Oleg Vasylchenko Leads Final Table in €10,200 Mystery Bounty
Day 1 of the €10,200 Mystery Bounty has concluded here at PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague with Oleg Vasylchenko bagging up the lead after amassing 1,665,000 in chips. The event drew a total of 56 entries, which generated a total prize pool of €263,200. After 19 levels of play, a final table of eight remained here at the Hilton Prague.
Vasylchenko is no stranger to poker success, having accrued over $450,000 in live-tournament earnings to date. A few months ago, Vasylchenko earned a third-place finish for €46,550 in a No-Limit Hold'em EPT Barcelona event and he now finds himself in pole position to make a run at his first EPT title. His closest competition headed into the final table is Elias Gutierrez (1,105,000), who was the only other player to bag over a million in chips.
Official Final Table of €10,200 Mystery Bounty
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enrico Camosci | Malta | 710,000 | 18 |
| 2 | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | 810,000 | 20 |
| 3 | Masato Kashiwabara | Japan | 320,000 | 8 |
| 4 | Paul Newey | England | 200,000 | 5 |
| 5 | Antoine Labat | France | 400,000 | 10 |
| 6 | Marcelo Bonanata | Uruguay | 390,000 | 10 |
| 7 | Elias Gutierrez | Spain | 1,105,000 | 28 |
| 8 | Oleg Vasylchenko | Ukraine | 1,665,000 | 42 |
Day 1 Action
Day 1 started off with 12 entrants and it didn't take long for the action to heat up and for players to start busting each other. Team PokerStars ambassador Fintan Hand jumped out to an early lead after catching a flush against against Elias Abussamra's flopped set of sevens. Hand wasn't able to hang onto that momentum, however, and ended up busting two bullets before late registration ended.
Team PokerStars ambassador Benjamin Spragg also fired two bullets before ultimately falling short of the money, thanks in part to losing a flip against fellow PokerStars ambassador Alejandro Lococo.
Other notables to bust after the end of late registration include Niklas Astedt, Julien Sitbon, and Nozomu Shimizu, who bluff shoved and was called lightly by Marcelo Bonanata late in the day.
The unlucky run for Team PokerStars ambassadors continued after Parker Talbot bowed out just shy of the unofficial final table after running into the aces of Elias Gutierrez.
Play slowed considerably at the unofficial final table, with many of the short-stacked players shoving and stealing the blinds uncontested. Ultimately, it would be Lococo to burst the money bubble after losing the majority of his chips by doubling up both Vasylchenko and Enrico Camosci. Lococo shoved his remaining chips and ended up running into Dimitar Danchev's aces on the final hand of the day.
Players will reconvene for Day 2 on Tuesday, December 11 at 12:30 p.m. local time. Play will resume on Level 20, which features 20,000/40,000 blinds with a 40,000 big blind ante. Levels will last 45 minutes each and the final table will also be streamed on the PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels on a delay.
The mystery bounty portion of the prize pool will come into play during the final table and specific bounty amounts will be announced at the start of Day 2.
Keep it with PokerNews as we continue to provide all the No-Limit Hold'em action leading to the next EPT Prague champion!