Guillaume Rivet, who took down the Eureka High Roller event last night for €89,200, is off to a bit of a slow start today. In a recent hand, he opened to 250 from early position, and Brahim Oubella defended his big blind. The flop fell , both players checked, and the turn brought the . Oubella led out for 300, and Rivet called.
The completed the board, and Oubella checked. Rivet tossed out 700, and Oubella check-called. Rivet showed for a stone bluff, and Oubella tabled for a pair of jacks.
It has not been the best of starts for James Keys as he has lost over half of his starting stack.
We were walking past his table to see Keys with in front of him and Erik Scheidt showing pocket aces. The flop had a jack on it, but it also an ace. Amazingly, Keys managed to keep 12,825 of his stack, plenty to work with thanks to this amazing structure.
Germany's Bodo Sbrzesny, who recently finish in third place in the World Poker Tour Prague event for €137,470, and Hong Kong's Tony Chang, who took fourth in the same event for €101,800, are both in action today and looking for more success here in the Czech Republic.
Fifty tables are all ready nearly full and two more are readied for late arrivals. The field is absolutely stacked full of pros with more faces emerging with every wonder around the room. Below are more people we've spotted:
Adam Geyer, who nearly final tabled the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event in 2009, and Gurgen Melkonyan were heads up in a raised pot with the board reading . Melkonyan checked, Geyer fired 4,050, and Melkonyan made the call.
The river was a repeat four - the - and Melkonyan led out for 8,525. Geyer tanked for a bit, then grabbed his entire stack and plopped it in front of him, raising all in for 22,725.
It was Melkonyan's turn to tank, and tank he did. Finally, after mulling over the decision for better part of a minute, he called. Geyer quickly turned over for a full house, and Melkonyan mucked his hand.
Geyer doubled to around 60,000 chips, while Melkonyan slipped to just 800 and busted shortly thereafter.
British pro Mathew Frankland has just taken his seat here in the EPT Prague Main Event after a long night of grinding online tournaments. Here's a tip, don't ask him about the PCA satellite he played in!
Although he has just took his seat, he has wasted little time in getting down to business and has been involved in two hands already. The first saw him open to 250 from the hijack, a raise that was called by Tonino Montesanti. The pair shared a flop, Frankland bet 325 and was instantly called. The turn was the and both players checked, which is what happened when the landed on the turn.
Frankland mucked when he saw the of Montesanti.
Shortly after, Sergey Borisenko open-limped from under the gun and then called when Frankland raised to 350. Borisenko then checked to Frankland on a flop, then folded when Frankland continued with a 625 bet.
Chad HollowayItaly's Salvatore Bonavena won EPT5 Prague for €774,000.
Four years ago, a then little-known Italian by the name of Salvatore Bonavena made his presence known to the poker world when he topped a field of 569 players to win the second EPT Prague for €774,000.
Yesterday, Stephen Bartley took a look at Bonavena's career since his win in an interesting PokerStars Blog piece. Here's snippet of what he had to say:
It proved a breakthrough for Bonavena, who swapped modest scores in local tournaments in places like Sanremo and Venice, for the international stage. But more than that, as the first Italian to win a EPT title, it proved a watershed for Italian poker which embraced the game, and its winner, with typical aplomb.
Four years on and Bonavena is still a regular on the tour. Playing tomorrow, he was spotted earlier taking in the scene of his past triumph, to which he has since added the Sisal Italian Champions of Poker and IPT Venice to his resume, not to mention a third place in a WSOPE hold'em event earlier this year.
Bonavena is in today's field, as is Andrew Chen, who placed third back in Season 5.
Sorel Mizzi has James Keys for company today. The latter called a river bet from the former when a ten hit. Both had a ten in their hand but Key's ace kicker bettered Mizzi's king.
Toby Lewis' table isn't full up yet. Matt Wood is there though and rivered a flush with to scoop a pot off Akin Tuna. The man's gone fishing already.
It didn't take long for a considerable pot to develop here on Day 1b. Just minutes into play, we caught a hand on the river with around 15,000 already in the pot and a board reading .
Russia's Mikhail Shevchuk had checked from the small blind, and Lardo Leheste, who qualified for this event via a live satellite, had a big bet of 8,500 out in front of him. France's Jonathan Khalifa was considering the action from the button, but ultimately opted to fold. As soon as he did, Shevchuk called but mucked when Leheste tables for a flush.
"Well that's a nice start," Leheste said with a big smile as he stacked his chips. "Thank you, dealer."
button in Safari
, both players checked, and the turn brought the 
. Oubella led out for 300, and Rivet called.
completed the board, and Oubella checked. Rivet tossed out 700, and Oubella check-called. Rivet showed 
for a stone bluff, and Oubella tabled 
for a pair of jacks.
- and Melkonyan led out for 8,525. Geyer tanked for a bit, then grabbed his entire stack and plopped it in front of him, raising all in for 22,725.
flop, Frankland bet 325 and was instantly called. The turn was the 
landed on the turn.
flop, then folded when Frankland continued with a 625 bet.
to scoop a pot off Akin Tuna. The man's gone fishing already.
for a flush.
