Wheeler Carries Big Stack Into Final Day of the €2,200 Eureka High Roller
The €2,200 Eureka High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague always attracts colossal fields, and the 2023 edition was no different. On Day 1a and Day 1b, a combined total of 1,478 entries were made at the Hilton Prague. As is customary, both flights played down to the money, leaving 221 players to divide the prize pool of €2,837,760. The exact payout structure has not been announced yet, but the top prize is expected to be more than €300,000.
Among the players who fared the best on Day 1 was Jason Wheeler. The American is a regularly seen face at any and all EPT stops, finishing seventh in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event back in May of this year for a six-figure score. Winning the Eureka High Roller would net Wheeler an even bigger payout, but he still has plenty of competition on his way to an eventual victory.
Wheeler's stack of 495,000 chips is two and a half times the average stack, but that is almost dwarfed by what chipleader Jovan Kenjic will have in front of him at the start of Day 2. The Serbian put 806,000 chips in his bag at the end of Day 1a, good for a whopping 134 big blinds when play recommences. Kenjic finished 21st in the Eureka High Roller at the inaugural EPT Cyprus just a few months ago and will be striving for a higher placement in this edition.
Kenjic is closely followed in the counts by Day 1b chipleader Sebastian Mortensen, who bagged just two big blinds less with a stack of 794,000 chips. Italy's Nicola Grieco rounds out the top three with 736,000, while Luigi D'Alterio (631,000) and Dorian Melchers (595,000) also bring around 100 big blinds into Day 2.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | 806,000 | 134 |
| 2 | Sebastian Mortensen | Denmark | 794,000 | 132 |
| 3 | Nicola Grieco | Italy | 736,000 | 123 |
| 4 | Harun Ertural | Germany | 712,000 | 119 |
| 5 | Yaroslav Shkliar | Ukraine | 641,000 | 107 |
| 6 | Luigi D'Alterio | Italy | 631,000 | 105 |
| 7 | Dorian Melchers | France | 595,000 | 99 |
| 8 | Jens-Florian Mueller | Germany | 560,000 | 93 |
| 9 | Hussein Abud | Norway | 547,000 | 91 |
| 10 | Juhani Rantala | Finland | 527,000 | 88 |
Other household names such as Elias Fisz (464,000), Pablo Silva (443,000), and Danut Chisu (340,000) also have plenty of chips to play with on Day 2. Meanwhile, the likes of Jon Kyte (44,000), Aliaksei Boika (36,000), and Maria Lampropulos (14,000) find themselves on the opposite side of the spectrum and will have to quickly turn things around as they are among the shortest stacks of the field.
The tournament will restart at noon local time and will play down to a winner, meaning a long and arduous road is ahead of the field. Blinds will recommence with roughly half an hour left to play in Level 17: 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. Every level thereafter will last for 40 minutes, but the tournament staff has the right to reduce the clock once the High Roller has five players remaining.
PokerNews will be with you from the bust-out frenzy at the beginning of Day 2 to the exhilarating crowning of a winner at the end, so stay tuned to not miss any of the High Roller action.