Riots were starting to break out on Twitter when it seemed as though Friend of PokerStars Jaime Staples had been knocked out from his first ever EPT Main Event, but things settled down when he gave a sign of life.
Staples was hoovering a little below the 30,000-chip starting stack, and we just went over to see what he was up to in the tournament. The first hand we watched was folded before the flop by Staples, but on the very next one he threw in a raise to 2,200 from middle position.
The action folded to Abbas Moradi in the small blind and he three-bet to 6,200, getting the big blind to quickly fold.
"All in," Staples calmly announced for 21,300, and Moradi tossed one chip forward to signal the call.
Moradi:
Staples:
Things were looking good for the Canadian pro who remained ahead on . The turn was a bit scary as the popped up, giving Moradi a flush draw, but the river sealed the deal with the .
Quietly Staples raked in a much needed double up, while Twitch chat would've gone crazy if they had been able to see one of their favorite players rake in a big pot.
Marc Convey, a recurring reporter at PokerNews, was taking a shot in his first-ever EPT Main Event. Unfortunately for the reigning European Poker Media Person of the Year, his time was just cut short by Sebastian Pauli.
It happened when Convey, who some will also recognize as a former EPTLive commentator, opened for 2,200 from middle position and Pauli three-bet to 5,400 from the button. The blinds both folded, and Convey thought for a few moments before four-betting all in for what looked to be 21,000. Pauli snap-called and Convey seemed to know he was in trouble.
Convey:
Pauli:
Indeed, Convey was dominated, and he began to get up put of his chair. The flop didn't do him any favors, and while the turn delivered him a flush draw, the river failed to complete it.
"Good luck," Convey offered the table, which also included reigning EPT Player of the Year Dzmitry Urbanovich and online legend Liviu "0Human0" Ignat.
Canada’s Sam Chartier is the man to catch going into Day 2 of the Season 12 European Poker Tour Prague Main Event where 603 of the 1,037 players remain in contention for the title of champion. Chartier bagged up 211,500 chips as Day 1b came to a conclusion, 20,900 more than the Day 1a chip leader, Belarus’ Anton Astapau.
Some of the best poker players in the world survived their respective starting flights and are now in with a legitimate chance of leaving the Czech capital with the coveted winner’s trophy and an oversized novelty cheque for a sum of money most of us mere mortals can only dream of.
During our live coverage of the €5,300 buy-in spectacular, look out for such luminaries as Adrian Mateos (150,200), former EPT Prague winner Roberto Romanello (147,800), Charlie Carrel (120,500), Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst, and Johnny Lodden (66,000), Martin Hruby (58,200), Kitty Kuo (99,500), James Akenhead (98,300), Andrew Chen (74,400), and scores more household names.
The plan of action for Day 2 is to play six 75-minute levels with no dinner break, but a 20-minute break after every two completed levels. This means the tournament should be wrapped up shortly after 8:00 pm local time, and by then we should have a clearer picture of who the EPT12 Prague Main Event champion may be.
![[user20283]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. The turn was a bit scary as the 
popped up, giving Moradi a flush draw, but the river sealed the deal with the 
.
flop didn't do him any favors, and while the 
turn delivered him a flush draw, the 
river failed to complete it.
