Mark Herm's start to the day has gotten even worse after he lost another pot to drop to below a million chips.
He raised from the cut-off and David Boyaciyan defended his big blind to see a flop. Both players checked to turn where Herm's delayed 105,00 c-bet was check-raised up to 230,000 by the Dutchman. Herm called and then faced a 350,000 bet on the river. The American tank-folded.
Aleh Plauski has narrowed the gap between him and Ramzi Jelassi thanks to winning a substantial pot from Mark Herm.
The action passed around to Herm in the small blind and he opened the betting with a raise to 95,000. Plauski called and it was heads-up to the flop. Herm tested the waters with a continuation-bet of 95,000 and Plauski called.
The turn saw the come into play and Herm kept up his story by betting 165,000. Plauski was going nowhere and he called again. The river put a fourth club on the board and it slowed down Herm, who checked. Plauski double checked his cards and checked behind.
Herm:
Plauski:
Plauski won the hand with his pair of jacks, the Belarus national was ahead in the hand from the word go.
From the cutoff and first to act, Ramzi Jelassi opened to 80,000. Next to act was the British pro Ben Warrington on the button and he three-bet to 200,000. Both blinds folded, which is exactly what Jelassi did.
Jelassi will not be able to boss the table as much as he would like today, as Warrington — a very talented player — will put up plenty of resistance.
If you were superstitious, you would say bowtie-wearing insurance broker Diego Gomez was destined to make the EPT Prague final table. Back in August, he was in Barcelona for work and dropped in to watch JC Alvarado on the Super High Roller final table. He decided it was his dream to make an EPT final table and set about winning a seat on PokerStars. After bubbling THREE EPT Prague satellites, he decided he should come here anyway and buy in direct.
Within days, he had managed to win the first Eureka side event (for €5,550) and then win a seat to the EPT Main Event in a live satellite, even though he was down to one big blind at one point.
Diego has been playing poker for around four years, mainly casino tourneys, although he did finish 12th at Estrellas San Sebastian He is being supported in the final by a large group of Spanish mates, including his girlfriend Marina.
Aleh ‘cooltwister’ Plauski has scored more than a million dollars online at PokerStars and $449,386 in live tournaments, most of which came from a sixth place finish at the EPT Grand Final for €300,000. Not only is Plauski obviously a tournament talent but he’s also keeps good company.
“I think it’s important for me [to win]. A friend of mine has this result, he’s my classmate,” said Plauski. That classmate, with whom he shared a maths class, is Mikalai Pobal, winner of EPT Barcelona earlier this season.
“There are two trophies that Belarus took, but only one for Russia. It would be nice to have a third result for Belarus. Let’s go!” added Plauski, aiming to follow in Pobal and Vadzim Kursevich’s footsteps.
The lone American remaining in Prague, Mark Herm has had seven World Series cashes and one at the PCA but none on this side of the Atlantic. The 27-year-old from Philadelphia turned pro after leaving college seven years ago. He began with a $50 deposit online, grinding limit hold’em games and running it up to more than $1,000.
After leaving college he took up poker professionally and has never looked back. Herm says he is primarily an online tournament player and this is his first EPT in mainland Europe, which he claimed was a good way to avoid being bored. It’s made for a profitable week. “There’s no online poker back home,” said Herm. “Prague is a cool city and we wanted to check it out, more for travelling rather than poker.”
flop. Both players checked to 
turn where Herm's delayed 105,00 c-bet was check-raised up to 230,000 by the Dutchman. Herm called and then faced a 350,000 bet on the 
river. The American tank-folded.
flop. Herm tested the waters with a continuation-bet of 95,000 and Plauski called.
come into play and Herm kept up his story by betting 165,000. Plauski was going nowhere and he called again. The 
river put a fourth club on the board and it slowed down Herm, who checked. Plauski double checked his cards and checked behind.
