2013 PokerStars.com EPT Prague

€10,300 High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info

2013 PokerStars.com EPT Prague

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
1010
Prize
€382,050
Event Info
Buy-in
€10,000
Prize Pool
€1,724,800
Entries
176
Level Info
Level
26
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
10,000

Welcome to Day 1 of the EPT10 Prague €10,000 High Roller!

Can Thomas Muhlocker win another EPT10 High Roller?
Can Thomas Muhlocker win another EPT10 High Roller?

For the past several days, our coverage has been devoted exclusively to the record-breaking European Poker Tour Prague, which attracted an astounding 1,007 players. They’re down to 61 players in that tournament – which you can follow here – but today we’ll supplement that coverage with the start of the prestigious $10,000 High Roller.

Last year this event attracted 113 entries (five reentries) and created a prize pool of €1,107,400. It was such a success that an extra day had to be added to the schedule, and what a final day it turned out to be as Marvin Rettenmaier emerged victorious to capture the €365,300 first-place prize. What’s more, he captured some Player of the Year honors in the process.

“I did do all the calculations, believe me. I’m really weird about that stuff. I needed second place,” Rettenmaier said last year, where he actually missed the EPT Prague Main Event and a €2,000 Turbo event. That meant his last chance to capture POY points was in the €10,000 High Roller, and obviously he delivered.

Today we expect a field full of notables including Joe Kuether, Darren Elias, Dominik Nitsche, Paul Volpe, and Thomas Muhlocker, who won the high roller in Barcelona and currently sits atop the EPT10 Player of the Year leaderboard.

In addition, we expect to see Eugene Katchalov, Jonathan Duhamel, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, and a plethora of other Team PokerStars Pros. Unfortunately one player we won’t see is Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu, who opted to leave Prague after busting the Main Event.

Daniel NegreanuThat's a wrap for my 2013 poker wise. Will shoot a video with tallies and end of year thoughts when I get back to Vegas.Skipping high roller

Action is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m. local time, which is just a few hours from now. Be sure to join us then as we bring you all the action and eliminations from the last High Roller event of 2013!

Until then, check out Rettenmaier’s post-victory interview from last year:

Don't Forget to Utilize the My Stack App During the High Roller!

Level 1 : 100/200, 25 ante

The PokerNews My Stack App is available for players here at the European Poker Tour Prague, allowing players to directly update their chip count on the PokerNews Live Reporting page for their friends and family to see.

You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live action that you're involved in.

Be forewarned, however, any abuse of the app will result in account suspension or termination.

Tags: My Stack

"That's What Happens When You Show Up Two Hours Late"

Level 3 : 150/300, 25 ante
Leon Tsoukernik
Leon Tsoukernik

Just before the break, a new player took his seat in the tournament. We're talking about the entertaining Leon Tsoukernik, who owns the Czech Republic's King's Casino Rozvadov.

"One hand and there's a break?" Tsoukernik joked with the floor.

"That's what happens when you show up two hours late," was the reply, an answer that brought a smile to Tsoukernik's face.

Back at the 2012 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final, Tsoukernik made some headlines for winning €70,000 on the dinner break of that high roller. He then sat back down and was eliminated by Philipp Gruissem, Not to be deterred, Tsoukernik, took his €70,000 back to the craps table and spun it up to over €100,000 before returning to buy-in for his second bullet. Talk about a freeroll.

Even more interesting, Tony G and Tsoukernik played a massive heads-up match back in February that resulted in some crazy million-dollar swings. Tony G and Tsoukernik began their match by playing €2,000/€4,000 pot-limit Omaha on Friday, Feb. 15. Tsoukernik was a €500,000 winner in their first match, but Tony got redemption two days later.

After falling behind another €1 million that Sunday, Tony G offered to jack up the stakes to €5,000/€10,000, and subsequently won a massive €1.85 million pot that allowed him to leave as a €300,000 winner overall. Tony explained the action to PokerNews:

"Basically, Leon just cracked it at the end and shoved it in blind. I ended up having aces, {A-}{A-}{J-}{7-}, against {J-}{J-}{6-}{7-} I believe. We just decided to let the last hand run out and it got me out of the hole.

"Playing with the owner of the casino, Leon, it's just a really great casino, and they take great care of me," he added. "It's also been profitable on top of it. Leon's a great guy, and I'm going back there in a couple days to start again."

Finally, Tsoukernik is also famous for flying from poker tournament to poker tournament in his very own helicopter. While you can't see Tsoukernik, here is a video of him taking off from the King's Casino Rozvadov in the said helicopter

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Leon Tsoukernik cz
Leon Tsoukernik
50,000
50,000
50,000

Tags: Leon Tsoukernik

Karakousis Leads as 84 of 169 Entries Advance from Day 1 of the €10,000 High Roller

Level 9 : 600/1,200, 200 ante
Georgios Karakousis
Georgios Karakousis

It was a big day in the Czech Republic today as the Season 10 European Poker Tour continued with Day 4 of the Main Event and the start of the €10,000 High Roller. The former played down to the final 22 players, while the latter attracted a solid mix of well-known pros and hopeful amateurs.

In Season 9 the €10,000 High Roller, which features a single reentry, attracted 108 unique players and five reentries. It was such a big turnout that an impromptu third day had to be added to the schedule. EPT officials adapted for Season 10 by making it a three-day event, but even so the numbers – 135 unique entries and 34 reentries – surpassed their wildest expectations. Even better is the fact that those numbers are likely to go up considering registration is open until the start of Day 2.

After ten one-hour levels of play, EPT10 London Main Event runner-up Georgios Karakousis finished the night as chip leader of the advancing 84 players with 407,200. Others who did well were Dmitri Yurasov (362,000), Jonathan Little (241,000), and Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst (236,000) and Isaac Haxton (207,900).

Day 1 was characterized by eliminations, and in many cases subsequent reentries. The first elimination came in the first level when Doron Davidovitz and Bernard Guigon got involved in a big hand. When we picked up the action, Davidovitz had made it 5,500 and Guigon moved all in for right around the starting stack of 50,000. Davidovitz tanked for a couple minutes before calling with the {k-Hearts}{k-Diamonds}, and he found out his hesitancy was well founded as Guigon tabled the {a-Spades}{a-Diamonds}. The board ran out {2-Diamonds}{j-Hearts}{7-Clubs}{2-Spades}{q-Diamonds} and Davidovitz was the first player eliminated.

Davidovitz was among those to fire two bullets only to bust a second time. Others included Hot Besim, Simon Ravnsbaek, Benny Spindler, Nicholas Petrangelo, Salman Behbehani, Johannes Strassmann, Theo Jorgensen, Aku Joentausta, and Leon Tsoukernik.

Another man who had to fire two bullets was Mike "Timex" McDonald, who had a rough go of it in Level 8 (500/1,000/100). First he got his kings cracked by the pocket jacks of David Vamplew in a monster pot, and then he was moved to a new table. He proceeded to move his short stack of 12,600 all in from the cutoff and Jesse Yaginuma called with {9-Clubs}{9-Spades}. McDonald turned over his {10-Diamonds}{8-Diamonds} and was in need of some help. The {k-Diamonds}{2-Clubs}{4-Spades}{5-Diamonds}{4-Hearts} board didn't do it, and the man known as "Timex" was left to reenter, which he promptly did and finished the night with 89,700.

Others who will be returning on Day 2 are Dan Shak (205,800), Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov (159,000), Martin Finger (144,500), Bryn Kenney (143,000), Steve O’Dwyer (141,400), Adrian Mateos (128,800) and Olivier Busquet (101,400), just to name a few.

Day 2 will begin at 12 p.m. local time on Tuesday, which is the same time the Main Event will start its journey to the final table. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you updates from both.

Until then, check out some of the fun services being offered by the EPT Concierge in Prague:

Tags: Georgios Karakousis