Szecsi in the Lead with 12 Left in PokerStars EPT Prague Main Event
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Hungarian Norbert Szecsi enjoyed a day to remember, as he dominated proceedings to bag the chip lead with 12 players remaining in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague Main Event here at theHilton Prague.
Szecsi came into the day third in chips behind Luigi Shehadeh and Gaby Livshitz, and he hardly put a foot wrong and will be the clear chip leader with two days left.
Sitting third on the Hungarian all-time money list, Szecsi is a regular on the European Poker Tour, with his biggest career cash coming last year in Barcelona where he finished second in the €10,300 High Roller for €626,357 after a heads-up deal. He's also used to poker success in here in the Czech Republic, winning his first WSOP bracelet a little over a year ago just 90 minutes down the road.
EPT Prague Main Event Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Counts | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Gaby Livshitz | Israel | 3,925,000 | 98 |
| 1 | 2 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 6,715,000 | 168 |
| 1 | 3 | Vlastimil Pustina | Czech Republic | 460,000 | 12 |
| 1 | 4 | Erdal Gulseven | Turkey | 400,000 | 10 |
| 1 | 5 | Dietrich Fast | Germany | 3,650,000 | 91 |
| 1 | 7 | Dominik Panka | Poland | 1,070,000 | 27 |
| 2 | 1 | Ricardo Da Rocha | Brazil | 2,830,000 | 71 |
| 2 | 2 | Laurent Michot | France | 830,000 | 21 |
| 2 | 4 | Luke Marsh | United Kingdom | 4,380,000 | 110 |
| 2 | 5 | Gab Yong Kim | South Korea | 3,050,000 | 76 |
| 2 | 6 | Tomas Paiva | Portugal | 4,405,000 | 110 |
| 2 | 8 | Mikalai Pobal | Belarus | 2,780,000 | 70 |
Tournament officials had initially announced that the tournament would play down to 16 players, however, midway through the day this was changed to playing five full levels. Then, due to the pace of eliminations, this was revised further to a hard stop at 12 players which was reached at approximately 20:30 local time.
The remaining 12 players are all guaranteed €55,690 and will return tomorrow at midday for the penultimate day. They will play down to six players ahead of the final day on Tuesday.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize (in EUR) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,005,600 | $1,118,277 |
| 2 | €598,880 | $665,985 |
| 3 | €421,450 | $468,673 |
| 4 | €316,780 | $352,275 |
| 5 | €241,230 | $268,260 |
| 6 | €177,420 | $197,300 |
| 7 | €134,610 | $149,693 |
| 8 | €96,100 | $106,868 |
| 9 | €74,770 | $83,148 |
| 10-11 | €62,070 | $69,025 |
| 12 | €55,690 | $61,930 |
Day 4 Action
The pace at the start of the day was in stark contrast to what would later transpire, with all 41 players who started the day surviving for the first 40 minutes. However, after the elimination of Andrei Stoenescu, that precipitated a flurry of bust-outs with the likes of Sylvain Loosli, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya, Day 2 chip leader Roman Herold, Gaelle Baumann and Philipp Zukernik all gone by the first break.
Zukernik fell at the hands of Norbert Szecsi in a hand where the Canadian made four-flush holding ace-king and called all in for his last 40 big blinds, only for the Hungarian to have rivered a full house.
This elimination had Szecsi atop counts, with start-of-day chip leader Luigi Shehadeh and Gaby Livshitz the only other players above three million in chips.
Upon resumption, the tournament lost its biggest name, as former EPT Prague winner and World Champion Hossein Ensan bowed out in 28th place. He got it in with ace-jack and was ahead of Luke Marsh who held king-queen. A jack on the turn gave Ensan a pair, but it improved his opponent to a straight and Ensan was gone.
Szecsi still led, but after Aleksandr Sheshukov doubled through him, it was Akin Tuna who was the big stack at the three table redraw. The pair traded the chip lead over the course of the next level as the eliminations began to slow.
Start-of-day chip leader Shehadeh suffered a disappointing day, getting his chips in with ace-king against the tens of Richardo Da Rocha. A king on the flop saw him take the lead, but Da Rocha spiked a ten on the turn to send him out in 19th place.
By the next break, Szecsi had broken the five million chip mark with only Livshitz attempting to close the gap behind him. Dietrich Fast's stack received a boost when he flopped a full house with pocket queens to crack the aces of Akin Tuna.
But by the end of the day, it was Szecsi who stands alone, almost 2.5 million chips ahead of his nearest rival.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of the EPT Main Event and the€10,300 High Roller which got underway today. We will bring you live coverage of both over the final two days of the EPT Prague festival.
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
