Season 9 PokerStars.net EPT Prague Day 5: Jelassi Leads Main; Mizzi Leads High Roller
The Season 9 PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague continued on Friday as the final 21 players looked to play down to the final table of eight. Leading the way was Ramzi Jelassi with 5.675 million in chips. Meanwhile, the €10,000 High Roller event saw 41 players return to take their shot at the €365,300 first-place prize, but by the end of the night 32 had fallen to the wayside and just nine remained with Sorel Mizzi on top.
Jelassi Leads Main Event; Boyaciyan Makes Back-To-Back Final Tables
It took just over eight hours of play for the Main Event to reach the final table on Friday, and when the final eight players bagged and tagged at the end of the night, Sweden’s Ramzi Jelassi and his stack of 5.675 million claimed the chip lead.
The biggest hand he played was the last hand of the day, which ruined the 40th birthday of Mariusz Klosinski. The latter player, who hailed from Poland, six-bet all in with the Q♥Q♠ and was quickly called by Jellasi who held the K♠K♣. The final board of the day ran out 4♥7♦J♠2♠8♦ to see the kings hold up and send Klosinski home as the final-table bubble boy.
Here’s a look at the EPT9 Prague final table:
| Seat | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Boyaciyan | 4,635,000 |
| 2 | Sergey Kuzminskiy | 1,850,000 |
| 3 | Ramzi Jelassi | 5,675,000 |
| 4 | Ben Warrington | 2,200,000 |
| 5 | Sotirios Koutoupas | 3,775,000 |
| 6 | Mark Herm | 1,700,000 |
| 7 | Aleh Plauski | 4,705,000 |
| 8 | Diego Gomez | 1,380,000 |
At the start of the day, Roberto Romanello dreamed bigger than most. The champion from two years ago was short, but if fate was to be on his side he had a chance of breaking all EPT records (first double EPT champion; first to win two EPT Prague titles). It wasn’t to be though as he ran pocket tens into the pocket jacks of Mads Amot.
Iosif Beskrovnyy was big chip leader at the end of Day 1 and Day 2, but he couldn’t sustain his position to the end and his final act was losing a race against Dany Parlafes. From there, Jeff Sarwer busted when he four-bet all in with the A♦10♦ only for Aleh Plauski (the three-bettor) to call with the A♣Q♣. The damage to Sarwer’s stack had already been done though when he lost with pocket aces.
Klosinski eliminated Amot in a huge pot where he needed, and received, a two-outer on the river to devastate the young Norwegian. That left Norway’s, and Team PokerStars Pro’s hopes for that matter, in the capable hands of Johnny Lodden. Luck evaded him yet again when he ran pocket tens into the pocket aces of David Boyaciyan in a button-versus-small-blind setup.
Soon after, Andreas Berggren got entangled in a preflop raising war with Plauski and found himself all in with pocket kings versus the ace-deuce of the man from Belarus. He was in great shape to double up until the flop came down containing three deuces giving Plauski quads. Read the full hand here.
Here’s what the remaining eight players are competing for:
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | €835,000 |
| 2 | €510,000 |
| 3 | €310,000 |
| 4 | €250,000 |
| 5 | €196,000 |
| 6 | €150,000 |
| 7 | €108,400 |
| 8 | €75,000 |
Interestingly, Boyaciyan had made his second consecutive EPT Prague Main Event final table. He finished runner-up to Martin Finger in Season 8. To check out the Main Event live blog, click here.
Mizzi Leads €10,000 High Roller Final Table; Mercier & Rettenmaier Still Alive
Day 2 of the €10,000 High Roller at EPT Prague concluded in the early morning hours of Saturday with the overnight chip leader being Sorel Mizzi, who bagged 1.192 million. The only other player over a million chips was Philippe Ktorza (1.094 million).
Marvin Rettenmaier started Day 2 of the €10,000 High Roller with a bang, doubling through Rudolf Babayan. There was a raise and a call before Rettenmaier three-bet out of the big blind, and Babayan, the original raiser, moved all in. Rettenmaier quickly called with the 9♠9♥, and Babayan showed the A♣K♣. The board ran out J♦4♠8♥6♠2♦, and Rettenmaier doubled to more than average.
The next player to receive a massive double up was Mizzi. He played a hand with Anatoly Gurtovoy, in which Gurtovoy six-bet preflop with the Q♥10♥. Mizzi just called with ace-king, and got the remainder of his stack in the middle on a seven-high flop. Gurtovoy called, the ace-king held, and Mizzi doubled.
Gurtovoy then busted a few hands later, when he jammed for 115,900 on a flop of 8♠6♠9♣. Andrey Gulyy, who had led out for 32,200, tank-called with the 10♥10♦. Gurtovoy tabled the A♠5♠. The turn and river bricked with the 9♦ and 7♦, respectively, and Gurtovoy was eliminated.
Play slowed considerably as we neared the money bubble, but Olivier Busquet eventually burst it. After doubling Aubin Cazals with a dominating hand preflop — Cazals spiked a straight on the river — Busquet shoved from the small blind. Rettenmaier looked him up with the K♣9♥, which was ahead of the Q♥7♦ of Busquet. The board ran out 6♣2♦10♣8♥K♦, and Busquet was eliminated.
Eugene Katchalov was the first player to bust in the money, and it was an absolute cooler. Katchalov five-bet shoved with the Q♠Q♥ only to be called by the K♣K♠ for Mizzi. The board ran out 3♠9♥J♦2♥3♦, and Katchalov was eliminated in 12th place.
The next two players to bow out were Gurgen Melkonyan and Morten Klein, and suddenly we were at an unofficial final table. Most of the hands were quite slow, but on one of the final hands of the evening, Ktorza cold-four-bet shoved for 522,000 from the big blind. Mercier, the four-bettor, snap called with the A♠A♣, which crushed Ktorza’s A♥K♦. The board ran out K♠7♦4♥K♣7♥, and Mercier was crippled down to under 200,000 chips.
Mercier doubled in a subsequent hand, but still only bagged 444,000 chips.
| Rank | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sorel Mizzi | 1,192,000 |
| 2 | Philippe Ktorza | 1,094,000 |
| 3 | Fabian Quoss | 781,000 |
| 4 | Marvin Rettenmaier | 738,000 |
| 5 | Juha Helppi | 546,000 |
| 6 | Jason Mercier | 444,000 |
| 7 | Marcin Wydrowski | 420,000 |
| 8 | Andrey Gulyy | 229,000 |
| 9 | Aubin Cazals | 225,000 |
Click here to visit the EPT Prague High Roller Live Blog.
The final day of both the Main Event and High Roller are schedule to recommence at 12:00 PM CET on Saturday. Be sure to check PokerNews then as we bring you all the latest and greatest from the last EPT of 2012!
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