Season 9 PokerStars.net EPT Prague Day 3: Ramzi Jelassi Leads The Final 55
Day 3 of the Season 9 PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague, the largest tournament in Czech Republic history, played out on Wednesday as 161 players returned to action and aimed to make the money at the top 128. After five 90-minute levels of play, just 55 players remained with Ramzi Jelassi and his stack of 1.238 million leading the way.
Jelassi became the chip leader after eliminating Sirzat Hissou in a huge pot late in the day. The latter got his stack of 330,000 all in on a 4♥3♦5♥ flop holding Q♠Q♣ only to discover that his Swedish opponent held A♠A♥. The 8♠ turn and 9♥ river completed the board and Jelassi vaulted to over a million in chips.
Unfortunately, not everyone was as fortunate as Jelassi on Day 3. One unlucky player was Aubin Cazals, who was among the 33 players to leave empty handed. His demise came when a preflop raising war resulted in his pushing all-in for around 100,000, and Mariusz Klosinski moved all-in over the top for 350,000. The rest of the field folded and Cazals discovered his A♣J♠ was way behind A♠Ax of Klosinski. The Q♦7♦10♥ flop gave Cazals a gut-shot straight draw, but neither the J♣ turn nor 4♥ river would complete it. With that, Cazals was sent to the rail empty-handed.
Some others who fell short of the money were Lardo Leheste, Mike Watson, Jacob Toole, Kent Lundmark, Ari Engel, Ignat “0Human0” Liviu and PokerStars Team Pro Pier Paolo Fabretti.
When 129 players remained, the money bubble was in effect and hand-for-hand play was instituted. It took a fair amount of time, but eventually the bubble burst. It happened when Rasmus Agerskov three-bet to 24,500 from the button and Andreas Berggren four-bet to 62,000 from the small blind. The original raiser folded and the action was back on Agerskov, who thought for a solid five before moving all in. Agerskov made a quick call and the cards were turned up:
Showdown
Agerskov: A♥8♥
Berggren: K♦K♠
The board ran 9♣7♣4♠10♣9♠ and Agerskov exited as the bubble boy, ensuring the remaining 128 players a guaranteed €8,000 payday.
From there the eliminations came in a flurry including 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event runner-up Sergey Baranov (116th - €8,000); Day 1b chip leader Vadim Belov (106th - €8,000); PokerStars Team Pros Juan Manuel Pastor (113th - €8,000) and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (100th - €8,000); Petr Jelinek (96th - €10,000); John Eames (87th - €10,000); Marc-Andre Ladouceur (77th - €10,000); Shannon Shorr (65th - €12,000) and Vincent van der Fluit (57th - €12,000).
Another man who fell late was Andrey Gulyy, whose elimination came when he got his stack all in preflop holding A♥10♥ and was up against the K♠Q♦ of Mads Amot. Though he got the chips in as a favorite, the J♠3♠K♦ flop had other plans as it paired Amot’s king. The 8♥ turn and 6♠ river left Gulyy wanting and sent him home with a €10,000 consolation prize for his 79th-place finish.
While 106 players hit the rail on Day 3, a few notables managed to punch their tickets to Day 4 including Todd Terry, Roger Hairabedian, Robert Peltecci, Fabrice Soulier, Johnny Lodden, Jeff Sarwer, Mark Herm and Chris Brammer. In addition, Roberto Romanello, who won the EPT Prague back in Season 7, is looking for his second title in three years.
End-of-Day-3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ramzi Jelassi | 1,238,000 |
| 2 | Sotirios Koutoupas | 1,049,000 |
| 3 | Chris Brammer | 1,021,000 |
| 4 | Jeff Sarwer | 963,000 |
| 5 | Dany Parlafes | 950,000 |
| 6 | Mark Herm | 916,000 |
| 7 | Mads Amot | 895,000 |
| 8 | Martin Hanowski | 893,000 |
| 9 | Andreas Berggren | 845,000 |
| 10 | Aleh Plauski | 807,000 |
Day 4 of the EPT Prague Main Event is set to begin at 12:00 CET on Thursday and will play down to the final 24. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as they bring you all the latest and greatest from the Czech Republic.
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