Kulev Bags the Lead After Day 1 of the €10,200 No-Limit Hold'em Bounty High Roller
The rescheduled 2021 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague stop has officially kicked off at the King's Casino in Prague. It was certainly an international affair for the first high-stakes competition of the festival. Familiar faces of the poker circuit from near and far showed up for the first €10,200 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller, which has attracted a field of 56 entries so far.
After ten levels of 30 minutes each, the number of hopeful contenders was cut into more than half as just 25 players bagged and tagged chips for the night. They are led by Dublin-based Bulgarian poker pro Alex Kulev, who claimed a stack of 604,000 to his name. He is followed by EPT High Roller regulars in Timothy Adams (452,000) and Niklas Astedt (389,000) while other notables in the overnight top ten include Ognyan Dimov (371,000), Yuri Dzivielevski (323,000), and Andras Nemeth (287,000).
Top 10 Counts After Day 1
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Kulev | Ireland | 604,000 | 121 |
| 2 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 452,000 | 90 |
| 3 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | 389,000 | 78 |
| 4 | Audrius Stakelis | Lithuania | 375,000 | 75 |
| 5 | Ognyan Dimov | Bulgaria | 371,000 | 74 |
| 6 | Rodrigo Seiji | Brazil | 339,000 | 68 |
| 7 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 323,000 | 65 |
| 8 | Daichi Tominaga | Japan | 291,000 | 58 |
| 9 | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | 287,000 | 57 |
| 10 | Zhong Chen | Netherlands | 251,000 | 50 |
Sole PokerStars ambassador in the mix was Sam Grafton, who has already claimed one €5,000 bounty and advanced with 235,000 in chips. The Brit was responsible for the elimination of Steve Savio when his ace-king cracked aces in level three. Fellow countrymen Stephen Chidwick, Patrick Leonard and Conor Beresford all secured a stack for Day 2 while Paul Newey and Ben Heath were among the Day 1 casualties.
Further notable eliminations throughout the first ten levels were Laszlo Bujtas, Orpen Kisacicoglu, Andriy Lyubovetskiy, Karolis Sereika, Stoyan Madanzhiev, and Brazilian online grinder Belarmino De Souza. Those who only bowed out once can re-enter again and take another shot at the first High Roller trophy of the festival in Prague.
The registration for the €10,200 No-Limit Hold'em Bounty High Roller remains open until the cards are back in the air for Day 2 on Sunday, March 6, 2022, at 12.30 pm local time. All last minute additions will receive 100,000 chips, which is good enough for 20 big blinds for level 11 at blinds of 2,000/5,000 and a big blind ante of 5,000.
So far, the tournament features a total prize pool of €543,200 with €5,000 of each entry up for grabs in the form of bounties. The final day will once more feature levels of 30 minutes each and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor from start to finish to provide all the action.