PokerNews caught the ending of a hand on a full board of 7♦7♣10♠7♥10♥ with around 200,000 chips in the middle. Joshua McSwiney had his stack of 521,000 in the middle, which left Laszlo Molnar with a huge decision for the bulk of his stack.
Molnar was on the clock and after using some extra time, he made the call with a stack of just over 700,000.
McSwiney then showed 8♠7♠ for quads, and Molnar flipped over Q♣10♣ for top full house, which was no good.
Artur Shupa opened the button to 25,000 with Georgios Vrakas defending out of the big blind.
Vrakas check-called a bet of 25,000 from Shupa on the A♠J♦10♥ flop.
The turn came the A♦ and Vrakas check-called another bet from Shupa, this time for 125,000.
Vrakas opted to lead out for 90,000 upon seeing the 7♠ fall on the river. Shupa paused for a few moments, before he shoved for roughly 650,000. Vrakas tossed his cards into the muck and Shupa pulled in the pot.
Vidar Oie kicked off the action with a raise to 26,000 from the hijack. Sylwia Studniarz called on the button, then Laszlo Molnar moved all in from the big blind for 190,000. Oie shoved over the top for 280,000 and Studniarz went into the tank, then got the counts before flicking in a chip with a smile to make the call. Players turned over their cards, with Molnar at risk and Oie covered by Studniarz.
The flop came Q♣9♦10♣ and Oie paired his queen, while Studniarz picked up a straight draw. The turn 8♥ changed everything as Molnar made a set of eights to get ahead and Studniarz lost a few outs. The river was the A♠ and Molnar held with his eights to win the pot, tripling up his stack.
Oie won the side pot with two pair, aces and queens, which saved him from elimination but left him with less than when he started the hand. Studniarz lost the most from the pot, but her stack barely seemed to take a hit as she still had more than 1.3 million to play with.
The action picked up on the turn of a 4♥4♦8♦K♠ board, with both Adrian Mack from the small blind and Pawel Wojciechowski from the big blind involved.
With approximately 400,000 in the middle, Mack checked, and Wojciechowski bet 180,000, which Mack snap-called.
The dealer revealed the 3♣ to complete the board, and Mack checked again. Wojciechowski moved all in, and Mack tossed his chips inside to call.
Pawel Wojciechowski: A♦Ax
Adrian Mack: 4♠2♥
Wojciechowski’s aces were not enough against Mack’s flopped trips. "Let’s f***ing go!" Mack exclaimed, pulling out his phone to "take a picture for the momma."
Fabian Bartuschk opened to 25,000 from middle position with Brandon Sheils calling from the small blind, and Enrico Camosci defending out of the big blind.
The three players checked a flop of K♠4♦6♠ to see the 6♦ come on the turn. Sheils bet 36,000 and only Camosci called.
Sheils checked the Q♥ river and then faced a bet of 250,000 from Camosci. Sheils thought for a few moments before he made the call.
Camosci turned over the winner with 6♣5♣ for trip sixes, and the pot was pushed to him.
Pierre Calamusa opened from early position to 25,000 and his countrymate Sebastian Compte called in the small blind. Cesar Garcia then put in the squeeze out of the big blind to 110,000, and Calamusa shoved for 437,000. Compte quickly folded, and Garcia had a decision to make with his stack of around 850,000.
During his decision-making process, Garcia accidentally revealed his cards to the table, and the floor were briefed on the situation before play was allowed to continue. Eventually, Garcia made the call.
Pierre Calamusa: J♠J♣
Cesar Garcia: 9♥9♦
Calamusa was well ahead with his pocket jacks and remained in the lead after the Q♦3♦8♣ flop. Any chance for Garcia to hit a backdoor draw were eliminated on the 2♣ river, and Calamusa improved to a set on the J♦ river to double up.
"I have to say, it was a good feeling when I saw it," joked Calamusa after the hand, in reference to seeing his opponent's cards.
As Day 3 of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €5,300 Main Event commenced, 191 players took their seats at the tables within the Hilton Prague to take their shot at one of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments on continental soil. Of those, only 53 remain in contention with their dreams still alive.
Although it's still anyone's game, Anton Bergstrom bagged in first place at the end of Day 3 with 1,830,000 chips after gaining momentum when he woke up with Big Slick to eliminate Alen Sabic. The Swedish player came in 24th place in last year's event and is now eyeing up one of the top spots where the serious prizes can be won.
Bagging in second place, and very close behind, was Jaehyung Park with 1,750,000. Park has had several five-figure scores in his home country of South Korea, but has yet to lock up a six-figure score or a serious victory in Europe. Could this be his time?
Adrian Mack of the USA bagged in third place and is the only other player to finish the day over the 1.7 million mark. Mack lost a huge pot early on in the day but managed to climb back up to secure a top position. It's very tight at the top, though, with not much in it between the top ten.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Anton Bergstrom
Sweden
1,830,000
122
2
Jaehyung Park
South Korea
1,750,000
117
3
Adrian Mack
USA
1,710,000
114
4
Paul Runcan
Romania
1,680,000
112
5
Danut Chisu
Romania
1,560,000
104
6
Pawel Wojciechowski
Poland
1,525,000
102
7
Sylwia Studniarz
Poland
1,510,000
101
8
Ken Oberlieben
Germany
1,495,000
100
9
Umberto Ruggeri
Italy
1,440,000
96
10
Daniel Erlandsson
Sweden
1,410,000
94
Sylwia Studniarz
All finishing within the top ten, Danut Chisu has has over $1.5 million in cashes, including a fifth place finish in the 2022 EPT London Main Event. Day 2 chip leader Sylwia Studniarz managed to retain and grow her stack to bag well within reach of a potential final table finish, while Umberto Ruggeri is back for another shot after finishing third in last year's event for €459,240.
Day 3 started with a flurry of bustouts that saw Fabio Peluso and previous EPT champion Anton Wigg hit the rail during the first level, along with PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton when he lost a race against Gal Bar to lose most of his stack, busting soon after. Adam McKola was left to fly the PokerStars flag until he was eliminated during the second level of the day.
Other notable players who did find a bag include Pedro Marques, who made a great run to spin his stack up from just 116,000 at the start of the day to 1,285,000 at the end of it after busting several opponents along the way.
He's joined by Christian Rudolph (1,010,000), UKIPT Nottingham 2023 winner Vincent Meli (765,000), high roller Nikita Kuznetsov (640,000) and Italian rising star Enrico Camosci (535,000).
Pedro Marques
This year's Main Event broke attendance records, attracting a total of 1,458 entries by the time late registration closed at the start of Day 2, making for a prize pool of €7,071,300.
The 53 hopefuls who return to the felt for Day 4 are all guaranteed €19,800. The top nine players will make six figures, while the overall winner, assuming no deal is made, will walk away with €1,146,500.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
€ 1,146,500
12 – 13
€ 68,050
2
€ 716,950
14 – 15
€ 56,700
3
€ 512,100
16 – 17
€ 47,250
4
€ 393,950
18 – 20
€ 39,950
5
€ 303,000
21 – 23
€ 34,700
6
€ 233,050
24 – 27
€ 30,200
7
€ 179,250
28 – 31
€ 26,250
8
€ 137,900
32 – 39
€ 22,850
9
€ 106,050
40 – 53
€ 19,800
10 – 11
€ 81,600
Day 4 kicks off at noon local time with blinds at Level 21, 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante, and run for 90 minutes, with a break after each level.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates straight from the tournament floor as the Main Event plays deeper into the money, all the way down to 16 players who will be left in contention for the 2024 EPT Prague trophy.
