As Day 3 of the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €5,300 Main Event commenced, 191 players took their seats at the tables within the Hilton Prague to take their shot at one of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments on continental soil. Of those, only 53 remain in contention with their dreams still alive.
Although it's still anyone's game, Anton Bergstrom bagged in first place at the end of Day 3 with 1,830,000 chips after gaining momentum when he woke up with Big Slick to eliminate Alen Sabic. The Swedish player came in 24th place in last year's event and is now eyeing up one of the top spots where the serious prizes can be won.
Bagging in second place, and very close behind, was Jaehyung Park with 1,750,000. Park has had several five-figure scores in his home country of South Korea, but has yet to lock up a six-figure score or a serious victory in Europe. Could this be his time?
Adrian Mack of the USA bagged in third place and is the only other player to finish the day over the 1.7 million mark. Mack lost a huge pot early on in the day but managed to climb back up to secure a top position. It's very tight at the top, though, with not much in it between the top ten.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anton Bergstrom | Sweden | 1,830,000 | 122 |
| 2 | Jaehyung Park | South Korea | 1,750,000 | 117 |
| 3 | Adrian Mack | USA | 1,710,000 | 114 |
| 4 | Paul Runcan | Romania | 1,680,000 | 112 |
| 5 | Danut Chisu | Romania | 1,560,000 | 104 |
| 6 | Pawel Wojciechowski | Poland | 1,525,000 | 102 |
| 7 | Sylwia Studniarz | Poland | 1,510,000 | 101 |
| 8 | Ken Oberlieben | Germany | 1,495,000 | 100 |
| 9 | Umberto Ruggeri | Italy | 1,440,000 | 96 |
| 10 | Daniel Erlandsson | Sweden | 1,410,000 | 94 |
All finishing within the top ten, Danut Chisu has has over $1.5 million in cashes, including a fifth place finish in the 2022 EPT London Main Event. Day 2 chip leader Sylwia Studniarz managed to retain and grow her stack to bag well within reach of a potential final table finish, while Umberto Ruggeri is back for another shot after finishing third in last year's event for €459,240.
Day 3 started with a flurry of bustouts that saw Fabio Peluso and previous EPT champion Anton Wigg hit the rail during the first level, along with PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton when he lost a race against Gal Bar to lose most of his stack, busting soon after. Adam McKola was left to fly the PokerStars flag until he was eliminated during the second level of the day.
Other notable players who did find a bag include Pedro Marques, who made a great run to spin his stack up from just 116,000 at the start of the day to 1,285,000 at the end of it after busting several opponents along the way.
He's joined by Christian Rudolph (1,010,000), UKIPT Nottingham 2023 winner Vincent Meli (765,000), high roller Nikita Kuznetsov (640,000) and Italian rising star Enrico Camosci (535,000).
This year's Main Event broke attendance records, attracting a total of 1,458 entries by the time late registration closed at the start of Day 2, making for a prize pool of €7,071,300.
The 53 hopefuls who return to the felt for Day 4 are all guaranteed €19,800. The top nine players will make six figures, while the overall winner, assuming no deal is made, will walk away with €1,146,500.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | € 1,146,500 | 12 – 13 | € 68,050 |
| 2 | € 716,950 | 14 – 15 | € 56,700 |
| 3 | € 512,100 | 16 – 17 | € 47,250 |
| 4 | € 393,950 | 18 – 20 | € 39,950 |
| 5 | € 303,000 | 21 – 23 | € 34,700 |
| 6 | € 233,050 | 24 – 27 | € 30,200 |
| 7 | € 179,250 | 28 – 31 | € 26,250 |
| 8 | € 137,900 | 32 – 39 | € 22,850 |
| 9 | € 106,050 | 40 – 53 | € 19,800 |
| 10 – 11 | € 81,600 |
Day 4 kicks off at noon local time with blinds at Level 21, 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 big blind ante, and run for 90 minutes, with a break after each level.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates straight from the tournament floor as the Main Event plays deeper into the money, all the way down to 16 players who will be left in contention for the 2024 EPT Prague trophy.
