Grzegorz Kozieja raised to 40,000 from the cutoff before Alexis Laroche jammed 130,000 chips from the small blind. Deividas Daubaris then came over the top, putting his 525,000-chip stack at risk from the big blind.
Kozieja called, covering both players.
Alexis Laroche: K♥Q♦
Deividas Daubaris: J♠J♣
Grzegorz Kozieja: A♦Q♣
The board ran out low with 7♣8♣8♠2♠6♦, meaning that Daubaris won the main and side pot, resulting in him playing a stack of double the average.
Pieter Theelen, who won the Eureka Main Event at EPT Prague 2022, was heads up in a pot against Luka Bojovic. Theelen made a bet of 40,000 from the big blind on a board of Q♦10♥J♠4♠ and Bojovic made the call from the button.
Theelen then shoved all in for 100,000 chips on the 4♥ river and Bojovic needed little time before making the fold, awarding the pot to Theelen.
On another table, Michele Nizzardelli was spotted with a stack of 1,600,000 chips, almost four times the average stack.
Tim Schmitt was all-in for only a few chips, and Alexis Laroche put his slightly bigger stack in as well. Jason Wheeler looked them both up with the covering stack, leading to a three-way showdown.
Tim Schmitt: K♠10♦
Alexis Laroche: 4♠4♣
Jason Wheeler: Q♥2♥
Laroche had an almost certain victory when the flop came 4♥4♦K♦. Wheeler was already drawing dead, and no runner-runner miracle happened for Smith as the J♥ turn and Q♠ river completed the board.
After losing some chips earlier in the day, Laroche was back to what he started Day 2 with. Meanwhile, Wheeler has lost the majority of his stack so far, sitting on 18 big blinds as play continued.
Thomas Murphy open-raised to 20,000 from the hijack before Pablo Silva three-bet to 60,000 from the small blind. Murphy then jammed all in for 155,000 when the action was back on him, and Silva made the call with the covering stack.
Thomas Murphy: J♠J♥
Pablo Silva: K♦Q♦
Murphy flopped a set on 10♠A♦J♣, but Silva had the better hand with a straight. The board did not pair on the Q♠6♣ runout, meaning that Murphy was eliminated from the 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.