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Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz received his WCOOP bracelet from Lee Jones last night, and will be back at the Super High Roller tables today.
Prague in December; you still have the iconic clock, now with a cosy Christmas market in front of it, glühwein, and a nice Christmas tree. Oh, and there's a bunch of poker tournaments. The Eureka Poker Tour is one of them, with a record 1,738 players ponying up the buy-in the past two days. But there's something for everyone here, and today's there's something for the Super High Rollers.
At 12:15 local time the €50,000 Super High Roller will commence. Expect de crème de la crème of poker players battling it out for the coveted hardware.
One of them is WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson, a man worth at least $10 million since past November. That one guy who snatched away a bigger prize this last WSOP by winning The Big One for One Drop will be there as well, Daniel Colman will try to win another High Roller. WCOOP winner Fedor Holz has already signed up, Ole Schemion, Tobias Reinkemeier and Igor Kurganov are sure to play, and four players won their tickets in the satellite late last night (Bryn Kenney, Igor Pihela, Juha Helppi, Mustapha Kanit).
Players will start with a 250,000 stack; 250 big blinds with the first level being 500/1,000 with a 100 ante. A total of 8 levels will be played today, ending the day with 2,500/5,000 and 500 ante at about 9:15 PM. Registration is open till the start of Day 2.
Expect coverage from start to finish, starting in a little over 90 minuten. So sit tight and just wait till the biggest tournament in Prague starts!
On a board of we just saw Fedor Holz bet out 5,500. Both Troyanovsky and Thorel folded but Connor Drinan wasn't so quick to release his hand. Instead he raised it up to 16,000 and Holz made the call.
The completed the board and Holz checked by knocking on the table. Drinan bet out 21,000 and Holz thought about it for some time. Eventually he called, but mucked rather quickly after he got shown for a full house.
Brian Roberts opened to 3,000 from the hijack and next door neighbor Jean-Noel Thorel made the call. Olivier Busquet in the small blind squeezed out a bet of 12,000 and both Roberts and Thorel called.
Busquet bet out 16,000 on and Roberts made the call, Thorel folded. Busquet followed up on his pre and post flop aggression with a bet of 45,000 on the turn. Again Roberts flatted in position.
The fell on the river and Busquet checked, looking at a fixed point in the room without moving his head much for quite some time. Roberts thought about it for a bit before checking behind. Now unfrozen Busquet announced "Queen!" while rolling over the queen-jack. Roberts showed his and took it down.
Despite a slighly later start time the Super High Roller still began (fashionably) late. The PokerStars Blog had a front row seat as the Super High Rollers rolled into town. psta.rs/12IUA1n
A short time ago Mike McDonald was nursing a very short stack and looked on the verge of elimination.
Fast forward less than a level and McDonald now has one of the biggest stacks in the room.
In the most recent hand he clashed once again with Adrian Mateos. McDonald opened to 4,500 from the button before Mateos raised it up to 14,000 from the big blind. McDonald made the call and both players watched the flop come down .
Mateos led out for 20,000 and was called. He bet another 45,000 which was called after the dealer produced the on the turn.
The completed the board and Mateos instantly moved all in for 128,700. McDonald made the quick call and watched as Mateos rolled over his for a straight. McDonald then turned over his for a rivered flush and the winning hand.
Vicente Delgado raised and two further players including Sorel Mizzi in the big blind called. The Canadian bet 10,000 on the flop and Delgado raised to 28,000, Mizzi called to see the on the turn. The Canadian now fired 45,000 and Delgado checked his stack carefully before making the call with approximately 80,000 chips behind.
The on the river triggered the all in bet of Mizzi with the superior stack and Delgado called off before mucking his cards when he was shown for two pair by Mizzi.
With around 40,000 in chips in the pot and the flop reading , Stephen Chidwick checked his option from the small blind. Christoph Vogelsang bet out 17,000 from the cut off and was called.
The on the turn saw Chidwick check again prompting Vogelsang to reach for his chips and slide out another 45,000. Chidwick thought for a minute before making the call before the dealer produced the on the river.
Chidwick checked one last time sending Vogelsang into the tank. A minute passed before he moved all in for around 250,000 in chips and was instantly called.
Vogelsang turned over his for a missed straight before Chidwick tabled his for a set and the winning hand.
Chidwick had Vogelsang covered on the river and moves up to 770,000 in chips following the hand.
As we were ready to walk back up to the media room as the break had just started, we stopped by the last table as action was still going on between Joao Vieira and Juha Helppi. In what turned out to be a five-bet pot Vieira had 71,300 in front of him acting out of the small blind position. Helppi thought about it for some time before calling in the cutoff.
The contained at least one card interesting both players. The clock ticked away well into the break and Vieira bet out 33,000. Helppi called after some thinking of his own, and the dealer put the on the turn. Vieira now checked, and folded after Helppi bet out 50,000.
You could tell by Helppi's smile that something was going on. Vieira asked if Helppi didn't maybe want to show his cards. At first Helppi was resistent, but eventually he let Vieira pick one card. Vieira chose one of the cards and Helppi showed the with a big grin on his face.
The hand was interesting, but it did take a while to finish...
Martin Jacobson opened the cutoff for 6,200 and Igor Pihela made the call from the small blind.
Pihela check called a 5,400 bet on and another 7,000 on the turn.
The on the river made Pihela bet out 22,000. After some thinking, where Jacobson looked sincerely puzzled, the two-time EPT runner-up (and he won some tournament in Vegas last month as well) folded his hand.
Another huge grin on Pihela's face, as we had seen some times before today already; "Good fold!" Pihela showed for the back door straight after he received the chips in the pot.
The action started with Joao Vieira raising to 5,100 from middle position. Leon Tsoukernik and Bryn Kenney made the call from the hijack and cut off respectively before Joe Cheong moved all in for his remaining 46,000 from the button.
The blinds folded back to Vieira who thought about his decision for almost a minute before moving all in over the top for around 150,000 in chips. Tsoukernik quickly folded and was followed shortly after by Kenney.
Vieira:
Cheong:
Cheong was in big trouble and the flop of didn’t help. He then watched as the on the turn ad on the river were no help as he made his way to the exit.
we just saw Fedor Holz bet out 5,500. Both Troyanovsky and Thorel folded but Connor Drinan wasn't so quick to release his hand. Instead he raised it up to 16,000 and Holz made the call.
completed the board and Holz checked by knocking on the table. Drinan bet out 21,000 and Holz thought about it for some time. Eventually he called, but mucked rather quickly after he got shown 
for a full house.
turn. Again Roberts flatted in position.
fell on the river and Busquet checked, looking at a fixed point in the room without moving his head much for quite some time. Roberts thought about it for a bit before checking behind. Now unfrozen Busquet announced "Queen!" while rolling over the queen-jack. Roberts showed his 
and took it down.
.
on the turn.
completed the board and Mateos instantly moved all in for 128,700. McDonald made the quick call and watched as Mateos rolled over his 
for a rivered flush and the winning hand.
flop and Delgado raised to 28,000, Mizzi called to see the 
on the turn. The Canadian now fired 45,000 and Delgado checked his stack carefully before making the call with approximately 80,000 chips behind.
for two pair by Mizzi.
, Stephen Chidwick checked his option from the small blind. Christoph Vogelsang bet out 17,000 from the cut off and was called.
on the turn saw Chidwick check again prompting Vogelsang to reach for his chips and slide out another 45,000. Chidwick thought for a minute before making the call before the dealer produced the 
for a set and the winning hand.
contained at least one card interesting both players. The clock ticked away well into the break and Vieira bet out 33,000. Helppi called after some thinking of his own, and the dealer put the 
on the river made Pihela bet out 22,000. After some thinking, where Jacobson looked sincerely puzzled, the two-time EPT runner-up (and he won some tournament in Vegas last month as well) folded his hand.
for the back door straight after he received the chips in the pot.
on the turn ad 
on the river were no help as he made his way to the exit.