Final Table In Sight as Matthias Auer Leads the Last 12 on Day 3 of the EPT Prague PS Open Main Event
Ten hours of play left the remaining 12 players on the verge of the final table on Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €1,650 PS Open Main Event.
Matthias Auer went on a late charge up the leaderboard to seize the chip lead at the end of the day. Auer had just 700,000 shortly after the dinner break when he doubled up with queens against Oleksandr Sybirtsev’s tens. He then picked up aces to bust Sybirtsev in 21st before calling down Vitezslav Cech with a pair of sixes to win a big pot on his way to a massive stack of 15,400,000. A final table appearance would put the Austrian pro above $1 million in live career earnings.
End of Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthias Auer | Austria | 15,400,000 | 62 |
| 2 | Lulei Hu | Italy | 10,025,000 | 40 |
| 3 | Yulian Bogdanov | Bulgaria | 9,425,000 | 38 |
| 4 | Vitezslav Cech | Czechia | 8,000,000 | 32 |
| 5 | Ben Hurwitz | Israel | 7,625,000 | 31 |
| 6 | Simon Lofberg | Sweden | 7,550,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Rama Prema | Czechia | 7,475,000 | 30 |
| 8 | Amato Landi | Italy | 7,300,000 | 29 |
| 9 | Ivan Poroliev | Bulgaria | 6,975,000 | 28 |
| 10 | Jerome Besselievre | France | 4,450,000 | 18 |
| 11 | Mahersh Selvakumaran | Netherlands | 3,325,000 | 13 |
| 12 | Adrian Ziemichod | Poland | 3,150,000 | 13 |
Lulei Hu won two big pots off Shmuel Goldenberg during the last level, first calling down with a rivered pair of aces before picking up ace-king against ace-queen to bust Goldenberg in 14th place. The Italian is Auer’s closest challenger and the only other player above 10,000,000, bagging up 10,025,000.
Yulian Bogdanov has already had a successful week here in Prague, taking down the €10,200 Mystery Bounty a few days ago for a total of €147,000. He jumped up into a big chip lead when he earned a massive double up with a full house off Yang Zhang, before he slid back towards the pack and finished the day with 9,425,000.
Cech (8,000,000) and Ben Hurwitz (7,625,000) round out the top five, while Simon Lofberg sits just outside the biggest stacks with 7,550,000. Mahersh Selvakumaran, like Bogdanov, is also chasing his second trophy this week. The early finish to Day 2 yesterday allowed Selvakumaran to jump into the €2,100 Hyper Turbo Knockout tournament last night, where he went on to beat a field of 132 players to win the €31,140 top prize. He’ll have his work cut out for him tomorrow, however, as he’s the second-shortest stack with 3,325,000.
Day 3 began with 96 players returning to the Hilton Hotel Prague after navigating their way through a field of 3,024 entries. EPT Barcelona PS Open runner-up Mengshi Tian was the first to bust today, and he was followed by EPT champion Aliaksei Boika (72nd), 2021 EPT Prague champion Grzegorz Glowny (64th), PSPC champion Aliaksandr Shylko (59th), start-of-day chip leader Petar Kalev (41st), EPT Malta champion Tomasz Brzezinski (32nd), and Fahredin Mustafov (25th). Scott Margereson won the PS Open at EPT Malta and was looking to go back-to-back, but his run at a repeat performance ended when his aces were cracked by Ivan Poroliev’s queens as he busted in 15th place.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €583,000 | 7 | €91,000 |
| 2 | €364,000 | 8 | €69,980 |
| 3 | €260,000 | 9 | €53,820 |
| 4 | €200,000 | 10-11 | €41,420 |
| 5 | €154,000 | 12 | €34,520 |
| 6 | €118,380 |
The remaining 12 players return tomorrow at noon local time to play down to a champion. The action picks up on Level 33 with blinds of 125,000/250,000 and a 250,000 big blind ante. Levels remain 60 minutes, and will switch to 24 hands per level once the final table is reached. Everyone left has locked up €34,520 for making it this far, while the champion will take home €583,000 and the prestigious PokerStars Golden Shard trophy.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow at noon following all the action and providing live updates leading up to the final table and onwards to the crowning of a champion.