2014 partypoker WPT National Prague Main Event Day 1a: Alexander Lakhov Leads
The first starting day of the World Poker Tour National Prague €2,000 Main Event attracted a total of 47 entries, of which only Shannon Shorr entered more than once. At the end of play, 24 players bagged up chips having made it through eight levels of 60 minutes each. Shorr was not among them, and the same also applied for the familiar names of Sam Cohen, Petr Jelinek, David Peters, Martin Staszko, Sergio Aido, Giacomo Fundaro, and Felix Stephensen.
Stephensen, the recent runner-up from the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event, had a kicker problem in the last level of play with the A♣10♦ against the A♠K♣ of Martin Sousek, and that sent the Norwegian to the rail.
Alexander Lakhov quickly built a big stack early on and then turned a set of kings and rivered the king-high flush against Georges Khoury to add even more. The Lebanese man check-called all in on the river with a set of sixes despite four spades on the board. With that pot, Lakhov, the 2012 WPT Prague runner-up and 2014 WPT Cyprus champion, moved into the chip lead. From there, Lakhov bagged up impressive 182,900 in chips and established a decent lead over Anton Wigg (139,000) and Stephen Chidwick (111,400).
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Lakhov | 182,900 |
| 2 | Anton Wigg | 139,000 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | 111,400 |
| 4 | Chris Hunichen | 99,100 |
| 5 | Jean-Philippe Piquette | 78,600 |
| 6 | Lee Taylor | 63,700 |
| 7 | Marvin Rettenmaier | 62,400 |
| 8 | Jakob Karlsson | 61,500 |
| 9 | Ka Kwan Lau | 60,900 |
| 10 | Andy Seth | 57,900 |
Both Wigg and Chidwick ran hot in the last level of play to get their stacks, with Chidwick cracking the K♠K♣ of Frederic Bertolino in the very last hand with the A♦K♦ thanks to the A♥ falling on the river.
Other notables also made it through were Chris Hunichen (99,100), Marvin Rettenmaier (62,400), Jakob Karlsson (61,500), Ka Kwan Lau (60,900), Dylan Linde (41,400), and Seth Berger (39,100), and they will all be returning on Friday at 13:00 CET for Day 2. What's more is that the 24 survivors of Day 1a can even reenter on Day 1b when the second starting flight kicks off at 13:00 CET, with the option to take the bigger stack into Day 2 if they should bag up twice. All players that busted on Day 1a can also reenter once again with registration set to remain open until the end of Level 9 on Friday at 14:00 CET.
Many more players are expected for Day 1b, and the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be back on the floor to cover all crucial hands starting with the first pitch of the cards.
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