Welcome to Day 2 of the record-setting PokerStars Festival Main Event Rozvadov! 1,121 players in total showed up on one of the four starting days, more than doubling the initial guarantee of €500,000 and surpassing the inaugural London festival's number of 944. It's also the biggest PokerStars event ever held in King's Casino. 507 of them found a way to day 2, with Peter Kamaras topping them all at 270,600. The Hungarian set the tone on Day 1a and claimed the overall chiplead as well.
The home crowd can root for Michal Mrakes, who sits in second with 264,100. Sven Weide rounds out the top 3 with 212,000. Other notables to appear on Day 1c include Team PokerStars Pro Online Randy "nanonoko" Lew (120,900) and Jaime Staples (25,700), Petr Targa (170,800), Martin Staszko (146,200), Martin Kabrhel (136,900), Cheng-Wei Yin (133,000), Ioana Silvana Apostol (117,300), Rehman Kessam (117,000), Jonas Lauck (17,100) and Hubert Matuzewski (16,900).
The action will kick off at noon local time. Today will feature 12 levels of 60 minutes and will see the field play into the money. The total prize pool and payouts will be announced shortly after the start of the day. Blinds will start at 800/1,600 with a running ante of 200. Day 3 will be held on Monday, where we will play down until a winner is crowned. Follow PokerNews throughout the day and don't miss any of the exciting action from King's Casino in Rozvadov!
PokerStars Team Online Pro Jaime Staples started the day as one of the short stacks and had to give up his blinds, dipping to just 16,300. Dzmitry Rabotkin then opened from the button and Staples shoved out of the small blind, Rabotkin called.
Jaime Staples:
Dzmitry Rabotkin:
The board ran out and Rabotkin paired his ace on the flop to eliminate the Twitch hero from Canada.
Felix Schulze raised to 5,400 from under the gun. A short stacked player behind him called the raise, the small blind called and Niko Wieland in the big blind called as well. On the flop, the small blind and Wieland checked. Schulze took a look at his left hand neighbor, who appeared antsy and ready to get his last chips in.
Schulze checked and the short stacked player shoved all in without hesitation. The small blind folded and Wieland called. Schulze then check-raised to 69,600. With the action back on Wieland, the German moved all in and Schulze snap-called to create a gigantic pot of 450,000 chips.
Felix Schulze:
Niko Wieland:
Short stacked player:
It was a setup of gigantic proportions and there was nothing Wieland could do about it. His stack of over 200,000 was about to be decimated unless the one-outer would pop up.
Neither turn nor was the miracle card and Wieland had to fork over 194,500 to Schulze, who suddenly holds a massive chip lead.
A crazy bubble phase has ended with three players out at the same time!. The clock was stopped two players before the money. In the last hand, no less than four players found themselves at the brink of elimination.
The first player at risk was Daniel Heidelbacher. After a player had shoved from the cutoff, Heidelbacher called all-in from the big blind holding . The player at the cutoff had and remained ahead to knock out Heidelbacher.
At the second table, Pietro Parrino was all-in with against on a board. The turn was safe, but the dreaded fell on the river to send Parrino to the rail.
The action at the third table was furious. On a flop, Marko Tiedmann open-shoved, a player called, then Leonardo Romeo reshoved all in. The player who called then open-folded (!), but his soul read was correct as Romeo opened up !
Incredulously, Tiedmann held for bottom set! For the second time this tournament, a set over set over set had flopped. Tiedmann needed a one-outer to survive but didn't find it on the turn or river.
Over at the feature table, a player was all in with against Dave Kroon with , but this time the all-in player survived by spiking an ace on the flop.
Three players went out in the same hand and they each received €511 for splitting the first cash. Wow!
The last remaining Team PokerStars Pro in this tournament, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, is slowly but surely becoming a force in this tournament. Grospellier came strong out of the bubble phase and is currently sitting at 385,000.
In the latest hand Grospellier played, a player opened from middle position and ElkY defended the small blind with . Both players quickly checked the on the flop. Grospellier bet 15,000 on the turn and 22,000 on the river. His opponent called twice, but couldn't defeat ElkY's hand.
After the break, Grospellier's table will be the feature table again. The live stream can be followed here.
"I like you, that's why I want you to make the money. We're less than 100 away now - why do you want to bust!?" comes a shout from across the Poker Room at the King's Casino. "Don't do anything stupid!"
Read more about Martin Kabrhel's antics over at the PokerStars Blog.
After substantial action before, Bence Szaszko and Usman Siddique arrived on the turn with the board reading . Szaszko had bet enough to put Siddique to a decision for all his chips, which was 134,000.
Siddique spent an eternity in the tank and got the clock called on him. With about half a minute left, he decided to call for his tournament life.
Bence Szaszko:
Usman Siddique:
Siddique was ahead with his pair of jacks but needed to dodge a king or a spade. The river was the , completing Szaszko's flush, and Siddique was forced to the rail.
Martin Kabrhel opened from the cutoff and Jerome Sgorrano defended his small blind. The flop came down and Sgorrano checked. Kabrhel fired 29,000 and the Belgian check-called. On the turn, Sgorrano check-called a bet of 45,000.
The river brought the and Sgorrano checked a third time. Kabrhel emptied the clip by putting Sgorrano to the test for all his chips. It was effectively 170,000 to call for Sgorrano, who spent minutes in the tank.
Kabrhel, who had been yapping non-stop throughout the hand, suddenly became unusually quiet as Sgorrano tried to figure out what to do. Eventually, the Belgian slid in a call and the hands were tabled.
Martin Kabrhel:
Jerome Sgorrano:
Kabrhel had flopped the joint and Sgorrano's hero call failed. The talkative Czech moved up to 800,000 and just like that became the most dangerous player in the room.
Get your earplugs ready folks. It's gonna be loud in here.
Karel Mokry opened to 18,000 in middle position. Benjamin Benoit three-bet to 46,000 from the cutoff. Back on Mokry, the Czech cut out a four-bet to 95,000 and Benoit called in position.
The flop was and Mokry continued his aggression with a bet of 90,000, which got called by Benoit. On the turn, Mokry slid his T-100,000 chips in the middle, enough to put Benoit to the test for his final 260,000.
The Frenchman was visibly disgusted and needed minutes to come to a decision. After nearly four minutes, Benoit exhaled deeply and flung his cards into the muck. The fell open on the felt, the other one landed face-down.
Mokry now holds one of the biggest stacks in the room.
After a player raised to 17,000 in middle position, Lennart Dijkkamp three-bet to 48.000 in late position. Robert Hana shoved 215,000 from the big blind and Dijkkamp snap-called.
Robert Hana:
Lennart Dijkkamp:
Up until the river, everything looked secure for Hana on , but the brought his tournament to a screeching halt. To make things worse for Hana, another player claimed to have folded a king. Hana was forced to the rail and Dijkkamp now sits at 800,000.