Daniel Koloszar Bags Chip Lead on Day 1b of the EPT Prague Main Event
After a rare incident which led to a player's disqualification caught the entire room's attention during the final hands of the night, 297 players managed to find a bag at the end of Day 1b of the €5,300 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague Main Event at the Hilton Prague.
They are the survivors of a field of 838 entrants on Day 1b. In total, 1,250 entrants were recorded on both Day 1s, which is just seventeen entrants shy of last year's 1,267 entries. However, late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, so this 2023 EPT Prague Main Event will probably be the largest ever.
Three players bagged up more than 300,000 chips on Day 1a, but only Daniel Koloszar did it on Day 1b. Thanks to his 304,500 chip-stack, he ended the day as the chip leader. France's Mercedes Osti takes second place with 285,000 chips, even though she had a tough table in the last levels, with PokerStars ambassador Alejandro Lococo (131,000) to her right, and recent WSOP Europe Main Event champion Max Neugebauer (58,000) to her left. Both of them will also be back on Day 2.
Jon Kyte didn't have the easiest table either with Niklas Astedt (193,000) seated next to him. But with 245,500 in the bag, he finished Day 1b in third place.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Counts | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Koloszar | Hungary | 304,500 | 254 |
| 2 | Mercedes Osti | France | 285,000 | 238 |
| 3 | Jon Kyte | Norway | 245,500 | 205 |
| 4 | Omar Eljach | Sweden | 244,500 | 204 |
| 5 | Niall Farrell | United Kingdom | 243,500 | 203 |
| 6 | Davis Mihelsons | Latvia | 240,000 | 200 |
| 7 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | 236,000 | 197 |
| 8 | Wouter Beltz | Netherlands | 235,000 | 196 |
| 9 | Cesar Garcia | Spain | 230,500 | 192 |
| 10 | Mehdi Senhaji | Morocco | 216,000 | 180 |
Omar Eljach (244,500), Niall Farrell (243,500), and Dario Sammartino (236,000) also managed to reach the Top 10, along with Cesar Garcia (230,500), who was in the front row of tonight's incident.
Indeed, Michele Nizzardelli eliminated Ghattas Kortas during one of the final hands of the day, but that didn't end here. While Kortas was leaving the table, the situation escalated, and a fight broke out between the two players, with Nizzardelli throwing a headbutt at Kortas. Security was called, and Nizzardelli was disqualified from the tournament.
The incident didn't disturb Jason Wheeler who filled his bag with 206,000 chips. Tamas Adamszki will also be returning with a healthy stack (157,500) and he will be looking to collect his third trophy of the festival, as he already secured two victories last week by taking down the €10,200 NL Hold'Em event and the €50,000 EPT Super High Roller.
Furthermore, at least seven former EPT winners are progressing to Day 2, including Lucien Cohen (178,000), Robin Ylitalo (174,000), Dimitar Danchev (144,500), Simon Wiciak (76,500), Grzegorz Glowny (52,500), and Piotr Nurzynski (43,000).
PokerNews will also be keeping an eye on some familiar faces, such as Jules Dickerson (136,500), Marle Spragg (109,500), Luca Moschitta (100,000) Thomas Eychenne (99,000), Julien Sitbon (75,000), Maria Lampropulos (64,000) and Leo Margets (41,500).
All Day 1 survivors, plus the new entrants before the end of late registration, will return to their seats at noon local time on Wednesday, December 13. As from then, all levels will last 90 minutes, commencing with Level 11, which features 1,000/1,500 blinds with a 1,500 big-blind ante. Day 2 is expected to conclude after five levels or when the bubble bursts, depending on which takes longer.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide all the action. The live stream feature table action also commences on Day 2 with cards-up coverage and commentary on a security delay of 30 minutes on the PokerStars social media channels.