2021 PokerStars EPT Prague

In the early hours of the morning on Tuesday, March 8, the final starting flight of the €1,100 Eureka Main Event (FKA EPT National) wrapped up with 96 players advancing to Day 2 which begins in less than 9 hours time at 12 p.m. CET.

Day 1d operated as a turbo flight, with levels increasing every 20-minutes. It was a fast and ferocious affair, with action going from the get go.

By the time late registration closed, there were 654 entries, taking the total number to a massive 3,155. It was a record setting field, and with that, a record setting prize pool of €3,028,000. Across the four starting flights, 469 players made it through to Day 2 and they have all locked up a min-cash, which is yet to be determined.

EPT National/Eureka Main Event History

*From 2011-16, the event operated under freezeout rules

Day 1d Recap

Patrik Jaros capped off the day as the chip leader, joining the likes of Mateusz Szymanski, Daniel Lakerveld and Maxime Costas, who all finished their respective flight's a top of the chip counts.

Rounding out the top three chip stacks for Day 1d were Samy Dubonnet and Justin Tsui. Notable names who progressed from the final starting flight include Patrick Leonard, Kacper Pyzara and Didier Rabl. Georgios Vrakas, who won this event in 2017, has the chance to become a two-time champion, finishing the day with a stack of 118,000.

PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas, Triple Crown Winner Niall Farrell and Ludovic Geilich were just some of the well-known players to fall at the first hurdle.

Eugenio Peralta was the unfortunate bubble boy, and was ousted by Andreas Krause in a blind versus blind confrontation.

Day 1d Top 10 Chip Counts

Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action from this event and every EPT Prague event here at King’s Casino Prague. Don't forget that Day 2 gets underway on Tuesday, March 8 at 12 p.m. CET.

Now that the bubble has burst, the remaining 96 players are bagging and tagging their stacks for Day 2. Full chip counts and end of day recap to follow shortly.

Eugenio Peralta jammed for 46,000 from the small blind and was snap-called by Andreas Krause in the big blind.

Eugenio Peralta:
Andreas Krause:

Peralta was in bad shape and the flop offered no revival. The turn was no help and the river confirmed Peralta's status as the bubble boy.

Justin Tsui jammed from the cutoff and Laurynas Levinskas called it off for his tournament life.

Laurynas Levinskas:
Justin Tsui: :

Levinskas would go on to make Broadway after the runout.

Just 100 players remain and a maximum of 98 players will make Day 2.

Marco Leonzio opened to 30,000 on the button and then snap-called the 122,000 all-in from Volodymyr Kotlyk. Leonzio let out a whimper as his Kings were up against Aces. The aces held as the board ran out with the .

As Kotlyk doubled, 2021 WSOPE Main Event bubble boy Enrico Campanile was seen leaving the tournament area.

Daewoong Song jammed for 50,000 from the cutoff and was only called by Jorge Ufano in the small blind.

Daewoong Song:
Jorge Ufano:

The pocket threes avoided any trouble and remained the best hand after the .