Jasper Meijer van Putten Leads PokerStars EPT Prague Main Event With 18 Left
All eyes were on David Peters as he came into Day 4 of PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague Main Event with a massive chip lead, but it was Jasper Meijer van Putten (photo) who stole the show and surpassed Peters to bag the lead with 18 players left. Meijer van Putten has already locked up his best career cash but has his eyes on much more as he heads to Day 5 with 3,770,000 in chips.
Peters still has a nice stack, finishing with 2,985,000, good for third place. Marius Gierse (3,370,000) and Marton Czuczor (2,935,000) were the other contenders for the chip lead.
Meijer van Putten won a huge flip in Level 24 (15,000/30,000/5,000) when he opened for 65,000 under the gun and Anton Afanasyev on his left made it 165,000 to go. Meijer van Putten shoved all in for a little over 1 million effective and Afanasyev called it off after a moment's thought with ace-king. Meijer Van Putten flopped a set to suck the drama out of the hand and turned his opponent dead.
Just a little before bagging time, Meijer van Putten played a huge pot against fellow big stack Andrew Hulme in a big blind versus button battle. Meijer van Putten had defended and then checked a 4♣8♥7♥ flop. Hulme bet 95,000 and Meijer van Putten raised to 270,000. Hulme called and then called another barrel of 380,000 on the 9♠ turn. The river was a 5♥ and Van Putten fired a third barrel for 555,000. Hulme asked to see his stack but folded after a minute or so.
One other player making headlines was Martin Kabrhel, who ended the day as the second shortest stack with 640,000. His tanking seemed to be wearing thin with his tablemates, and he came into a hostile environment when he moved from the feature to an outer table after a late elimination.
The tournament director warned Kabrhel that his tanking could result in a permanent clock
On one of the first hands he played, Kabrhel was tanking in the big blind after an under-the-gun open from Kiryl Radzivonau and a call from Stefan Fabian. Radzivonau called the clock and told Kabrhel he wasn't going to be afraid to call the clock every hand.
Fabian also said if Kabrhel was going to tank this long, he had better be calling or raising and not folding. Kabrhel did eventually call after the clock was put on him and then he thought awhile again after the 10♠9♠8♠ flop. Radzivonau called the clock again after about 30 seconds. The tournament director declined to start it just yet but did warn Kabrhel that his tanking could result in a permanent clock if it kept up.
Kabrhel took exception to this, and after he bet most of his stack and won the pot, he had an animated discussion with the tournament staff. He insisted he had big decisions every time he was cutting down his chips and was thinking things over with a short stack that meant his tournament life could be on the line at any moment. Day 5 will commence with Kabrhel under the watchful eye of his tablemates and the tournament staff.
Another notable heading to Day 5 is PokerStars Team Pro Felipe Ramos, though he's the shortest stack and will have just over 10 big blinds when play resumes.
Some players falling on Day 3 included Pablo Gordillo, Maxim Lykov, Fabrice Soulier, Simon Charette, Matas Cimbolas, Benjamin Pollak and Salvatore Bonavena. The latter was the last EPT champ left in the field and busted in 24th.
The tournament resumes with Level 26 (25,000/50,000/5,000) at noon local time on Sunday.
| Table | Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 640,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Kiryl Radzivonau | Belarus | 2,590,000 |
| 1 | 3 | David Lopez Llacer | Spain | 2,200,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Jukka Paloniemi | Finland | 1,100,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Stefan Fabian | Romania | 2,635,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Sam Cohen | United States | 2,065,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Marton Czuczor | Hungary | 2,935,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Cristinel Dumitru | Romania | 1,400,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Janos Kurtosi | Hungary | 1,635,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Andrew Hulme | United Kingdom | 2,205,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Apostolos Bechrakis | Greece | 1,515,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Jasper Meijer Van Putten | Netherlands | 3,770,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Marius Gierse | Germany | 3,375,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Sergei Petrushevskii | Russia | 1,945,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Josip Vidovic | Croatia | 705,000 |
| 3 | 5 | Felipe Ramos | Brazil | 525,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Gang Wang | China | 1,500,000 |
| 3 | 7 | David Peters | United States | 2,985,000 |
