Alexander Lakhov Dominates Day 1a of the 2014 WPT National Prague
The first starting day of the World Poker Tour National Prague €2,000 Main Event attracted a total of 47 entries, of which only Shannon Shorr entered more than once. At the end of play, 24 players bagged up chips having made it through eight levels of 60 minutes each. Shorr was not among them, and the same also applied for the familiar names of Sam Cohen, Petr Jelinek, David Peters, Martin Staszko, Sergio Aido, Giacomo Fundaro, and Felix Stephensen.
Stephensen, the recent runner-up from the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event, had a kicker problem in the last level of play with the 
against the 
of Martin Sousek, and that sent the Norwegian to the rail.
Alexander Lakhov quickly built a big stack early on and then turned a set of kings and rivered the king-high flush against Georges Khoury to add even more. The Lebanese man check-called all in on the river with a set of sixes despite four spades on the board. With that pot, Lakhov, the 2012 WPT Prague runner-up and 2014 WPT Cyprus champion, moved into the chip lead. From there, Lahkov bagged up impressive 182,900 in chips and established a decent lead over Anton Wigg (139,000) and Stephen Chidwick (111,400).
Both Wigg and Chidwick ran hot in the last level of play to get their stacks, with Chidwick cracking the 
of Frederic Bertolino in the very last hand with the 
thanks to the 
falling on the river.
Other notables also made it through were Chris Hunichen (99,100), Marvin Rettenmaier (62,400), Jakob Karlsson (61,500), Ka Kwan Lau (60,900), Dylan Linde (41,400), and Seth Berger (39,100), and they will all be returning on Friday at 13:00 CET for Day 2. What's more is that the 24 survivors of Day 1a can even reenter on Day 1b when the second starting flight kicks off at 13:00 CET, with the option to take the bigger stack into Day 2 if they should bag up twice. All players that busted on Day 1a can also reenter once again with registration set to remain open until the end of Level 9 on Friday at 14:00 CET.
Many more players are expected for Day 1b, and the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be back on the floor to cover all crucial hands starting with the first pitch of the cards.
flop was no good, nor was the 
on the turn.
and Stephensen was gone half an hour before the end of Day 1a. The Norwegian was not 100% certain yet if he will be re-entering tomorrow or not.
on the river completed the board the Lebanese checked. Lakhov moved all in and Khoury called off with a set of sixes, Lakhov had pocket kings with the 
turn, the German fired 4,325 out of the small blind and Shorr tossed in a T-5,000 chip.
on the river, Rettenmaier bet 30,000 to put his opponent all in and received a reluctant call from Shorr for his last 17,000 chips. The German showed 
for a set of threes and Shorr's 
was no good. "Good luck guys," he said to the rest of the table before leaving the tournament area.
of Khoury on a board of 
