€50,000 Super High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2014 PokerStars.com EPT Season 11 Prague
€50,000 Super High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2014 PokerStars.com EPT Season 11 Prague
Buy-in
€48,500
Prize Pool
€2,448,765
Entries
51
Level
25
Blinds
120,000 / 240,000
Ante
30,000
Last Year's High Roller Champion Ivan Soshnikov Leads €50,000 Super High Roller
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
High rollers from all over the world came to Prague today to play in the European Poker Tour's €50,000 Super High Roller. At day's end, 41 unique players had ponied up the €50,000 buy-in, with seven of them entering more than once after busting early to make for a total amount of 48 entries. That number can still grow as registration is open until 15 minutes before the start of Day 2.
On Day 1, the schedule dictated just eight levels of play, so by the time the clock struck half past nine, the chips went into the bags.
It was the first time Prague was the stage for a an EPT super high roller. Last year's poker festival in Prague had just a "regular" high roller with a price tag of €10,300, and Ivan Soshnikov won that event. Interestingly enough, it was Soshnikov who made headlines in this event. Soshnikov not only entered the EPT Prague €50,000 Super High Roller, he was also still in the Eureka Main Event, which was going on at the same time in the same room. Soshnikov multi-tabled the €1,100 and €50,000 buy-in tournaments, and things got a little tricky for him. At one point his table in the Eureka Main Event broke and he couldn't find his stack.
Then there was the situation where Soshnikov said "ninety-eight," but tossed in two T25,000 chips in a big pot against World Series of Poker Main Event champion Martin Jacobson on the river. The floor ruled he had to bet 98,000 and not 9,800 as some players at the table suggested. Jacobson eventually folded, but had the feeling there was an angle to Soshnikov's move. The Russian himself explained he meant to say "forty-eight," meaning 48,000.
To top it all off, Soshnikov ended his tumultuous day with more chips than anyone, bagging up 905,000. He busted Team PokerStars Pro Online's Isaac Haxton in the last level of the day with ace-king to sixes, and also busted Fedor Holz with aces to a flopped top pair with king-queen. It wasn't the first time busting for Holz, as earlier the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event winner busted to Brian Roberts. Holz's last chips went in with ace-ten in that hand, and Roberts made the call with two queens.
Jacobson ended with 337,000 after a solid day of work. The Swede first doubled his neighbor David Peters with tens to kings, but doubled in the second-to-last level of the day with kings of his own to qualifier Igor Pihela's queens.
Stephen Chidwick had some amazing results here last year, finishing third in both the Eureka Main Event (€92,500) and the EPT Main Event (€378,000). The UK pro is trying to better that this year, and he started out great with picking off Christoph Vogelsang's big bluff. Chidwick check-called on the flop, turn, and river with top set and caught Vogelsang bluffing with a missed straight draw. That catapulted Chidwick up the leaderboard, and he ended the day with 557,000.
Vogelsang bought back in, and he wasn't alone doing so. Peters, Connor Drinan, Jean-Noel Thorel, Joseph Cheong, Holz, and Haxton all did the same. Adrian Mateos wasn't willing to put up another €50,000 after busting as the first player to go, but the World Series of Poker Europe champion could still reenter before Day 2. Mike McDonald was the one holding the axe in Mateos' elimination, winning the hand with a flush against the Spaniard's straight.
The remaining 32 players will return tomorrow, Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 12 p.m. local time. The plan is to play down to a final table of eight, or 10 levels, whichever comes first. PokerNews will again provide you with all the updates you can ask for, so stay tuned for more action from the floor in Prague.
End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
905,000 | -70,000 |
|
857,000 | 57,000 |
|
662,000 | 32,000 |
|
623,000 | 133,000 |
|
618,000 | 307,000 |
|
590,000 | 175,000 |
|
557,000 | -58,000 |
|
550,000 | |
|
532,000 | 37,000 |
|
528,000 | -2,000 |
|
483,000 | 33,000 |
|
457,000 | 7,000 |
|
422,000 | 102,000 |
|
348,000 | 218,000 |
|
339,000 | 59,000 |
|
337,000 | 57,000 |
|
331,000 | 33,000 |
|
318,000 | 13,000 |
|
315,000 | 73,000 |
|
306,000 | 141,000 |
|
302,000 | 57,000 |
|
262,000 | -88,000 |
|
198,000 | 28,000 |
|
169,000 | -126,000 |
|
154,000 | -76,000 |
Joseph Cheong Eliminated
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
In one of the last hands of the day Joseph Cheong busted for the second time today. Joseph Cheong opened to 12,000 from the hijack and Martin Kabrhel made it 29,500 from the button. Cheong than pushed for 160,000 and Kabrhel called with 
. Cheong tabled 
and had some catching up to do.
The board ran out 
and Cheong made his way to the exit.
Living Hand To Mouth
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
The Super High Rollers play eight levels today, with no dinner break. As some players discovered, this can present problems. Make a run for it, or stick it out? Either way takes some planning, as the PokerStars Blog reports.
Wrong Read from Leah
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
Mike Leah raised to 10,000 and Olivier Busquet three-bet to 30,000. Leah now clicked it to 66,000 and Busquet moved all in for 260,500 in the last hand of the day. "Last chance to re-enter, huh?" Leah asked and eventually called off. When he noticed the cards of his opponent, he stood up and laughed. "Alright, bad read," Leah said and flipped over 
.
Busquet had that beat with and the board ran out safely in 
. "Guess I should have just called," Leah added and referred to to his four-bet.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
550,000 | 357,000 |
|
|
450,000 | -26,000 |
Mercier Doubles Through McDonald
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
Jason Mercier was all in and at risk with against the pocket deuces of Mike McDonald on a flop of 
. The 
on the turn gave Mercier the higher set and the 
on the river blanked.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
170,000 | -59,000 |
|
120,000 | 65,000 |
Soshnikov Almost a Millionaire
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
Joining the action on the 
turn, Fedor Holz check-raised all in for 176,000 and Ivan Soshnikov, who had fired a bet of 58,000, quickly called. It was the 
for Holz and the 
for the Russian. The 
on the river was a blank and the German busted on his second bullet.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
975,000 | 225,000 |
|
Busted |
Drinan Busts Adams
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
Connor Drinan raised to 12,000 from the cutoff and called the three-bet of Timothy Adams in the button-seat for 26,000. On a 
rainbow flop, Drinan check-called a bet of 25,000 and the 
on the turn was checked through by both players. The 
on the river saw a check from Drinan and Adams moved all in nfor what looked like 130,000.
Drinan called with 
for the top pair on the river and Adams mucked an ace to hit the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
530,000 | 310,000 |
|
Busted |
Five More Hands
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
And then the day ends. We'll be back with counts and a recap of today's action soon.