More and more players are trickling in to get their manual seating and among them were former EPT €10,300 High Roller champion Josip Simunic, David Laka, Eureka Hamburg Main Event champion Dinesh Alt, two-time World Series of Poker Main Event finalist Antoine Saout and Luis Rodriguez Cruz.
Cruz recently finished 8th in the WSOP Europe Main Event for €97,344 and finished in the very same position in the last PokerStars Championship €10,300 High Roller back in August in Barcelona.
Picking up the action on the flop, Nicola Grieco and Stephen Chidwick in the blinds both checked. Andrey Novak bet 1,150 and both opponents called. On the turn, once again the action checked to Novak, who bet 3,850. While Grieco quickly folded, Chidwick had other plans and check-raised to 15,000.
Novak used one time bank extension in level one already and called with five seconds left. The on the river was checked through and Novak claimed a big pot early on with the .
On a flop, Johan Guilbert bet 1,200 and Orpen Kisacikoglu called in position. The turn brought the and in one swoop motion, Guilbert flung four T-1,000 chips forward. Kisacikoglu gave it some thought before committing another call.
On the river, Guilbert checked and folded to a 7,000 bet from Kisacikogl.
Level one has kicked off with around 40 players and manual seating, and below is a list of notables that already took their seats. Many more are expected to join the action and the tables are in the main tournament room near the Main Event feature table.
The final High Roller of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Prague festival kicks off at 12.30 p.m. local time at the Hilton Hotel Prague with Day 1 of the €10,300 High Roller. One year ago, the EPT13 gathered a record field of 407 entries for this very event and created a prize pool of €3,947,900. Master of speech play William Kassouf claimed the trophy and €532,500 after cutting a deal with Patrick Serda, who walked away with a payday of €719,000.
It is also the last PokerStars Championship High Roller title up for grabs after PokerStars announced the return to the European Poker Tour brand as of 2018, and some of the biggest names in poker are expcted to battle it out over the next three days. Day 1 will feature a total of 10 levels of 60 minutes each and all participants receive 50,000 in chips. A single re-entry is available during the registration period, and players can join the action until the cards are back in the air for Day 2.
Day 1 Level Structure
Level
Duration
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
60 min
100
200
25
2
60 min
100
200
25
Break 20 min
3
60 min
150
300
50
4
60 min
200
400
50
Break 20 min
5
60 min
250
500
75
6
60 min
300
600
100
Dinner Break 75 min
7
60 min
400
800
100
8
60 min
500
1,000
100
Break 20 min
9
60 min
600
1,200
200
10
60 min
800
1,600
200
Previous PokerStars Championship High Roller winners in 2017 include Luc Greenwood, Irish / American poker icon Steve O'Dwyer, Sosia Jiang,Julian Stuer and Ronny Kaiser. Back in August, Kaiser emerged on top of a field of 557 entries after cutting a deal with Markus Durnegger and 2017 WSOP Main Event finalist Benjamin Pollak to take home €735,000 for his efforts.