In 2023, Padraig O’Neill ignited celebrations across the Emerald Isle when he brought the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague Main Event title back home to Ireland. Two years on, and an Irishman is once again in pole position for the title after Day 4.
Conor O’Driscoll leads the 16 players who made it through the day and will come back tomorrow chasing a spot at the final table. O’Driscoll catapulted to the top of the leaderboard in two big pots against former chip leader Gianfranco Iaculli, first calling a five-bet shove with ace-king to double up to 1,350,000, and then picking up ace-king once more against king-jack. O’Driscoll ended up with 3,530,000 as he’s making the most of his first-ever EPT Main Event cash. He already has more than $600,000 in live career earnings, including a deep run in the PS Open at EPT Barcelona this summer.
Day 4 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conor O'Driscoll | Ireland | 3,530,000 | 71 |
| 2 | Bora Kurtulus | Turkey | 3,355,000 | 67 |
| 3 | Ding Fan | China | 3,220,000 | 64 |
| 4 | Traian Stanciu | Romania | 3,110,000 | 62 |
| 5 | Dimitrios Gkatzas | Greece | 3,060,000 | 61 |
| 6 | Matan Krakow | Israel | 2,705,000 | 54 |
| 7 | Vitezslav Cech | Czechia | 2,585,000 | 52 |
| 8 | Eyal Maaravi | Israel | 2,530,000 | 51 |
| 9 | Thomas Bazin | France | 2,275,000 | 46 |
| 10 | Vasyl Pidhrusnyi | Ukraine | 1,875,000 | 38 |
| 11 | Maria Lampropulos | Argentina | 1,845,000 | 37 |
| 12 | Paawan Bansal | India | 1,835,000 | 37 |
| 13 | Mehdi Senhaji | Morocco | 1,690,000 | 34 |
| 14 | Tobias Peters | Netherlands | 1,125,000 | 23 |
| 15 | Xiaowen Zhao | China | 1,000,000 | 20 |
| 16 | Filippo Ragone | Italy | 925,000 | 19 |
Bora Kurtulus (3,355,000), Ding Fan (3,220,000), Traian Stanciu (3,110,000), and Dimitrios Gkatzas (3,060,000) round out the top five. Matan Krakow earned the distinction of having the biggest comeback of the day. The Israeli pro was knocked down to just 180,000 when he lost an all in against Chaofei Wang on the penultimate level of the day, but he then doubled up twice before shoving the river in a big pot against Paawan Bansal to climb all the way up to 2,705,000 and sixth place at the end of the night.
Maria Lampropulos’ win in the 2018 PCA isn’t officially credited as an EPT title, but she still has a chance to make history as the last woman remaining in the field. Lampropulos doubled up when she spiked the nut flush on the river and picked off a bluff from Antonio Sciacca. She then coolered Dominique Liebrecht with kings against ace-king to send Liebrecht to the rail in 19th place as she shot up to 1,845,000. Other players still in the hunt include Vitezslav Cech (2,585,000), Bansal (1,835,000), and Tobias Peters (1,125,000).
Day 4 began with 45 players returning to the Hilton Hotel Prague out of 1,224 entries. Marius Kudzmanas (42nd), Matthias Auer (41st), and PS Open third-place finisher Ivan Poroliev (40th) were among the first to depart, while Fahredin Mustafov busted in 34th when he lost a race with two nines while Bansal turned the nut flush.
Leo Worthington-Leese was on the wrong end of several cruel rivers today, including losing with the flopped nut straight to Mehdi Senhaji’s full house, having top two pair outrun by Terry Jordon’s straight, before he was finally all in for 325,000 with two nines and up against Gkatzas’ ace-jack. Worthington-Leese remained in the lead through the turn, but Gkatzas spiked a jack on the river to send the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo third-place finisher to the rail in 32nd place.
Luka Sorainen finished in 30th place for the second year in a row, while the unpredictable Jordon got in his last 940,000 with top two pair, but Thomas Bazin had flopped a set of threes to win the pot and bust the UK pro in 28th. Roman Stoica lost a massive preflop race with two queens against Gkatzas’ ace-king to finish in 27th, while Iaculli, after taking those two big hits against O'Driscoll, lost the rest of his stack on the last hand of the night to fall in 17th place.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,019,300 | 8 | €122,400 |
| 2 | €636,405 | 9 | €94,150 |
| 3 | €454,550 | 10-11 | €72,400 |
| 4 | €349,650 | 12-13 | €60,300 |
| 5 | €269,000 | 14-15 | €50,300 |
| 6 | €206,900 | 16 | €41,900 |
| 7 | €159,150 |
The remaining 16 players return Saturday at noon local time to play down to the final table. The action picks up on Level 26 with blinds of 25,000/50,000 and a 50,000 big blind ante. Everyone remaining has locked up €41,900, while a spot at the final table is worth €122,400. The eventual champion will take home €1,019,300.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow, providing live updates leading to the final table. The action will also be streamed on a 30-minute delay on PokerStars' official YouTube channel.
