The action began with a min-raise from Aurimas Stanevicius. A few seats later, Matteo Cecchetti three-bet to 3,200, only to face a four-bet to 8,400 from Alexandros Papadopoulos on his direct left. Stanevicius folded, and after some deliberation, Cecchetti moved all in, which Papadopoulos quickly called.
Papadopoulos was on the right side of the cooler, and the board ran out 5♥J♣10♣8♥J♦, keeping his pocket aces ahead. With the win, Papadopoulos now sits on a stack four times the starting amount.
Sandro Pitzanti limped under the gun before Eliezer Asherof raised to 2,000 from the next seat. Ettore Ricci called from middle position, Gregory Chenet defended out of the big blind and Pitzanti called as well.
Four players saw a flop of 7♣K♥3♥ which got checked through for the 8♠ to land on the turn. Chenet led out for 2,500 and Pitzanti immediately shoved for 6,500. Asherof and Ricci folded, but Chenet flicked in the call.
Sandro Pitzanti: K♠3♠
Gregory Chenet: 8♣7♥
Both players had two pair but it was Pitzanti who was ahead with top and bottom pair. A clean 6♣ fell on the river and Pitzanti earned the much-needed double-up.
The action was caught after and unconventional preflop raising war with both Danas Dambrauskas, in the hijack, and Sharon Sade, on the button, all in and at risk for the respective stacks of 28,800 and 19,000, against Reza Tabatabai, in the cutoff.
Sharon Sade: Q♥10♥
Danas Dambrauskas: A♣Q♣
Reza Tabatabai: 4♠4♦
Tabatabai needed to hold to score a double bust out, but the 10♣2♠2♥ saw the worst hand preflop take the lead. The Q♦ turn gave Sade two pair while Dambrauskas took the lead for the side pot. The Q♠ river saw both Sade and Dambrauskas improve to a full house. Sade tripled up while Dambrauskas' stack was nearly unchanged after winning the side pot.
The action was picked up on a flop of 8♠4♠9♥ with 15,000 in the middle when Alberto Speranzoni announced all in. Jari-Pekka Juhola folded, and Navid Saberin snap-called.
Alberto Speranzoni: KxKx
Navid Saberin: JxJx
Speranzoni was in excellent shape to double up in the second level of the tournament, but the runout was unfortunate for him as the dealer revealed the 10♣ on the turn and the 7♥ on the river, completing a straight for Saberin, who now holds a double starting stack.
The 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague wraps up its starting flights today at the Hilton Prague with Day 1f, the hype-turbo flight of the €1,100 Eureka Main Event. Kicking off at 5 p.m. local time, this marks the final opportunity for players to secure their spot on Day 2 and guarantee themselves a piece of the prize pool.
Day 1e, which started earlier this morning, is still playing out, with players battling it out in 30-minute blind levels. The combined entries from all flights so far stands at 2,306. Players in Day 1f will look to add to that number while trying to catch the current chip leader Stefano Puccilli, who bagged 655,000 chips in Day 1c.
Top Ten Chip Counts So Far
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Stefano Puccilli
Italy
655,000
2
Istvan Pilhofer
Hungary
653,000
3
Felix Vu
Sweden
626,000
4
Athanasios Kostouros
Greece
622,000
5
Andreas Walter
Germany
583,000
6
James Bagley
United Kingdom
582,000
7
Jan Jorgensen
Denmark
580,000
8
Daisuke Ogita
Japan
572,000
9
Valeriu Pelinschii
Moldova
551,000
10
David Savocka
Czech Republic
538,000
Daisuke Ogita
With blinds increasing every 20 minutes, Day 1f offers a hyper-turbo structure. Players begin with a 30,000 starting stack at blinds of 100/100, with a 100 big blind ante in play. Players are allowed up to two reentries with late registration remaining open until the end of Level 10, after which the field will play down to the top 15%, all of whom will advance to Day 2 and into the money.
As with all starting flights, Day 2 players will carry their stacks forward to compete under 60-minute blind levels beginning on Saturday, December 7, at 11 a.m.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates, chip counts, and stories from the floor for Day 1f of the Eureka Main Event!
