Itay Kimhi raised from the hijack and Dario Alioto defended his big blind.
Alioto drew two and Kimhi drew one on the first draw and then both players checked.
Both players drew one on the second draw and then Alioto led out for a bet. Kimhi raised all in and Alioto called to put him at risk.
Both players stood pat on the end and Alioto revealed 7x6x5x3x2x for a seven. Itay flung 9x8x7x5x2x into the muck face up and was eliminated on the stone bubble.
Tournament officials have announced that due to the extended bubble, play will end at the end of this level. They also drew and announced there will be three more hands before players bag up.
Emmanouil Chalkiotis: A♣K♦4♠/4♣J♠7♠3♦
Ali Abdulzahra: A♠Q♦5♥/K♠10♣7♥5♠
Catching up on fifth street, Emmanouil Chalkiotis called a bet from Ali Abdulzahra and then Abdulzahra called a bet from Chalkiotis on sixth. Chalkiotis bet the remainder of his chips on seventh and Abdulzahra called.
Chalkiotis shrugged and announced a pair of fours, which were no good against Abdulzahra's pair of fives to eliminate Chalkiotis in 10th place.
With just a few days left on the 2024 European Poker Tour Prague schedule, mixed-game enthusiasts from across the globe turned out in force for the inaugural €2,200 EPT Mixed Game Main Event. An additional 34 entries made their way to the Hilton Prague for Day 2, brining the total number of entries up to 83 and generating a €159,360 prize pool.
After a shortened Day 2 as a result of a long money bubble, Paul Tedeschi emerged as the chip leader of the final nine players with a stack worth 869,000. Tedeschi benefitted from a late-night surge by eliminating both Tobias Leknes and Thomas Berg leading up to the money bubble. Tedeschi was then able to put his big stack to good use on the bubble with well-timed aggression en route to bagging the chip lead.
Tedeschi is arguably the most accomplished player remaining, with over $3,000,000 in live-tournament earnings and four EPT titles to his name — two of which came from mixed-game events last year.
Tedeschi's next-closest competitor is Jeremy Trojand, who managed to bag up 755,000 by the end of the day. Trojand has yet to win an EPT title and will be looking to best his fourth-place finish from the € 5,200 Pot Limit Omaha event just a few days ago for €52,100.
Jeremy Trojand
Day 2 Chip Counts
Rank
Name
Country
Chip Count
Day 3 Big Bets
1
Paul Tedeschi
France
869,000
36
2
Jeremy Trojand
Germany
755,000
31
3
Ali Abdulzahra
United Kingdom
705,000
29
4
Patrick Bueno
France
626,000
26
5
Lee Horton
United Kingdom
464,000
19
6
Dario Alioto
Italy
296,000
12
7
Alexander Freund
Austria
232,000
10
8
Sami Bechahed
France
94,000
4
9
Tobias Hausen
Germany
80,000
3
Day 2 Action
Day 1 chip leader Thomas Berg looked to continue his dominance from the get-go and managed to maintain his chip lead with some big hands, which included making a well-disguised flush against Itay Kimhi in Seven Card Stud.
Meanwhile, a steady slew of eliminations saw several players bow out before dinner break, including Frank Visser, Mark Rubbathan, John Lukacs, and PokerStars ambassador Parker Talbot, who was unable to gain any momentum after max late-registering.
Following dinner, the last-standing PokerStars ambassador, Georgina James, took her leave after busting in a hand of Razz.
Not long after, Berg ran into a rough patch that saw his stack dwindle over the course of several hands, including one in Stud Hi-Lo wherein Berg got scooped by Ali Abdulzahra. Berg busted shortly after the hand and the money bubble followed closely.
The bubble proved to be a lengthy affair that lasted nearly two levels and dozens of hands. Lee Horton, Sami Bechahed, Nicolas Bokowski, and Emmanouil Chalkiotis all managed to double during hand-for-hand play, much to the dismay of Kimhi, who became the unfortunate bubble boy after making a stand in 2-7 Triple Draw and losing out to Dario Alioto's seven.
Itay Kimhi
Bokowski and Chalkiotis followed Kimhi out the door shortly after in 11th and 10th place respectively before play was called for the night a level early due to the prolonged bubble.
Day 3 will take place on Saturday, December 14 and play down until a winner. The action will resume on Level 16, which features 6,000/12,000 blinds with a 3,000 ante and betting limits of 12,000/24,000.
With the trophy and €44,884 first-place prize now within sight, the action is sure to be fierce as players compete to become the first EPT Mixed Game Champion. Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action until the next champion has been crowned!
