EPT Legend Ole Schemion Among Top Stacks as PokerStars EPT Prague Main Event Enters Day 3

Ole Schemion is one of the most decorated players in the history of the PokerStars European Poker Tour. His first-ever recorded live cash on The Hendon Mob is a side event victory at EPT Berlin in 2011, and the German poker mainstay has since racked up 11 more EPT trophies, highlighted by his seven-figure win in the €100,000 Super High Roller at EPT Monte Carlo 2016.

Yesterday, on Day 2 of the 2025 EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event, Schemion secured his 98th cash in an EPT tournament, guaranteeing himself a slice of the €5,936,400 prize pool as the bubble burst late in the evening at the Hilton Hotel Prague. His 12 previous cashes in the Main Event include two final tables, but his best-ever finish remains his fifth place at EPT Prague 2013. While the final table is still some ways away with 163 players remaining out of the 1,224 total entries, Schemion put himself in prime position for another deep run by amassing a stack of 728,000, good for 146 big blinds when play resumes today at noon local time.

Only four players gathered more chips in their hunt for the €1,019,300 top prize. India's Paawan Bansal captured the chip lead with a stack of 850,000, closely followed by Terry Jordon from the UK with 845,000. Canada's Jeffrey Sarwer rounds out the top three with 816,000 in chips, while long-time Dutch pro Tobias Peters continues his stellar 2025 and will return with 789,000.

Start of Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Paawan Bansal	India	850,000	170
2	Terry Jordon	United Kingdom	845,000	169
3	Jeffrey Sarwer	Canada	816,000	163
4	Tobias Peters	Netherlands	789,000	158
5	Ole Schemion	Germany	728,000	146
6	Ryan Mandara	United Kingdom	694,000	139
7	Matan Krakow	Israel	673,000	135
8	Jaromir Hanel	Czechia	654,000	131
9	Ghattas Kortas	Sweden	618,000	124
10	Grzegorz Kozieja	Poland	614,000	123

Grzegorz Kozieja finished 21st at the previous EPT stop in Malta and secured a top-ten stack as he eyes a new career-best placement in an EPT Main Event. EPT Malta winner Tomasz Brzezinski still has a shot at going back-to-back, although he returns short-stacked with just 60,000 chips at his disposal. Four other EPT champions remain in the field; Uri Gilboa (456,000), Anton Wigg (223,000), Dimitar Danchev (215,000), and Davidi Kitai (74,000) are all looking to join the exclusive club of two-time winners. Meanwhile, 2018 PCA champion Maria Lampropulos will be bringing an above-average stack of 363,000 into the third day.

The Main Event will come back to blinds of 2,000/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante. Five 90-minute levels are scheduled for play today, though this may be subject to change. A short break will take place after every level. Day 3 also introduces a 30-second shot clock to the Main Event, and a cards-up feature table will be streamed live on PokerStars' YouTube and Twitch channels all day.

The 163 players have secured themselves the minimum cash of €8,350, with the first pay jump to €9,600 awarded to 143rd place. Five-figure payouts await the top 119, while the real big prizes will be dished out at the final table, with the top eight all receiving at least six-figure sums.

Remaining Payouts

Place	Prize	Place	Prize	Place	Prize
1	€ 1,019,300	9	€ 94,150	28-31	€ 22,200
2	€ 636,405	10-11	€ 72,400	32-39	€ 19,300
3	€ 454,550	12-13	€ 60,300	40-55	€ 16,800
4	€ 349,650	14-15	€ 50,300	56-71	€ 14,600
5	€ 269,000	16-17	€ 41,900	72-95	€ 12,700
6	€ 206,900	18-20	€ 34,900	96-119	€ 11,050
7	€ 159,150	21-23	€ 29,400	120-143	€ 9,600
8	€ 122,400	24-27	€ 25,550	144-163	€ 8,350