Dimitrios Nanos raised to 1,600 from middle position, Alessandro Pichierri three-bet to 5,500, from the cutoff, and Nanos called.
The J♠J♥6♠ flop saw Nanos check and then call a bet of 3,000 from Pichierri.
The 10♥ turn saw a repeat of the action, this time Pichierri sized up to 10,500.
The 2♠ river prompted a third check from Nanos. Pichierri bet out 35,000 and Nanos moved all in for just under 49,000. Pichierri, the covering stack, snap-called.
Dimitrios Nanos: 6♥6♦
Alessandro Pichierri: J♠J♦
Nanos thought he'd found a dream flop, making a full house, but Pichierri held quads to send him to the rail in this sick cooler.
Luca Bartolacci raised to 1,600 from early position and picked up a call before Toni Kaukua three-bet to 5,600. Only Bartolacci called.
The flop came J♠10♣3♠ and Bartolacci checked. Kaukua bet 20,000 and Bartolacci responded by moving all in with his stack of over 100,000. Kaukua made the call for around 80,000 and the cards were turned in what was a huge pot.
Toni Kaukua: A♠K♠
Luca Bartolacci: K♣Q♠
Kaukua had a flush draw with overcards and was ahead as Bartolacci turned over his hand to show a straight draw.
The turn was a blank, the 4♣, but the A♦ river was about as dramatic as it could be. Kaukua paired his ace, but it also gave Bartolacci a straight.
Bartolacci won the pot and stood up in celebration, taking a deep breath out as a sigh of relief. Kaukua could only say, "Oh my god!" as he handed over his stack and exited the tournament.
With more than 40,000 in the pot, Pavlos Xanthopoulos and Mateusz Wozniak faced off on a 9♣10♠J♠ flop. Xanthopoulos led out with a bet of 7,000, and Wozniak responded by moving all in for Xanthopoulos's effective stack of 52,000. Xanthopoulos called.
Pavlos Xanthopoulos: 7♣8♣
Mateusz Wozniak: A♦A♥
Xanthopoulos had flopped a straight, cracking Wozniak's aces and the 5♠ turn and 4♣ river changed nothing, securing a massive double-up for the Greek player.
Oleksii Ievchenko moved all in for 16,800 from under the gun and Dimitrios Gkatzas, in early position, called. Julian Salvesen, in the cutoff, three-bet jammed for 31,500. Julien Sitbon, on the button, tanked before four-bet jamming for 59,100. Gkatzas chose to fold.
Marco Leonzio opened to 2,500 from the button and was met with a three-bet to 8,000 from Jan Schwippert in the small blind. When the action folded back to Leonzio, he four-bet to 16,000. Schwippert responded with a five-bet shove for 46,100, and Leonzio quickly called.
Jan Schwippert: A♦10♥
Marco Leonzio: K♠K♦
Schwippert needed one of his three outs to stay alive, and the poker gods favored him on the 6♦J♥A♥ flop. Leonzio found no help on the 4♦2♥ runout, and Schwippert scooped this pot to get an above-average stack.
Pascal Vos open raised to 2,500 from early position and Matthew Micallef moved all in from the hojack for 19,200. Pavel Plesuv then pushed all in over the top from the big blind and Vos called with both players covered to make it a three-way all in.
Matthew Micallef: 8♠8♣
Pavel Plesuv: A♣Q♥
Pascal Vos: A♦K♠
Michallef was in great shape with his pocket pair considering that his opponents shared outs. The board ran out 5♥9♥7♠2♠8♦ and he further improved to a set of eights to triple up his stack.
Plesuv lost out for the rest of his chips to Vos, who claimed the side pot to make some chips from the hand.
Matthias Auer opened the action to 2,400 and was met with a three-bet to 6,500 from Mykhailo Demydenko on his direct left. Christian Rotundo called, and Auer joined as well.
The trio saw a flop of 4♣6♣8♠. Auer checked, and Demydenko bet 11,000, which was called only by Rotundo.
The 6♠ hit the turn, and Demydenko moved all in. Rotundo called.
Mykhailo Demydenko: A♥A♣
Christian Rotundo: 10♠10♣
Demydenko was in great shape and he was one card away of achieving the double up, but the dealer revealed the 10♦ on the river giving Rotundo tens-full and sending Demydenko to the rail.
Stefan Egermann raised to 2,500 from middle position and EPT Barcelona Main Event winner Simon Wiciak three-bet to 7,500 from the next seat. Egermann pushed all in and Wiciak called for 22,000 more. Players flipped their cards, with Wiciak at risk.
Simon Wiciak: 10♦10♥
Stefan Egermann: K♠K♣
Wiciak was in trouble and found no help on the board of A♥2♦A♣5♥2♥ as Egermann held with his kings. Wiciak was eliminated with just half a level left to play on Day 1b.
The prestigious European Poker Tour Prague continues to operate on all cylinders with another successful Day 1 flight of the €5,300 EPT Main Event. The Hilton Prague welcomed a new field of 923 entries, all striving for their place in EPT history.
After ten levels of play, 316 survived to advance to the Day 2 restart, tomorrow, December 11 at 12 p.m. local time. This brings the total Day 2 field size to 464, but with registration still open until the start of play, this number is only expected to swell.
As the dust settled, the front runner of Day 1b was Jacob Amsellem of France, who managed to accumulate an impressive sum of 316,000 by the conclusion of play. This result puts Amsellem out in front of Day 1a chip leader Gianfranco Iaculli (294,000), ensuring he will be the largest stack in the room at the start of Day 2.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Jacob Amsellem
Israel
316,000
211
2
Ignacio Sole Aparicio
Spain
267,000
178
3
Darko Percic
Germany
261,000
174
4
Anton Bergstrom
Sweden
253,500
169
5
Pascal Vos
Netherlands
247,000
165
6
Vasyl Pidhrusnyi
Ukraine
245,000
163
7
Vidar Oie
Norway
234,000
156
8
Patrik Jaros
Czech Republic
232,000
155
9
Marian Virlanuta
Romania
230,500
154
10
Marco Di Persio
Italy
229,500
153
Action of the Day
PokerStars Team Pros and their affiliate ambassadors came out in full force, showing exactly why they earned their place on the PokerStars roster.
Sam Grafton fired a single bullet in today’s Main Event, successfully converting his starting stack of 30,000 into a final sum of 133,000. Grafton's tournament journey was turbulent, losing some of his earnings to Birger Larsen who’d successfully bluffed the Team Pro member out of a sizable pot in Level 5. However, Grafton’s persistence paid off, continually retaining a top-ten stack through the day’s play, finally finding a bag by the night's end.
Sam Grafton
Those to rejoin Grafton on the felt tomorrow include the likes of Padraig O'Neill, Jason Wheeler, Leo Margets, and Alexane Najchaus. In 2023, O'Neill dispatched Jon Kyte in heads-up play to take the EPT Prague Main Event trophy, title and €1,030,000, meaning his stack of 133,000 firmly keeps the campaign for a title defense alive.
Benjamin Spragg was quick to show no fear, boasting a big bluff during Level 5. Although Spragg’s commitment of chips showed heart, the two pair of Lucia Navarro sent him to the rail on his first bullet. Spragg wasn’t able to spin his single reentry into a deep run, fizzling into a quiet exit in Level 8, while Navarro bagged a final sum of 82,000.
Simon Wiciak, Ramon Colillas and Parker Talbot all soon followed Spragg to the rail. A sickening set-over-set cooler was the demise of the online streamer; Talbot snap-called a turn raise for his tournament life and failed to improve to the unlikely hand of quads, allowing Marco Di Persio to claim the entirety of his stack.
Wiciak's departure came painfully on the last level of the day as his pocket tens had run into the kings of Stefan Egermann, ending his campaign for two EPT main event titles.
Simon Wiciak
Play will recommence on Level 11 with blinds at 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 big blind ante. Those to find their way to the felt will enjoy elongated levels of 90 minutes with a 20-minute break at the end of each level.
Remaining Schedule
Date
Day
Time
Blind Levels
December 11
Day 2
12 p.m.
90 minutes
December 12
Day 3
12 p.m.
90 minutes
December 13
Day 4
12 p.m.
90 minutes
December 14
Day 5
12 p.m.
90 minutes
December 15
Day 6
12:30 p.m.
90 minutes
The PokerNews live reporting team will return to bring you more coverage of the EPT Prague Main Event, so stay tuned.
