2008 PokerStars.com EPT - Prague

€5,250 Championship Main Event
Day: 1b
1a1b234
Event Info
2008 PokerStars.com EPT - Prague
Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
87
Prize
€774,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Total Entries
570
Level Info
Level
29
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
8,000
Players Left 1 / 570
Filter

Filter

Sort By

Level: 2

Blinds: 50/100

Ante: 0

Hit Squad Ambushes Prague

Praz Bansi - always focused
Praz Bansi - always focused
The Hit Squad are a well traveled bunch, but with the amount of poker festivity on offer in the UK, we didn't expect to see them in Prague this week. However, they're here in relatively full force with Praz Bansi, James Akenhead and team captain Karl Mahrenholz mixing it up at the tables. Meanwhile, they've brought along a couple of friends in the form of Javed Abrahams and Adam Stoneham, the latter a former GUKPT finalist.

For those that don't know the Hit Squad, they're a talented group based in London who boast an impressive set of results between them including bracelet gold when Bansi took down one of the $1,000 events in 2006.

However, if they plan to go deep, they may have to lock horns at some point as Bansi and Akenhead are currently seated next door to each other. They're a highly competitive pair, so there's unlikely to be any soft-play witnessed with the two sure to be vying for each other's blood as the tournament progresses.

Nipped On The Table Of Death

Surveying the general area of play, it looks like Table 3 is the toughest of them all. WSOP Main Event Winner Peter Eastgate, Nicolas Levi, Thomas Brolin, Pascal Perrault and Peter Roche are all sharing the same table as well as the young Brit Stuart Rutter.

Just as I was walking past, Rutter realised he had no money on him and I had to lend the high-stakes player the cash. I now have no money for lunch. Sob.

Tags: Peter EastgateStuart Rutter

"Sick!"

Although overused in the world of poker, the word 'sick' could be correctly applied to the following encounter as Davidi Kitai found himself all in with his tournament life hanging by the very thinnest of the threads.

With the board reading {8-Spades}{2-Clubs}{10-Diamonds}{3-Spades}, Kitai slid his entire stack over the line with {8-Diamonds}{8-Hearts} only to find himself hung, drawn and quartered by {10-Spades}{10-Hearts}. But a stomach churningly cruel {8-Clubs} on the river drew gasps a plenty from the rest of the table with cries of "sick" simmering through the cardroom as news of the day's first bad beat began to spread.

Tags: Davidi Kitai

Star-Short

Scouring the cardroom, I could help but notice a severe lack of 'big name' players. No Greenstein, Hachem Negreanu, or Raymer, perhaps signifying that many of the stars are still recovering from an abruptly brief stay in Mexico or are tied up with the WPT in America.

Nevertheless, there are still plenty of celebrated names from the European circuit, including William Thorson, Roland de Wolfe, Dario Minieri, Noah Boeken and Christian Grundtvig, all of whom have been confirmed as present.

Level: 1

Blinds: 25/50

Ante: 0

Warming Up

Damn, forgot my axe
Damn, forgot my axe
Players are now beginning to flood into the Hilton Hotel in their droves, the likes of Katja Thater, Jan Boubli and Anthony Lellouche already spotted making their way through the metal detector (I kid you not) and into the cardroom. At what tournament they experienced an 'incident' of metallic origin, I have no idea, but they're playing it very cautious here in the Czech Republic.

Also warming up and doing their stretches before taking on the metal detector are Swedes Ramzi Jelassi, Jonas Molander and former International footballer Tomas Brolin, as well as a small British contingent that includes Chris Moorman, Steven Devlin and EPT Budapest winner Willie Fry.

Play should commence shortly with recent WSOP hero Peter Eastgate starting proceedings with the traditional "shuffle up and deal".