PokerStars Ambassador Parker "tonkaaap" Talbot joined Day 1a of the Eureka Main Event at the last possible moment and thus sat in the big blind with a fresh stack of 30,000 chips.
After Maksim Petrov raised from under the gun, Talbot pushed all in and received a call from the initial raiser.
Parker Talbot: 3♥3♦
Maksim Petrov: 8♠8♦
It was looking like Talbot's adventure would last only a few minutes when the board ran out K♦10♠2♣Q♦, but the miraculous 3♣ river saw him hit a set to win the pot and rake in a double-up.
On Table 8, Alejandro Lococo had a normal stack and Ville Keranen to his left had a big one a few levels ago. But the situation changed and Lococo has the big one now.
Just before the break, both players found themselves in a blind versus blind situation, with Lococo limping from the small blind.
After Keranen checked his option, Lococo bet 2,500 on the 7♦5♣J♠ flop. Then he fired a second barrel of 8,500 on the turn A♦. Both times, Keranen called.
But when Lococo bet 30,000 on the river Q♦, Keranen gave up and folded. Thanks to this pot, Lococo reached 400,000 chips.
Petr Novotny opened 7,500 in the hijack and Joonas Helin defended from the big blind.
The dealer fanned a flop of 7♣4♠2♥, and Helin check-called a bet of 5,500.
When the 10♠ fell on the turn, Helin checked to Novotny who continued for a bet of 7,500. Helin put in a check-raise to 24,000, which Novotny called.
The A♥ completed the board on the river, and Helin didn't slow down, announcing all-in for roughly 52,000. Novotny instantly pitched his cards into the muck and the dealer pushed the pot to Helin.
After 15 levels of play and a few minutes into Level 16, 45 players have made it through to Day 2 of the €1,100 Eureka Main Event here at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague which takes place in the beautifully decorated Hilton Prague. Day 1a attracted a total of 304 players to the first of four starting flights with Mircea Flutur grabbing the chip lead with a total of 772,000.
Flutur used his aggressive style to continuously build his stack including nearing the end of the night when he check-raised a multi-way flop and blasted all in to put Berthold Winz to the test.
Day 1b also got underway, reaching a total of 122 entries. Two more flights are on the schedule as Day 1c begins at 12:00 p.m. and Day 1d starts at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 7th.
Eureka Main Event Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Mircea Flutur
Romania
772,000
154
2
Christian Ly
France
571,000
114
3
Komil Khamidov
Poland
493,000
99
4
João Mestre Ferreira
Mexico
481,000
96
5
Joonas Helin
Finland
411,000
82
6
Tomas Chmela
Slovakia
363,000
73
7
Alejandro Vazquez
Spain
344,000
69
8
Adrian Ibanescu
Romania
316,000
63
9
Spiridon Apartoglou
Greece
305,000
61
10
Roberto Corbelli
Switzerland
295,000
59
Parker Talbot
Numerous notables have already found a bag to enter Day 2, including Conor Beresford (257,000), Daniel Budin (254,000), along with PokerStars AmbassadorsTalbot Parker (194,000) and Alejandro Lococo (155,000).
A host of poker's top names turned out for Day 1a, but were unable to make it into the final 15% of the field. The likes of Jason Wheeler, Benjamin Spragg, Marle Spragg, Felix Schneiders, Joao Sydenstricker and Daisuke Ogita all fell short of navigating the first hurdle.
Following Flutur at the end of the night was Christian Ly, bagging second in chips with 571,000. Ly continuously grew his stack throughout the day, including when his pocket queens sent Miguel Fluxa to the rail.
The bubble burst quickly, as two players were eliminated at the same time, advancing the remaining players to Day 2 without the hand-for-hand period. The 45 Day 1a advancers have all locked up the min-cash which will be determined when the rest of the Day 1s play out.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is on-site and will be back tomorrow for continued coverage of the €1,100 Eureka Main Event.
