€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day 2 Completed
2024 PokerStars EPT Prague
€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info
Top
Chip Counts
Chip Counts
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
For the third consecutive year, the European Poker Tour Prague Main Event has reached new heights, with a record-breaking 1,458 entrants converging at the Hilton Prague to chase EPT glory. Of those, just 191 remain in contention for the title of Main Event Champion and the €1,146,500 first-place prize — the largest share of the €7,071,300 prize pool.
Leading the pack is Yauheni Tsiareshchanka, who managed to bag up 955,000 by the time the last hand was dealt. Tsiareshchanka, who entered the Main Event fresh off a victory in the Cuatro Knockout event, received a huge boost to his stack after turning a set of aces against Gianfranco Iaculli flopped set of fives to double up. Tsiareshchanka was able to steadily increase his stack from that point onwards and was the only player to breach the 900,000-chip mark.
Hot on Tsiareshchanka's heels is Sylwia Studniarz, who managed to end with an impressive 842,000. Studniarz only has two recorded live cashes on The Hendon Mob, however, one of them is a win from an EPT Ladies Event in Barcelona last year for €10,670.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Day 3 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yauheni Tsiareshchanka | Belarus | 955,000 | 191 |
| 2 | Sylwia Studniarz | Poland | 842,000 | 168 |
| 3 | Anton Bergstrom | Sweden | 715,000 | 143 |
| 4 | Pierre Calamusa | France | 700,000 | 140 |
| 5 | Luke Porter | United Kingdom | 696,000 | 139 |
| 6 | Jacob Amsellem | France | 695,000 | 139 |
| 7 | Marian Virlanuta | Romania | 586,000 | 117 |
| 8 | Cesar Garcia | Spain | 585,000 | 117 |
| 9 | Konstantinos Nanos | Greece | 555,000 | 111 |
| 10 | Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | 539,000 | 108 |
Action of the Day
Day 2 began with 69 new entrants joining the 464 returning players from both starting flights with hopes of quickly running up a stack. While most fizzled out early, including Thomas Santerne, Juha Helppi, Fabrice Bigot, and Parker Talbot.
PokerStars ambassador Fintan Hand got off to a hot start after eliminating Alessandro Siena early on. Meanwhile, fellow PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton spent a good part of the day on the feature table and even managed to flop quads to bust Thomas Swensen. It was a bumpy road for Grafton, however, as he only mananged to bag a below-average stack worth 93,000. Grafton shared a few words on his EPT Prague experience thus far and poker in general at the end of the day:
"It's a deluxe tournament, so it takes a lot, being on the feature table with a lot of really good players. I'm used to playing tournaments where if you make Day 3 you're either down to the last three or four players or you've won it! So this is really a long haul, but I'm just excited for a deep run."
"There's a huge appetite for live poker and I think that people want two things: good tournaments with good structures. Plus reasonable rake, good dealers and then a great location to go to — and Prague has all of that. It sounds simple, but it's hard to get those."
While Grafton was able to earn a Day 3 berth, many other notables were not so fortunate. Among those who were present in Day 2 but fell short of the money include Vanessa Kade, Kenny Hallaert, Robin Ylitalo, and William Kassouf — who ran jacks into aces in the second level of the day.
The money bubble didn't take long, as two players busted at two separate tables just a few rounds into hand-for-hand play. Bogdan Munteanu was the first player to bust in particularly brutal fashion after getting all in with kings against Luke Porter's aces. Munteanu flopped a set of kings to take the lead, but Porter turned a set of aces to end Munteanu's run. At another table, Adi Rajkovic suffered a milder beat after getting all in with ace-jack and getting outflopped by Anton Kraous' king-ten. The simultaneous elimination meant that both players split a min-cash for €4,275 each.
A handful of other notables were awarded a min-cash of €8,550 after getting eliminated in the half-hour between the bubble bursting and Day 2 ending, including Merijn Van Rooij, Morten Klein, Duco ten Haven, and Hand, who suffered a bad beat on the river against Scott Hall with just a few hands remaining.
Other notables to watch out for in Day 3 include Jerry Odeen (495,000), Max Neugebauer (363,000), Leo Margets (227,000), EPT Main Event champions Davidi Kitai (194,000) and Padraig O'Neill (134,000), and WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jorstad (124,000).
Day 3 will get underway tomorrow at noon local time on Level 16, which features 2,000/5,000 blinds with a 5,000 big-blind ante. A 30-second shot clock will be implemented from Day 3 onwards, with each player receiving six time bank cards to use at their discretion.
Everyone remaining has already locked up a cash of at least €8,550, but with a seven-figure payday awaiting the eventual winner, the action is sure to be fierce as players continue to navigate their way to the final table.
Be sure to get all the latest updates from PokerNews as we continue to cover the action right up until the latest EPT Main Event champion is crowned!
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
955,000
675,000
|
675,000 |
|
||
|
842,000
315,000
|
315,000 |
|
715,000
103,000
|
103,000 |
|
700,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
||
|
696,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
695,000
146,000
|
146,000 |
|
||
|
586,000
131,000
|
131,000 |
|
585,000
254,000
|
254,000 |
|
555,000
70,000
|
70,000 |
|
539,000
-33,000
|
-33,000 |
|
536,000
116,000
|
116,000 |
|
535,000
137,000
|
137,000 |
|
529,000
529,000
|
529,000 |
|
526,000
-14,000
|
-14,000 |
|
521,000
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
|
515,000
347,000
|
347,000 |
|
508,000
16,000
|
16,000 |
|
495,000
87,000
|
87,000 |
|
478,000
318,000
|
318,000 |
|
473,000
329,000
|
329,000 |
|
467,000
107,000
|
107,000 |
|
461,000
67,000
|
67,000 |
|
453,000
103,000
|
103,000 |
|
424,000
144,000
|
144,000 |
|
413,000
-64,000
|
-64,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Play has concluded for the night with 191 players managing to make it through to Day 3 tomorrow. Stay tuned for a recap of the day and full chip counts to follow.
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Scott Hall opened to 8,000 from middle position and Fintan Hand shoved for his last 56,000 from the small blind. Hall thought it over, but eventually decided to stick in a call to put Hand at risk.
Fintan Hand: A?Q?
Scott Hall: A?J?
Hand was the favorite to double and remained that way on the 5?2?A? flop and K? turn; however, the J? river paired Hall's jack on the end — forcing Hand to settle for a min-cash as play winds down for the evening.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
175,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The floor staff have announced that there will be four more hands before the remaining players bag up their chips and return for Day 3 tomorrow.
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Paul Carr narrowly squeaked into the money with just 7,000 chips to his name. After the bubble burst, he folded a few hands before being forced all in from the big blind. Davidi Kitai called, but Tom Cohen raised to 15,000, pushing Kitai out of the hand and setting up a showdown between Carr and Cohen.
Cohen revealed K?J?, while Carr, yet to look at his cards, turned over K?Q? to the crowd’s surprise. The flop, however, brought 2?K?J?, giving Cohen two pair and putting Carr on the brink of elimination.
The 4? turn changed nothing, but an unexpected Q? on the river gave Carr a better two pair and a lifeline with a critical double-up.
A few hands later, Cohen raised from under the gun to 8,000, and Carr pushed all in for 15,000. Seeking a potential comeback, Carr was met with a call, and the cards were revealed:
Paul Carr: A?J?
Tom Cohen: A?K?
This time, there was no last-minute salvation for Carr as the board ran out A?2?7?Q?10?, sending him to the rail. Despite the short-lived comeback, Carr left with a respectable finish and a story to tell.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
198,000
-13,000
|
-13,000 |
|
180,000
-82,000
|
-82,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Yauheni Tsiareshchanka opened to 8,000 from early position with Grzegorz Glowny and Julian Salvesen calling from the blinds.
After Glowny checked the 7?6?4? flop, Salvesen led out for 12,000 and was met by a raise to 32,000 from Tsiareshchanka. Glowny quickly folded, but Salvesen took a bit longer before letting go of his hand and forfeiting the pot to Tsiareshchanka.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
300,000
-28,000
|
-28,000 |
|
|
280,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
|
||
|
115,000
-35,000
|
-35,000 |
|
|
||
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Adam McKola opened to 10,000 and Carmelo Donato three-bet to 21,000. Adrian Mack then four-bet to 65,000 and McKola tank-folded.
"All in," said Mack, mistakenly thinking Donato had acted on his hand. Donato looked amused, thought a little while longer, before five-betting all in for 85,000. Mack snap-called.
Carmelo Donato: J?J?
Adrian Mack: 8?8?
Donato was ahead and stayed that way on the K?6?4?9?3? runout.
"Thank f*ck for that," said McKola. "I'd have lost to both of you!"
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
230,000
-120,000
|
-120,000 |
|
190,000
71,000
|
71,000 |
|
155,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
Level 15
: Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |