2016 PokerStars EPT Season 13 Prague

€50,000 Super High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info

2016 PokerStars EPT Season 13 Prague

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kj
Prize
€741,100
Event Info
Buy-in
€50,000
Prize Pool
€2,352,735
Entries
49
Level Info
Level
22
Blinds
60,000 / 120,000
Ante
20,000

Carrel Bags Super High Roller Lead, Seeking Third EPT High Roller Title

Level 8 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
Charlie Carrel
Charlie Carrel

Charlie Carrel finished with 1,129,000 in chips after eight one-hour levels on Day 1 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €50,000 Super High Roller. He'll be the chip leader heading to Day 2 of the event, but he still has plenty of work to do as more than half of the players survived the day and there's still entries allowed until Day 2 kicks off.

The tournament drew 46 entries on Day 1, putting it about on par with last year's 56 runners. Of those, 32 survived the day. Others joining Carrel near the top of the leaderboard were Julian Thomas (700,000), Patrick Leonard (617,000), Konstantin Uspenskiy (517,000), and Isaac Haxton (504,000).

Carrel busted about halfway through the day and then lost about half of his second 250,000-starting stack. He recovered in a big way, though, with the entry of Leon Tsoukernik contributing greatly to his cause. Carrel picked off a couple of Tsoukernik bluffs and then busted him to stack up past 500,000.

Then, Carrel picked up aces and put Max Silver all in on a completed board of queen-ten high board. Silver thought awhile on the river but couldn't get away from his eights.

Not much later, Tsoukernik reentered and drew the same seat, two to the right of his nemesis. Carrel and Tsoukernik shared drinks from a €600 bottle of whiskey, but when it came to chips, it was still Carrel doing the taking. He bet a completed board of {6-Hearts}{4-Spades}{10-Spades}{5-Hearts}{j-Hearts} with ace-jack and then called a check-raise from Tsoukernik, who couldn't beat the jacks.

Carrel's big day has put him in position to try to add a third EPT high roller to his collection. He won the €25,500 event at the EPT Grand Final last year for over €1.1 million and then won the €10,200 High Roller at EPT Dublin in February for another €164,500.

Defending champ Steve O'Dwyer also booked a ticket to Day 2. He won this event last year for €746,543, among his many other high roller successes and brings 259,000 to Day 2.

Some of the players who failed to make it through, busting at least once, included [Removed:17], Jason Wheeler, Nick Petrangelo, and Dario Sammartino. Anyone who wishes to (re)enter can still fire before Day 2 gets underway at 12:30 local time on Monday.

Tags: Charlie Carrel

Max Silver Eliminated

Level 7 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
Max Silver
Max Silver

With the entire board of {5-Clubs}{7-Spades}{2-Spades}{Q-Spades}{10-Diamonds} already out on the table, Max Silver was facing a big decision. Silver had checked from the big blind and his neighbor Charlie Carrel had just pushed all in for effectively 86,500.

Silver took his time making up his mind. He started talking to Carrel, who at one point decided not to reply anymore. The clock was called on Silver and with still some time left, he eventually called.

Carrel tabled {A-Clubs}{A-Spades} and Silver flashed {8-Diamonds}{8-Spades} before he got up and made his exit.

Player Chips Progress
Charlie Carrel gb
Charlie Carrel
778,000 178,000
Max Silver gb
Max Silver
Busted

Tags: Charlie CarrelMax Silver

Steffen Sontheimer Eliminated

Level 7 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante
Steffen Sontheimer
Steffen Sontheimer

Steffen Sontheimer was first to act and raised to 10,000. Action folded around to Daniel Dvoress in the small blind and he three-bet to 33,000. Timothy Adams folded his big blind before Sontheimer pushed for 118,500. Dvoress spent some time in the tank before he added the needed chips to call.

Daniel Dvoress: {A-Diamonds}{J-Spades}
Steffen Sontheimer: {K-Spades}{K-Clubs}

Julian Thomas, seated one table over but now standing behind Sontheimer because there was someone in the tank on his table (more on that later), started cheering on his friend Sontheimer.

The {Q-Hearts}{4-Diamonds}{9-Clubs}-flop and {8-Hearts}-turn were both harmless, but the {A-Spades} on the river meant Sontheimer was eliminated.

"O M G!" said Thomas while Sontheimer just started texting while getting up from the table.

Player Chips Progress
Daniel Dvoress ca
Daniel Dvoress
450,000 130,000
Steffen Sontheimer de
Steffen Sontheimer
Busted

Tags: Steffen SontheimerDaniel Dvoress

Anthony Zinno Busts Nick Petrangelo

Level 6 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante
Nick Petrangelo
Nick Petrangelo

Nick Petrangelo raised to 7,000, Anthony Zinno three-bet to 21,000 out of the small blind and only Petrangelo called. On the {Q-Hearts}{10-Clubs}{6-Diamonds} flop, Zinno checked, Petrangelo bet 21,500 and received the call.

After the {3-Diamonds} turn, Zinno checked for the second street in a row and Petrangelo shoved for what looked like 136,200. Zinno called and put his opponent at risk.

Nick Petrangelo: {K-Spades}{Q-Spades}
Anthony Zinno: {A-Diamonds}{Q-Diamonds}

The {3-Clubs} on the river was a blank and the kicker played a crucial role to eliminate Petrangelo.

Player Chips Progress
Anthony Zinno us
Anthony Zinno
530,000 225,000
Nick Petrangelo us
Nick Petrangelo
Busted

Tags: Anthony ZinnoNick Petrangelo

Kanit Busts Carrel

Level 5 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Charlie Carrel
Charlie Carrel

From middle position, Charlie Carrel opened for 5,000. Over on the button, Mustapha Kanit put in a three-bet to 16,500 and Carrel called after both blinds folded.

The flop came {A-Spades}{6-Diamonds}{3-Spades} and Carrel checked. Kanit bet 14,000 and Carrel check-raised to 38,000. Kanit called.

On the {9-Clubs}-turn, Carrel bet 50,000. Kanit called once more.

The {K-Spades} completed the board and Carrel moved all in for about 148,000. Kanit thought about it for a bit before he called.

Carrel showed {6-Clubs}{6-Spades} but would soon part ways with all of his chips as Kanit tabled {A-Diamonds}{A-Clubs} and had him just covered.

That great question 'What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?' has now been answered: Kanit wins.

Addendum: it appears Charlie Carrel bought back in right away.

Player Chips Progress
Mustapha Kanit it
Mustapha Kanit
Winamax
512,400 262,400
Charlie Carrel gb
Charlie Carrel
Busted

Tags: Charlie CarrelMustapha Kanit

Jean-Noel Thorel Eliminated

Level 4 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Jean-Noel Thorel
Jean-Noel Thorel

From first position, Orpen Kisacikoglu opened the action with a raise to 5,100. [Removed:17] called from the cutoff, big blind Jean-Noel Thorel closed the action by tossing in calling chips as well.

Both Thorel and Kisacikoglu checked on {J-Spades}{9-Diamonds}{9-Spades} and Yan bet 9,000. Thorel was quick to check-raise to 26,000 and Kisacikoglu immediately laid it down. Yan called.

The turn was the {K-Diamonds} and Thorel pushed all in for what appeared to be around 45,000 in chips. Yan called right away.

[Removed:17]: {10-Clubs}{9-Clubs}
Jean-Noel Thorel: {A-Hearts}{J-Clubs}

The {9-Hearts} on the river made Yan quads and Thorel made his exit from the tournament with a useless full house.

Player Chips Progress
[Removed:17] nz
[Removed:17]
204,000 74,000
Jean-Noel Thorel fr
Jean-Noel Thorel
Busted

Tags: Jean-Noel ThorelOrpen Kisacikoglu

Small Pots and Asian Hippos

Level 4 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Hippopotamus Card Protector
Hippopotamus Card Protector

Steve O'Dwyer stopped by one table over and admired Martin Kabrhel's chip protector in the shape of a small hippo. O'Dwyer picked it up, and Kabrhel told him he (the hippo) wasn't too happy today, because of Isaac Haxton (presumably winning a lot of pots).

"Ike doesn't like animals..." Kabrhel said at one point while O'Dwyer had put the small hippo statue back on the table.

"That's right!" Haxton admitted with a big smile. "I like to eat them, though!"

"Have you eaten hippo?" Kabrhel asked while he raised to 4,500 from the button.

As Sergio Aido folded his small blind, Haxton called from the big blind and replied "No, have you?" with some sincere wondering in his voice.

"I don't know... Maybe in Asia. I think so" Kabrhel said as the flop came {K-Clubs}{6-Diamonds}{4-Spades}.

Haxton checked, and called the 4,000 bet that followed, before saying "Asia? I'm pretty sure they don't have hippos in Asia. They're in Africa."

While Steve O'Dwyer was looking up whether hippo's live in Asia or not (spoiler; they don't, while O'Dwyer did find a YouTube clip called Asian hippo?), both Haxton and Kabrhel checked the {J-Diamonds} on the turn.

The {9-Hearts} completed the board and Haxton bet out 15,000.

"But they import them, to eat" Kabrhel defended before going into the tank for some time. He at one point cut out three 25,000-chips, but folded in the end.

Tags: Martin KabrhelIsaac Haxton

Yan Doubles Wheeler

Level 3 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Jason Wheeler - [Removed:17]
Jason Wheeler - [Removed:17]

Jason Wheeler raised to 4,000 and his neighbor [Removed:17] in the hijack three-bet to 12,500. Action folded back around to Wheeler who four-bet to 29,500 with 112,700 behind. Yan shoved and Wheeler called for 142,200 total.

Jason Wheeler: {A-Hearts}{K-Clubs}
[Removed:17]: {Q-Diamonds}{Q-Spades}

The board ran out {2-Spades}{8-Spades}{5-Clubs}{K-Diamonds}{4-Clubs} and Wheeler doubled.

Player Chips Progress
Jason Wheeler us
Jason Wheeler
288,400 126,400
[Removed:17] nz
[Removed:17]
102,000 -133,000

Tags: Jason Wheeler

Uspenskiy Wins a Big One Against Carrel

Level 3 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Konstantin Uspenskiy
Konstantin Uspenskiy

Konstantin Uspenskiy made it 4,000 to go and Charlie Carrel three-bet to 15,000 in the small blind, which the Russian called. On the {4-Clubs}{3-Clubs}{2-Spades} flop, Carrel bet 18,000 and Uspenskiy called before the duo then saw the {A-Diamonds} appear on the turn. Carrel now checked and Uspenskiy bet 40,000, Carrel called.

The {10-Diamonds} river completed the board and Carrel checked for the second street in a row. Uspenskiy bet 165,000 with another 25,000 behind and Carrel was stuck in the think tank. The Brit started some table chat, but barely got any reaction from his opponent. Then, Carrel asked "where are you from?" and Uspenskiy replied with "Russia" to let Carrel go "ohhhh."

Another minute passed and Carrel asked if Uspenskiy had pocket fives. He raised both hands to show what he meant and Uspenskiy replied with two words only: "No comment." Eventually, Carrel called and was shown ... {5-Clubs}{5-Spades} for the hand he had feared, dropping a lot of chips as a result after tossing his cards into the muck.

Player Chips Progress
Konstantin Uspenskiy ru
Konstantin Uspenskiy
505,000 255,000
Charlie Carrel gb
Charlie Carrel
120,000 -240,000

Tags: Charlie CarrelKonstantin Uspenskiy

Misstep from Thorel Costs Him a Round

Level 2 : 600/1,200, 200 ante
Jean-Noel Thorel
Jean-Noel Thorel

Jean-Noel Thorel bet from the button and got check-called by Alexandros Kolonias. Thorel showed top pair with {k-}{9-} on a board of {10-Clubs}{7-Diamonds}{j-Diamonds}{k-Clubs}. The only problem was the river had yet to emerge from the deck, and the dealer placed the {2-Spades} on board. Kolonias thought a long time and checked, with Thorel checking and winning a pot worth over 25,000.

After the hand, a tournament official handed Thorel a one-round penalty. Anthony Zinno lobbied for a warning but the official said he was sorry but the rule said a penalty must be given in that spot.

Player Chips Progress
Jean-Noel Thorel fr
Jean-Noel Thorel
283,000 13,000
Anthony Zinno us
Anthony Zinno
250,000
Alexandros Kolonias gr
Alexandros Kolonias
212,500 -7,500

Tags: Alexandros KoloniasAnthony ZinnoJean-Noel Thorel