Japan at the Top After Day 1 of the €10,300 EPT Paris High Roller
Day 1 of the €10,300 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris High Roller has come to an end. 394 entries made their way to the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile, of which 173 filled their bag with chips at the end of day. The players played ten one-hour levels, and in the end it was Kazuhiko Yotsushika who bagged the most chips with 433,000 (289 BB). The other 172 players will join him Saturday at 12:30 p.m. for Day 2 of this three-day tournament.
Close behind is fellow Japanese player Jun Obara, who bagged 401,000 chips. Jenya Gavrilovich is the final player on the podium, landing in third with 360,000. The prizepool these players are fighting is standing at €3,782,400, but registration is open until the start of Day 2, so that is still expected to grow.
€10,300 EPT Prague High Roller Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kazuhiki Yotsushika | Japan | 433,000 | 289 |
| 2 | Jun Obara | Japan | 401,000 | 267 |
| 3 | Jenya Gavrilovich | Belarus | 360,000 | 240 |
| 4 | Alberto Okuda | Brazil | 328,500 | 219 |
| 5 | Rui Ferreira | Portugal | 316,500 | 211 |
| 6 | Lander Lijo | Spain | 303,000 | 202 |
| 7 | Igor Picone | France | 299,000 | 199 |
| 8 | Mateus Endo | Brazil | 298,000 | 199 |
| 9 | Julien Sitbon | France | 284,500 | 190 |
| 10 | Alexander Ivarsson | Sweden | 269,500 | 180 |
Day 1 Action
The start of the day had a little delay as players were slowly finding their seats but, eventually, the field started growing at a rapid pace. Among those who found their way to the tournament room were high stakes regulars Sam Greenwood, Ren Lin, Adrian Mateos and Teun Mulder. All of them busted the two entries that were allowed and are thus out of contention for the win.
The likes of PokerStars Ambassadors Benjamin Spragg and Ramon Colillas also failed to make it through the day, but have only fired one bullet so can still reenter until registration closes at the start of Day 2.
Chris Brewer has bagged and tagged 55,000 chips and is looking to win his third trophy during this EPT Paris. Other players still in that have won an event already this festival are Mike Watson (94,000), Stephen Chidwick (87,000), Humberto Lopes Galindo (58,000), Andre Marques (16,000) and Bruno Fitoussi (11,000)
Other notable names that did make it through the day include Steve O'Dwyer (182,500) and Sam Grafton (111,000).
Play will continue on Day 2 at 12:30 p.m. local time in Level 11 with blinds at 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante. The field will play ten levels of 60 minutes before those who will make it through return on Day 3 on Sunday for the finale.
The PokerNews team will be there on Saturday for live coverage of the €10,300 High Roller, as well as other tournaments found at our EPT Paris Main Hub.
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for a rivered full house and Beresford mucked, while Martin Kabrhel hit O'Dwyer with several needles after O'Dwyer apparently floated the flop before the turn checked through.
. Smolka checked, Naydenov checked and Shimizu bet 12,000. Naydenov put in a small check-raise to 24,000 and Shimizu called. 
and both players checked. The river came the 
and Naydenov shoved for his remaining chips, which was around 18,000. 
for the full house, kings full of eights. Shimizu showed 
. He had assumed Naydenov was running a bluff on the double paired board and, true to his word, called with queen high. Naydenov scooped a nice pot.
. Naydenov hit the absolute nuts, a royal flush on the flop. Kaladjurdjevic had no chance of coming back and was eliminated from the tournament. 
flop and Santerne called. Shylko then bet 17,000 on the 
completed the board and Shylko used a time bank before betting 35,000 and leaving himself just 1,600 behind. Santerne snap-called. Shylko showed 
to leave Shylko with crumbs.
for an underpair and couldn't survive as Aerts showed 
for a pair of jacks to send the 2023 PokerStars Players Championship winner to the rail.
, forcing him to give away many of his hard-earned chips to Ferreira Pais.
river fell, he left the tournament area frustratedly but had enough sportsmanship to give his opponent a fist bump beforehand.
and Landgraf held to eliminate Shing from the tournament. 
and had a stack of around 70,000 at the end of it all.
