Main Event
Day 1a Started
2011 PokerStars.com EPT Prague
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011 PokerStars.com EPT Prague
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€3,501,700
Entries
722
Level
32
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000
Christmas at the EPT
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Good morning out there, and welcome one and all to the fifth annual EPT Prague. Season 8 has brought us to this Christmas stop on the calendar, and Prague has welcomed the festival with open arms and beaming sunshine on this Monday.
This is one stop that historically produces fantastic champions, and last year's event was no exception. The EPT's favorite Welshman, Roberto Romanello bested a field of 563 in Season 7, joining Arnaud Mattern, Salvatore Bonavena, and Jan Skampa as champions of this event.
We'd expect to see all four of those gentlemen here today (or tomorrow for Day 1b) at the Hilton Prague. And the field figures to be massive. The WPT event here last week drew a 571-player crowd, and we'd be surprised to see any less than that for this EPT, too.
Play is scheduled to get under way in less than 10 minutes, and we've got our pens and pads ready to bring you all of the action as it unfolds. We'll play eight levels with no dinner break today, so we should finish up around 9PM. For now, grab yourself a comfortable chair, a snack and a coffee, and get back here for the start of EPT8 Prague!
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Go!
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The cards are in the air, and Day 1a is off and running. It looks like we've got 26 tables in play to start with more than 200 players already registered for this flight.
Notably Here
Here's the list of the notables we've spotted so far. Most notably among them is the newest member of the Team PokerStars Pro family, WSOP Main Event runner up Martin Staszko. He's here representing his home country, and he's got himself a table full of unknowns to start play.
The same can not be said for Team Pro Michael Keiner who has drawn the toughest table in the room. He's in the seven seat at a table that also contains Manuel Bevand and the EPT6 Prague champion Jan Skampa.
We've also spotted last year's champ Roberto Romanello, while the other two former champs are still missing in action.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Peters Dropping One Early with Jacks
When we arrived at the table, David Peters was pitted in a hand against on other player on the 
flop with a few thousand chips in the middle. The first player checked to Peters and he bet 2,050. His opponent took some time and then called to see the turn.
Fourth street provided the 
and both players checked through to see the 
land on the river. The first player checked again. Peters tanked before betting. He slid out 3,600. His opponent asked how much, got the number and then quickly called.
Peters tabled the 
, but lost to his opponent's 
for two pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
23,000 | -7,000 |
Already Lost One
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Just a couple of hands into the day, one player has hit the rail. We don't know the names of either of the players involved, but we can tell you that it was set-over-set fashion that eliminated the player. The flop held both a queen and a five and it was pocket queens versus pocket fives. The queens held from there and that was about as quick as you could come and go in this event.
Bevand Bites the Dust
Welp, so much for Manuel Bevand.
We only caught up with the action on the turn as the money went all in. The board showed 
, and Bevand was content to get it in with 
for the full house. As it turned out, he was drawing dead to one out. Oleksii Khoroshenin snapped him off with the crushing 
, and the river 
was a blank.
It's set-over-set all over the place here in the early stages of EPT Prague.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted |
Czechs, Mate
We're flexing our international muscles here, and we've got five Czechs on our radar so far. Apart from Staszko and Skampa, we've added these three players to our list:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 |
Here or On the Way
We've just received the preliminary player list, and we can see that the notables are coming. Here's another group of familiar names who have either just arrived or are expected to be on the way shortly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
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30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |