Aliaksandr Shylko raised to 4,200 from the small blind and Thomas Santerne defended out of the big blind.
Shylko continued for 2,200 on the flop and Santerne called. Shylko then bet 17,000 on the turn with less than that in the pot and Santerne called.
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 for a set, but it was no good against the rivered flush of Santerne with to leave Shylko with crumbs.
A few hands later, Shylko jammed for just more than one big blind and Juha Helppi and Pieter Aerts both called out of the blinds.
Helppi and Aerts both checked on the flop as well as the turn. Helppi checked again on the river and folded when Aerts bet 2,500. Shylko tabled 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.
Simeon Naydenov has just been on a two-hand heater that resulted in him first getting paid off for his full house, then hitting a royal flush.
In the first hand, Nozomu Shimizu raised to 2,500 from the button, Dawid Smolka called in the small blind and Simeon Naydenov called in the big blind. The flop came . Smolka checked, Naydenov checked and Shimizu bet 12,000. Naydenov put in a small check-raise to 24,000 and Shimizu called.
The turn was the and both players checked. The river came the and Naydenov shoved for his remaining chips, which was around 18,000.
"Maybe queen high is good?" said Shimizu. He then used a couple of time bank cards before eventually making the call. Naydenov showed 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.
The very next hand, [Removed:452] went all in from middle position with around 11,000, a shove for less than 10 big blinds. Naydenov called the shove and players turned their cards.
[Removed:452]:
Simeon Naydenov:
The board ran out . Naydenov hit the absolute nuts, a royal flush on the flop. Kaladjurdjevic had no chance of coming back and was eliminated from the tournament.
Naydenov joked about whether or not he was entitled to a casino bonus for his royal flush (he wasn't). In any case, in just two hands, Naydenov went from a short stack to well above average.
Steve O'Dwyer was out of position against Conor Beresford and got to the river on a board of .
Beresford bet 9,500 on the river and O'Dwyer raised to 34,000. Beresford thought over a decision and called.
O'Dwyer tabled 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.
"You play really well, Stevie! Nice call on the flop!" Kabrhel said as O'Dwyer, Beresford and others at the table broke into laughter. "You play excellent poker! Stevie Wonder, everybody!"
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.