€5,300 Main Event Dia 3 | 2013 PokerStars.com EPT Prague

2013-12-15 11:50 UTC+2

The March to the Money Begins on Day 3 of the EPT10 Prague

A record breaking 1,007 players entered the Season 10 European Poker Tour Prague Main Event at the Hilton Hotel in the Czech Republic, but now we are down to 189 who will return today to continue the battle for the prestigious title of 2013 EPT Prague Champion.

The huge number of entrants means the tournament has generated a massive prize pool of €4,883,950, with the winner set to receive €889,000. It also means that 151 players will finish in the money. In other words, 38 players will leave here today empty handed.

Walid Bou Habib from Lebanon leads the field with 509,000 chips, but some still competition isn't far behind. Jonathan Little from the USA has 471,000, PokerStars player Ka Kwan Lau from Spain has 440,000, and there are a number of other players with similar stacks snapping at their heels.

World Series of Poker November Niner Amir Lehavot from the USA, who was the chip leader at the start of Day 2, is still in contention with 427,000, and so are a number of Team PokerStars Pros including Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier (230,200), Jonathan Duhamel (108,000), Eugene Katchalov (104,900), and David Williams (89,200).

A few other notables who will play today include Full Tilt Poker Tour Ambassador Dermot Blain (84,200), Simon Deadman (190,200) Ana Marquez (319,400), and Max Silver (259,000).

The tournament will now switch to 90-minute levels with the blinds starting at 1,500/3,000 with a 400 ante. There are 24 tables left and play will be eight handed. The seat draw is just below this post.

There are a few short stacks, the shortest of which is Erik Scheidt (27,800), who will need a bit of luck to survive the early levels, but one double up will see him right back in contention.

Join the PokerNews reporting team as action kicks off in an hour for all the drama as we head towards the bubble and take another step towards crowning the final EPT Champion of 2013. Live streaming and commentary from James Hartigan and Joe Stapelton can be found at pokerstars.tv.

2013-12-15 13:23 UTC+2

David Williams Eliminated

Webjoker

Nível 15 : 1,500/3,000, 400 ante

In one of the first hands of the day Portuguese pro Micel Dattani shoved all in under the gun for a little over 50,000. In the cutoff it was David Williams who was interested. After only taking a glance at his cards he knew what to do: reshove. He went all in for 35,000 more than Dattani's stack and the button and both blinds quickly folded.

Williams had by far the best hand with as Dattani showed . The flop would give Williams a headache probably though, as two clubs popped up: . The on the turn proved to be a blank but the on the river wasn't. Williams calmly counted out the chips he owed and handed them over without any sign of despair.

The next hand there was a raise in front of Williams to 6,500 and he shoved his last big blinds in. The call that followed was quick and Williams would soon find out he needed to hit. His was up against . The board proved no help and Williams got up from the table and left the tournament area.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Michel Dattani	110,000 58,500	58,500

David Williams	Eliminado

Tags: David Williams Michel Dattani

2013-12-15 14:30 UTC+2

40 Skrillees Returned for Day 3 in the Skrill Last Longer Competition

Nível 15 : 1,500/3,000, 400 ante

One name that keeps popping up here at the EPT Prague is Skrill – which isn’t a player, but rather an online payment solutions company that aims to evolve “the way people pay and get paid globally.” Skrill is branded throughout the venue and also have a booth where players can sign up for their popular "Last Longer Competition."

The Skrill Last Longer competition will be held at each stop on this season’s EPT, of which they’re an official sponsor. The promotion is simple – players sign up for the promotion either online (preregistration is available) or at the Skrill booth (which will be present at each stop); don a Skrill patch; and then aim to be the last man or woman standing. The last player remaining will then receive their buy-in back via their Skrill account.

While Skrill is upping the ante for Season 10 with a bigger branding initiative, this isn’t their first appearance on the EPT; as a matter of fact, they were a sponsor of Season 8 and have held previous “Last Longer” promotions.

Here in Prague, 191 players (19% of the total field) signed up for the competition, though only 40 of them made it to Day 3 including Denys Drobyna (Ukraine), the winner of the Last Longer in the EPT Prague Season 8.

Here's the long list of 30 Skrillees still in contention at the start of Day 3.


Mikhail Marchenko	Marcello Miniucchi	Rui Sousa	Liutauras Armanavicius	Ari Engel
Tapio Vihakas	Oleh Okhotskyi	Robert Schultz	Ben Martin	Adrian Piasecki
Jannick Wrang	Erik Scheidt	Anton Bertilsson	Mariusz Keosinski	Marinko Skoric
Przemysaw Misztela	Tom Hall	Dominik Nitsche	Dany Parlares	Kamel Tamer
Aleksejs Ponakovs	Joe Laming	Denys Drobyna	Stefan Ivanov	Florian Krumpt
Valentino Konakchiev	Andrey Grenko	Igor Izmaylov	Andrey Volkov	Piotr Pietrzak
Franz-Josef Breuer	Martin Balá	Sven Krieger	Simon Deadman	Dimitri Holdeew
Sotirios Koutoupas	Taylor Von Kriegenbergh	Victor Sheerman	Nihat Karyagdi	Tobias Garp

The company’s website provides a bit more information on Skrill, which rebranded from Moneybookers back in 2010:

“Skrill has been moving money digitally since 2001. We offer online payment solutions for businesses and consumers, allowing them to pay and get paid globally. Over 36 million account holders already trust Skrill. Our customers can send and receive money worldwide in 200 countries and 40 currencies, securely and at low cost, without revealing their personal financial details. Your business will benefit from our worldwide payment network with over 100 payment options. Whether through a simple one-step integration or a fully-tailored payment solution. Whoever you are, however you like to pay or get paid, trust Skrill to make your online payments simpler, faster and safer.”

Headquartered in London, Skrill is looking to make their presence known in the poker world with a commitment to customer satisfaction through innovation and service. Not only that, they’re looking to be more than just a company by becoming a trusted and respected member of the poker community.

For more information on Skrill, click here.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be keeping an eye on the latest incarnation of the Skrill Last Longer throughout the duration of the EPT Prague Main Event.

Tags: Skrill

2013-12-15 15:37 UTC+2

Kuo Eliminated in 144th Place (€8,600), Ladouceur Short

Webjoker

Nível 16 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

Nicolai Kramer opened to 8,000 under the gun plus one and Marc-Andre Ladouceur made it 21,500 from the button. Kitty Kuo in the small blind shoved her chips forward and made it 36,000 total to Kramer. He made the call and so did Ladouceur.

on the flop and both players checked. The turn was the and Kramer bet 18,000. PokerStars Team Online player Ladouceur made the call, but folded on the river when Kramer set him all in.

Kuo showed her but probably knew by now that that hand was no good anymore. Kramer showed the full house he had with and raked in the chips while Kuo was already heading out the door.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Marc-Andre Ladouceur	70,000 -80,000	-80,000

Kitty Kuo	Eliminado

Tags: Kitty Kuo Marc Ladouceur

2013-12-15 15:48 UTC+2

Volpe Eliminated in 143rd Place (€9,000)

Webjoker

Nível 16 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

We ran into Paul Volpe in the hall way and he was so kind to give us the details on his bust out hand.

He had worked his stack up to 85,000 but would lose most of them in a hand where the player under the gun opened to 9,500. The player was playing a 70,000 stack and Volpe shoved from middle position with . The older gentlemen, who had opened under the gun more than once, tanked for some time but eventually made the call with pocket fives. The board didn't help Volpe who was left with just a few chips.

Those remaining chips would soon be gone too. He got it in with pocket fours against ace ten. The flop gave his opponent top two and the remaining two fours didn't pop up on the turn or river. Volpe finished 143rd for €9,000.

He immediately took the little booklet the organization was handing out, to check which side event to play.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Paul Volpe	Eliminado

Tags: Paul Volpe

2013-12-15 15:58 UTC+2

Loosli Loses to Wiklund (140th Place, €9,000)

Nível 16 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

As we approached the table, November Niner Sylvain Loosli stood up and made a beeline for the payout desk. We discovered Loosli held on a board, but it was no good as Martin Wiklund held the .

A member of the French media told us that Loosli was 50 big blinds deep at the beginning of the hand. It was a pre flop all in situation where Loosli called the shove. Both hit, Loosli simply didn't hit enough to beat Wiklund's flopped set.

Meanwhile, Wiklund has been on a bit of a heater as of late and is up quite a bit since the last time we checked in with him.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Martin Wiklund	580,000 325,000	325,000
Sylvain Loosli	Eliminado

Tags: Martin Wiklund Sylvain Loosli

2013-12-15 17:19 UTC+2

Grospellier Eliminated

Webjoker

Nível 17 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Jonathan Duhamel opened the hijack to 11,500 before Bertrand Grospellier made it 27,000 from the button. The small blind folded but Max Silver in the big blind seemed genuinely interested. He made it 50,000 to go and Duhamel quickly folded. Not Grospellier though, he pushed all in and Silver immediately called.

Silver showed his directly and Grospellier almost already mucked his before a flop was dealt. He got up from the table and saw the dealer deal as the community cards. Before the river even was dealt Grospellier was already up from the table and in the arms of a lady escorting him to the pay out registration.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier	Eliminado

Tags: Bertrand Grospellier Jonathan Duhamel Max Silver

2013-12-15 17:31 UTC+2

Lehavot & Chidwick Clash in Huge Feature Table Hand

Nível 17 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

After being moved to the feature table on the break, 2013 World Series of Poker third-place finisher Amir Lehavot and UK pro Stephen Chidwick clashed in a huge pot.

We picked up the action after Chidwick had four-bet to 65,000 from the small blind and Lehavot five-bet to 120,000 from the button. Chidwick responded with a six-bet shove and Lehavot called off for 348,000. Chidwick barely had him covered, but he was the favorite.

Chidwick:
Lehavot:

It was a big flip for the chip lead, and according to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Chidwick was a 56.55% favorite while Lehavot would survive 43.03% of the time. The flop was no help to Lehavot, and he fell to a 3-1 dog. The turn knocked him down even further to 13.64%, meaning he needed either an ace or king on the river to stay alive. On the other hand, Chidwick would win 86.36% of the time, and as fate would have it this was one of those times as the river improved him to a full house.

With that, Lehavot was eliminated in 106th place while Chidwick took over the chip lead.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Stephen Chidwick	730,000 350,000	350,000
Amir Lehavot	Eliminado

Tags: Amir Lehavot Stephen Chidwick

2013-12-15 18:05 UTC+2

Engel Eliminates the Reigning WSOP Europe Main Event Champ

Nível 17 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Back in October, a 19-year-old Spaniard by the name of Adrian Mateos defeated a stacked final table to win the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event for €1,000,000! Mateos did so by defeating accomplished pro Fabrice Soulier in heads-up play. Others Mateos outlasted were Dominik Nitsche (3rd - €400,000), Ravi Raghavan (5th - €176,000) and Benny Spindler (6th - €126,000).

Mateos was in action today and looking for another European title, but his hopes of that just came to an end courtesy of American Ari Engel.

After losing the majority of his chips, Mateos got his last 62,500 all in preflop and found himself in a race situation.

Mateos:
Engel:

The flop wasn't very exciting, though it did give Mateos a runner-runner flush draw to go with his overs. Mateos and his supporters on the rail watched intently as the dealer burned and turned the . It was the worst card in the deck as Engel filled up and Mateos was left drawing dead.

A crestfallen Mateos watched the meaningless put out on the river and then took the long walk to the front of the room on his way to the payout desk.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Ari Engel	240,000 60,000	60,000
Adrian Mateos	Eliminado

Tags: Adrian Mateos Ari Engel

2013-12-15 19:40 UTC+2

Chartier Tanks

Webjoker

Nível 18 : 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante

Ireland's Ciaran Burke opened the button to 13,000 and saw Canadian Sam Chartier three bet to 29,000 from the small blind. After the big blind folded, Burke made the call.

on the flop and Chartier made it 31,000. That continuation bet was called pretty quickly by Burke who saw Chartier checking on the turn. Burke bet out 79,000 and Chartier called. The river brought the on board and Chartier checked again. Burke bet out 129,000 which brought the action back to Chartier.

For minutes he looked both puzzled and agonized. Nobody dared to call the clock though and in the end Chartier folded. The dealer began to collect the chips to shove them to Burke. Chartier stared at Burke with a desperate face, dying to know what Burke had.

Burke checked his cards again and than revealed the to everyone before mucking.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Sam Chartier	245,000 -95,000	-95,000

Tags: Ciaran Burke Samuel Chartier