Thursday, 28th March 2024 12:01
Home / Uncategorized / Eureka Poker Tour, Prague: Day 1B, Level 7, 8 & 9 updates, blinds 400-800, ante 100
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1.25am: Top five chip stacks
Here by my reckoning are the top five chip stacks at the end of Day 1B.

Marius Tripsa, Romania, 127,000
Cristian Murgoci, Romania, PokerStars player, 107,100
Jakub Ratulowski, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 98,600
Martin Strban, Slovakia, PokerStars qualifier, 98,400
Pawel Bartosz, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 97,900

Team PokerStars online member Grzegorz Mikielewicz had an amazing last level and sits just outside the top five with a stack of 86,100. I believe that around 50 players have advanced to Day 2 today, meaning around 100 players will return to action at 2pm, tomorrow, join me then as we play another nine levels and will reach the money and hopefully the final table. — NW   

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Grzegorz Mikielewicz finished the day on 86,100

1.15am: Huge pot, new chip leader
On the penultimate hand it folded round to Alexey Neofitov on the button and he raised to 3,800. The small blind (Marius Tripsa) then three-bet to 7,500 total and Neofitov made the call. The flop was 10♣ 2♠ 9♦ and Tripsa led out for 14,000. This caused Neofitov to let out an audible sigh, before he put in a riase to 28,500, Tripsa then moved all-in and Neofitov called it off.

Tripsa: A♣ A♠
Neofitov: J♥ 8♣

The turn was the 3♣ , the river the 4â™  and after the stacks were counted down it was established that Tripsa had Neofitov covered and had won a huge 127,000 pot. — NW

1am: Play is over
Play is done for the day and players are bagging their chips. News of a huge pot that occured on the penultimate hand coming right up as well as top five chip counts and end of day wrap.– NW

12.45am: Last five hands
With 10 minutes left in the last level of the night, tournament staff have paused the clock and announced that players will now play five more hands, then the day is done. — NW

12.40am: Johnson swinging
Mitch Johnson has had a swingy old level, he lost 20,000 when he doubled up a player when he got it in holding [J][9] against [Q][10] on a [Q][J][9] board only for the turn an river to come running deuces to give his opponent a better two pair. Then he lost some to James Keys, before getting them back off the same player when he bet all three streets with A♥ 7♥ on a 2♥ Aâ™  3♥ 3â™  5♣ board. He’s currently on around 68,000. — NW

12.35am: Veronika halts Hulme
Andrew Hulme is out he told me: “I four-bet called it off with pocket eights and ran into the pocket queens of this lady who was pretty good and aggro.” The lady in question is Veronika Kokoceva who is now up to 70,000. — NW

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Warning this women is armed and dangerous good and aggro

12.25am: Alexey the axeman
Picture below is 19-year-old Alexey Neofitov from Russia, he’s terroirsed his table today and has a stack of around 77,000 at the moment. He doesn’t look like he’d hurt a fly. — NW

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Alexey Neofitov

12.10am: Keys eliminates Alibas
Salim Alibas has been on a real rollercoaster today up to 80,000 at one point, that ride has just ended. He got his last 10,600 in pre-flop with pocket fives against James Keys who had A♣ J♦ and Keys flopped an ace to eliminate him. — NW

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Alibas, up down and ultimately out

12am: Johnson and Johnson
It sometimes feels like I’ve been updating a British event today such as been the flurry of action on the table in front of me that contains three British players. I’d yet to see the Johnson brothers (Keith and Mitch) tangle it a point until now that it. Mitch Johnson raised to 1,800, Salim Alibas flat called, before Keith Johnson made it 4,800 from the small blind. Mitch asked his brother how much he had left (37k was the reply) and he then four-bet to 10,100, forcing both players out of the pot. — NW

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Mitch – of Johnson and Johnson

11.50pm: Back for the last level
Players are back in their seats for the final 60 minutes of play today. With the ante going up to 100, there’s no need for the green 25 chips any more. See you in Nova Gorica green chips. — NW

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Sea of green

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 400-800, ante 100

11.30pm: Break time
Players are on a 20 minute break before returning for the last level of the day. — NW

11.28pm: Grzegorz Mikielewicz doubles up
Last hand before the break the Team PokerStars online member moved all-in over the top of a 1,500 bet and a flat call for 12,700 total with pocket kings. He got looked up by A♣ Q♣ and held on the 8♦ 10♥ 6â™  K♦ 3♥ board. — NW

11.25pm: Power poker from Keys
I just saw James Keys claim a nice pot to boost his stack to 70,000. On a flop of 10♣ 6â™  K♦ he moved all-in for 53,125 over the top of a 9,100 bet from Tomas Petru who folded. There was also a healthy 16,000 in the middle from the pre-flop action, Keys banked that too. — NW

11.15pm: Neofitov flying
Alexey Neofitov, who earlier eliminated Mike Hill is up to around 77,000 and every time I pass his table he seems to be raking in chips. — NW

11.05pm: Lucky Gilles
Gilles Augustus is still in and has a stack of 26,000, but he told me he got lucky to get it: “I was down to 10,000 and there was a raise and two calls in front of me and I moved all-in with [A][5]. I got called by pocket eights and the board was [9][8][6][A][7].” — NW

10.55pm: Fry cooked
Will Fry has been eliminated. Alex Goulder told me that Will had been three-bet jamming a lot and when he did it again ran [Q][2] into [A][J]. — NW

10.45pm: New chip leader
I noticed that there was a player on around 123,000 – that’s already more than Day 1A chip leader Jaroslav Urban finished with – the man with that monster stack is PokerStars qualifier Tadeas Kozdon.
 

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Tadeas Kozdon

10.40pm: James Keys doubles up
He was all-in pre-flop for 30,950 with pocket jacks against Mitch Johnson’s A♦ K♣ the board of J♥ 8â™  Kâ™  7â™  A♣ saw him safely double up and dent Johnson who now has around 57,000. — NW

10.30pm: Dag Palovic eliminated
Team PokerStars pro Dag Palovic is out, he shoved for around 9,000 from middle position with Aâ™  5â™  and was called by PokerStars qualifier Martin Strban who had pocket queens. No ace, straight or flush for Palovic and he was out. — NW
 

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Palovic couldn’t get anything going today

LEVEL UP: BLINDS 300-600, ante 75

10.15pm: The camera tell
There are plenty of live tells out there but I just saw one for the first time, let’s call it the camera tell. James Keys opened to 900 from under-the-gun and was flat called by Keith Johnson and then by Salim Alibas from the big blind. The flop was Jâ™  7♦ J♥ and it checked to Johnson who bet 1,400, only Alibas called.

The turn was the 8♥ and both players checked to see the 9♥ come on the river. After some thought Alibas led out 2,500 and as Johnson was thinking he began to take a camera out of his pocket. After Johnson folded it became clear why, he opened his hand up to reveal Q♥ 10♥ for a straight flush, laid it on the table and took a photo of the board to preserve the memory! — NW

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Alibas – not camera shy

10.05pm: Not king of the Hill
Mike Hill is out and he was kind enough to wander over and recount his exit hand to me: “The player to my immediate right raised and I just flat called with Aâ™  Kâ™  to induce the squeeze and sure enough a player (Alexey Neofitov) squeezed, the original raiser folded, I moved all-in and after a tank he called with A♥ J♥ . There were two hearts on the flop, an ace on the turn and then a third heart on the river.” Hill said that pot was worth around 39,000. — NW

9.55pm: Chip counts
I bounced round the room and updated the chip counts page, click here to see how some of the players are getting on. Mitch Johnson still leads the way. Team PokerStars Pro Dag Palovic is still in too but at the other end of the ladder as he has around 9,800. — NW

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Palovic – grinding a shortstack

9.40pm: Stacked
Table one is stacked, both in terms of talent and chips. Not only does it contain the current chip leader Mitch Johnson (89,000) and James Keys, but during the break Salim Alibas – who has 60,000 – was moved to the direct left of Johnson and the direct right of Keys. Considering the average is 28,166 there could well be fireworks at this table. — NW

9.30pm: Three more levels to go
The remaining 92 players are back in their seats and have three more hours of play to get through before they can bag and tag their chips, safe in the knowledge that they’ve made it through to Day 2.

One player who won’t be among them is Tomas Cibak: “A bluff went wrong in a big pot” he shrugged, Before adding:”S**t happens.” — NW

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Cibak – out when a bluff went wrong

PokerStars Blog reporting team at Eureka Poker Tour Prague: Nick Wright. Photos courtesy of Tomas Stacha.

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