Day 1b of the 2024 European Poker Tour Prague €1,100 Eureka Main Event has concluded with just 30 players surviving from the 200 that took their seats in the Hilton Prague.
With two flights completed, the cumulative number of entries stands at 552, with 83 players already having punched their ticket into Day 2 on Saturday, December 7.
Finishing at the top of the chip counts with an impressive 626,000 is Sweden’s Felix Vu. Germany’s Paul Hoefer follows closely behind, having bagged up 396,000. Completing the podium is Dohang Na, who advances to Day 2 with 395,000 in chips.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Felix Vu | Sweden | 626,000 |
| 2 | Paul Hoefer | Germany | 396,000 |
| 3 | Dohang Na | South Korea | 395,000 |
| 4 | Pavlos Xanthopoulos | Greece | 361,000 |
| 5 | Kasper Mellanen | Finland | 332,000 |
| 6 | Oleh Pritsak | Ukraine | 273,000 |
| 7 | Mateusz Wozniak | Poland | 267,000 |
| 8 | Jochen Kaiser | Germany | 266,000 |
| 9 | Nicola Stagi | Italy | 256,000 |
| 10 | Cedric Schwaederle | France | 230,000 |
A significant portion of Vu’s chip stack came shortly after late registration closed. He spiked a king on the river with Big Slick in a three-way all-in against Virgile Turchi and Eros Calderone, eliminating both players. Shortly afterward, Vu cracked William Paschall‘s pocket kings with a flopped set of sevens and maintained the chip lead from that point forward.
Pavel Plesuv finished just outside the top 10 with a stack of 227,000, bolstered in the penultimate level of the day when his small value-bets with bottom pair were paid off by Stavros Petychakis. Plesuv, a two-time EPT champion, claimed his first title here in Prague in 2016. With over $8,000,000 in live tournament earnings, he will undoubtedly be a player to watch when play resumes on Day 2 this Saturday.
As play reached the bubble, only one hand of hand-for-hand was needed before the final elimination of the night. Konstantinos Tzinis earned the unfortunate title of bubble boy after his king-queen ran into Jochen Kaiser’s ace-king. With no miracle runout for Tzinis, the remaining 30 players had made it through the day and into the money.
Some other notables who will be making an appearance on the baize for Day 2 include Julio Carvalho (224,000), Marcel Lopko (128,000), EPT Winner Daniel Custodio (123,000), and Robert Kokoska (85,000).
Some of the notables who were unable to make it through the day include Liam O’Donoghue, Patrik Jaros, Ran Ilani, Ryan Plant, Conor Beresford, Juha Helppi, Emil Olsson, and Rifat Palevic.
All of today’s survivors will join players from the five other flights to compete on Day 2, which begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 7. Everyone advancing from a starting flight has already secured at least a minimum cash prize, with the full prize pool set to be revealed at the start of Day 2.
Players who have yet to secure a bag in the Eureka Main Event will have another opportunity tomorrow, Wednesday, December 5, with Day 1c starting at 11 a.m. and Day 1d kicking off at 7 p.m.
Make sure to check out PokerNews throughout the rest of the series as updates from the floor will continue to be brought to you throughout EPT Prague.