Czech Republic's Hrabec Leads Final 6 in EPT London Main Event
Only six players remain at the end of Day 5 of the ￡5,300 EPT Main Event at PokerStars European Poker Tour London and leading the final table is the Czech Republic's Roman Hrabec with a stack of 6,135,000 worth 77 big blinds.
The former professional ice hockey player entered the day fourth in chips and ran up his stack throughout the ten hours of play on Day 5, which ended when the day's chip leader, David Docherty, fell to 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event champ Jack Sinclair.
Primarily an online grinder, Hrabec will earn his biggest live score to date should he survive one more payout jump.
Joining Hrabec and Sinclair for the Day 6 action will be British grinder Ian Hamilton, Germany's Nils Pudel, Switzerland's Alexandre Vuilleumier and Romanian filmmaker Danut Chisu.
￡5,300 EPT Main Event Final Table
| SEAT | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | 4,840,000 | 61 | |
| 2 | Alexandre Vuilleumier | Switzerland | 1,695,000 | 21 | |
| 3 | Ian Hamilton | United Kingdom | 3,505,000 | 44 | |
| 4 | Danut Chisu | Romania | 5,025,000 | 63 | |
| 5 | Roman Hrabec | Czech Republic | 6,135,000 | 77 | |
| 6 | Nils Pudel | Germany | 1,270,000 | 16 |
Seidel, Heath Among Those to Fall on Day 5
The fifth day of action at London's Hilton Park Lane began with 16 players and that number steadily dwindled down as the two tables became one.
High rollers Marton Czuczor and Ben Heath were the first two players to fall and Heath had a particularly rough exit as his set of fives was cracked by the rivered nut flush of Vuilleumier.
Fan favorite Erik Seidel was on the hunt for a Triple Crown feat (he has nine WSOP bracelets and a WPT title under his belt) but the Poker Hall of Famer fell in 12th place when his pocket sevens ran into the aces of David Docherty, who was quite familiar with Rockets as he had picked them up twice on Day 4 to stack a pair of unfortunate opponents with Cowboys.
Aleem Kanji busted in 10th place when his ace-seven couldn't get ahead of the pocket eights of fellow Brit Lodge to make way for the unofficial final table.
Ireland's Jamie Flynn was the first to go at the final table after he moved in with king-queen against the ace-ten of Lodge. A king-high flop was good news for Flynn but it was short-lived as an ace on the river sent him packing.
Lodge himself was the next to fall when he check-jammed the flop with second pair only to be called by the overpair of Hrabec, whose aces held up as the board ran out to send Lodge out in eighth place.
Docherty entered Day 5 with the chip lead but bowed out in seventh place when his pocket fives couldn't survive a flip against the ace-queen of Sinclair, who rivered a flush to eliminate Docherty in the final hand of the day.
The sixth and final day of the EPT London Main Event will commence on Friday, Oct. 28 at 12:30 p.m. local time and will play down to a winner, who will take home the ￡664,400 first-place prize and the coveted golden trophy.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on-site tomorrow at the luxurious Hilton Park Lane to see the EPT London Main Event play out. Check out the team's coverage of other EPT London events in the meantime.