Main Event
Day 2 Completed
Main Event
Day 2 Completed
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 |
William Kassouf, as always, is a man of many words. In this interview at the PokerStars Championship Prague 2017, he explains why he's back to reclaim his High Roller Prague trophy, as well as talk about his last year in poker and why he won't just jump into a 25k buy in after a big win.
More to follow.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Paul Michaelis |
630,500
-4,500
|
-4,500 |
|
||
Omid Mojaverian |
597,500
-22,500
|
-22,500 |
Erik Walfridsson |
536,500
26,500
|
26,500 |
Boris Kolev |
510,500
40,500
|
40,500 |
|
||
Daniel Barriocanal |
504,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
Dimitrios Kalaroutis |
417,000
336,800
|
336,800 |
Paris Stavridis |
414,000
310,300
|
310,300 |
Fatima Moreira de Melo |
406,000
167,000
|
167,000 |
Kalidou Sow |
405,000
45,000
|
45,000 |
|
||
Robert Heidorn |
394,500
24,500
|
24,500 |
Nir Levy |
383,000
143,000
|
143,000 |
Xixiang Luo |
377,500
67,500
|
67,500 |
|
||
Gabriele Lepore |
339,500
238,300
|
238,300 |
Michal Mrakes |
333,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
||
Colin Robinson |
333,000
-42,000
|
-42,000 |
|
||
Diego Zeiter |
330,000
98,000
|
98,000 |
Dominik Panka |
320,500
500
|
500 |
|
||
Navot Golan |
305,000
213,700
|
213,700 |
Ivan Soshnikov |
298,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
Aleksandr Mordvinov |
296,500
227,300
|
227,300 |
Ji Zhang |
296,000
266,300
|
266,300 |
Hari Bercovici |
285,000
-45,000
|
-45,000 |
Arnaud Enselme |
281,000
258,000
|
258,000 |
|
||
Matas Cimbolas |
271,000
31,000
|
31,000 |
|
||
Konstantin Farber |
270,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
Alexis Fleur called a raise to 7,000 by Rui Neves Ferreira to see a flop of and the Portuguese checked, while Fleur bet 9,500. Ferreira check-raised to 30,000 and Fleur moved all in for 95,300, which the Portuguese called to set up the following showdown:
Alexis Fleur:
Rui Neves Ferreira:
Fleur was ahead with the over pair and needed to dodge a nine, king and spades. He did so after two blanks on turn and river, and doubled in the last hand of the night.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Alexis Fleur |
212,500
62,500
|
62,500 |
Rui Neves Ferreira
|
167,000
-33,000
|
-33,000 |
And the day is done. We'll be back shortly with end-of-day chip counts and a recap of today's action.
During the last hands of the night, Paul Michaelis took on Romain Lewis and busted the Frenchman to jump into the top spot.
Michaelis raised to 6,500 from middle position and Lewis three-bet to 20,000 from one seat over, which Michaelis called. The flop came and both players checked. After the turn, Michaelis made it 33,000 to go and was called by Lewis before the river paired the board.
Michaelis moved all in and Lewis had a decision to make for his last 115,000 chips. After spending some time in the think tank, the clock was called and Lewis called it off to see Michaelis turn over . Lewis flashed and hit the rail.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Paul Michaelis |
635,000
165,000
|
165,000 |
|
||
Romain Lewis | Busted | |
|
James Mitchell had previously built his stack after coolering Dean Hutchison with full house versus full house before taking on Jaroslaw Sikora. The Pole himself doubled a few minutes ago and now three-bet from 7,000 to 25,000. Mitchell called in the cutoff to see a flop of and Sikora bet 16,500, which Mitchell called. After the turn, Sikora checked and quickly folded to a bet of 21,000.
Down to around 72,000, Sikora's chips were soon after integrated into the tower of Viliyan Petleshkov to see the EPT12 Prague €10,300 High Roller runner-up and EPT12 Malta third-place finisher bow out in the last level of Day 2.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Hari Bercovici |
330,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Dominik Panka |
320,000
105,000
|
105,000 |
|
||
Viliyan Petleshkov |
240,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
James Akenhead |
240,000
191,000
|
191,000 |
Boris Kuzmanovic |
175,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
Jaroslaw Sikora | Busted | |
Dean Hutchison | Busted |
Robert Heidorn won a big flip with against the of Konstantin Farber and soon after busted Steve O'Dwyer.
Heidorn three-bet out of the small blind and O'Dwyer pushed all in over the top. The initial raiser folded and Heidorn called.
Steve O'Dwyer:
Robert Heidorn:
The board of ensured that the kicker played and O'Dwyer busted before the money.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Robert Heidorn |
370,000
260,000
|
260,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer | Busted | |
|
Team PokerStars Pro Fatima Moreira de Melo is ready to take on the challenge of the almighty Christmas Quiz at the PokerStars Championship in Prague, but time is running thin. Will she finish it in time?