Robert Cowen Near the Top on Day 1b as 2022 EPT Prague Main Event Sets New Attendance Record
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After record fields in the Eureka €1,100 Main Event and €2,200 High Roller, the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour stop in capital of the Czech Republic has continued the path success in the crown jewel of the schedule as well. Even before the end of the late registration period, a new record attendance has already been confirmed for the 2022 EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event.
The second starting flight used every single table in the grand ballroom at Hilton Hotel Prague at some point and was bursting with poker action. Ultimately, a massive field of 825 entries emerged to boost the overall attendance to more than 1,200 entries.
With the registration still open until the cards go back in the air at noon local time, 11 players have already signed up and more are likely to follow. At least 1,238 confirmed entries, the total prize pool has surpassed €6 million and some 405 players will return to their seats in pursuit of glory.
A trio of players was able to increase the starting stack of 30,000 more than ten-fold and Pot-Limit Omaha specialist Ka Kwan Lau (322,000) edged ahead of fellow four-card aficionado Robert Cowen (321,500) by a single chip. Arjel Daci from Albania follows in third place with 302,000) and there is already a gap to Ismail Kalkan (242,500) and [Removed:431] (238,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1b
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ka Kwan Lau | Spain | 322,000 | 215 |
| 2 | Robert Cowen | United Kingdom | 321,500 | 214 |
| 3 | Arjel Daci | Albania | 302,000 | 201 |
| 4 | Ismail Kalkan | Germany | 242,500 | 162 |
| 5 | [Removed:431] | Germany | 238,500 | 159 |
| 6 | Michael Pinto | Netherlands | 220,500 | 147 |
| 7 | Kai Uwe Lach | Germany | 219,500 | 146 |
| 8 | Petr Svoboda | Czech Republic | 219,000 | 146 |
| 9 | Nikolay Ivanov | Bulgaria | 216,000 | 144 |
| 10 | Nazar Buhaiov | Ukraine | 209,500 | 140 |
Cowen has had an excellent past 12 months on the live poker circuit and took down the €10,300 EPT High Roller during the rescheduled Prague festival in March 2022 for €475,410. During the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the Englishman reached three final tables and won his second gold bracelet in the $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller alongside a top prize of $1,393,816. He spent the last two months away in Brazil to relax away from the poker tables and instantly hit the ground running on the return.
Other notables with big stacks include Petr Svoboda (219,000), Ami Barer (209,000), former PokerStars ambassador Marcin Horecki (192,000), Bleron Maliqi (172,500), Lander Lijo (168,000), Erwann Pecheux (161,500), and Alexandre Reard (151,000) to name all but a few of those who made it through.
Three PokerStars ambassadors advanced in Parker Talbot (131,500), Alejandro Lococo (108,500), and Sam Grafton (64,500), while Jen Shahade was among the hundreds of casualties throughout the ten 60-minute levels. Lococo had even more reason to celebrate in the late stages of Day 1b as his home country of Argentina advanced to the finals of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The list of casualties on Day 1b included familiar faces such as Niko Koop, Jorryt van Hoof, Jack Sinclair, Symeon Alexandridis, Teun Mulder, Julien Martini, Kully Sidhu, Manuel Ruivo, Fedor Holz, David Boyaciyan, Gab Yong Kim, Rainer Kempe, Ana Marquez, and Maria Lampropulos, among others.
Several EPT Main Event champions were aiming to add a second title to their resume but that bid came up short for Robin Ylitalo, Sebastian Sorensson, Uri Gilboa, and Hossein Ensan. Aliaksei Boika advanced with 97,500 and Dominik Panka made it through with 91,500 as both are flirting with the average for Day 2. Both are joined by Davidi Kitai (50,500), Jan Bendik (43,500), and Ognyan Dimov (38,000) while the EPT stalwarts Juha Helppi (25,500) and Vladimir Troyanovskiy (23,000) carried over fewer chips than they started with.
All Day 1 survivors will return to their seats at noon local time on Wednesday, December 14, 2022. As of then, all levels will last 90 minutes long and the race to the money bubble and beyond begins. Late entrants before the cards go in the air start their journey with 20 big blinds at 1,000-1,500 and a big blind ante of 1,500.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide all the action on moving day. Furthermore, the live stream feature table action also commences with cards-up coverage and commentary on a security delay of 30 minutes on the PokerStars social media channels.