€5,300 EPT Prague Main Event Day 1a | 2022 PokerStars EPT Prague

12-13-2022 02:13 UTC+2

Javier Gomez Zapatero Bags Biggest Stack in Day 1a of €5,300 Main Event

TerranceReid

Level 10 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

With ten hours of play down, the first flight of the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €5,300 Main Event has come to a close here at the Hilton Prague. Players from all over the world joined in this electric venue to get the special tournament kicked off.

A total of 402 entries took part in Day 1a here in the Czech capital. The number nearly matched the impressive attendance set at this same event earlier this spring, and holds promise for a spectacular turnout over the next few days. After ten hours of play, 124 players found bags and get to take tomorrow off before returning for Day 2 on Wednesday, December 14. As a single reentry event across both flights, those who missed the mark today can still take part in Day 1b tomorrow at 12 p.m.

When play was over, it was Javier Gomez Zapatero who found himself atop the leaderboard with an impressive 341,000. He'll bring 227 big blinds to navigate Day 2 with hopes of going wire to wire.

2022 EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts

Position	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds for Day 2
1	Javier Gomez Zapatero	Spain	341,000	227
2	Ramon Colillas	Spain	312,000	208
3	Sam Greenwood	Canada	293,000	195
4	Nicola Grieco	Italy	289,500	193
5	Julien Sitbon	France	232,000	155
6	Justin Steinbrenner	Germany	220,000	147
7	Jun Obara	Japan	214,000	143
8	Dawid Smolka	Poland	209,500	140
9	Conor Beresford	United Kingdom	189,500	126
10	Simon Lofberg	Sweden	188,500	126

Other Leaders and Action of the Day

Hot on Zapatero's heels is another Spanish pro, PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas (312,000). He made a big river raise in a very interesting hand towards the end of the day and rode that pot to a second-place stack at the end of the night.

Just behind him is the accomplished Canadian professional Sam Greenwood (293,000). Greenwood is coming off of a strong Triton Super High Roller series in Cyprus where he had ninth, second, second, and first-place finishes for nearly $2,000,000 in September. He's started this one strong as well, including a great call against a big river bet to really build his stack.

There are other ways to get a big stack in this tournament. Just ask Italy's Nicola Grieco (289,500). He played a pot of over 200 big blinds against king-ten offsuit because of an opponent's misclick and worked that stack into a fourth-place spot on the leaderboard.

A couple of other PokerStars Ambassadors took part in the action today. Benjamin Spragg found himself a bag of 89,500 to join fellow ambassador Colillas among those moving on. Alejandro Lococo wasn't as fortunate, busting midway through the day. Also failing to find a bag was former World Series of Poker Main Event Champion and EPT Main Event Champion Hossein Ensan.

Day 2 will pick back up on Wednesday, December 14th at 12 p.m. Players from both starting flights will return to Level 11 with blinds of 1,000/1,500/1,500.

PokerNews is just getting started with coverage of this Main Event and will be here all week long from start to finish. Come back tomorrow and follow along with Day 1b coverage that starts at 12 p.m.

Tags: Alejandro Lococo Benjamin Spragg Dawid Smolka Hossein Ensan Javier Gomez Zapatero Julien Sitbon Jun Obara Nicola Grieco Ramon Colillas Sam Greenwood Simon Lofberg

12-13-2022 00:49 UTC+2

Colillas Raises the River

TerranceReid

Level 10 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Clement Richez opened from middle position for 2,500. Directly on his left, Ramon Colillas three-bet to 7,500 from the hijack. Action folded back to Richez who made the call.

The flop was . Richez checked, and Colillas continued for 12,000. Richez check-called.

The turn brought the , and Richez checked again. Colillas checked back when the top card paired.

The river brought the connecting . Richez led for 18,000. Colillas went into the tank for about two minutes. He chose to raise the river to 73,000, a large portion of what Richez had left.

Richez went into an agonizing tank of his own. After three minutes or so, he decided to let it go and ship Colillas the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ramon Colillas	175,800	35,800
Clement Richez	73,000	3,000

Tags: Clement Richez Ramon Colillas

12-13-2022 00:31 UTC+2

Greenwood Calls Down for Huge Pot

TerranceReid

Level 10 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Sam Greenwood opened from under the gun to 2,600 and found a caller in Alice Sicconi two seats to his left. In the big blind, Simone Maglianella three-bet to 13,500. Greenwood called, but Sicconi let her hand go.

The flop came out . Maglianella continued for 7,500. Greenwood was going nowhere, he made the call.

The turn showed up the . Maglianella bet again, this time for 11,000. Once more, Greenwood called.

The river fell the , pairing the board. The price was going way up as Maglianella bet 55,000.

"That's a big bet," said Greenwood. After about a minute of thinking, though, he put in the call.

Maglianella winced as he turned over . Greenwood showed for top pair with the nut-flush blocker.

"Is this your brother?" asked Martin Kabrhel. "Congratulations."

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Greenwood	203,200	107,700
Alice Sicconi	82,800	10,800
Simone Maglianella	57,400

Tags: Alice Sicconi Martin Kabrhel Sam Greenwood Simone Maglianella

12-13-2022 00:10 UTC+2

Kabrhel Eliminated by Navarro Arrocha

Christian Zetzsche

Level 9 : Blinds 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Mario Navarro Arrocha raised to 2,500 in the cutoff and instantly called the shove by Martin Kabrhel in the small blind for slightly more than the starting stack.

Martin Kabrhel:
Mario Navarro Arrocha:

The flop gave Kabrhel some equity to score a late double on Day 1a. However, neither the turn nor the river improved the Czech and he was sent to the rail.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mario Navarro Arrocha	105,000	29,900
Martin Kabrhel	Busted

Tags: Mario Navarro Arrocha Martin Kabrhel

12-12-2022 22:54 UTC+2

Grieco Wins Piles After Fluxa Misclick

TerranceReid

Level 8 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Miguel Angel Fluxa opened to 2,200 in middle position. In the cutoff, Saar Wilf three-bet to 6,200. On the button, Nicola Grieco four-bet all in for 120,000. The dealer placed the all-in triangle in front of Grieco, but Grieco didn't put any chips into the pot.

Back on Fluxa, wearing full headphones, he tossed one chip worth 5,000 into the pot and said call. Wilf quickly let his cards go. WIth over 100,000 in his stack, it soon became apparent that Fluxa didn't realize Grieco had moved all in. The tournament director was called to sort the situation.

Given the dealer's clear announcing of the action, the all-in triangle in play, and action behind Fluxa after he made the call, the director ruled that the call would stand. The two players were off to an unlikely pot worth over 200 big blinds.

During the conversation, Grieco was more than willing to let Fluxa fold given the mistake, but the director handled the situation according to the action and details provided.

Miguel Angel Fluxa:
Nicola Grieco:

The board ran out , Fluxa couldn't overtake the dominating hand and was eliminated.

Fluxa handled the exit with grace and headed out of the tournament.

Grieco was celebratory, singing in Italian as he collected the pot. Still, he felt for Fluxa. "I'm sorry, man. If it was me, I would be ok with you folding." That may be, but it was still Grieco with the massive stack and Fluxa headed out the door.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nicola Grieco	232,000	127,000
Saar Wilf	43,000	-39,000
Miguel Angel Fluxa	Busted

Tags: Miguel Angel Fluxa Nicola Grieco Saar Wilf

12-12-2022 22:01 UTC+2

Kuzmanovic Check-Raise Bluffs River

TerranceReid

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Action picked up on the river in a heads-up pot between Boris Kuzmanovic and Julien Sitbon. There was 22,000 in the pot and the board showed .

Kuzmanovic checked from the big blind. Sitbon was on the button and bet 12,000. Back on Kuzmanovic, he check-raised all in for 47,200.

"Ah, why am I being so greedy?" Sitbon asked himself out loud. He went well into the tank for about 4 minutes. Another player called the clock. The floor counted all the way down to zero and Sitbon's hand was declared dead.

Kuzmanovic showed the first, followed by the .

"Ah, I knew you had that hand," said Sitbon. "Either ace-four of hearts or ace-five with the ace of hearts. I had a set," and he showed .

"It's hard to find bluffs there," replied Kuzmanovic with a smile on his face.

"Very nice one," complimented Sitbon.

Player	Chips	Progress
Boris Kuzmanovic	82,000	57,000
Julien Sitbon	80,000	-25,000

Tags: Boris Kuzmanovic Julien Sitbon

12-12-2022 21:35 UTC+2

Thanarattrakul Jams Into Mokri

Christian Zetzsche

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Kannapong Thanarattrakul raised it up to 1,600 and Kayhan Mokri three-bet to 4,600. The initial raiser asked to see the stack size of Mokri and then came along. On the flop, Thanarattrakul check-called a bet worth 2,000 to then check again the on the turn.

Mokri bet 3,100 and then instantly folded when facing the check-shove by Thanarattrakul. The Norwegian had some 10,000 left after the hand and bowed out soon after.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kannapong Thanarattrakul	55,000	17,000
Kayhan Mokri	Busted

Tags: Kannapong Thanarattrakul Kayhan Mokri

12-12-2022 21:06 UTC+2

Lococo Eliminated by Roboh

Christian Zetzsche

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

Alejandro Lococo was spotted all-in with a short stack soon after returning from the dinner break. He was looked up by Simon Roboh and the cards were flipped over.

Alejandro Lococo:
Simon Roboh:

The board ran out and that spelled the end for Lococo, who may still re-enter on Day 1a or take another shot on Day 1b.

Far biggest stack on the table is Peter Kvisthammar, who already has more than five times the starting stack at his disposal.

Player	Chips	Progress
Peter Kvisthammar	155,000	155,000
Simon Roboh	32,000	32,000
Alejandro Lococo	Busted

Tags: Alejandro Lococo Peter Kvisthammar Simon Roboh

12-12-2022 19:39 UTC+2

Abernathy Four-Bet Shoves

TerranceReid

Level 6 : Blinds 300/600, 600 ante

Ori Azul opened for 1,200 from middle position before Umberto Visceglia three-bet the button to 6,000.

In the small blind, Sam Abernathy moved all in for about 40,000, prompting a quick fold for Alul. Visceglia went into the tank with 16,500 behind. Eventually, he let it go and Abernathy took it down without a showdown.