Friday, 29th March 2024 10:01
Home / Uncategorized / EPT Prague: Day 4, levels 20&21 updates
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Updates from day 4, level 20&21 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 20: 6,000-12,000 (1,000 ante)
Level 21: 8,000-16,000 (2,000 ante)

2.15pm: Level over
That’s the end of level 22, and how all that action impacted the chip counts is best seen by heading right on over to the chip count page.

2.10pm: Zerbib unzipped
As Bevand was making his way out of the tournament, there was another all in on table three. Stefan Mattsson and Jerome Zerbib were involved, and all of Zerbib’s chips were in the middle. Zerbib had K♦ Q♥ ; Mattsson had A♣ 8♣ and nothing changed through flop, turn and river. It came a meaningless 5♣ 5♦ 10â™  8♥ 9â™  .

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Jerome Zerbib

2.05pm: Bevand slain
Jan Skampa made it 36,000 on the button and Manuel Bevand called on the big blind. The flop came 8♣ Jâ™  3â™  and all of a sudden all of the chips were in the middle. Bevand’s final chips were being wagered on a check raise with his 9♥ 10♥ , or an up-and-down straight draw. Skampa had J♣ 10♣ and a dominating stack. Bevand needed to hit, but didn’t. The turn and river came 6♦ 3♦ , and the Frenchman is our third casualty of the day.

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Manuel Bevand

Two of the first three eliminations were sitting on table one, seat one. And two of them were the victims of Jan Skampa.

2.02pm: What flop are you looking for?
Jerome Zerbib raised to 42,000 from early position and was only called by George Secara in the small blind to see a Aâ™  9â™  J♦ flop. Secara checked to Zerbib who bet 20,000. Secara responded by raising to 100,000. The pain across Zerbib’s face was evident and after staring up at the clock he passed showing one of his cards, the A♣ .

2pm: Trachte broken
Bastian Trachte is out. After losing most of his stack in the earlier hand against Anthony Roux, he pushed in for 350,000 from the small blind behind a raise on the button from Sven Eichelbaum. Jan Skampa then pushed in himself from the big blind which kept Eichelbaum out of it. On the showdown Trachte showed 3♦ 3♥ to Skampa’s 10â™  10♥ .

The board settled things quickly: 10♦ A♦ 7♥ Qâ™  3♣ . We’re down to 22.

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Bastian Trachte

1.55pm: Lellouche squeezes them out at second attempt
Manuel Bevand made it 38,000 to go from mid position and Laurence Ryan called from the seat to his left. This was like a red rag to Antony Lellouche on the button and he duly squeezed it, making it 110,000. Bevand folded, but Ryan was willing, and came along to a K♦ J♦ J♣ flop. Ryan checked, Lellouche bet 140,000 and this time he got it through.

1.50pm: Another shortie doubles
Action folded around to Stefan Mattsson in the cut-off who raised to 37,000 before Jerome Zerbib quickly moved all in for 84,000. Mattsson made the call with 4♦ 4♣ and was in a coin-flip with Zerbib’s A♦ 10♦ . The board ran 10â™  5â™  K♥ J♣ 9â™  to double the Frenchman up.

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Stefan Mattsonn

1.45pm: Big hand alert… oh
It started routinely enough with Frenchman Antony Lellouche opening for 41,000 on the button. Kalle Niemi is in the small blind. He looks at his cards, reaches for chips and raises it to 110,000. Now it’s the turn of Priyan de Mel, the Englishman in the big blind. He too looks down at his cards, but instead of reaching for chips, he calmly announces: “All in.” It’s for 542,000 total.

Lellouche has seen enough and mucks, but Niemi is still interested. He thinks only a moment or two before calling. He has de Mel covered, but just as the excitement was soaring, they turned over their cards:

De Mel: A♥ Q♥
Niemi: A♠ Q♣

The board runs a chop-tastic A♦ K♦ 5♥ 6â™  7♣ , but de Mel had a word for his opponent: “You call off three quarters of your stack with ace queen? Come on, this is an EPT!”
Niemi said nothing. Move on, there’s nothing to see here.

1.40pm: Brosolo doubles through Zerbib
On a 3♣ Q♦ Kâ™  flop, Brosolo bets, Zerbib bumps it up – and Brosolo moves all in for around 131,000 more. Call!

Brosolo: K♥ K♦
Zerbib: K♣ J♣

The 10â™  turn and 3â™  river made no difference, and Brosolo flopped set means he is back up to 550,000, while Zerbib slips to 180,000

1.35pm: Ekerot makes statement
Jerome Zerbib bets 45,000 from mid position, but finds Gustav Ekerot is in no mood to give up his small blind, re-raising by another 49,000. That’s called by Zerbib and they see a 4â™  7♣ J♥ flop. Ekerot checks, Zerbib makes it 64,000 – and now Ekerot check-raises another 116,000 on top.

That sends Ekerot into the tank. When he climbs out, he decides he’s behind and mucks.

1.30pm: Christmas carol
Slow going in the early stages of day four, so brighten up your day (!) with a Christmas song, featuring Team PokerStars Pro (and a load of other weirdos).


Watch EPT 6 Prague: The Christmas song on PokerStars.tv

1.25pm: Doubling down
A double up for Sebastien Boyard. Anthony Roux raised to 40,000 from the cut-off and Boyard moved all in from the small blind, a total of 159,000. Roux had significantly more than that so called, even though he only had 7♠ 8♣ . Boyard showed A♥ 6♣ and stayed ahead all the way as the community cards came 3♣ 10♦ 5♠ A♦ 6♣ . Boyard now has slightly more than 300,000.

1.21pm: Caught in a Trachte beam
Every once in a while a great hand comes along that starts innocuously enough and finishes with gasps of delight and horror in equal measure. A flush? A busted flush? A set or nothing at all?

Bastian Trachte opened from late position, making it 35,000. Anthony Roux was in the small blind and called, for a flop of K♥ 3♦ K♦ . Cue a first barrage from Trachte, which he announces audibly with a thick German accent: “Forty-four towsend.”

Roux called for a 4♥ on the river. Again he checked and waited a minute or so for Trachte to act.

“One-hundred tirty-one towsend,” said Trachte. He’s an imposing figure, sat bolt upright, hood up, sunglasses on, not flinching, only moving to assemble chips and push them forward. And the voice. The voice.

Call.

Now the river card, 8♥ . By now a long constellation of yellow chips was spread across the table. Again Roux checked, lightly tapping the table. As if getting more irritated Trachte fired an even greater salvo: “Three-hundred thirteen towsend.”

It leaves him with 400,000 from a stack that started today at 893,000. By now Roux has removed his sunglasses and had his hand over his mouth. If the repeated pressure being thrown at him had done anything to his mood it didn’t show. He still had 800,000 himself and disappeared into the tank to come up with an answer.

Life went on for several minutes. Luca Pagano picked fluff from his shirt, the ladies’ event was announced on the public address system, and Paulo Gomes went for a stroll. Trachte waited. Roux called.

Now Trachte moved, leaning forward not quite believing it. He’d been counting on a fold and didn’t like what he saw. Roux showed 5â™  5♦ and Trachte mucked his hand, turning red, probably exhausted. He’d hit harder and harder but Roux hadn’t been swayed. He’s up to nearly 1.7million now.

1.20pm: Boris bettered
Boris Yanpolskiy is our first eliminated player of the day. He moved his last 95,000 in from under-the-gun before Sven Eichelbaum also moved all in from the button for 244,000. Jan Skampa was in the big blind and after getting a count of his opponent’s stacks he made the call. Showdown:

Yanpolskiy – A♥ 6♦
Eichelbaum – Qâ™  Q♥
Skampa – 9â™  9♣

The board ran 3♠ J♣ 7♠ K♠ 10♠ to make a flush for the German to scoop the lot.

1.10pm: Avitan trims Lellouche
Antony Lellouche raised to 37,000 under-the-gun and picked up two callers: Priyan de Mel, two seats to his left, and Eyal Avitan, in the big blind. The flop came 9♦ 7♠ K♣ and Lellouche led for 64,000. De Mel folded, but Avitan began counting out a raise. Lellouche saved him the trouble and folded.

1.05pm: Zaytsev wins battle of the Zs
Jerome Zerbib raised to 42,000 from the cut off and Evgeniy Zaytsev made it 104,000 from the small blind. Call. The flop was 4♥ 3♣ K♣ and Zaytsev bet 108,000. Call. The turn was A♣ and this time Zaytsev’s bet of 300,000 was too much. Zerbib folded.

1.00pm: Eiler moves out Zerbib
Andreas Eiler made it 36,000 to go from mid-position and attracted Stefan Mattsson, on the button, and Jerome Zerbib, in the small blind, along to the flop. It came 9♥ 6♠ 10♦ and after Zerbib checked, Eiler moved all in for about 320,000. Mattsson let it go, as did Zerbib.

12.55pm: Quiet times
You can tell we’re getting to the business end of things as concentration levels are up to 11. The downside of that for observers is that no players are talking. It’s eerily quite in the far corner of the room where our three final tables reside but there is a lot of money at stake so we can’t really blame them.

In the latest pot on table three Evgeniy Zaytsev raised from mid position to 38,000 and was called by Gustav Ekerot in the cut-off. The flop came 10♥ 7♦ A♦ and the Russian continued his aggression with a 56,000 bet that the young Swede bumped up to 135,000. The raise did the trick as Zaytsev gave up the pot.

12.50pm: End of the level
The Bevand/Niemi hand was the last of level 20. We’re now just in the opening stages of the 75-minute level 21.

12.47pm: More for Meelis
Jolmer Meelis has made his intentions clear from the start – he means business. The Dutchman is involved in many early skirmishes and his aggression is paying dividends. These two hands in a row are a good example:

One
Andre Paiva bets out 32,000 from early position, but Meelis re-pops to 90,000, enough to send everyone else packing – and back around to Paiva who thought better of getting involved any more, and mucked.
Two
This time it’s Meelis who opens for 30,000, and it’s folded around to overnight chip leader Eyal Avitan on the button, who elects to call. Everyone else folds. We see a 6♦ Kâ™  J♥ flop, and Meelis puts out 45,000, enough to chase Avitan away.

Two hands, then, and an additional 62,000 to Meelis’ stack, plus around 50,000 in blinds and antes.

As the floorman running the cash games here keeps saying over the microphone: “Easy money here.”

12.45pm: Rag ace danger
Manuel Bevand raised to 30,000 mid-position and Kalle Niemi called in the small blind. Just the two of them saw a flop of 2♣ 4♦ 7♥ and Niemi check-called Bevand’s continuation bet. The turn was 10♣ and the process repeated. Niemi checked, Bevand bet 76,000, Niemi called. The river was 5♥ and Niemi checked again. Bevand seemed to toy with the idea of a bet, but checked behind. The Frenchman was forced to show first: A♣ 8â™  and Niemi tabled 9♥ 9♣ , which was good.

12.40pm: Meelis feast from Avitan; Mattsson broils Brosolo
There’s been a lot of chip movement this morning, but no one as yet is out. Jolmer Meelis took a sliver from the dominant stack of Eyal Avitan when he bet 165,000 on the river on a board of 2â™  5♣ 6â™  4♦ A♦ . Avitan called but was shown 4â™  5â™  for two pair. Avitan flashed an ace as he mucked.

On the neighbouring table three, Stefan Mattsson frustrated Yann Brosolo on the following hand: Brosolo made it 35,000 from the cut off and Mattsson called on the button. The flop came 8♥ 5â™  Q♣ and Brosolo bet 50,000, which Mattsson called. The turn was 4♥ and Brosolo this time made it 92,000 to go, which Mattsson called. And then they both checked the J♣ river. Brosolo showed A♣ K♣ for a genuine hand, but one that had been out-flopped by Mattsson’s Qâ™  9â™  .

12.32pm: Me strong
Jerome Zerbib didn’t say his hand was strong. He just pointed at his bicep like a weight lifter and Stefan Mattsson got the message. It came after hand that Mattsson had paid a lot to play. A raise pre-flop, called by Zerbib for a K♣ 7♥ 2♣ flop. Mattsson then fired out 38,000, raised by Zerbib to 100,000 which was then called. Then on the 4♣ Mattsson checked to Zerbib who pushed out 175,000. Mattsson thought about it but figured he was beaten. As he folded Zerbib did the arm thing before showing him, and then the table, Q♣ 9♣ for the flush.

12.30pm: Roux bets Trachte out of it
There was only about 70,000 in the pot, two players in the hand, and the board dealt to the turn: A♦ K♣ 3♥ 4♠ . Bastian Trachte bet 49,000, Anthony Roux made it 125,000 and Trachte called. The river was 5♠ and after Trachte checked, Roux fired 210,000 at it, which made Trachte think, but eventually think better of it. He folded.

12.25pm: Rich get richer
Jerome Zerbib opened with a raise from the cut-off and was only called by table chip leader Juha Lauttamus in the next seat to see a K♦ 10♥ 2♦ flop. Zerbib led for a bet at this stage and on the 7♥ turn. The Finn called both bets and then bet 158,000 on the 3♥ river when checked to him. The Frenchman called with king-queen but Lauttamus took the pot with A♠ K♣ .

12.20pm: More early aggression
An aggressive tone has already been set on all three tables. After the hand below, raising battles also broke out on tables one and three that went like this. Bastian Trachte opened for a standard raise in late position and Jan Skampa, to his left, made it 80,000. Trachte four-bet to 227,000 and Skampa called. The flop came Kâ™  2♥ 4♥ and Trachte mechanically announced “Two. Hundred. And. Ten. Thousand.” After he slid out that amount of chips, Skampa passed.

On the button on table three, Jerome Zerbib raised to 36,000 and Juha Lauttamus re-raised to 101,000 from the small blind. Zerbib announced that he was all in and Lauttamus folded instantly. “You explain to him,” Zerbib said to the man on his right, Stefan Mattsson. “You tell your friend.” Mattsson looked at his fellow Nordic Lauttamus and said: “He’s all in.”

12.10pm: For starters
After a pre-flop raise from Manuel Bevand, Andre Paiva shoved all-in for around 250,000. Bevand called, showing 7â™  7♥ while Paiva had made this bold move with 3♣ 5♣ . Bevand nearly choked on the toothpick he was chewing when he saw the flop: 5♦ A♣ 5♥ . The turn 4♦ and river 4â™  couldn’t shift the look of pain on his face as he got sympathy from everyone. Except Paiva.

Jolmer Meelis was smiling and turned to Paiva. “You had your luck today,” he said.

12.05pm: The penultimate stretch
Well then, this is it. There are three eight-handed tables in the room and by the end of the day only one will remain. Action is now under way.

There are 39 minutes remaining in level 20. This post will have all the action from that level, and the whole of the next. Stick around.

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