Updates from day 1b, levels three and four 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.
Blinds:
Level 3: 100-200
Level 4: 150-300
4.30pm: Break time, folks
It does what it says on the tin. Level four is over, and we’ll be back in 15 minutes for level five.
4.25pm: Straight for Naalden
Three players saw a 9♥ 8♥ 7â™ flop. Rifat Palevic led out for 1,500 only to be raised to 5,000 by Marc Naalden. The third player in the pot called and Palevic folded. The turn came 10♦ and after a long think Naalden checked as did his opponent. Naalden also checked the 8♣ river to face a 12,000 bet. He counted out the call but didn’t make the call for about one minute. The call was good though as his 6â™ 5â™ bettered his opponent who mucked. Naalden’s up to 70,000 now.
4.20pm: Portal ‘s welcome to a new table
Alexia Portal got moved to Alex Kravchenko’s table, and got heavily involved in her first hand. Sitting in the big blind, she had just had enough time to stack her chips when Ismail Erkenov came in with a 1,200 bet. Portal peeped at her cards and, liking what she sure, made it 2,800. Erkenov then fired back with 5,100, and now Portal took her headphones off as though the lack of music would aid her thinking process. Call.
The flop came an interesting K♣ K♥ Q♣ and Portal checked. But when Erkenov confidently put out an 8,000 bet, she moved all in for around 45,000 total. Erkenov folded, and Portal raked in a pot that sends her well over the 55,000 mark.
4.15pm: Ainsworth cruising
Jude Ainsworth is up to nearly 80,000 and seemingly in control of his table. He added a little more just now by betting 800 from late position, and getting just one caller – Ovidiu Balaj on the button. The flop came a heart-tastic 7♥ 8♥ 3♥ and Ainsworth bet 1,500 – call. On the Kâ™ turn Ainsworth bet out 3,000, but this time it was too expensive for Balaj, who politely tapped the table as he folded.
The flop was already out reading Kâ™ 8â™ 9♥ and by the look of the situation British player Andrew Seden had bet out only to be raised another 8,000 by his opponent. Seden then moved all in for another 15,000 and received a call. Seden’s A♣ K♥ was in trouble against his opponent’s 8♥ 9♥ but no bother as the turn came Q♥ and river Qâ™ to double him up to 50,000.
3.55pm: Boris bounced out
Abidi Farid has taken care of Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker. It was an all in pre-flop confrontation with Becker holding ace-king to Farid’s pocket jacks. The board ran QQ6-6-J and Becker will have to wait to battle out at the next EPT, The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January.
3.53pm: Extra, extra
All this hand for hand stuff is good for the short term memory but why not let this stuff soak for a while. Step away from the hand for hand for a minute to read the latest features on The Italians and Wish fulfillment. And no they’re not the same thing.
3.52pm: Minieri departs
Dario Minieri is out. He had slipped down to about 4,500 in chips and moved all in from the small blind with pocket sevens. Only one player called, with A♣ 3♣ and after a three flopped, an ace rivered, and Minieri took his leave.
3.50pm: Minieri and Becker out
Dario Minieri and Boris Becker are out, both seen leaving the tournament area. Details on both exits to follow.
3.45pm: Hedlund escapes
Peter Hedlund, busy chatting away as usual on a table that also features Team PokerStars SportStar Boris Becker (currently struggling on 5,500), made a nice lay down. He opened pre-flop for 525 and was called by Davor Lanini. They saw a 3♥ 10â™ 3â™ flop, Lanini made it 1,500, Hedlund re-popped to 3,500 – call. Both then checked the 4♦ turn, but on the 8â™ river Lanini fire out 7,500.
That sent Hedlund into the tank for a while before he folded. Lanini showed 4♥ 4♣ for the turned full house. “Good fold,” he said. “I folded an overpair,” said Hedlund. “I really put you on a spades, I assumed you had a flush. If that last spade had not come out I would have paid you off.”
3.42pm: Sarwer climbing back
After a rocky first couple of levels, which saw him as low as 10,000, Jeff Sarwer is climbing steadily back, and is now on 17,000. He’s not someone on your table that you want to see getting back in the groove.
3.40pm: Palovic v Naalden
Rifat Palovic looked fairly pleased to be putting Marc Naalden to a decision although the time Naalden was taking was beginning to worry him. Naalden had made it 900 from late position before Palovic raised to 6,000. Finally Naalden responded, making it 18,900 to play. Palovic no longer saw the funny side and asked Naalden to count his stack. Naalden, as is his right, said nothing and instead let the dealer count out his 30k. Either way Palovic folded with a long exhale. He wanted to know Naalden’s hand but the Dutchman wasn’t talking. His chips do that for him – up to 55,000.
3.35pm: Numbers
The official numbers are in and we have broken records. Again. After today’s bumper field, the complete player list for EPT Prague features 584 names. That’s more than before.
There will now follow some frantic calculating on the part of the tournament officials and then we should have ourselves a prize structure, which will be published first on PokerStars Blog.
3.25pm: Let the chips do the talking
Rifat Palovic looked fairly pleased to be putting Marc Naalden to a decision although the time Naalden was taking was beginning to worry him. Naalden had made it 900 from late position before Palovic raised to 6,000. Finally Naalden responded, making it 18,900 to play. Palovic no longer saw the funny side and asked Naalden to count his stack. Naalden, as is his right, said nothing and instead let the dealer count out his 30k. Either way Palovic folded with a long exhale. He wanted to know Naalden’s hand but the Dutchman wasn’t talking – up to 55,000.
3.15pm: The school of Jorgensen
Theo Jorgensen opened the pot with a raise to 550 from early position and was called by two players including Javed Abrahams in the small blind. The flop brought Qâ™ 8♦ 6♦ and Jorgensen’s 1,100 continuation bet was only called by Abrahams to see the 4♦ turn. Both players checked it through to the 4♦ river where Abrahams led for 3,100 and was quickly called by the Dane. Abrahams tabled 10â™ 9â™ for a busted draw whereas Jorensen tabled Q♥ 9♥ for the pot to put him up to 41,000.
3.05pm: Oh Cuq
Jeff Sarwer, who has only missed one of the last 11 EPT days, just moved all-in on a board of 6♥ J♥ 10♦ J♦ J♣ . Well he did have quads. His opponent Simon Cuq had checked on the turn and called Sarwer’s bet of 3,025. A crowd had gathered and the dealer called the floor to flush them away. The river came J♥ . Checked again Sarwer dumped his chips into the middle, 6,825. Cuq took a few minutes, finally calling. Sarwer gave an “oh well” kind of shrug and showed his Jâ™ 10â™ leaving Cuq shell shocked. Sarwer allowed himself a smile. “And the story kept getting better,” he said, recovering from his earlier setbacks, now with 23,500.
2.55pm: A step over before a drop of the shoulder and a clinical finish
Former French international footballer, Vikash Dhorasso, has just doubled back up to 27,000. There was a raise under-the-gun that he flatted from mid position before the big blind three-bet. The UTG player then four-bet before Dhorasso moved all in. The big blind said “I was the one trapping” before folding but the UTG player called. Dhorasso was indeed the one trapping with K♥ K♦ but the UTG player had a big hand himself with Aâ™ Kâ™ . The board ran out K♣ 7â™ 6♣ 6♥ 5♣ .
2.40pm: Video, video
Here’s how the video blog team recorded the start to day 1b. Enjoy…
Watch EPT 6 Prague Day 1B Intro on PokerStars.tv
2.30pm: Team PokerStars Pro Nordic
The break gave us the chance to catch up with two members of this team, Johnny Lodden and William Thorson. Both managed to win nice pots not long before the break.
In Lodden’s case there was an under-the-gun raise to 500 with three callers before he made it 2,500 to go from the big blind. There was only one caller to see the J-8-2 flop where Lodden led for 3,600. Call. Both players checked the king turn before Lodden led for 7,500 when a blank appeared on the river. His opponent called and then mucked upon seeing Lodden’s pocket queens.
Thorson, meanwhile, opened the pot with a raise to 375 from mid position and then called a three-bet to 700 from the small blind. The small blind led for 1,500 on the 10-5-3 flop and Thorson called. Another 10 appeared on on the turn and Thorson called a 2,000 bet but with a little more thought this time. A 7 dropped on the river and Thorson treated the 2,500 bet with a raise up to 11,500. The small blind looked disgusted and folded.
Lodden’s up to 50,000 and Thorson’s chasing him on 39,000.
2.25pm: And we’re back
The first break of the day is done, and the action has started again.
