Among the German-speaking additions to the field were Jonas Lauck, Pascal Hartmann and Stefan Jedlicka while High Roller regular Quan Zhou sat down at the same table as Fahredin Mustafov and Jannick Wrang. Furthermore, Joao Vieira, Hady El Asmar and Boris Kuzmanovic are now all in contention as well.
Five players headed to the flop of and Avraham Azulay in the big blind bet 500. Mihaita Croitoru called from two seats over and the action then reached Fidan Zahiti on the button. Zahiti raised to 2,125 to force out James Mitchell in the small blind. Azulay clicked it back to 5,500 and Croitoru quickly folded.
Zahiti came to the same conclusion and the pot was shipped to Azulay. "Show a bluff, it's good for the game," Croitoru demanded but Azulay just sent his cards into the muck. The Romanian added "I folded " to which Zahiti replied "I folded two pair."
Marti Roca de Torres, pictured at a different event.
Winning one big tournament is hard enough, but Marti Roca de Torres was able to do that when he came out of nowhere — he had about $30,000 in live cashes — to win WSOP Europe Main Event last month for €1,115,207.
Now, Roca de Torres is back in action here at PokerStars Championship Prague, having showed up early for the €5,300 Main Event. The Spaniard hopes to make it to two majors in a row and establish himself as one of the breakout stars of 2017 on the felt.
On the 6-handed table, the cutoff opened for 300. Big blind Juha Helppi called and checked on . The cutoff bet 400 and Helppi quickly tossed in a 500-chip to call.
As he got his 100-chip change and the dealer put out the on the turn, Helppi checked again. His opponent checked behind.
The completed the board and Helppi checked once more. The cutoff bet 450 and Helppi slid forward another 500-chip to call. The cutoff showed and Helppi mucked.
Former EPT champion Anton Wigg has sat down on the same table as Christopher Kruk while other notables that joined the action in the first level include Saar Wilf, Liviu Ignat, Mario Adinolfi, Saar Wilf, Gab Yong Kim and Andrey Kotelnikov.
Paul Leckey and Ante Varnica built a pot of 3,000 or so and each checked a board of . Varnica was under the gun and checked the river and Leckey bet 6,100. Varnica thought about 30 seconds and then slid his cards to the dealer.
Ante Varnica and Fahredin Mustafov know each other well from the most recent World Series of Poker Europe and Circuit Event at the King's Casino and both drew the same table at the start of Day 1a along with former EPT champion Jannick Wrang.
Varnica won two pots right away to boost his stack. One of them saw a flop of and a bet of 550 by Varnica forced folds from Mustafov and Wrang. Soon after there were 1,200 in the middle to the turn and Wrong bet 300. Varnica raised it up to 1,800 and claimed the pot without resistance.
The Main Event has just gotten underway with Day 1a. As the shuffle up and deal was announced, 68 players had taken their seat. Here are some of the more recognizable faces in the field so far:
and Avraham Azulay in the big blind bet 500. Mihaita Croitoru called from two seats over and the action then reached Fidan Zahiti on the button. Zahiti raised to 2,125 to force out James Mitchell in the small blind. Azulay clicked it back to 5,500 and Croitoru quickly folded.
" to which Zahiti replied "I folded two pair."
. The cutoff bet 400 and Helppi quickly tossed in a 500-chip to call.
on the turn, Helppi checked again. His opponent checked behind.
completed the board and Helppi checked once more. The cutoff bet 450 and Helppi slid forward another 500-chip to call. The cutoff showed 
and Helppi mucked.
. Varnica was under the gun and checked the 
and a bet of 550 by Varnica forced folds from Mustafov and Wrang. Soon after there were 1,200 in the middle to the 
turn and Wrong bet 300. Varnica raised it up to 1,800 and claimed the pot without resistance.
