Picking the action up on the turn on a board of 4♣K♣J♠7♥, Thomas Syversen had defended his big blind against an open from Alexander Norden, with 95,000 in the middle.
Norden continued for 72,000, only to be met by a quick check-jam from Syversen for roughly 290,000. Norden couldn't get his chips in quick enough and made the snap call.
Thomas Syversen: 7♠4♦
Alexander Norden: J♦J♥
Syversen was in big trouble with two pair against Norden's set of jacks. The 6♦ river confirmed his elimination. Norden meanwhile increased his stack to a very healthy 780,000.
Patrick Schratz opened to 20,000 from the small blind. Ender Lacin called in the big blind as the table's chip-leader and it went to a flop.
It came 10♦2♦8♥, which Lacin checked before facing a bet of 20,000 from Schratz's. Lacin then instantly raised to 50,000 and the German called as it went to the turn.
An 8♣ landed, which Lacin bet out for 40,000 and Schratz called.
The Turk quickly shoved all in on the 5♦ river. Schratz was covered, but found a call and took the pot down with trip eights - tabling K♥8♦. Lacin hit top pair on the flop but didn't improve, showing 10♥6♦.
Schratz won the very next hand, his preflop three-bet taking it down as he showed A♣K♠. With those two pots, he became one of the chip leaders on Day 2.
Martin Kiers opened to 20,000 and Andreas Scheelen defended his big blind.
Scheelen check-called a bet of 15,000 from Kiers on the 2♣A♦4♦ flop.
The 8♥ turn was checked through. On the J♦ river Scheelen took the initiative, putting out a bet of 32,000. Kiers quickly folded to hand Scheelen the pot.
Moments after the restart, Philippe Rivory limped from under the gun, but Daniel Koloszar to his left raised to 33,000.
Two players folded to Jon Kyte, who raised again to 73,000 from the hijack. Then Rivory moved all in for approximately 150,000. Koloszar folded, and Kyte snap-called.
Philippe Rivory: 10♦10♠
Jon Kyte: Q♥Q♣
The dealer fanned a board of K♥6♠8♠J♦4♣, and Rivory was eliminated in 370th place for €2,580.
PokerStars Eureka Poker Tour history was made this week as the €1,100 Eureka Main Event drew 4,403 entries at the Hilton Prague. This marks the largest Eureka Tour Main Event field ever, topping last year's event in Prague by 10% (4,017 entries in 2022).
The prize pool is also the largest ever, hitting €4,226,880 and paying out a total of 659 places. The six opening flights saw 1,931 unique players, just behind the total of 1,985 last year.
Largest Eureka Tour Main Event Fields
Rank
Event
Entries
Prize Pool
1
2023 Eureka Prague
4,403
€4,226,880
2
2022 Eureka Prague
4,017
€3,856,320
3
2021 Eureka Prague
3,155
€3,028,800
4
2023 Eureka Cyprus
2,659
$2,552,640
5
2019 Eureka Prague
2,452
€2,353,920
Germany's Felix Schneiders made Day 2 of the Eureka Main Event
Nationality Statistics
The largest Eureka Tour Main Event in history attracted players from 70 different countries, three less than the 73 countries that were represented here last winter. The top three countries remained the same as 2022, with Germany leading the way again with 215 players making up 11.13% of the field. Italy (196 players) was the next most represented nation with 10.15%, followed by France (144 players) with 7.46% of the field.
Czechia (113 players), Greece (101 players) and Poland (100 players) were the other countries to hit triple digits in this year's field. They were followed by Romania (75 players), Switzerland (61 players), Sweden (60 players) and the United Kingdom (59 players).
Day 1a Chip Leader Mircea Flutur of Romania
Other countries well represented in the 2023 Eureka Prague Main Event include Spain (57 players), Ukraine (54 players), Israel (48 players), Austria (41 players) and Finland (40 players).
A full breakdown of the nationality statistics for the 2023 Eureka Prague Main Event is available in the graphic and table below.
