Fintan Hand jammed in his stack of 93,000 from early position and found one caller, Magnus Persson in the small blind.
Fintan Hand: A♠J♥
Magnus Persson: A♣10♣
The K♠9♠5♥ flop did nothing for either player, but the J♣ turn gave Hand a pair. He faded Persson's Broadway draw on the 5♠ river and received a much-needed double-up.
PokerNews arrived just as the hand was wrapping up, while Ran Shahar was scooping in a huge 2,000,000 pot propelling him into the chip lead of the tournament.
Shahar recounted that Massimo Chierchia had moved all in on the river for roughly 790,000 with 8x4x on 3x3x4x8xQx but ran into the 4x4x of Sahar for a flopped full house.
Alexander Tkatschew was down to 325,000 chips, which he got in from the button against Martin Klotz in the big blind.
Alexander Tkatschew: K♥Q♣
Martin Klotz: A♣9♥
The deck graced Tkatschew with a king on the 5♦4♥K♣ flop, and neither the 10♣ turn or 6♦ river brought an ace for Klotz. Tkatschew doubled up and overtook his opponent in the chip counts.
Meanwhile, on an adjacent table, Fintan Hand went all in on a board of 4♠3♥7♠J♥. He was looked up by his opponent, who covered him.
Fintan Hand: A♥6♥
Opponent: 6♠3♠
His opponent's pair of threes held when the river fell the K♦ and Hand swiftly exited the tournament area to collect his payout.
Agostino Ascone raised to 55,000 from under the gun before David Docherty three-bet to 200,000 from the next seat over, leaving only a single T-25,000 chip behind.
Ascone tanked for a bit before making the call and committing the rest of Docherty's stack on the Q♦10♦8♥ flop. Docherty made the call and their cards were revealed.
David Docherty: A♥K♠
Agostino Ascone: 7♥7♦
Docherty had flopped some additional outs, but a pair of sixes on the 6♦6♥ runout spelled the end for the UKIPT Player of the Year's Eureka run.
Alejandro Lococo pushed his stack of 180,000 in from under the gun and the action folded to Patrick El Kallas in the big blind, who made the call after weighing his options for a bit.
Alejandro Lococo: Q♣J♦
Patrick El Kallas: A♥4♠
The flop remained clean for El Kallas with 6♥2♥7♣, but the J♣ turn saw Lococo take a big lead. El Kallas bricked the 7♦ river and Lococo doubled up to a slightly more manageable stack.
Everybody folded to Danut Chisu who shoved for 320,000 in the small blind. Bartlomiej Basiaga in the big blind looked at his cards and eventually called.
Danut Chisu: Q♣9♣
Bartlomiej Basiaga: K♠Q♥
Chisu found a straight draw on the J♦4♦8♦ flop but was still on the edge of elimination after the turn 3♥. Fortunately, luck was on his side as his straight was completed with the river 10♠.
Down to 55,000 chips, Basiaga was eliminated a few hands later.
Ramon Colillas and Felix Schneiders have been seated at the same table for the majority of Day 2, and they clashed when Colillas raised to 50,000 from the button and Schneiders defended his big blind.
Both players then checked the 9♦7♥8♠ flop before Schneiders led out for 35,000 on the J♠ turn. Colillas called and the 4♦ river completed the board.
Schneiders reverted to a check, causing Colillas to make a bet of 80,000. Schneiders took one last look at his cards before tossing them into the muck, surrendering the pot to his PokerStars colleague.
Day 2 of the €1,100 Eureka Main Event at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague has been played to its conclusion with Marcin Dziubdziela emerging as the chip leader after bagging 3,460,000 in chips. Not far behind him is Ercan Atmaca, who managed to end the day with 3,205,000 here at the Hilton Prague.
Dziubdziela, who was the Day 1c chip leader, appears to be relatively new to the live-tournament scene. His first and only recorded cashes, according to The Hendon Mob, came back in October at EPT Cyprus and totaled just over $60,000. Dziubdziela steadily increased his stack throughout the day and is now in pole position to make a run at his first EPT title and the lion's share of the €4,226,880 prize pool (resulting from a record-setting 4,403-entry field).
€1,100 Eureka Main Event Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
Place
Name
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Marcin Dziubdziela
Poland
3,460,000
115
2
Ercan Atmaca
Netherlands
3,205,000
107
3
Alexander Tkatschew
Germany
2,815,000
94
4
Ran Shahar
Israel
2,800,000
93
5
Niclas Mjelstad
Norway
2,600,000
87
6
Catalin Moraru
Romania
2,495,000
83
7
Pablo Silva
Brazil
2,400,000
80
8
Samuel Fournier
France
2,380,000
79
9
Candido Cappiello
Italy
2,370,000
79
10
Ahani Piroozi
USA
2,325,000
78
Ran Shahar
Day 2 Action
The day began with 659 returning hopefuls, all of whom having already secured a min-cash of €1,690. They were all looking to make a deep run in the event, but eliminations came swiftly, and after an additional eight levels of play, just 125 of them bagged into Day 3.
Among the early casualties were Matthias Kribben (632nd - €1,690), Fabian Rolli (605th - €1,940), Juha Helppi (523rd - €1,940), Ole Schemion (425th - €2,240), and Jason Wheeler (279th - €3,420), who ran top pair into Ender Lacin's set to see his run come to an end.
Defending champion Pieter Theelen entered Day 2 with an above-average stack, but was unable to gain any momentum and eventually bowed out in 268th place for €3,420.
Of the five Team PokerStars ambassadors who sat down for Day 2, only Ramon Colillas (805,000) and Felix Schneiders (695,000) earned a Day-3 berth. However, Parker Talbot (384th - €2,580), Fintan Hand (212th - €3,390) and Alejandro Lococo (147th - €4,520) were all rewarded with cash for their efforts.
The remaining players will reconvene for Day 3 on Saturday, December 10 at noon local time. Play will resume on Level 24, which features 15,000/30,000 blinds with a 30,000 big-blind ante. An additional ten 60-minute levels will be played, with 25-minute breaks included after every two levels.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action leading to the next Eureka Main Event champion!
