2012 PokerStars.net EPT Prague

Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info

2012 PokerStars.net EPT Prague

Final Results
Winner
Ramzi Jelassi
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
€835,000
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€4,190,400
Entries
864
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000

The Money Bubbles Bursts & Jelassi Vaults To The Chip Lead On Day 3

Level 19 : 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Ramzi Jelassi
Ramzi Jelassi

Day 3 of the Season 9 PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague, the largest tournament in Czech Republic history, played out today as 161 players returned to action and aimed to make the money at the top 128. After five 90-minute levels of play, just 55 players remain with Ramzi Jelassi and his stack of 1.238 million leading the way.

Jelassi became the chip leader after eliminating Sirzat Hissou in a huge pot. The latter got his stack of 330,000 all in on a {4-Hearts}{3-Diamonds}{5-Hearts} flop holding {q-Spades}{q-Clubs} only to discover that his Swedish opponent held {a-Spades}{a-Hearts}. The {8-Spades} turn and {9-Hearts} river completed the board and Jelassi vaulted to over a million in chips.

Unfortunately not everyone was as fortunate as Jelassi on Day 3. Some who fell short of the money were Lardo Leheste, Mike Watson, Jacob Toole, Kent Lundmark, Ari Engel, Ignat “0Human0” Liviu and PokerStars Team Pro Pier Paolo Fabretti.

When 129 players remained, the money bubble was in effect and hand-for-hand play was instituted. It took a fair amount of time, but eventually the bubble burst. It happened when Rasmus Agerskov three-bet to 24,500 from the button and Andreas Berggren four-bet to 62,000 from the small blind. The original raiser folded and the action was back on Agerskov, who thought for a solid five before moving all in. Agerskov made a quick call and the cards were turned up:

Showdown
Agerskov: {a-Hearts}{8-Hearts}
Berggren: {k-Diamonds}{k-Spades}

The board ran {9-Clubs}{7-Clubs}{4-Spades}{10-Clubs}{9-Spades} and Agerskov exited as the bubble boy, ensuring the remaining 128 players a guaranteed €8,000 payday.

From there the eliminations came in a flurry including 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event runner-up Sergey Baranov (116th - €8,000); Day 1b chip leader Vadim Belov (106th - €8,000); PokerStars Team Pros Juan Manuel Pastor (113th - €8,000) and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (100th - €8,000); Petr Jelinek (96th - €10,000); John Eames (87th - €10,000); Marc-Andre Ladouceur (77th - €10,000); Shannon Shorr (65th - €12,000) and Vincent van der Fluit (57th - €12,000).

While 106 players hit the rail on Day 3, a few notables managed to punch their ticket to Day 4 including Todd Terry, Roger Hairabedian, Robert Peltecci, Fabrice Soulier, Johnny Lodden, Jeff Sarwer, Mark Herm and Chris Brammer. In addition, Roberto Romanello, who won the EPT Prague back in Season 7, is looking for his second title in three years.

End-of-Day-3 Top Ten Chip Counts

PlacePlayerCount
1Ramzi Jelassi1,238,000
2Sotirios Koutoupas1,049,000
3Chris Brammer1,021,000
4Jeff Sarwer963,000
5Dany Parlafes950,000
6Mark Herm916,000
7Mads Amot895,000
8Martin Hanowski893,000
9Andreas Berggren845,000
10Aleh Plauski807,000

Day 4 of the EPT Prague Main Event is set to begin at 12:00 CET tomorrow and will play down to the final 24. Join us then as we bring you all the latest and greatest from the Czech Republic.

Tags: Ramzi Jelassi

Bevand Puts His Cape On

Manuel Bevand makes a hero call.
Manuel Bevand makes a hero call.

When we reached the table, the board was {3-Clubs}{2-Clubs}{3-Hearts}{5-Diamonds}{j-Clubs} and there was about 100,000 in the middle. By looks of things, Manuel Bevand had led out on the river for 38,000, and Jose Manuel Nadal Sordo had raised to 118,000.

The action was back on Bevand who tanked for a very, very long time. During the first three minutes, he was silent. Taking his eyes off of Sordo for only seconds at a time. Then, after roughly three or four minutes, Bevand started to talk to Sordo.

"Good bet," he said smiling.

Sordo said nothing. About 30 more seconds passed.

"Give me something," Bevand begged. "Give me a reason."

About another minute passed, and then Bevand called the clock on himself. When the tournament director arrived, the Frenchman started grinning like a school boy.

45 seconds.

"There are so many people watching," Bevand said. "I almost have to call now."

30 seconds.

Suddenly, Bevand slammed a stack of blue T5,000 chips down across the line. Sordo turned over {a-Clubs}{q-Hearts} for ace-high, and Bevand spiked {10-Clubs}{10-Diamonds} onto the felt.

With that hero call, Bevand is up to 575,000 chips. Sordo dropped to around 230,000.

Player Chips Progress
Manuel Bevand fr
Manuel Bevand
575,000 250,000
Jose Manuel Nadal Sordo mx
Jose Manuel Nadal Sordo
230,000 -130,000

Tags: Jose Manuel Nadal SordoManuel Bevand

Terry's Aces Cracked

Todd Terry is now on a short stack
Todd Terry is now on a short stack

Todd Terry opened to 20,000 in middle position, Jason Helder called on his direct left, and Marius Pospiech defended his big blind. The flop fell {6-Diamonds}{q-Diamonds}{5-Hearts}, Pospiceh checked, and Terry continued for 35,000. Helder called, and Pospiech quickly moved all in for 152,000.

Terry paused for a bit, then re-shoved for about 230,000 total. Helder folded.

Terry: {a-Spades}{a-Diamonds}
Pospiech: {6-Spades}{5-Spades}

Pospiech held as the turn and river came {2-Spades}, {10-Clubs} respectively, more than doubling to 410,000 chips.

Terry is now short with just 73,000.

Player Chips Progress
Jason Helder us
Jason Helder
475,000 25,000
Marius Pospiech de
Marius Pospiech
410,000 200,000
Todd Terry us
Todd Terry
73,000 -212,000

Tags: Jason HelderMarius PospiechTodd Terry

Ramzi Jelassi Cracks the Million-Chip Barrier

Ramzi Jelassi on day 2
Ramzi Jelassi on day 2

Ramzi Jelassi is the new chip leader after he eliminated Sirzat Hissou in a huge, and somewhat cold, pot.

We heard the call of, "All in. Call" and rushed over to their table to see a {4-Hearts}{3-Diamonds}{5-Hearts} flop fanned across the middle of the table.

Hissou had committed the 330,000 he had remaining with {q-Spades}{q-Clubs} on top of whatever he'd already committed pre flop. The news was bad for him though as his Swedish opponent opened {a-Spades}{a-Hearts} before the board ran out {8-Spades}{9-Hearts}.

Player Chips Progress
Ramzi Jelassi se
Ramzi Jelassi
EPT 1X Winner
1,100,000 600,000
Sirzat Hissou de
Sirzat Hissou
Busted

Tags: Ramzi JelassiSirzat Hissou

Crazy Hand During the Break

During the break, Atanas Kavrakov and Cesar Garcia Dominguez played a very interesting hand against one another.

As the tournament clock ticked down to triple zeroes, Kavrakov opened to 6,000 from the hijack seat. Dominguez called on the button, and after the blinds released, he tabled {a-Spades}{j-Diamonds}.

Apparently, the Spaniard didn't see that Kavrakov had raised, and thought that he had won the pot. A floor person was beckoned, and after the dealer told him what had happened, he ruled that the hand would be played as is.

The flop fell {a-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{10-Hearts}, giving Dominguez a pair of aces, and Kavrakov tanked for a considerable amount of time before checking. Dominguez checked behind.

The turn was the {j-Spades}, giving Dominguez two pair, and Kavrakov checked again. Dominguez tossed out 8,000, and Kavrakov tank-called.

The river was the {2-Spades}, Kavrakov checked again, and Dominguez quickly checked behind. Kavrakov turned over {9-Hearts}{8-Hearts} for a turned straight, and Dominguez mucked his hand.

Dominguez was then given a one-round penalty, which he will serve here at the start of Level 16.

Player Chips Progress
Cesar Garcia Dominguez es
Cesar Garcia Dominguez
495,000 -10,000
Atanas Kavrakov bg
Atanas Kavrakov
100,000 5,000

Tags: Cesar Garcia DominguezJavier Dominguez

"That Was a Fun Hand"

Manuel Bevand (Day 1b)
Manuel Bevand (Day 1b)

Mark "dipthrong" Herm opened to 6,000 from the cutoff seat, Manuel Bevand called in the small blind, and Denys Larin three-bet to 17,400 from the big blind. Herm responded with a four-bet to 17,400, and after removing his sunglasses to examine Herm's four-bet, Bevand five-bet to 48,000.

Larin examined the remainder of his stack, grabbed all of his blue T5,000 chips, then thought better of it and folded.

The action was back on Herm, who asked Bevand, "You flat with something big?"

"Possibly," Bevand returned, grinning. "I know you have nothing."

There was a beat, and Bevand continued to needle Herm.

"Don't do it," he said looking at the clock. "There's still lots of time left."

Herm obliged, mucking his cards.

"Show the {2-Clubs}," he told Bevand.

"No, this is way too tricky to show," he responded. "That was a fun hand."

Player Chips Progress
Manuel Bevand fr
Manuel Bevand
405,000 61,700
Mark Herm us
Mark Herm
215,000 -20,000
Denys Larin
Denys Larin
110,000 -11,300

Tags: Manuel BevandMark HermDenys Larin

Can Anyone Catch Beskrovnyy on Day 3 at EPT Prague

Iosif Beskrovnyy
Iosif Beskrovnyy

Welcome back to Prague for Day 3 of the final EPT in 2012. Today's play will be dominated by the bubble. The remaining 161 players will all have hopes of being amongst 128 players to cash.

The other task for the day is to figure out how to catch Iosif Beskrovnyy. The Russian has been clear chip leader at the end of day1 combined and the end of day 2. The next nearest rival, Martin Hanowski, is almost an average stack behind. If he carries at this rate we'll be comparing him to a 2006 Jamie Gold before long.

There are a bunch of talented pros up for the challenge of catching him including: Fabrice Soulier, Todd Terry, Christopher Brammer, Manuel Bevand, Vincent van der Fluit and Marc-Andre Ladouceur.

Play is due to get under way at 12:00 PM CET which is just around the corner. Join the PokerNews reporting team back here then.

Tags: Iosif Beskrovnyy