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Home / Uncategorized / EPT Prague: Day 2, levels 11 and 12 updates
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Updates from day 2, levels 11 and 12 of EPT Prague, brought to you by Stephen Bartley, Marc “The Conv” Convey, Howard Swains and Simon Young.

Latest selected chip counts are on the chip count page. The EPT tournament structure can be found on the EPT tournament structure page. Full details of the payout structure and prizewinners is on the payout structure and prizewinners page.

Blinds:
Level 11: 800-1,600 (200 ante)
Level 12: 1,000-2,000 (200 ante)

5.45pm: Suharto double slick
Darus Suharto has been kitted out in a leather jacket for most of this tournament so far, but he’s slick both on and off the tables. He has recently taken down successive pots with ace-king, each time adding about 20,000 to the kitty.

On the first such occasion, he made it 5,500 to go and picked up one caller, then saw a flop of 10♣ 10♦ 4♥ . He bet 6,000 and was called, but they checked the 4♠ turn. The river was K♠ and Suharto bet 15,500, which his opponent called and then angrily mucked when the A♦ K♣ was exposed.

The very next hand, Suharto’s A-K beat A-10 on an ace-high flop. Slick.

5.40pm: Boeken hit but not broken
Noah Boeken has been sliced down to about 100,000 after he was forced to ship a similar amount to Guillaume Darcourt. Boeken raised to 5,200 from early position and Darcourt called on the button, as did Javed Abrahams in the small blind. The flop came 3♦ 4♦ 10♠ and all three players were still involved when the 8♣ turned.

This is where things changed. Abrahams bet 10,100, Boeken called, and Darcourt min-raised to 22,000. Abrahams got out the way, but Boeken slid in an indeterminate re-raise, sufficient to cover Darcourt. The French player called instantly and showed 8♦ 8â™  for the turned set of eights. Boeken’s Q♣ 10♥ had been overtaken.

The river was a blank and the counting began.

5.35pm: Sarwer busted
Jeff Sarwer is out. Crippled by earlier hands he moved in with his last 16,000 with 10♣ K♦ and was called by A♥ J♥ with no improvement on the board. He shook hands with the victors and departed smiling, ruing earlier hands that had gone against him. He could feasibly have over 300,000 but instead is now on the rail.

Bruno Launais, one of those who dented Sarwer’s stack earlier today, came over to put headphones on Sarwer’s head, telling him to listen to some music.

“It’s to calm you down,” said Launais. Sarwer thanked him but didn’t seem too disappointed. Pragmatic to the end: “After my last two results I’ve got nothing to complain about,” Sarwer said.

5.25pm: Levi 2 – Sarwer 1
Nicolas Levi and Jeff Sawer have been at it with each other all day. First off we reported how Levi doubled up Sarwer before Sarwer returned the favour by calling Levi’s all in with ace high. Then their table broke and as fate would have it they got moved to the same table.

The battle continued with the Frenchman coming out on top for the second time. We don’t have all the details but a third party told us that Sarwer called Levi’s all in bet with ace-queen. There was a king on the board and vitally a king in Levi’s holding. Sarwer on life support now with 16,000 to Levi’s 150,000.

5.10pm: Lauttamus Maximus
A big pot was brewing on what is fast becoming the action table of the tournament right now. Rui Cao bet 4,300, Juha Lauttamus called behind, as did Alexander Jung from the blinds.

On the 7♦ K♣ A♥ flop, Cao continued with 6,200, but Lauttamus came over the top with 17,300. Jung got out of the way, but Cao called. On the 3♦ turn, Cao checked and called Lauttamus’ 26,100 bet. But on the Qâ™  river he had a bigger decision – Lauttamus moved all in for 94,000. Cao dwelled a while before folding… that’s folding just “one time” as he put it.

Anyway, that little episode cut down Cao’s stack to around 180,000, but shot Lauttamus, from Finland, up to 200,000.

5.05pm: Time to go, Tome
Tome Moreira is no more. He got it all in pre-flop – around 40,000 – and was called by Marc Winkelmann, a PokerStars player from Germany:

Winkelmann: 10♠ 10♦
Moreira: A♦ K♥

A classic race, then. There was nothing in it on the 4♥ 8♦ 9♠ flop, but on the 10♣ turn Winkelmann shot into the lead, with the 3♠ river confirming the pot was his. He doubles up to 80,000, Moreira goes home.

5pm: Ekerot emerges at the top
The Swedish player Gustav Ekerot started today with a healthy 112,000 but has now just about tripled that, taking him right to the summit of the approximate counts. Having recently moved to Jude Ainsworth’s table, he just took a monster pot with pocket queens. It went: raise to 4,600 from the hijack seat, reraise to 14,800 from the button from Ekerot, all in from the hijack (about 100,000 more), insta-call.

Ekerot’s Q♣ Q♦ were all over his opponent’s 10♣ 10♦ and when the board flew down: 5â™  5♣ 2♦ Kâ™  Jâ™  , Ekerot was suddenly the focus of the photographers’ lenses as he stacked about 370,000 chips.

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Gustav Ekerot

4.50pm: Theo Jorgensen KO’d
Theo Jorgensen was on a short stack and after a player in the cut-off raised he moved all in and was called. His stack was critical at 13,000 at this point and he held queen-jack to his opponent’s ace-king. An ace on the flop ended it for the Dane and he ducked and weaved his way out of the room.

4.45pm: Featured
Remember Vilamoura? Give or take a couple of nights, we do. And so do a host of successful players returning to the tables in Prague.

4.35pm: A close shave
Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern has doubled up to 197,000. Luc Greenwood opened with a raise to 5,000 before Mattern and another player got in a raising war. Greenwood moved out of the way to allow the two of them to get it all in. Mattern tabled A♦ K♥ to his opponent’s Q♣ Q♥ . The board ran 3â™  10♥ 2♥ 3♣ Kâ™  . Mattern spiked a king on the river to stay alive.

4.30pm: New level
As easily as a hangover follows day 1b on the EPT, we’re into a new level. We’re calling it level 12, and the man below begins it as chip leader. His name is Yann Brosolo and he has about 360,000.

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Yann Brosolo

4.15pm: Ainsworth motoring
Jude Ainsworth continues his sensational start to life on the EPT as a Team PokerStars Pro. After just missing out on the final table in Vilamoura in his first event a week or so again, he looks determined to go better this time.

The Irishman is on more than 250,000, and now has John Kabbaj for company after he moved from the broken table of death. Both of these two got 12,000 in the middle each before they saw a Q♦ 2♠ 9♠ flop. Kabbaj checked, then folded with obvious frustration as Ainsworth tabled 15,500.

4.10pm: Cao, baby
Rui Cao, second in chips at the end of day 1a, continues to be a force throughout day 2, and is up to around 250,000. It’s fair to say he’s the boss of his table, although even he may quiver at the piercing eyes of Sandra Naujoks. Believe me, those eyes could bore a hole through a five-foot thick steel.

None the less, Cao opened for 3,200, and Alexander Jung came along for the ride. But he fell off on the 3♦ 6♠ 6♦ flop when Cao fired out 4,000.

4.05pm: All apologies
Jeff Sarwer opened for 4,000. The small blind called as did Bruno Launais in the big blind for a flop of K♥ J♣ 7♦ . Both blinds checked to Sarwer who made it 8,200. The small blind checked before Launais made it 21,500. Sarwer called and the small blind got out of the way.

The turn came Q♥ . Launais checked but Sarwer went straight to his chips, peeling off 27,500. Launais paused before moving all in, making it 72,600 for Sarwer to call. Sarwer went into serious thought, rubbing his eyes and hiding his face. The serious expression can change fast though. Suddenly he was grinning: “You weren’t doing that with ace-ten were you?”

Launais stayed quiet. Sarwer got the call ready. “I might be wrong,” he said putting his chips in, but somehow that seemed unlikely. Q♦ J♦ for Sarwer. 10♦ Kâ™  for Launais.
But there was still a card to come. The river card 9♥ to give Launais a straight. Sarwer nodded a “nice hand” before Launais offered apologies at finding some luck. Increasingly it seems you have to get lucky to beat Sarwer who is now down to 90,000.

3.50pm: Hooray Horecki
The Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki just doubled up, working his pocket aces until his opponent, Alexander Jung, shoved all in with Aâ™  Kâ™  . It went: Horecki 3,900, Jung 18,000, Horecki 40,000, Jung all-in, Horecki call. An ace on the turn and a king on the river but no change to the outcome. Horecki up to 150,000.

3.50pm:Aces for Leo
Leo Margets has got her day back on track by doubling up to 88,000 with pocket rockets.

3.45pm: How’s Pagano doing?
Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano is continuing to be very active at his table but he’s not having it his own way. When he three-bet his neighbor’s 4,400 bet up to 12,000 he faced a four-bet to 28,200. He made the call but check-folded to a 26,600 bet on a 4♥ 5♥ Aâ™  flop.

A few hands later he three-bet an opponent’s early position raise only to face a four-bet shove. He made the call to see they both had ace-king and the pot was chopped after an uneventful board.

Three-betting wasn’t working so when Jan Skampa opened with raise from early position he just flatted along with a player on the button. The flop came down 10♦ 8♣ 4♦ and Skampa led for 8,000 prompting both players to fold.

Things not going quite right for Pagano but he has a very workable 98,000 stack.

3.40pm: Life in Levi yet
Nicolas Levi has been on the wrong end of our table of death, featuring John Kabbaj, Jeff Sarwer and Priyan de Mel among others. He was down to 30,000, but just got a handy double up through Sarwer.

Four of them saw a 10♣ 7♣ 5♣ flop and was checked around to Sarwer, who bet 13,700. Levi thought for only a moment or two before moving all-in. Everyone else scarpered, but Sarwer gestured in a sort of “I guess I have to call” way – before doing just that.

Levi had top pair with Q♠ 10♠ , but Sarwer could table only A♠ 9♦ , drawing now to just an ace. The 3♠ turn and 6♣ river ensured that never happened. While Levi shoots up to approaching 80,000 again, Sarwer slips back to 135,000.

3.35pm: Italian felted
Francesco Cirianni, who final tabled here last year, looks unlikely to repeat the trip this time. In fact, it would be something of a miracle as he now sits with just 6,000. The reason? He just got into a monster pot pre-flop with Nico Behling, who was all-in with K♣ K♦ . Cirianni had A♦ K♠ and the 7♥ K♥ 5♦ 2♥ 2♣ board ensured he could not catch up.

While Cirianni is crippled, Behling is up to 80,000.

3.30pm: New chip leader
A pot of around 300,000 has just made its way to Yann Brosolo, a coup that will make him the probable chip leader. Robin Scherr, of PokerStarsBlog.de arrived on the turn when it was all about to kick off.

The board read: 4♦ 4â™  Q♥ J♦ and there was about 140,000 in the pot already. David Wintersberger moved all in for about 90,000 and Brosolo called. Wintersberger was way ahead – he had Kâ™  K♦ – and Brosolo had 5â™  5♥ . But you’re surely ready for this one, aren’t you. The river was 5♦ and that monster pot went Brosolo’s way.

3.25pm: Deja vu all over again
A now familiar name just moved towards his natural home the head of the chip list. Jeff Sarwer just doubled up. On a flop of 2♣ K♣ 8♣ and with 12,000 in the pot, Evgeniy Zaytsev bet 8,600 from late position. Sarwer raised to 18,000 from teh button before Nicolas Levi, waiting in the small blind, bet 75,000 in yellow chips, effectively all-in.

Zaytsev folded by Sarwer knew he had to act. “I don’t believe it,” he said, and moved all-in, easily covered by the Frenchman. Levi showed 3♣ 6♣ for a flush, but Sarwer’s was better: Q♣ 9♣ . Sarwer up to 170,000.

“I had no intention of slow rolling,” said Sarwer to Levi about his slight pause before calling. “You know that.”

Levi did know that but looked devastated. Sarwer tried to explain his thought process but the Frenchman looked like he’d have preferred dead silence, reduced now to a handful of chips.

3.20pm: Tales of joy and woes for Dutch Team Pros
We’ll start with the good news. Noah Boeken has doubled up to 62,000 after an all in confrontation. He held pocket aces to an opponent’s pocket jacks and the board ran 4♥ 8â™  10♣ 6♥ 5♥ .

Now the bad news. Marcel Luske has been eliminated by fellow PokerStars Team Pro Arnuad Mattern. The latter raised to 4,000 from under-the-gun before the former three-bet to 13,000 from late position leaving himself with just 900 chips behind. Mattern called and then bet 900 on the 4♦ 3♥ 4♠ flop with 6♣ 6♦ . Luske called with A♥ 6♠ and the board ran out K♥ 4♣ . Luske wished the table good luck and made his exit.

3.10pm: Thater on film
Katja Thater’s EPT Prague is over. But before she went, the video blog team grabbed a few words. Here’s what the Team PokerStars Pro had to say:


Watch EPT 6 Prague Katja Thater on PokerStars.tv

3.05pm: Seconds out, level 11
Well that’s two down and four more to go for today. Players are back from their second 15-minute break and we’ll plough on into level 11. There are 215 players remaining and you know what? There’s a chance (albeit an outside chance) that we could reach the money today.

Our probable chip leader at this stage is Jude Ainsworth, who picked up today where he left off yesterday. That is: very well indeed.

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