Asher Neaman was sitting with a pile of Govert Metaal’s chips in his stack going over the hand where he had taken them. “The river is very bad for you. I must call” Neaman told him.
“I don’t play anymore against you. I’m folding jacks if you raise.” Metaal joked, but it was a big hit to take early on.
Kitty Kuo raised to 300 on the button and picked up one caller in the big blind. The flop was checked and they saw the hit the turn.
The payer in the big blind bet 300 and Kuo flicked out the call. On the river it was checked to Kuo who bet 600 which seemed to surprise the other player who leaned back in his chair.
Kuo stared into space riffling chips for a while until another player at her table asked where the dealer was from. Kuo teased him that he was looking for a girlfriend and then chatted a bit more to him. Thinking over Kuo got the call and she flipped over for the winner.
Over at table 23 there was some controversy going on. With a board of Miroslav Rizov from Bulgaria in the cut off had 575 in front of him and his cards facedown across the betting line. His neighbor Konstantinos Tsirakidis from Greece on the button had 350 and opened up in front if him.
It turned out that Rizov had checked on the river, Tsirakidis had bet three 100 chips and two 25 chips. Rizov thought one of the 25 chips was a 100 chip and wanted to call with one 500 chip and three 25 chips. Before anything else happened Tsirakidis showed the winning hand and Rizov mucked as he was beat by the two pair. Now it turned out the 575 was a raise - an illegitimate one, but a raise nonetheless.
The floor was called over and he made a ruling that wasn't to the liking of Rizov. "You're going to make me raise after showdown? This is #$%&! ridiculous!" said an angered Rizov. The floor than called over Luca Vivaldi who made the ruling that Rizov wasn't forced to make the raise to 700, but he would have to forfeit the 575 in front of him. Rizov and one more player at the table didn't understand this ruling at all, as they thought it was either a call or a raise, half a raise wasn't possible they said; "Please call over someone who knows the rules! Call over Thomas!"
Luca called over tournament director Thomas Lamatsch and he made sure both players understood that the hard ruling would be that Rizov had to raise to 700, only to give back all options to Tsirakidis who would obviously call (or raise) as he already knew he had the best hand with his back doored two pair. Instead they would be more kind and just have him forfeit the 575. Rizov still didn't really agree, but thought the whole thing was taking too long and so he gave the 575 and with some muttering proceeded to play the next hand.
Daphne van Dijk from The Netherlands qualified online, just like two years ago when she played the Main Event here in Prague as well. Van Dijk didn't make the money back then, but she started out rather good here this year.
She told us she's up to 40,000 already, a 10,000 improvement within the first level. First she won a non showdown pot where she had made a straight, later she won another pot where she made a flush on the river and did go to showdown.
Six players have already lost their 30,000 starting stack. These unfortunate souls make room for more players who signed up a bit later. The clock mentions 591 total entries so far today, with 585 still playing. The tournament is expected to grow bigger during the day, a lot of people will come in a bit later.
We received the following update from the European Poker Tour team, and thought it was too good not to share:
Prison warden Mike Neuens from Luxembourg has come close to winning his country’s biggest ever live poker tournament victory by taking down the first ever €300 Eureka Prague Cup. Neuen’s €78,400 prize increases his lifetime tournament winnings ten-fold and was only €2k short of the biggest ever live cash ever won by a player from Luxembourg. He has now jumped instantly from #17 in his country’s all time money list to the #2 spot.
Neuens, 34, beat 29-year-old Israeli international chess master Gaby Livshitz heads-up to take down the Prague Cup which attracted a staggering 1,546 entries over three start days. Luxembourg is a tiny land-locked country in the centre of Europe with a population of just over half a million; it has a close-knit online poker community but most players seem to head 150km north east to Namur in Belgium to compete in bigger live events. Neuen’s result is not only a personal best for him, it’s also the second biggest result ever achieved by any player from his country. Only Pit Hemmerling has had a bigger score – winning $100k in a $2,500 event in Cyprus five years ago. Neuens is also only the second Luxembourgian to win an EPT event of any kind after his fellow countryman Ken Geschwind won a €100 NL Turbo at EPT Vienna last season for €5k. Neuens’ biggest cash before today was runner-up in a €300 NL event at Kings Casino, Rozvadov nearly four years ago for €8k. A total of 231 players took a share of the €449,886 prize pool.
The full betting details escaped us, but PokerStars Team Pro Jan Heitmann was among the early eliminations just after the start of level two. Tomasz Wrobel had flopped the straight with on a board of and Heitmann had for the gutshot and nut flush draw. The remainder of the stack went in after the turn, but the river was no good to the German.
was checked and they saw the 
hit the turn.
it was checked to Kuo who bet 600 which seemed to surprise the other player who leaned back in his chair.
for the winner.
Miroslav Rizov from Bulgaria in the cut off had 575 in front of him and his cards facedown across the betting line. His neighbor Konstantinos Tsirakidis from Greece on the button had 350 and 
opened up in front if him.
on a board of 
and Heitmann had 
for the gutshot and nut flush draw. The remainder of the stack went in after the turn, but the river was no good to the German.
