Money Bubble Looms at Close of PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event Day 2

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Level 14 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

All of the players who still had chips in PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event gathered in one room for the first time, with survivors of two starting days and last-minute registrants creating a field of 855 entries. At the close of six levels of play, that number has been reduced to only 140 hopefuls, just a few eliminations from the money bubble that will take place when 128 remain.

The top 127 will get chunks of a prize pool finalized during the opening hour of play, totaling over �4.1 million and paying out �775,000 to the winner.

The players who have best positioned themselves to claim that windfall after 14 levels include Paul Michaelis (630,500), Omid Mojaverian (597,500) and Erik Walfridsson (536,500).

Michaelis, who won a bracelet in 2015 in one of the last pot-limit hold'em events ever at the WSOP, will try to continue the modern poker tradition of Germans sweeping up all of the money out there. In a big hand late in Day 2, he got three streets of all-in value with a turned set of tens in a three-bet pot against a player who had paired on the flop with ace-king. Just before the day came to an end, Michaelis flopped another set and ultimately sent Romain Lewis to the rail to claim the top spot.

Day 1 chip leader and local Czech standout Michal Mrakes also followed up his big Day 1 with a solid Day 2. While his nearly $1 million in cashes speaks to his overall success, Mrakes seems to do especially well here in his home country, with cashes of �200,000 and �46,594 already this year.

While Mrakes couldn't hold his overall lead on the field, he still increased his stack from 202,700 to 333,000, good enough for almost two times the average.

Team PokerStars also performed well, with Fatima Moreira de Melo, Igor Kurganov, Jake Cody, Maria Konnikova and Marcin Horecki all still carrying the banner heading into Day 3.

Players who weren't so fortunate and found themselves hitting the rail on Day 2 included Timothy Adams, Koray Aldemir, Davidi Kitai, John Juanda and Adrian Mateos.

Jasper Meijer van Putten, the Dutchman who won the final EPT Prague here last year, also busted. He got his chips in way behind with top pair against a set held by Boris Kolev, and though a sweat arrived when Meijer van Putten turned trips, he was felted when the river bricked off.

Day 3 play picks up Friday at noon at Level 15 (2,000/4,000/500) and will see a switch to 90-minute levels. Come back to PokerNews then to continue following the development of one of the last big tournaments of 2017.

Official top Chip Counts 10 After Day 2

Place	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Paul Michaelis	Germany	630,500
2	Omid Mojaverian	Iran	597,500
3	Erik Walfridsson	Sweden	536,500
4	Boris Kolev	Bulgaria	510,500
5	Daniel Barriocanal	Spain	504,000
6	Dimitrios Kalaroutis	Greece	417,000
7	Paraschos Stavridis	Greece	414,000
8	Fatima Moreira de Melo	Netherlands	406,000
9	Kalidou Sow	France	405,000
10	Robert Heidorn	Germany	394,500

Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw

Table	Seat	Name	Country	Chips	Big Blinds
1	1	Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	151,500	38
1	2	John Mooney	UK	182,000	46
1	3	Louis Salter	Ireland	195,000	49
1	4	Daniel Barriocanal	Spain	504,000	126
1	5	Omid Mojaverian	Iran	597,500	149
1	6	Arsenii Karmatckii	Russia	232,000	58
1	7	Alexis Fleur	France	212,500	53
1	8	Georgios Zisimopoulos	Greece	88,000	22

2	1	Dominik Panka	Poland	320,500	80
2	3	Cathal Shine	Ireland	135,000	34
2	4	Martin Staszko	Czech Republic	78,000	20
2	5	Fatima Moreira De Melo	Netherlands	406,000	102
2	6	Michael Koran	Switzerland	101,000	25
2	7	Ihar Soika	Belarus	44,000	11
2	8	Aleksandr Mordvinov	Russia	296,500	74

3	1	Gabriele Lepore	Italy	339,500	85
3	2	Yury Kanunnikov	Russia	182,000	46
3	3	Yorane Kerignard	France	44,000	11
3	4	Paraschos Stavridis	Greece	414,000	104
3	5	Justas Vaiciulionis	Lithuania	56,000	14
3	6	Marco Regonaschi	Italy	65,000	16
3	7	Matas Cimbolas	Lithuania	271,000	68
3	8	Quentin Lecomte	France	63,500	16

4	1	Ondrej Pulec	Czech Republic	107,000	27
4	2	Xixiang Luo	China	377,500	94
4	3	Petr Svoboda	Czech Republic	92,500	23
4	4	Jonathan Proudfoot	UK	58,500	15
4	5	Boris Kolev	Bulgaria	510,500	128
4	6	Jacek Pustula	Poland	140,000	35
4	7	Valon Budima	Albania	33,000	8
4	8	Vitaliy Li	Russia	55,500	14

5	1	Igor Kurganov	Russia	160,000	40
5	2	Boris Kuzmanovic	Croatia	208,500	52
5	3	Paul Michaelis	Germany	630,500	158
5	4	Marcin Horecki	Poland	132,000	33
5	5	Ji Zhang	Germany	296,000	74
5	6	Asi Moshe	Israel	192,500	48
5	7	Alex Foxen	USA	133,000	33
5	8	Sebastian Kappenberg	Germany	52,000	13

6	1	Gavin O'Rourke	Ireland	146,000	37
6	2	Jake Cody	UK	252,500	63
6	3	Carlo Savinelli	Italy	130,000	33
6	4	Jakutis Povilas	Lithuania	131,000	33
6	5	Charles La Boissonniere	Canada	68,500	17
6	6	Walter Oaquim	Brazil	199,000	50
6	7	Harry Lodge	UK	235,500	59
6	8	Josip Simunic	Austria	200,000	50

7	1	Jean Montury	France	166,000	42
7	2	Milos Lalovic	Serbia	47,000	12
7	3	Michal Mrakes	Czech Republic	333,000	83
7	4	Daniel Belov	Estonia	227,000	57
7	5	Robert Heidorn	Germany	394,500	99
7	6	Vlad Darie	Romania	81,500	20
7	7	Aleksandr Merzhvinskiy	Russia	146,000	37
7	8	Shabtai Koren	Israel	142,500	36

8	1	Thomas Mercier	Belgium	222,500	56
8	2	Yang Zhang	China	71,500	18
8	4	Daniel Juncadella	Spain	75,500	19
8	5	Pierre Calamusa	France	219,000	55
8	6	Yuliyan Kolev	Bulgaria	94,500	24
8	7	Kamil Dobosz	Poland	89,500	22
8	8	Maria Konnikova	USA	29,500	7

9	1	Liwei Sun	Italy	117,500	29
9	2	Rui Neves Ferreira	Portugal	167,000	42
9	3	Jan Bednar	Czech Republic	215,000	54
9	4	Serhii Popovych	Ukraine	156,500	39
9	5	Yuki Ko	Korea	65,500	16
9	6	Anton Yakuba	Russia	134,000	34
9	7	Ivan Soshnikov	Russia	298,000	75
9	8	Ghassan Yared	Lebanon	234,500	59

10	1	Gianluca Speranza	Italy	202,000	51
10	2	Stefanita Fechete	Romania	140,000	35
10	3	Dimitrios Kalaroutis	Greece	417,000	104
10	4	Alex Bilokur	Russia	103,500	26
10	5	Tuukka Meklin	Finland	62,500	16
10	6	Anatolii Zyrin	Russia	242,500	61
10	7	Dermot Blain	Ireland	194,000	49
10	8	Norbert Szecsi	Hungary	147,000	37

11	1	Edgaras Kancaitis	Lithuania	74,500	19
11	2	Diego Zeiter	Switzerland	330,000	83
11	3	Marti Roca De Torres	Spain	225,500	56
11	5	James Mitchell	UK	236,000	59
11	6	Nir Levy	Israel	383,000	96
11	7	Michel Dattani	Portugal	95,000	24
11	8	Viliyan Petleshkov	Bulgaria	123,000	31

12	1	Cesar Garcia	Spain	155,000	39
12	2	Kalidou Sow	France	405,000	101
12	3	Jean-Jacques Zeitoun	France	163,000	41
12	4	Lawrence Bayley	UK	89,500	22
12	5	Fiodor Martino	Italy	152,500	38
12	6	Colin Robinson	USA	333,000	83
12	7	Ali Reza Fatehi	Iran	132,000	33
12	8	Assaf Ben Yosef	Israel	174,000	44

13	1	Valery Yantsevich	Belarus	150,000	38
13	2	Maksim Paddubniak	Belarus	88,000	22
13	3	Valentyn Shabelnyk	Ukraine	258,500	65
13	4	Nick Maimone	USA	109,500	27
13	5	Fabian Wahlers	Germany	72,000	18
13	6	Amjad Nader Mustafa	Saudi Arabia	111,500	28
13	7	Rasmus Vogt	Denmark	87,500	22
13	8	Fidan Zahiti	Sweden	194,500	49

14	1	Viacheslav Goryachev	Russia	33,500	8
14	2	Guillaume Pau Davy	France	59,000	15
14	3	Jason Wheeler	USA	221,000	55
14	4	Alexandr Resko	Czech Republic	146,000	37
14	5	Xia Lin	China	62,500	16
14	6	Samy Ouellani	France	110,000	28
14	7	James Akenhead	UK	257,500	64
14	8	Antonio Palma	Portugal	170,000	43

15	1	Dmitry Ponomarev	Russia	258,500	65
15	2	Yordan Dimitrov	Bulgaria	51,000	13
15	3	Sonny Franco	France	174,500	44
15	4	Jukka Paloniemi	Finland	198,500	50
15	6	Andrzej Siemieniak	Poland	242,500	61
15	7	Konstantin Farber	Germany	270,000	68
15	8	Christopher Andler	Sweden	201,000	50

16	1	Francois Tosques	France	224,500	56
16	2	Markus Durnegger	Austria	195,000	49
16	3	Thomas Lentrodt	Germany	161,000	40
16	4	Alessio Isaia	Italy	249,000	62
16	5	Hon Cheong Lee	Hong Kong	241,500	60
16	6	Ivan Kiselev	Russia	110,000	28
16	7	Liviu Ignat	Romania	79,000	20
16	8	Petar Kalev	Bulgaria	141,000	35

17	1	Oleg Vasylchenko	Ukraine	39,000	10
17	2	Bartosz Stasiewicz	Poland	96,000	24
17	3	Erik Walfridsson	Sweden	536,500	134
17	4	Jack Sinclair	UK	92,500	23
17	5	Oleksandr Trokhymenko	Ukraine	92,500	23
17	6	Aleksandr Orlov	Russia	206,500	52
17	7	Wagner Da Gloria Felicio	Portugal	40,500	10
17	8	Hari Bercovici	Israel	285,000	71

18	1	Petr Targa	Czech Republic	102,000	26
18	2	Navot Golan	Israel	305,000	76
18	3	Mikhail Korotkikh	Russia	173,500	43
18	4	Mattia Baccassino	Italy	224,000	56
18	5	Mihai Manole	Romania	44,500	11
18	6	Mathew Frankland	UK	69,000	17
18	7	Nikolaos Iliakis	Greece	228,000	57
18	8	Arnaud Enselme	France	281,000	70