€2,200 EPT National High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2019 PokerStars EPT Prague
€2,200 EPT National High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
2019 PokerStars EPT Prague
Buy-in
€2,200
Prize Pool
€1,862,400
Entries
970
Level
33
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000
Entries
970
Players Left
143
Conor Beresford Takes Day 1 Chip Lead at €2,200 EPT National High Roller
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Day 1 of the 2019 PokerStars EPT Prague €2,200 EPT National High Roller saw nearly 18 full levels come and go with 970 entries tallied to generate a total prize pool of €1,862,400. The field was set to play down to 15% in order to make the money, and that number for the hard stop was determined to be when 143 players remained.
When the magic number was reached, Conor Beresford led the way with a stack of 769,000.
Beresford was seen with one of the largest stacks in the room as the day turned to night, eclipsing the half-million mark about three hours before play finished. He continued to climb from there, hitting a high mark of 980,000 at one point after a double knockout, before losing a bit back to finish the day at his resting total.
As for the happenings through the day, players such as Dietrich Fast (508,000), Sam Grafton (451,000), Julien Martini (256,000), Kristin Bicknell (159,000) and Viktor Blom (86,000) all found their ways into Day 2.
Defending champion Yaniv Peretz and PokerStars Ambassadors Fatima Moreira de Melo, Kalidou Sow, and Ramon Colillas were just a few of those to have not made it through the day’s action. Fabrice Soulier also did not advance after his aces were cracked by Bjorn Kozenkai’s king-jack suited in an all-in preflop situation. Kozenkai flopped the nut flush when the flop came ace-high with all clubs, also giving Soulier top set. However, he was unable to improve from there and found himself eliminated from the tournament shortly before the end of the night.
The bubble then loomed near, and hand-for-hand play was called with two eliminations needed to end the night in order to stop rampant stalling that began to occur. A few hands went by with several doubles, with one of which occurring when Claudio Lucchini shoved pocket queens into Simon Brandstrom’s pocket tens. Lucchini held and Brandstrom found himself with just a couple of big blinds.
A few hands later, Brandstrom got all in with king-jack suited and lost to Vladimir Bozinovic’s jack-seven when a seven hit on the turn. Meanwhile, another all-in situation arose at an adjacent table on the same hand. Per Backlund opened from the hijack and called off the rest of his chips when Jose Quintas shoved over him from the button. Backlund had pocket kings and was unable to hold against Quintas’ jack-nine suited after Quintas flopped a nine and backed into a flush, resulting in 145 players becoming 143 in one hand to end the night with eight minutes remaining on the clock in Level 18 (3,000/6,000/6,000).
The 143 to advance will come back Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. local time to get back at it at the felt, with the play scheduled to continue until a winner has been declared. All who return will have locked up a first-level payout of €3,465 with a full day’s journey ahead between that and the €342,810 that is up top.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand for the entirety of the tournament, so make sure to come back and see who reigns supreme.
End of Day 1 Chip Counts (full)
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
769,000 | |
|
703,000 | 46,000 |
|
615,000 | 170,000 |
|
609,000 | |
|
598,000 | 508,000 |
|
557,000 | 557,000 |
|
524,000 | 315,000 |
|
508,000 | |
|
473,000 | 473,000 |
|
467,000 | -23,000 |
|
451,000 | |
|
|
428,000 | |
|
428,000 | 428,000 |
|
420,000 | 360,000 |
|
392,000 | 392,000 |
|
392,000 | 32,000 |
|
390,000 | 390,000 |
|
|
388,000 | 350,100 |
|
387,000 | 322,000 |
|
380,000 | 380,000 |
|
|
380,000 | 380,000 |
|
377,000 | |
|
370,000 | 103,000 |
|
355,000 | 20,000 |
|
352,000 | 352,000 |
Notable End of Day 1 Counts
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
769,000 | -211,000 |
|
|
508,000 | 398,000 |
|
|
451,000 | 131,000 |
|
256,000 | 68,000 |
|
159,000 | 39,000 |
|
122,000 | 76,000 |
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
|
86,000 | -29,000 |
|
54,000 | 54,000 |
Brand and Backlund Become Bubble Boys
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Two simultaneous all-in preflop situations arose with Simon Brandstrom all in for the last of his chips having received action from Vladimir Bozinovic on one table, while Per Backlund raised to 12,000 in the hijack and called off the rest of his chips when Jose Quintas shoved over the top of him from the button.
Hand #1:
Jose Quintas: 
Per Backlund: 
The board ran out 
to give Quintas a flush on the river, cracking Backlund's kings to eliminate him from the tournament.
Hand #2:
Simon Brandstrom: 
Vladimir Bozinovic: 
The board ran out 
to give Bozinovic a pair of sevens on the turn to eliminate him at the same time as Backlund. The double-elimination brought the field from 145 down to 143, the exact number needed for play to end on the night as the tournament has officially reached the money.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
335,000 | 335,000 |
|
276,000 | 276,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
A Bubble Double
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
With two other all ins and calls having been dealt out, Joao Ferreira was all in for 21,000 in the big blind and awaiting his fate on 
. Remi Wyrzykiewicz had him at risk in the hijack, and when the supervisor finally ordered the hand finished, they showed their cards.
Wyrzykiewicz: 
Ferreira: 
"Oh la la," Wyrzykiewicz said. "No good."
The turn and river were a 
and 
, and Ferreira collected a double before receiving news he'd doubled into the money because of two bustouts.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
609,000 | 409,000 |
|
77,000 |
Yared Doubles on Bubble
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Ghassan Yared opened to 34,000 from the cutoff and action folded to Luigi D Alterio in the big blind, who shoved all in to effectively put Yared to a decision to his stack.
Ghassan Yared:
Luigi D Alterio: 
Yared was way out in front but the flop 
did give D Alterio chop outs to the board double pairing. The turn 
gave D Alterio another four outs at a gutshot, but the river 
was safe for Yared and he scored the double as hand-for-hand play continues.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
377,000 | 377,000 |
|
140,000 | 140,000 |
Hand-for-Hand
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Two off the money, the tournament is now being dealt hand-for-hand.
Wattenberg Picks Off Zarco
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
As the tournament approached the bubble, frequent tanking has been occurring at nearly every table. Clocks have been called constantly, but a different sort of tank occurred at Table 13, this one on the river.
In a battle of blinds, the board read 
and Javier Zarco bet 75,000 into about 90,000 from the small blind. Kai Wattenberg went deep into the tank, thinking for several minutes.
"You really look like you want to call," Zarco finally said. "You want to see one?"
Wattenberg had counted out calling chips but couldn't seem to pull the trigger. Finally, he stuck them in.
"Good call," Zarco conceded, showing 
.
Wattenberg pumped his fist and slapped down . He pointed at his head and indicated he kept thinking Zarco had ten-nine.
"Yeah, ten-nine," Zarco quipped. "That's all I have there."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
490,000 | 490,000 |
|
201,000 |
Recent Eliminations
Level 17
: 3,000/6,000, 6,000 ante
Stalling has become the theme of the evening with just two eliminations remaining. In the meantime, here are a few players who have recently hit the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |