Imagine winning €595,500 a few days before Christmas. It'd be amazing, right? Well, in a few hours one of the final 18 players in the EPT12 Prague €10,000 High Roller will have that amount credited to their bank account and will forever be known as the tournament's champion.
At the start of play is is American star Kevin MacPhee who is in pole position to win that massive sum of money having bagged up 1,576,000 chips at the end of Day 2. However, Switzerland's Felix Bleiker finished second in chips only a solitary 1,000 chip behind MacPhee.
Despite their big stacks, neither MacPhee or Bleiker are going to have things their own way because there are some extremely talented individuals still in the hunt for the title, and if they don't win it they will have a major influence over where that trophy calls home for the next year.
The likes of Rocco Palumbo, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst, Davidi Kitai, and Daniel "Jungleman" Cates are still in the mix, making for what should be an exciting final day here in Prague.
Table
Seat
Name
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
1
Mikkel Lokkegaard Hansen
Denmark
293,000
12
1
2
William Foxen
United States
1,124,000
45
1
3
Iliodoros Kamatakis
Greece
1,230,000
51
1
5
Mihails Morozovs
Latvia
675,000
28
1
6
Jaroslaw Sikora
Poland
1,227,000
51
1
8
Daniel Cates
United States
997,000
41
2
2
Ihar Soika
Belarus
1,012,000
42
2
3
Davidi Kitai
Belgium
446,000
19
2
4
Vanessa Selbst
United States
1,190,000
50
2
5
Kevin MacPhee
United States
1,576,000
66
2
6
Kenneth Smaron
United States
415,000
17
2
7
Aleksandr Denisov
Russia
935,000
39
3
1
Rocco Palumbo
Italy
1,257,000
52
3
2
Bryan Paris
United States
252,000
11
3
4
Artem Metalidi
Ukraine
165,000
7
3
6
Nicholas Palma
United States
335,000
14
3
7
Luc Greenwood
Canada
1,065,000
44
3
8
Felix Bleiker
Switzerland
1,575,000
66
Stay tuned to PokerNews from 12:30 pm CET as we bring you al of the action from the EPT12 Prague €10,000 High Roller.
Rocco Palumbo opened for 55,000 only to have a short-stacked Artem Metalidi three-bet jam from the button for around 160,000. The blinds both folded and Palumbo made the call.
Metalidi:
Palumbo:
Metalidi was pipped, and he failed to get lucky as the board ran out a clean .
Action folded to a short-stacked Nicholas Palma in the small blind and he open-shipped for just over 200K, which Luc Greenwood snap-called from the big blind.
Palma:
Greenwood:
"It's alright, a three is coming," Palma said optimistically.
Unfortunately for him, his prediction did not come true as the board ran out an unhelpful .
Bryan Paris' high roller is over after a clash with Kenneth Smaron didn't go to plan.
Paris pushed all-in from early position for around 370,000 and Smaron called from the big bling. "Nice hand," said Paris as he saw that his was in poor shape against Smaron's .
The board ran to bust Paris, and propel Smaron to 1,260,000, a fantastic start for the American who sat down with 415,000 chips at the start of Day 3.
Not long after Mikkel Lokkegaard Hansen doubled through Daniel Cates, the latter returned the favor.
It happened when Cates shoved for 417,000 from the button and Hansen called from the small blind.
Cates:
Hansen:
Hansen woke up with another big hand, but Cates managed to get lucky on the flop. Neither the turn nor river helped Hansen, and he was left with just 106,000 after the hand.
In the very next hand, Hansen shoved the button for 102,000 and Iliodoros Kamatakis called from the big blind.
Hansen:
Kamatakis:
The flop gave Hansen a pair of tens, but Kamatakis picked up an open-ended straight draw, which came in after the dealer burned and turned the . The meaningless was put out on the river for good measure, and then Hansen made his way to the payout desk in 15th place to collect €40,640.
Action folded to William Foxen on the button and he raised to 66,000. Iliodoros Kamatakis, who was in the small blind, then three-bet to 200,000, and Rocco Palumbo folded from the big. Foxen took his time before four-betting all in for approximately 800,000, and Kamatakis double checked his cards before making the call.
Kamatakis:
Foxen:
Foxen was understandably disappointed upon discovering he was dominated, and he watched helplessly as the board ran out an unhelpful . Foxen will take home €40,640 for his 14th-place finish.
Luc Greenwood is the latest player to be eliminated from the €10,300 High Roller here at EPT12 Prague, crashing out at the hands of the seemingly unstoppable Iliodoros Kamatakis.
Kamatakis raised to 67,000 and instantly called when Greenwood three-bet all-in for around 600,000 from the small blind.
Greenwood:
Kamatakis:
"Put a king out right away," said Kamatakis to the deal, and although he didn't put a king on the board, the five community cards ran a king-friendly to bust Greenwood and push Kamatakis to 3,700,000 chips.
"Come on!" ssaid Kamatakis as he got busy stacking his mountain of chips.
Mihails Morozovs shoved his last 347,000 all in from the hijack and received a call from Jaroslaw Sikora in the cutoff.
Morozovs:
Sikora:
It was a flip, but not after the flop came down flop improved Sikora to a set. The turn was great for Morozovs, who picked up a double gutshot straight draw, though it didn't come in as the useless peeled off on the river.
Action folded to the extremely short-stacked Aleksandr Denisov in the small blind and he raised to 100,000, leaving himself less than that back. Iliodoros Kamatakis then raised from the big blind and Denisov called off for what looked to be 170,000 total.
Denisov:
Kamatakis:
Denisov got up out of his seat upon seeing Kamatakis' hand, and his fate was all but sealed on the flop. The turn left him drawing dead, and he took his leave in 11th place after the was run out on the river.
Kevin MacPhee was the chip leader going into Day 3, but has now bubbled a final table appearance.
MacPhee opened to 60,000 and was three-bet to 215,000 by Kenneth Smaron. MacPhee responded with a four-bet all-in for around 900,000 and Smaron instantly called.
Smaron:
MacPhee:
MacPhee looked to have earned a reprieve when the flop came into view, then fell behind on the turn. All MacPhee could do now was lose or chop and did the former with the arrival of the river. An expletive later and MacPhee headed to the cashier's cage to collect €51,330.
![[user153638]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
.
was in poor shape against Smaron's 
.
to bust Paris, and propel Smaron to 1,260,000, a fantastic start for the American who sat down with 415,000 chips at the start of Day 3.
flop. Neither the 
turn nor 
river helped Hansen, and he was left with just 106,000 after the hand.
was put out on the river for good measure, and then Hansen made his way to the payout desk in 15th place to collect €40,640.
turn was great for Morozovs, who picked up a double gutshot straight draw, though it didn't come in as the useless 
peeled off on the river.
flop. The 
was run out on the river.
