2013 PokerStars.com EPT Prague

€5,300 Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2013 PokerStars.com EPT Prague

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
1010
Prize
€725,700
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,000
Prize Pool
€4,883,950
Entries
1,007
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000
Players Info - Day 1b

€5,300 Main Event

Day 1b Completed

Amir Lehavot Leads Day 1b of Record-Breaking EPT Prague Main Event

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Amir Lehavot
Amir Lehavot

The Season 10 European Poker Tour Prague Main Event continued on Friday with Day 1b action from the Hilton in the Czech Republic’s largest city. Day 1a attracted 389 players, and a staggering 609 showed up for the second starting flight to make a combined total of 998 players – making it the largest EPT Prague ever! What’s more, that number could increase as late registration is open until the start of Day 2.

After eight 75-minute levels of play, the field was whittled down to 369 players with 2013 World Series of Poker third-place finisher Amir Lehavot and his stack of 229,300 leading the way – which is quite a bit more than Day 1a chip leader Tiberu-Florian Georgescu's 191,000.

It didn’t take long for action to heat up on Day 1b, and one of the game’s toughest players was among the first to go. At the end of Level 1 (50/100), World Series of Poker bracelet winner Pascal Lefrancois was eliminated from the tournament. Our Live Reporting Team didn't come across the hand until things had played out, but they arrived in time to see Italy's Mustapha Kanit with the {4-Spades}{j-Spades} in front of him on a {4-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{5-Diamonds}{3-Diamonds}{a-Hearts} board. Lefrancois who looked a bit disgusted, chucked his cards to the muck unseen and made a hasty exit from the event.

In Level 6 (200/400/50) Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano won a monster pot and in the process eliminated Chris Moorman. It happened when Pagano raised to 900 from under the gun, both Kitty Kuo and Andrey Shaporin called, and Moorman raised it up to 4,200 from the big blind. Both Pagano and Shaporin called, the flop came down {a-Hearts}{j-Diamonds}{3-Diamonds}, and Moorman continued for 4,700. Both his opponents called, the {q-Hearts} turned, and Moorman moved all-in for 13,500, Pagano isolated with a raise, which inspired the Russian to tank-fold the {K-Diamonds}{Q-Diamonds} face-up. Moorman turned over {9-Hearts}{4-Hearts} whilst Pagano the {j-Clubs}{j-Spades} for a set. The river was the {4-Diamonds} meaning that Shaporin would've made the flush had he stuck around. Nonetheless, Pagano chipped up to 110,000 and knocked out Moorman. Pagano would go on to finish the night with 137,600.

Others who failed to survive the night were Team PokerStars Pros Max Lykov, Martin Hruby, Liv Boeree, Marcin Horecki, Richard Toth, Ville Wahlbeck, and Isaac Haxton. Likewise, notables like Jason Duval, Joe Kuether, Fabrice Soulier, Jan Bendik, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Jake Balsiger, Ren Feenstra, Paul Berende, Will Failla, Ignat “0Human0” Liviu, and Jamila Von Perger all hit the rail.

While many fell, a laundry list of notables made it through the Day 1b minefield. Among those who will return on Day 2 are former World Poker Tour Montreal champ Jonathan Roy; former EPT Prague champ Martin Finger (58,600); and reigning EPT London champ Robin Ylitalo (55,400). They’ll be joined by Team PokerStars Pros Eugene Katchalov (81,900), Dag Palovic (79,900), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (79,700), Daniel Negreanu (74,600), David Williams (50,500), Marc-Andre Ladouceur (48,500), Christophe De Meulder (40,100) and Mickey Petersen (37,800).

The surviving players from both starting flights will combine into one field on Saturday for Day 2 action. Cards will be in the air at Noon local time, and of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you all the latest and greatest from the largest EPT Prague in history!.

While you wait, check out the new PokerNews Punch List with Sarah Grant and Chad Holloway:

Tags: Amir Lehavot

Notable End of Day 1b Chip Counts

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Player Chips Progress
Amir Lehavot il
Amir Lehavot
239,300 69,300
Sigurd Eskeland no
Sigurd Eskeland
184,600
Kirill Shugai ru
Kirill Shugai
169,100 49,100
Ori Hasson il
Ori Hasson
157,600 157,600
Bernard Latouff
Bernard Latouff
156,000 156,000
Jonathan Roy ca
Jonathan Roy
149,800
Valentino Konakchiev bg
Valentino Konakchiev
149,000 5,000
Sylvain Loosli fr
Sylvain Loosli
148,000 65,500
Jan Sjavik no
Jan Sjavik
142,400 142,400
Marius Heiene no
Marius Heiene
141,900 141,900
Andrea Benelli it
Andrea Benelli
140,400 30,400
Luca Pagano it
Luca Pagano
137,600 30,600
Darie Vlad ro
Darie Vlad
129,400 129,400
Simon Deadman gb
Simon Deadman
117,800 7,800
Philippe Barouk fr
Philippe Barouk
112,800 112,800
Franz Ditz de
Franz Ditz
105,200 105,200
Jonathan Barusta
Jonathan Barusta
101,600 101,600
Davidi Kitai be
Davidi Kitai
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner
Winamax
99,100 9,100
Ludovic Lacay fr
Ludovic Lacay
EPT 1X Winner
97,800 57,800
Dmitry Holdeew
Dmitry Holdeew
95,200 95,200
Paul Volpe us
Paul Volpe
82,100 45,050
Eugene Katchalov ua
Eugene Katchalov
81,900 23,900
Dag Palovic sk
Dag Palovic
79,900 19,200
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier fr
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier
79,700 34,700
David Peters us
David Peters
76,000 38,000

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Four More Hands

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

The tournament staff has just announced that the remaining players will play four more hands before calling it a night. We're going to head down to the tournament floor to catch any last-minute action and compile a list of notable chip counts. Stay tuned for those as well as a full recap of the Day 1b action.

Deadman Climbing

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

Simon Deadman has had a rollercoaster couple of levels but at the moment at least it's one that's going uphill not downhill. He returned from dinner break with 100,000 but had dropped down to 38,000. However, thanks to winning two big pots against Jonathan Barusta he's back up to 110,000.

In the first Deadman raised to 1,200 from under-the-gun and then called when Barusta three-bet to 3,200 from middle position. The flop fell {8-Diamonds}{9-Diamonds}{6-Hearts}, Deadman checked, Barusta bet 4,100, Deadman check-raised to 11,600 and Barusta smooth called. The {9-Spades} fell on fourth street, Deadman fired out a bet of 16,400 and Barusta folded.

Then a few hands later with the board showing {5-Spades}{9-Spades}{9-Hearts}{7-Hearts}{4-Spades} Deadman (big blind) bet 8,900 and Barusta (early position) called. "I've got a nine," said Deadman showing {K-Clubs}{9-Clubs}, Barusta flung his pocket jacks into the muck as another pot escaped him.

Player Chips Progress
Simon Deadman gb
Simon Deadman
110,000 72,000

When Big Stacks Collide

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Ciaran Burke
Ciaran Burke

For a lot of players at this stage they are in shove or fold mode, but on a few rare tables there are two or more big stacks who are still willing to duke it out with each other.

We joined the action on the flop of {10-Diamonds}{9-Diamonds}{6-Hearts} just after Ion Pavel from Romania seemed to have made a reluctant call facing a big bet from small blind Ciaran Burke, a PokerStars qualifier from Ireland. It was in the region of 5,000 and both players were sitting on stacks of over 100,000 with Pavel having slightly more. The turn card was the {6-Diamonds}. Burke took his time to digest the card and bet a healthy 8,300. Pavel started talking to his opponent, trying to get a read or send out some information before making the call. {5-Spades} on the river and Burke again took his time. He settled on a bet of 16,900 and now Pavel really started talking, going through all the options, asking if his opponent wanted a call. Burke responded, “You got ace, ten?” Pavel eventually settled on saying “I know I’m beat.” and made the call. He was right. Burke turned over {9-Spades}{9-Clubs} for a full house and scooped a juicy pot.

Tags: Ciaran BurkeIon Pavel

Late Eliminations

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante
Player Chips Progress
Daniele Scatragli
Daniele Scatragli
Busted
Ankush Mandavia us
Ankush Mandavia
Busted
Vasiliiy Demushkin
Vasiliiy Demushkin
Busted
Ignat Liviu ro
Ignat Liviu
Busted
Fredrik Andersson se
Fredrik Andersson
Busted
Sebastian Dornbracht de
Sebastian Dornbracht
Busted
Atanas Malinov bg
Atanas Malinov
Busted
Will Failla us
Will Failla
Busted
Philipp Kaempf de
Philipp Kaempf
Busted
Ville Wahbeck
Ville Wahbeck
Busted
Charlie Combes gb
Charlie Combes
Busted
Alexander Stepin
Alexander Stepin
Busted
Romain Baert
Romain Baert
Busted
Noah Boeken nl
Noah Boeken
EPT 1X Winner
Busted
Even Eidebakk
Even Eidebakk
Busted
Tom Middleton gb
Tom Middleton
EPT Main Event Champion
EPT 1X Winner
Busted
Milan Rabsz
Milan Rabsz
Busted
Manuel Bilsing
Manuel Bilsing
Busted
Emanoil Savin
Emanoil Savin
Busted
Ognyan Dimov bg
Ognyan Dimov
EPT 1X Winner
Busted
Kyriakos Mitsopoulos
Kyriakos Mitsopoulos
Busted

De Meulder Gets One Through & Ioannis Apostolidis Survives

Level 8 : 300/600, 75 ante

It's getting to that point in the evening where players are putting their stacks at risk pre-flop with increasing regularity. Although Christophe De Meulder wasn't all in, his four-bet to 13,000 amounted to a third of his stack. You sensed he wasn't passing and Jakub Michalak must've realised this as he released his hand. Pot to De Meulder who's up to 43,000.

A couple of tables over Ioannis Apostolidis had three-bet shoved for 16,000 and Ka Kwan Lau, who had 1,600 in the pot already was weighing up a call. "You show one if I fold," asked Lau. "I'll show both if you fold and show me both," replied Apostolidis. Lau did fold, showing pocket eights as he did and true to his word Apostolidis showed {A-Spades}{K-Spades} as he took the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Christophe De Meulder be
Christophe De Meulder
43,000 2,000