"$harkFlo" raised the cutoff to 7,350 and Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis defended his big blind with a call. The flop was and Veldhuis check-called a bet of 6,416. They both checked the turn, but when Veldhuis check the river, "$harkFlo" potted for 32,882 and got the call. "$harkFlo" showed and Veldhuis mucked.
From November 8-16, the European Poker Tour (EPT) Online will offer $20 million in guarantees over 20 tournaments. The series will culminate with the $5,200 buy-in 2020 EPT Online Main Event on Sunday, November 15 at 18:05 (GMT), and you have a chance to play in that tournament for free!
PokerNews, who will offer live updates from all 20 events, and PokerStars have joined forces to award one lucky winner a $5,200 seat into the EPT Online Main Event. All you have to do is submit a winning video and pledge to donate 10% of any winnings to a charity of your choice. That’s why we’re calling it #EPT4Charity.
Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis opened to 10,250 from the middle, and got called in two spots, including big blind "$harkFlo". It checked to the player on the button when the flop came , and they fired 12.5K. "$harkFlo" called before Veldhuis check-raised to 40K. Only "$harkFlo" called to see on the turn, and they check-called for 80K. On the river, "$harkFlo" check-called for 205K.
"$harkFlo":
Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis:
Board:
"$harkFlo" hit top pair on the flop, and held for a big pot.
There are now 1,936 entries on the board as the prize pool approaches $2 million. More than 1,000 players are still in the running for a piece of those prizes.
"Hendurr" opened the cutoff to 14K, and Aliaksandr "Alexgirs" Hirs called the big blind. They both checked the flop of , and "Hendurr" called for 20,576 on the turn. When the river came , Hirs fired 49,800, and "Hendurr" called.
"Hendurr":
Aliaksandr "Alexgirs" Hirs:
Board:
Hirs flopped best, but "Hendurr" got there with two pair on the river for the win.
Andy "BowieEffect" Wilson raised it to 20.7K from the hijack before Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis shoved for 101,120 from the cutoff and Wilson called it off with the bigger stack.
Andy "BowieEffect" Wilson:
Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis:
Board:
Veldhuis had the best ace going in, and held to take down a much-needed double.
Aliaksandr "Alexgirs" Hirs raised the hijack to 21K, then called the cutoff three-bet to 65K from Laszlo "Lackoo87gcb" Molnar. The flop came and Hirs check-called for 55K. Hirs check-called again for 135K on the turn, and Hirs check-called for his stack on the river.
After 15 levels and just over 8 hours of play, Day 1 is now complete for the opening event of 2020 PokerStars EPT Online. A total of 2,179 entries have been recorded so far, with just 622 left in play. At the top of the pack is Ireland's Toby "sadface11" Joyce with 4,336,056, the only player with more than 4 million chips.
Registration for this event is still open, and players can still buy in until the start of Day 2 play. When they resume in Level 16, blinds will be at 6K/12K/1.5K, which means that the 250K starting stack will be worth just over 20 big blinds for the first level of Day 2 play. While the prize pool for EPT Online 01: $1,050 NLHE [Arena Championship] has already surpassed the $1.5 million guarantee with more than $2 million in the kitty, there's still plenty of time for that to grow even larger.
Top Ten Stacks After Day 1
Place
Player
Country
Chips
1
Toby "sadface11" Joyce
Ireland
4,336,056
2
marlin5555
Canada
3,458,938
3
machadinhaRS
Brazil
3,305,384
4
Michel "FreeLancerZZ" Dattani
Malta
3,173,754
5
Ilya "thienlao21" Korobkin
Ukraine
3,098,288
6
99dm84
Bosnia and Herzegovina
3,050,582
7
Barbarossa_7
Austria
3,040,644
8
Artem "veeea" Vezhenkov
Russian Federation
2,990,642
9
serrazina11
Malta
2,949,886
10
Andrey "ThePateychuk" Pateychuk
Russian Federation
2,932,600
The Day's Action
Action on EPT Online 01: $1,050 NLHE [Arena Championship] got underway at 1:05 p.m. eastern time today, and it was clear from the start that it would be a success. More than 600 players were in their seats for the start of the event, and they'd already cleared the guarantee before the end of Level 6.
By the time they'd played the full 15 levels of Day 1, the field had topped out at 2,179 entries, putting the prize pool at $2,179,000. Entry is still open until Day 2 starts, so that is expected to grow even farther.
There was no luck today for the team from PokerStars. PokerStars Team Online members Ben "Spraggy" Spragg, Fintan "EasyWithAces" Hand, and Lex "L. Veldhuis" Veldhuis, as well as PokerStars Ambassador Ramon "RamonColillas" Colillas, all started the day with high hopes but all finished the tournament before the end of Day 1. Veldhuis made it the farthest, holding a decent stack through much of the day and even hitting a royal flush at one point, before falling in the final level.
PokerNews will be at the virtual felt watching all the action as this event plays down to a winner. Action on Day 2 resumes at 1:10 p.m. eastern time Monday, and they'll play down to 72 players remaining before stopping for the night. PokerNews will also have action from all the other events in the first ever 2020 PokerStars EPT Online, so stay tuned.