Heinke Tops 32 Survivors on Day 2; Meijer Van Putten Second in Chips
The second-biggest €1,100 EPT National Prague is one step closer to crowning a champion at the 2019 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague festival and just 32 players out of a field of 2,452 entries remain after 10 full levels of 60 minutes on Day 2. All remaining hopefuls are aiming for a big slice of the €2,353,920 prize pool and have €7,390 locked up for the efforts thus far while the winner can look forward to a payday of €375,000.
Leading the survivors after Day 2 is Germany's Philipp Heinke, who is one of two players that have bagged up more than five million in chips. Heinke doesn't have any live cashes to his name yet but ended up on top of the leaderboard with 5,855,000 in chips. Second in chips is Jasper Meijer Van Putten who claimed 5,135,000 to his name and has fond memories of previous trips to the capital of the Czech Republic.
The top four career results of Meijer Van Putten were all recorded at the Hilton Prague, highlighted by his victory in the EPT13 Prague Main Event in 2016 for a top prize of €699,300 after he cut a deal in heads-up with Marton Czuczor. His other three top scores in Prague are all final-table appearances and the Dutchman seems poised to make it five final tables within four years.
Jussi Mattila follows in third place with 4,980,000 and is one of two Finns in the top 10 as nine different nationalities are represented at the top of the leaderboard. Notables with big stacks include Nikita Kuznetcov (3,935,000), Gregory Armand (3,225,000), Andrei Konopelko (3,150,000), Alexandre Viard (2,900,000), 2019 EPT Open Sochi runner-up Giorgiy Skhulukhiya (2,860,000), and Jakub Oliva (2,580,000).
Top 10 Counts After Day 2
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philipp Heinke | Germany | 5,855,000 |
| 2 | Jasper Meijer Van Putten | Netherlands | 5,135,000 |
| 3 | Jussi Mattila | Finland | 4,980,000 |
| 4 | Nikita Kuznetcov | Russia | 3,935,000 |
| 5 | Fidan Zahiti | Sweden | 3,815,000 |
| 6 | Gregory Telman | Israel | 3,680,000 |
| 7 | Gregory Armand | United States | 3,225,000 |
| 8 | Andrei Konopelko | Belarus | 3,150,000 |
| 9 | Alexandre Viard | France | 2,900,000 |
| 10 | Timo Laasonen | Finland | 2,870,000 |
Other familiar faces of the European poker circuit such as Narcis Nedelcu (2,265,000), Micha Hoedemaker (1,900,000), Pierre Calamusa (1,300,000) and Grzegorz Wyraz (1,225,000) will also be in the mix when the action resumes on Tuesday, December 10th, 2019, as of noon local time. The recommencing blinds will be 40,000-80,000 with a big blind ante of 80,000 and ten levels are scheduled or down to the final six, whichever of the two comes first.
The Action from Day 2 at a Glance
In the first two hours of play, the field of 367 Day 1 survivors was quickly whittled down to fewer than 200 hopefuls and among those to head to the payout desk were the PokerStars ambassadors Ramon Colillas and Steve Enriquez, along with Triple Crown Champion Davidi Kitai, Felix Schulze, Antoine Labat, Marcin Horecki, Jussi Nevanlinna, and Artur Rudenkov to name just a few.
Jose Quintas, who had reached the final table of the EPT National during the previous festival at Casino Barcelona, came up short with king-jack against the ace-jack of Catalin Rusu and bowed out in the third full level of the day. The eliminations kept pouring in at a rapid pace and former EPT champion Jan Bendik, Simone Miracoli and 2018 EPT Prague Main Event finalist Carlos Branco were just some of the notables that busted early in the day.
Online legend Viktor "Isildur1" Blom ran with pocket fours into the pocket kings of Michael Kramer and exited in 84th place, just ahead of 2018 finalist Danilo Velasevic and minutes before Andrej Desset ran out of chips. Mihails Morozovs lost one of the biggest pots of the day when his gutshot and flush draw failed to get there against the top set of Gregory Armand on a seven-high flop, and the Latvian had to settle for 76th place.
In the late stages of the day, 2019 WSOP bracelet winner Anatolii Zyrin came up short when he lost a flip with ace-jack versus nines and former French player of the year Erwann Pecheux was left drawing dead on the flop when he was at risk with ace-king versus ace-king suited. For Yiannis Liperis, it was all over in a three-way all-in when his jacks clashed with the kings of Andrei Konopelko and Michal Janczarski could not find any help with ace-queen either.
Towards the end of the night, several players were gunning for the overnight lead. Philipp Heinke was the first above five million when he won a crucial hand to bust Wei Huang and he held onto the top spot eventually. Jasper Meijer van Putten and Jussi Mattila, one of the most talkative players left in the field, came close after raking in a lot of pots in the final two levels to assume a prime position for the race to the final table.
Tune back in tomorrow right here on PokerNews to find out who reaches the final day in the 2019 PokerStars EPT Prague €1,100 EPT National!
