the and Busquet checked again. Roed smacked the table, signifying a check, before flipping up for a pair of jacks. Busquet showed and took down the pot. Busquet is now sporting a 36,000-chip stack.
Over at Table 17, Mohsin Charania and Hiren Patel are seated in seats seven and eight respectively. The two friends hail from the Windy City of Chicago, and it's ironic to see them seated next to each other here on a Day 1b in Berlin, Germany.
Charania is of course the defending EPT Grand Final champion. He defeated Lucille Cailly heads up, earning €1,350,000 and a big shiny trophy.
While Patel doesn't have the best results live, you don't want to come across him online - he's earned over $3 million playing online tournaments.
At an adjacent table is Faraz Jaka, a transplant Chicagoan. Jaka went to college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Charania took a small hit to start the day. He and two opponents took a flop of , and Charania led out for 2,250 from the blinds. One player callled, and the turn brought the . Charania slowed down, checking to his opponent who fired 11,000. Charania tank-folded, and dipped down to around 26,000 chips.
Sebastian Ruthenberg has virtually retired from playing poker but it's nice to see him back on tour. The Team Pro did lose a pot now though as he gets back into the swing of things.
He opened from mid position and was called by both blinds en route to a flop. Ruthenberg continued for 500 and was only called by the big blind. Ruthenberg went for a 1,100 bet on the turn and was called again. He decided to give up on the river and checked behind with , losing out to .
Martin Kabrhel recently took his seat at the Grand Hyatt Berlin and he has already been involved in some massive action.
Phillipe Barouk opened the action with a raise to 300 from the cutoff. Victor Ramdin flat-called from the button only to have Kabrhel cut out a three-bet to 1,350. Barouk called the raise while Ramdin folded his cards.
The flop fell and Kabrhel came out swinging for 1,175. Barouk made a raise to 2,500 and Kabrhel came right back over the top with a three-bet to 5,175. Barouk stayed the course.
The turned and Kabrhel sat for roughly one minute before moving 6,800 into the middle. Barouk called relatively quickly and the completed the board. Kabrhel announced a bet of 7,500 and Barouk wasted little time announcing that he was all in. This was a bet for Kabrhel's life and he sat pondering for some time before finally releasing his hand, leaving himself with 9,050 behind.
Barouk, on the other hand, is thriving early. By absorbing a good chunk of Kabrhel's stack he's now sitting on one of if not the biggest stack in the room with about 52,000.
Three out of the top four players on the Czech live tournament all-time money leader board are named Martin. Two of those three are playing today and we've spotted them in the tournament room.
Martin Kabrhel, who's third on that list with $1.4 million in earnings, had his biggest result in January 2010 when he won the EPT Deauville High Roller for €250,000. The other Martin, Staszko to be precise, has the biggest cash in Czech poker history. Staszko finished second in the 2011 WSOP Main Event behind Pius Heinz who's seated just one table over. Staszko took home $5.4 million from Las Vegas and has been a regular on the tournament scene since.
Let's see what the Martin's can do in this event today!
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop and Brammer's 800 bet from the cut-off was only called by Luigi Serricchio on the button. Brammer cut 1,800 off his stack to bet on the 
turn and once again he was called.
and Brammer check-folded to a 2,750 bet.
, we found Olivier Busquet check on over to Kent Roed. Roed fired a bet of 5,000 into an already sizable pot and Busquet called.
and Busquet checked again. Roed smacked the table, signifying a check, before flipping up 
for a pair of jacks. Busquet showed 
and took down the pot. Busquet is now sporting a 36,000-chip stack.
, and Charania led out for 2,250 from the blinds. One player callled, and the turn brought the 
turn and was called again. He decided to give up on the 
.
turned and Kabrhel sat for roughly one minute before moving 6,800 into the middle. Barouk called relatively quickly and the 
