EPT Prague Money Bubble Bursts With Chouity Leading

Christian Zetzsche
Live Reporter
5 min read
Nicolas Chouity

The last Main Event ever of the PokerStars European Poker Tour saw 591 players return to the tables of the Hilton Hotel in Prague and another 13 hopefuls ponied up €5,300 to boost the overall attendance to 1,192. This set a new record for the festival in the Czech capital and the massive prize pool of €5,781,200 will be shared among the top 231 spots, with a first-place payout of €774,600.

After six levels of 75 minutes each, the field had been cut down to the last 232 and the clock was stopped to set up hand-for-hand play. It would take another 45 minutes and several survived all ins to determine the bubble boy.

It was Attila Valentai, who lost a flip with ace-king against the black pocket eights of Mike Brandau. Valentai spiked a king on the flop, but Brandau caught one of the two remaining eights on the river to let the bubble burst and all survivors bag up. Niko Koop would have been forced all in two hands later and secured the min-cash of €7,560 with a mere 1,500 chips.

Once all was done and dusted, a familiar face appeared on top of the counts: EPT6 Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity built his stack early on and always shined in the top 10, eventually claiming 644,000 to his name for the Day 2 lead. Other big stacks include Eduards Kudrjavcevs (547,000), Nandor Solyom (526,500), Matas Cimbolas (481,500), Pedro Lamarca (480,000), Apostolos Bechrakis (478,500), Ludovic Lacay (438,000), Thomas Muehloecker (430,000), Samuel Vousden (428,500), Artur Rudziankov (415,500) and Benjamin Pollak (407,500).

Lamarca would have been the likely chip leader after running hot and busting opponent after opponent, but Anton Petrov's jack-eight for two pair beat the six-three of Lamarca on the money bubble for a huge pot when both players had two pair on the turn.

Other notables returning tomorrow for Day 3 include Pablo Gordillo (313,000), David Peters (305,000), Fabrice Soulier (200,000), [Removed:197] (199,500), Juha Helppi (179,000), Ari Engel (106,500) and Team PokerStars Pros Felipe Ramos (106,500) and Vanessa Selbst (69,000).

Among the plethora of eliminations throughout the day were the two Day 1 chip leaders Ronald Morandini and Henrik Hecklen, the Team PokerStars Pros Luca Pagano, Theo Jorgensen and Johnny Lodden, France's Team PokerStars Pro Online Gabriel Nassif, PokerStars Sports Star Fatima Moreira de Melo, Ronny Kaiser, Roberto Romanello, EPT13 Barcelona champion Sebastian Malec and runner-up Uri Reichenstein, Dominik Panka and Charlie Carrel to name just a few.

Carrel was all in short with ace-four suited and failed to improve against ace-eight suited. The Brit then jumped into the newly added €25,500 Single-Day High Roller and reached yet another final table. Sergej Barbarez's move with ace-jack for second pair was no good against the ace-queen suited of Maxim Lykov. Tony Dunst ran with ace-ten into pocket kings on a ten-high board.

The last EPT Main Event ever will recommence with one hour and 11 minutes left in level 15 at blinds and antes of 2,000/4,000/500. Another four levels of 90 minutes each will follow up on that. The PokerNews live reporting team will be there to cover all the action until a winner is crowned next Monday, so make sure to tune back in regularly.

TableSeatPlayerCountryChip Count
11Andy BlackIreland39,000
12Anton HrabchakUkraine345,000
13James AkenheadUK145,500
14Demosthenes KiriopoulosCanada327,000
15Alain GoldbergSwitzerland32,500
16Walter TreccarichiItaly24,500
17Oleg VasylchenkoUkraine327,000
18Joseph SabeFrance225,000
     
21Jozef BartalosSlovakia17,500
22Juha HelppiFinland208,000
23Erik TammSweden270,500
24Yuriy GaponUkraine16,000
25Isidoro BarrenaSpain44,000
26Aleksey PonakovLatvia212,500
27Darren DelahuntyUK142,500
28Anooj SaareenUK65,000
     
31Martin KabrhelCzech Republic126,000
32Philipp GruissemGermany46,000
33Zvi SternIsrael29,500
34Marius EnebakkNorway163,500
35Ari EngelUSA106,500
36Beka IordanishviliUkraine27,000
37Friedrich MeyerGermany123,000
38Krzysztof StuchlikPoland107,000
     
41Artur RudziankovBelarus415,000
42Janos KurtosiHungary402,500
43Martin BartosSlovakia95,000
44Kent RoedNorway194,000
45Aram SargsyanArmenia96,000
46Khabat JahanySwitzerland115,500
47Eduards KudrjavcevsLatvia547,000
48Marius GierseGermany317,500
     
51Robert GillGermany94,000
52Anatolii OzhenilokRussia159,500
53Ryan McEathronCanada255,500
55Stefan FabianRomania214,500
56Andrea RocciItaly215,500
57Sergey LebedevRussia78,000
58Kitty KuoTaiwan65,300
     
61Patrick LeonardUK170,000
62Fabrice SoulierFrance200,000
63Hulya PehlivanlarTurkey110,000
64Renjun YangChina39,000
65Oleksii KovalchukUkraine67,000
66Anton WiggSweden25,500
67Arne KernGermany147,500
68Tsugunari TomaJapan77,500
     
71Ramin HajiyevAzerbaijan160,000
72Thomas TaubenschussAustria50,000
73Yves HallagueIsrael55,500
74Sergei PetrushevskiiRussia143,500
75Nino UllmannGermany243,500
76Dermot BlainIreland265,500
77Michael HoCanada23,000
78Bobby ZhangAustralia59,500
     
81Nicolas ChouityLebanon644,000
82Dmitrii DeviatovRussia75,500
83Simon CharetteCanada213,000
84Seyed Homayoun GhavamIran146,500
85Grigorii RodinRussia25,500
86Niko KoopGermany1,500
87Dong ZhaoChina133,000
88Jasper Meijer Van PuttenNetherlands111,000
     
91Qinnan WeiChina49,000
92Thomas LefortCanada260,000
93Mihai ManoleRomania78,000
94Tobias LaubertGermany106,500
95Dejan PustoslemsekSlovenia223,000
96David Sierra MerinoSpain88,000
97Cristinel DumitruRomania42,500
98Vojtech CervinkaCzech Republic31,500
     
101Krzysztof DulowskiPoland154,000
102Vanessa SelbstUSA69,000
103Benjamin PhilippsUK216,500
104Jonathan AbdellatifBelgium173,000
105Pablo GordilloSpain313,500
106Gergely BartosHungary64,000
107Pascal LefrancoisCanada11,500
108Clement Genon-CatalotFrance177,000
     
111Piotr FranczakPoland32,000
112Johan GuilbertFrance159,000
113Georges ChehadeLebanon81,500
114Richard TothHungary192,500
115Martin NikolovBulgaria82,500
116Doron DavidovitzIsrael77,000
117Vojtech HorutCzech Republic149,500
118Mitch JohnsonUK121,500
     
121Karol RadomskiPoland197,000
122Jose Antonio Jaraiz LopezSpain68,000
123Marta MunozSpain112,000
124Michal OzimekPoland160,500
125Mikolaj ZawadzkiPoland38,000
126Benjamin RichardsonAustralia285,000
127Michael RoccoUSA119,000
128Apostolos BechrakisGreece478,500
     
131Stoyan ObreshkovBulgaria428,500
132Mykhailo GutyiUkraine42,000
133Jean SouprayenmestryFrance75,000
134Mikhail PetrovRussia59,500
135Alexandros VlachakisGreece120,500
136Konstantinos MeliopoulosGreece33,500
137Michiel BroskijNetherlands324,500
138Tim CerkvenikSlovenia57,000
     
141Kayhan Mokri RoshanfekrNorway241,500
142Van Hiep TranGermany170,500
143Vage MelikyanRussia36,500
144[Removed:17]New Zealand135,500
145Juan Bastida PerezSpain265,000
146Jukka PaloniemiFinland128,500
147Oren RosenIsrael78,000
148Aleksandr NemtcovRussia300,000
     
151Arnaud PeyrolesFrance148,000
152Hirokazu KobayashiJapan311,500
153Thomas LentrodtGermany136,000
154Alexandru GavrilutRomania33,000
155Dick PostelNetherlands169,000
156Miha TravnikSlovenia25,500
157Denis PisarevRussia32,000
158Anton AfanasyevRussia281,000
     
161Aivaras BardauskasLithuania52,000
162Salvatore BonavenaItaly68,000
163Joao VieiraPortugal37,500
164Romain LewisFrance153,500
165Maxim LykovRussia323,000
166Cornelis Van GentNetherlands65,000
167Elias TalvitieFinland89,000
168Adriaan SchaapNetherlands6,000
     
171Jason WheelerMexico126,000
172Piotr KuszczakPoland31,000
173Mikhail KorotkikhRussia210,000
174Matan KrakowIsrael166,000
175Ludovic LacayFrance438,000
176Lasse Aastad KjosNorway11,000
177Viteszlav PestaCzech Republic353,000
178Viacheslav BelyaevRussia153,000
     
181Andrew HulmeUK148,500
182Vebjorn MonstadNorway30,500
183Robert SchulzGermany80,000
184Xavier DetournelFrance22,000
185Viktor LitovchenkoRussia30,500
186Felipe RamosBrazil106,500
187Laszlo BujtasHungary207,000
188Daniel WilsonIreland178,000
     
191Josip VidovicCroatia200,000
192Koichi NozakiJapan212,500
193Samy SalahFrance165,000
194Eoghan OdeaIreland49,500
195Dmytro SamoilenkoUkraine176,000
196Gang WangChina157,000
197Francois FrejdlesBelgium135,000
198Klas LofbergSweden184,500
     
201Paul-Francois TedeschiFrance196,000
202Tomas KubaliakSlovakia200,000
203Elvis PetcuRomania47,000
204Maxi LehmanskiGermany211,500
205Konstantin PuchkovRussia19,500
206Yosuke SekiyaJapan32,500
207[Removed:19]Russia149,500
208Viacheslav GoryachevRussia49,000
     
211Thomas MuehloeckerAustria430,000
212Padraig O'NeillIreland153,500
213Kliment TarmakovDenmark85,000
214Wael SarkisLebanon29,000
215Joan Fabregas CapellasSpain45,500
216Pedro LamarcaSpain448,000
217Matas CimbolasLithuania481,500
218Marton CzuczorHungary258,000
     
221Adrien AllainFrance304,000
222Antti HalmeFinland326,500
223Alexey RomanovRussia186,500
224Seref Dursun AnarTurkey77,500
225Yang ZhangChina92,500
226Vlado BanicevicMontenegro109,000
227Steven Thompson VilaCosta Rica30,000
228Andreas SamuelssonSweden231,500
     
231Peter JakslandDenmark36,500
232Rumen NanevBulgaria64,000
233Nandor SolyomRomania526,500
234Illia KainovUkraine110,500
235Roman PapacekCzech Republic28,500
236Anton PetrovRussia335,000
237Konstantin BucherlGermany117,500
238Julian HeroldGermany114,000
     
241Mike BrandauGermany209,500
242Sebanien GarrosiSwitzerland38,000
243Kristof De BruyckerBelgium67,600
244Marek GrzeskaPoland128,500
245Levente SzaboHungary63,500
246Roman KorenevRussia195,500
247Danut ChisuRomania306,000
248Dzmitry UrbanovichPoland83,500
     
251Pierre CalamusaFrance210,000
252Konstantin UspenskiyRussia88,000
253Josef PavelkaCzech Republic336,500
254Aki PyysingFinland46,500
255David PetersUSA305,000
256Samuel VousdenFinland428,500
257Vitezslav CechCzech Republic24,500
258Martin StaszkoCzech Republic13,000
     
261Caufman TalleyUSA187,500
262Roman PavliukUkraine379,500
263Ivan DeyraFrance139,000
264[Removed:197]Germany199,500
265Sam CohenUSA211,500
266Benjamin PollakFrance407,500
267Ugur CoskunTurkey142,000
268Kiryl RadzivonauBelarus314,000
     
271Kyosti IsbergFinland388,000
272Netanel AmediIsrael70,000
273Alexander PaygusovRussia178,000
274Oleg TitovRussia251,500
275Christian ChristnerGermany228,000
276Arthur ConanFrance238,000
277David Lopez LlacerSpain179,000
278Thanh NgoVietnam57,500
     
281Carlo SavinelliItaly99,500
282David UrbanSlovakia72,500
283Scott MargeresonUK221,000
284Navot GolanIsrael15,500
285Borge SandsgaardNorway282,000
286Joe MouawadLebanon144,000
287Jerry WongUSA313,000
288Christopher AndlerSweden215,000
     
291Jan NakladalCzech Republic122,500
292Andrii NadieliaievUkraine66,000
293Paul HoeferGermany115,500
294Dawid BorkowskiPoland42,500
295Charalampos LappasUK40,000
296Daniel DvoressCanada117,000
297Lucian DraghiciCanada55,000
298Aykutalp YilmazTurkey118,500
Share this article
Christian Zetzsche
Live Reporter

More Stories

Other Stories

Recommended for you
Isaac Haxton Wins the PokerStars EPT Prague €25,500 Single-Day High Roller for €559,200 Isaac Haxton Wins the PokerStars EPT Prague €25,500 Single-Day High Roller for €559,200