€5,250 Championship Main Event Day 1a | 2008 PokerStars.com EPT - Prague

Level: 5

Blinds: 150/300

Ante: 0

12-09-2008 17:30 UTC+2

The Jelly Beginning to Wobble

[user4144]

During the break, I managed to bump into two of a handful of Brits participating in this event, Steve 'The Jelly' Jelinek and Osman Mustanoglu. Whilst the latter simply reported, "twelve thousand, nothing exciting", the former seemed rather more demoralized after seeing his Big Slick shot down by pocket rockets.

"The guy made it 2,000 preflop. No one does that with aces I thought. Anyhow, I hit a king on the river and paid him off. Of course, he had aces."

As a result of that clash, Jelinek has gone from 22,000 back down to 9,000, but remains in reflective mood. "I'm fine about it, it's just having gone up to twenty two..."

Tags: Steve Jelinek

12-09-2008 17:21 UTC+2

Not Lac-king In Chips

[user76023]

Ludovic Lacay raises to 500 from midposition and the big blind, Martin Vallo calls. The flop is {8-Spades}

and both players check, on the {6-Hearts}

turn, Vallo bets 600 and Lacay moves all in for 3,075 more. Vallo calls after about twenty seconds showing a drawtastic {K-Spades}

but taken slightly aback when Lacay shows {8-Hearts}

leaving Vallo with less outs than he probably thought.

The river is the {2-Spades}

, "Right suit..." says Vallo, "wrong number." Ludovic Lacay doubles up to about 8,000.

12-09-2008 17:17 UTC+2

Down, But Not Out

[user4144]

Almira Skripchenko is closing in on the felt, a clash with her immediate neighbor leaving her with just a bowl of rice. After raising it up preflop, Skripchenko proceeded to check-raise the {7-Hearts}

only for her opponent to push all in for a 8,050 more. With several thousand already in the pot, Skripchenko decided to take a punt with her flush draw, and duly called with {A-Hearts}

.

"Billions of blistering blue barnacles! (well, it was actually a more hardcore and unrepeatable expletive than that)" said her opponent as he revealed {8-Hearts}

.

But fear not my young Scandinavian friend, as the dear Poker Gods work in the most mysterious of ways...

Turn = {8-Diamonds}

River =

Tags: Almira Skripchenko

12-09-2008 17:01 UTC+2

Ruthenberg Takes a Hit

[user4144]

I joined the action right at the death, but with a board of {2-Hearts}

lying patiently on the felt, EPT Barcelona victor Sebastian Ruthenberg had led for 4,500 only for his opponent to announce all in and push over the top. It was only a few pennies extra, but perhaps signaling that he had no hand whatsoever, the German pro folded immediately to leave himself with a depleted stack of 6,500.

Tags: Sebastian Ruthenberg

12-09-2008 16:53 UTC+2

Short Stacks Sticking Around

[user76023]

Johnny Lodden and Markus Golser have been two of the short stacks coming into the level, but both have managed to double up to make themselves slightly healthier.

Golser pushed against a button raise, but when called he said hopefully, "Ace-queen, ace-jack?" This was because he could only turn over {K-Diamonds}

and upon seeing the {K-Spades}

that his opponent was holding, stated the obvious, "This is very bad." But the board turned out to be very good, coming {5-Spades}

and Golser doubled to 4,000.

Lodden's two double ups have come in a much more straightforward manner. First he had {A-Hearts}

against Stefan Huber's {8-Spades}

spiking a Queen. Then less than a minute later his {A-Hearts}

was good against Ilkka Koskinen's {A-Diamonds}

. Lodden has gone from 2,000 to 8,000 in the matter of minutes.

Tags: Johnny Lodden Markus Golser

12-09-2008 16:53 UTC+2

More Chip Counts

[user4144]

Michaela Johansson -- 7,925
Alfonso Amendola -- 17,000
Trond Eidsvig -- 6,850
Anthony Roux -- 11,100
Yuri Zerzhapkin -- 8,225
Gus Hansen -- 9,000
Osman Mustanoglu -- 11,175
Guillaume de la Gorce -- 6,875
Joseph Elpayaa -- 23,500
Luca Pagano -- 2,800
Phidias Georgiou -- 13,250
Ludovic Lacay -- 4,375
Martin Vallo -- 16,000
Johannes Strassmann -- 20,000

12-09-2008 16:32 UTC+2

Good Call from Jelinek

[user4144]

They broke the mold when they made Steve 'The Jelly' Jelinek. He makes final after final, yet no one knows how the hell he manages it. This week could be no different as he looks to emulate his EPT Grand Final success of last year. It hasn't been a bad start, a good call on the flop and river of a T-9-3-2-8 board with just pocket sevens seeing him sneak up to 12,000 in chips.

Again, another potential dark horse.

Tags: Steve Jelinek

Level: 4

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 0

12-09-2008 16:25 UTC+2

Making his Mark

[user4144]

Mark Friedman is one of your early chip leaders with 25,000. As he pulled me aside momentarily, he basked in the glory of a triple barrel bluff against the highly competent Johannes Strassmann. "I raised it up with 7-4 off," he confessed, "and obviously missed the flop. On the river, he thought for five minutes, but eventually lay it down. Apart from that, I won a couple of smaller pots where I hit my hand."

Having played Friedman myself in the UK, I know that he can be tougher to handle than a hot potato with an aggressive, yet unpredictable style. If he continues to accumulate chips at this pace, then he could be a genuine dark horse for going deep in this year's EPT Prague.

Tags: Mark Friedman