Konstantinos Nanos opened to 45,000 from early position, and was met with a three-bet to 110,000 by Valeriu Pelinschii on the button. Action folded back to Nanos, who thought for a bit before four-bet jamming for around 450,000.
Pelinschii looked pained, and thought the spot through for quite a while before ultimately moving the rest of his chips into the middle, totaling around 380,000.
Valeriu Pelinschii: K♠Q♠
Konstantinos Nanos: A♥J♣
Pelinschii needed some help from the board, and appeared to get it on the K♥J♦5♥ flop. However the A♣ rolled off on the turn to give Nanos two pair, and Pelinschii could not find the king he needed on the 8♥ river.
A pot of at least 1,000,000 had developed between Martin Kabrhel in middle position and Julio Carvalho on the button, with the board reading J♠2♠2♣9♣.
Kabrhel took a considerable amount of time before firing out a bet of 510,000, which led to a relatively swift fold from Carvalho, sending Kabrhel over the 3,000,000 mark.
Cards were on their backs and stacks were in the middle, with Emeric Farkas and Andrej Desset all-in for 300,000 and 995,000 respectively, both of whom had been looked up by Konstantinos Nanos with the covering stack.
Emeric Farkas: 10♠9♠
Andrej Desset: A♣A♦
Konstantinos Nanos: A♥K♠
Desset was in great shape, and as the dealer prepared to spread the flop, Farkas pleaded for help.
The Q♠8♥5♠ flop gave Farkas plenty of hope, with a flush draw and straight draw, and he shouted "Yes" when he saw the cards.
The 9♦ turn improved Farkas but not to the holding he was hoping, and the 7♣ river was a brick to send the pot to Desset, much to Farkas' disappointment. Nanos was also not pleased, and Desset rocketed over 2,000,000.
When it was announced five more hands were to be played, Martin Kabrhel declared "I always win the last hands", before opening to 50,000.
Action folded to Adam Wagner in the big blind, who considered his options, before three-bet jamming for 360,000. Kabrhel asked for a count, before declaring "If it's under 400,000, I'm calling.", and on the amount being confirmed, Kabrhel made the call.
Adam Wagner: A♠10♥
Martin Kabrhel: A♣K♥
When he saw his opponent's holding, Kabrhel declared "Adam, why are you bluffing?"
Kabrhel had Wagner dominated, and Wagner's departure was confirmed by the J♣7♣4♦5♣6♥ runout.
Sometimes, shorter is better. That’s exactly what happened on Day 2 of the €1,100 Eureka Main Event at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague at the Hilton Prague as tournament management decided to play only six levels today.
However, a shorter day than expected didn’t mean less action because of the 707 players who returned for Day 2, only 137 managed to bag chips by the end of the day. They are the remaining players out of a record breaking field 4,732 entries, which generated a total prize pool of €4,542,720.
At the start of the day, only one Czech player was in the top ten, and it was none other than Martin Kabrhel. After a successful Day 2, he now leads the field with a massive stack of 3,720,000 chips. He is followed by Martijn Kiers (3,250,000), Ryan Plant (3,200,000), and Matthias Auer (3,065,000), who are the only other players to surpass the three-million chip mark.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chipcount
Big blinds
1
Martin Kabrhel
Czech Republic
3,720,000
124
2
Martijn Kiers
Netherlands
3,250,000
108
3
Ryan Plant
United Kingdom
3,200,000
107
4
Matthias Auer
Austria
3,065,000
102
5
Matthew Micallef
Malta
2,960,000
99
6
Magnus Persson
Sweden
2,740,000
91
7
Daniel Abrahamsson
Sweden
2,550,000
85
8
Jiri Havlena
Czech Republic
2,370,000
79
9
Andrej Desset
Slovakia
2,345,000
78
10
Adrian Cazacu
Romania
2,290,000
76
Despite a massive field of 707 players qualifying for Day 2, all competing for the first-place prize of €517,730, it was expected that a significant portion of the field would be eliminated in the early levels of the day. Day 2 did not disappoint, with roughly 300 players eliminated before the first break. Among those who exited early were Vanessa Kade (700th), Gerard Carbo (677th), Jason Wheeler (665th), last year’s EPT Prague champion Padraig O’Neill (616th), Sami Bechahed (523rd), who attributed his exit to a “massive punt” according to his social media, and Steve O’Dwyer (490th).
On the other hand, Phil Gross took the chip lead early on, becoming the first player to surpass 2,000,000 chips. He was followed by Mehdi Bilem and Emil Mattssonwho cracked aces with a set to scoop a massive pot. Of these three players, only Bilem advanced to Day 3, starting with 455,000 chips.
By the next break, Martin Kabrhel claimed the top spot on the chip counts and maintained his lead until the end of the day. Even in the final minutes, he eliminated Adam Wagner with ace-king to secure his chip lead even more.
Meanwhile, [Removed:553] (296th - €3,130), Fabrice Bigot (286th - €3,590), Conor Beresford (271st), Marle Spragg (262nd), and EPT champion Robin Ylitalo (189th - €4,130) weren’t as fortunate, as they were all eliminated.
Ben Spragg
The tournament continues for PokerStars ambassador Benjamin Spragg, who made a great call during the final level to bag 1,965,000 chips. Day 1b chip leader Felix Vu also advanced to Day 3 with 1,540,000 chips, along with Jack Sinclair (1,300,000), Patrik Jaros (740,000), and the Day 2 starting chip leader Jerry Odeen (630,000).
Finally, PokerStars Team Pro Simon Wiciak has 280,000 chips left, so nine big blinds for tomorrow's Day 3.
Simon Wiciak
Day 3 is set to resume at 11 a.m. local time tomorrow, Sunday, December 8 at Level 17, with blinds at 15,000/30,000, with a 30,000 big blind ante. The 137 remaining players already secured a minimum cash-prize of €5,500 and are hoping for more.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€517,730
16-17
€22,440
2
€327,390
18-20
€19,490
3
€233,860
21-23
€16,940
4
€179,890
24-27
€14,720
5
€138,370
28-31
€12,770
6
€106,440
32-39
€11,080
7
€81,860
40-55
€9,630
8
€62,960
56-71
€8,360
9
€48,430
72-95
€7,220
10-11
€37,250
96-119
€6,310
12-13
€31,030
120-137
€5,500
14-15
€25,850
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates and highlights from the tournament floor until a winner is crowned!
