American pro Brian Senie bagged a chip lead so big after the second day of play at WPT Prague, we're not sure there's ever been one this big before. Senie took 759,000 chips into Day 3, and with 61 players remaining he already has 10% of all the chips in play. However, it's not nearly a done deal yet, as plenty of other top pros are still in the hunt for the title.
WPT Prague drew a total crowd of 256 entries and on Day 2 the remaining players the eliminations came quick. Fedor Holz lasted no more than six minutes, while Simeon Naydenov, Adrian Mateos and Fabrice Soulier were also among the first to hit the rail. The trend of bustouts continued with November Niner Pierre Neuville, Eugene Katchalov and Kevin MacPhee, while Steve O'Dwyer pulled out to an early chip lead.
O'Dwyer battled with start-of-the day chip leader Josh Cranfield, and the partypoker.net online qualifier got the worst of it in a massive pot. Cranfield flopped a full house, but O'Dwyer rivered a bigger full house when the money went in, and Cranfield found himself empty-handed in the second level. Brian Senie, also at that table, then chipped up through O'Dwyer and that allowed him to pull out to a huge chip lead, one he wouldn't relinquish.
In the meantime, Martin Finger, Anton Astapau and recent WPT Montreal finalist Rainer Kempe were also sent packing along with current WPT Player of the Year Anthony Zinno. Zinno busted to Ole Schemion, who bagged up 121,000 at the end of the night.
Former EPT Barcelona High Roller champ, Belarus' Ihar Soika, bagged up 165,800 and Ukrainian Igor Yaroshevskyy will take 145,300 with him to Day 3. The Brits also kept their dreams alive as both Ben Heath (117,700) and Charlie Carrel (67,500) made the third day during their first WPT event.
Play will resume on Friday at 2:00 p.m. local time as the remaining 61 will chase after a spot in the money. A total of 27 players will get paid, and the tournament director hinted towards having to play six levels in order to get to the final 24.
The two biggest stacks in the room just clashed in a massive pot, putting Brian Senie at the top of the counts by a huge margin.
"I don't think I've ever seen a stack this big at this stage of the tournament," Ludovic Geilich said after Senie was later moved to his table, to give an indication of the lead Senie currently holds on Day 2 of WPT Prague.
Senie told the WPT blogger how O'Dwyer called his raise, and two players saw the flop showing . Senie fired big on the turn, the , and 145,000 on the river, the , and O'Dwyer called him down.
Senie showed for a flush and O'Dwyer mucked his cards. Later O'Dwyer was moved to a different table, and he still seemed to be in disbelief about the hand he played against Senie.
We just caught wind of Anthony Zinno's elimination by the hands of Ole Schemion. Schemion raised under the gun and Zinno moved all in for 30,000. Schemion called holding and he was up against Zinno's .
The board ran out and Zinno's hand was mucked to send him to the rail on Day 2.
Start-of-the-day chip leader Josh Cranfield is missing in action, as his seat is empty, but both Brian Senie and Steve O'Dwyer are sitting on huge stacks midway through Day 2. Senie and O'Dwyer are seated at Cranfield's former table, and we're assuming that the two pros chopped up the qualifier's chips.
O'Dwyer and Senie are currently first and second on the leaderboard, and a massive clash could be looming.
Dylan Linde just clashed in a huge pot with Yann Dion, and it was the latter who benefited greatly from this confrontation. Dion held pocket kings against Linde's aces in a pot worth around 120,000 chips, and the turn brought a king to send Dion up the ranks.
Linde was left with just a few thousand chips, and he was knocked out not too long after this hand. Stephen Chidwick was also found missing from the action, and play continues with two less bearded men in the room.
Kevin MacPhee's year has been nothing short of amazing with two WSOP bracelet wins, but he won't be adding a WPT title to it here in Prague. One of our Czech colleagues just informed us that MacPhee ended up all in for about 40,000 chips with versus the of Valdemar Kwaysser.
The board brought a king to secure MacPhee's elimination, and Kwaysser's now in a much better spot to battle the other top pros on Table 1.
Polish pro Remi Wyrzykiewicz started the day as one of the big stacks, but he's already gone after busting to chip leader Josh Cranfield. From our WPT colleague we heard that Wyrzykiewicz four-bet over Cranfield's three-bet, and he made the call.
The flop brought out and Cranfield check-called a bet. On the turn, when a hit, the same thing happened and the river brought another jack.
Wyrzykiewicz ended up all in for his tournament life on the river, but he was sent to the rail by Cranfield's for a full house. Cranfield now sits on a massive 260,000-chip stack after qualifying for this tournament online for just £12.
When you're playing a big international poker tournament, there's a decent chance you'll have to face some tough opposition. However, it's not very common to see a table so stacked that there's not a single player we don't recognize. Usually there's one or two faces at some of the tougher "tables of doom" we've seen in the past, but not at this one we found today.
Aptly named Table 1 today, this seat draw carries seven recognizable pros. Among them, they represent $23.3 million in live tournament earnings with David Peters leading the way at $6.8 million.
Being moved to this table will feel like a death sentence, as butting heads with such tough competition will surely make your quest to reach Day 3 much, much harder. They say table draw can be everything in tournament poker, and today we'll see that notion play out right in front of us.
Since the breaking order is from high to low, Table 1 will never be broken.
Here's what the table looks like, from a money-earned perspective:
Name
Live Tournament Earnings
David Peters
$6,827,863
Martin Finger
$6,535,683
Kevin MacPhee
$5,342,029
Elliott Smith
$1,502,267
Valdemar Kwaysser
$1,452,342
Erwann Pecheux
$1,093,432
Rasmus Agerskov
$630,183
Just now, we saw a raise to 1,400, a call from Rasmus Agerskov and a three-bet from David Peters to 5,800 on the button. The action folded back to Agerskov who moved all in to put Peters at risk. Peters folded right away, and Agerskov took down this pot.
The players had a chance to warm up during Day 1a and Day 1b, but from now on the pressure will be building. All remaining players will now be in one room, and at the end of today we'll have a much better idea of who will be contending for the WPT Prague 2015 title.
Coming into the day it's Josh Cranfield's fairytale story that has everyone exciting. Cranfield qualified on partypoker for no more than £12 and now he holds a commanding chip lead on Day 2. The field however is stacked, and Cranfield will have to battle through a long list of top pros in order to make his dream of winning a WPT come true.
Among the big stacks heading into Day 2 we have Byron Kaverman, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Vojtech Ruzicka and Gaelle Baumann. Out of the 233 entries into this event, 147 remain and registration remains open until the cards are in the air.
Play will commence at 2:00 p.m. local time and five 90-minute levels will be played.
. Senie fired big on the turn, the 
, and 145,000 on the river, the 
, and O'Dwyer called him down.
for a flush and O'Dwyer mucked his cards. Later O'Dwyer was moved to a different table, and he still seemed to be in disbelief about the hand he played against Senie.
and he was up against Zinno's 
and Zinno's hand was mucked to send him to the rail on Day 2.
of Valdemar Kwaysser.
and Cranfield check-called a bet. On the turn, when a 
hit, the same thing happened and the river brought another jack. 
for a full house. Cranfield now sits on a massive 260,000-chip stack after qualifying for this tournament online for just £12.
