PokerStars.com EPT Prague Main Event Day 3: Lacay & Schemion Headline Final 61
Season 10 of the European Poker Tour continued on Sunday with Day 3 action from the EPT10 Prague Main Event. For the past few days, the Czech Republic’s largest city has played host to the largest field in EPT Prague history (1,007 players), but the final day in the weekend saw the returning 189 players reduced to the final 61.
During five 90-minute levels of play, the money bubble burst when just 151 remained, and then the in-the-money finishes piled up. By the end of the night, Ludovic Lacay emerged as the chip leader with 1.7 million, though some stiff competition also advanced including Ole Schemion and Jonathan Little.
Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ludovic Lacay | 1,700,000 |
| 2 | Julian Track | 1,187,000 |
| 3 | Lasell King | 1,075,000 |
| 4 | Ole Schemion | 1,030,000 |
| 5 | Ihar Soika | 957,000 |
| 6 | Ciaran Burke | 889,000 |
| 7 | Ana Marquez | 870,000 |
| 8 | Stephen Chidwick | 869,000 |
| 9 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | 839,000 |
| 10 | Martin Wiklund | 747,000 |
Action resumed in Level 15 (1,500/3,000/400), and it didn’t take long for one of the most accomplished players in the field to fall. In one of the first hands of the day, Team PokerStars Pro David Williams was crippled when his pocket kings were cracked when his opponent made a pair of aces on the river.
The next hand there was a raise in front of Williams to 6,500 and he shoved his last big blinds in. The call that followed was quick and Williams would soon find out his 3♠3♥ was dominated by J♦J♥. The board ran out 4♥5♣8♦10♠2♠ and Williams left the tournament area empty handed.
Others who fell shy of the money were Martin Staszko, Erik Scheidt, Marcin Wydrowski, Sam Cohen, Rui Sousa, Bolivar Palacios, and Alexander Lakhov, who was sent to the rail as the bubble boy.
From there the in the money eliminations began to mount and include current EPT10 Player of the Year leader Thomas Muhlocker (149th - €8,600), Kitty Kuo (144th - €8,600), Paul Volpe (143rd - €9,000), Sylvain Loosli (140th - €9,000), Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (126th - €9,000), Dominik Nitsche (124th - €9,000), Team PokerStars Pros Henrique Pinho (109th - €9,900) and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (106th - €9,900), and Amir Lehavot (105th - €9,900).
In Level 17 (2,500/5,000/500), UK pro Stephen Chidwick eliminated Lehavot, the 2013 World Series of Poker third-place finisher. After Chidwick had four-bet to 65,000 from the small blind and Lehavot five-bet to 120,000 from the button, Chidwick responded with a six-bet shove and Lehavot called off for 348,000. Chidwick barely had him covered, but he was the favorite.
Chidwick: Q♠Q♣
Lehavot: A♦K♣
It was a big flip for the chip lead, and according to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Chidwick was a 56.55% favorite while Lehavot would survive 43.03% of the time. The 10♦8♣9♦ flop was no help to Lehavot, and he fell to a 3-1 dog. The 9♣ turn knocked him down even further to 13.64%, meaning he needed either an ace or king on the river to stay alive. On the other hand, Chidwick would win 86.36% of the time, and as fate would have it this was one of those times as the Q♥ river improved him to a full house.
From there, EPT10 Barcelona Super High Roller champ Vitaly Lunkin (102nd - €9,900); Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Dermot Blain (99th - €9,900), WSOP Europe Main Event champ Adrian Mateos (93rd - €11,100), Team Online’s newest member Marc-Andre Ladouceur (81st - €11,100); and Day 2 chip leader Walid Bou Habib (74th - €11,100) all hit the rail.
Two other players to fall before the end of the night were Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov and Jonathan Duhamel.
Katchalov was ousted in Level 19 (4,000/8,000/1,000) when he moved all in for 107,000 from early position and Lasell King moved all in over the top from the small blind. King, who won the Poker EM CAPT in Baden last October for €92,035, tabled A♥K♦ which was superior to Katchalov's A♠10♠. The Q♥7♥2♦7♠9♠ board didn't help Katchalov and he exited in 71st place. Duhamel, the last Team PokerStars Pro standing, would follow him out the door in 65th place.
Day 4 will kick off at Noon local time on Monday, which is also when the €10,000 High Roller gets under way. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you updates from both.
Until then, check out this video of poker pros singing songs:
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
