In the last hand of the previous level, Sam Greenwood opened for 10,000 under the gun plus one and Anthony Zinno three-bet to 28,000 from the cutoff. The button and both blinds folded rapidly and the decision was back on Greenwood. Greenwood eyed Zinno's stack for just a bit before announcing all in. Zinno called instantly for 165,500 total.
In the last hand before the dinner break, Joao Vieira opened for 15,000 under the gun and Sam Greenwood called from the hijack. Orpen Kisacikoglu called as well in the cutoff before small blind Ben Heath shoved for 248,000. After some tanking, Vieira called all in for less than Heath's stack, Greenwood called as well.
Sam Greenwood:
Joao Vieira:
Ben Heath:
The board ran out and Heath almost tripled, busting Vieira and leaving Greenwood short.
Down to just 42,000 and the shortest in the game, Rocco Palumbo shoved all in under the gun. Hossein Ensan called from the hijack before Anthony Zinno in the cutoff over shoved for what appeared to be 163,000. Ensan folded.
Rocco Palumbo:
Anthony Zinno:
The wasn't too good a news for Palumbo and the on the turn sealed his faith. The river was inconsequential and Palumbo wished the table good luck before making his exit.
With the departure of Palumbo, the tournament is now in the money. The remaining 39 players are guaranteed €17,000.
Ryan Riess bet 45,000, leaving 1,000 behind. Sergi Reixach called on the button and the blinds mucked. Riess used his whole 30 seconds and checked, trying to drag down the pace as much as possible on the pay jump. The flop had come . Reixach set him in for the last 1,000 and Riess used to two time extensions and then called, seeing players all in at other tables.
Riess:
Reixach:
Reixach had outflopped him and the turn and river sealed Riess' fate as he missed the jump. Unfortunately for him, the other players at the table informed him, he actually had about 45 seconds left before his hand was dead, which he lamented afterward.
Unfortunately, we were just too late to catch all the details. David Peters told us the following:
Sam Greenwood opened under the gun and big blind Christopher Kruk defended. Kruk check-raised on and Greenwood called. Kruk shoved on the turn and Greenwood called.
Kruk showed , Greenwood tabled . The river was good for Kruk, Greenwood eliminated.
Kfir Ivgi opened for 25,000 and his neighbor Jean-Noel Thorel three-bet to 100,000. It folded back to Ivgi and he called to see a flop.
Ivgi checked on and Thorel instantly shoved for 400,000 even.
Ivgi was dumbfounded, smiled, and asked for a count. When he heard how much it was, he started talking. He used a time bank card and reasoned through the hand.
"Maybe you have queens," Ivgi said.
"Maybe" Thorel answered.
"But then I still win," Ivgi continued. "Why so much? It makes no sense!" Ivgi said.
Thorel just laughed and repeated answering "Maybe" when Ivgi told him his thoughts.
After about 25 seconds, Ivgi just slammed a couple of green 25,000-chips in the middle.
Kfir Ivgi:
Jean-Noel Thorel:
Thorel was on the verge of scoring a huge double, the on the turn was still good for him. The on the river, though, wasn't and all he could mutter was "Ai! Ooh la la" as he made his way to the payout.
Danny Tang was first to act and raised to 35,000. Big blind Benjamin Chalot called to see a flop heads up.
Chalot checked on and saw Tang continuation bet for 29,000. Chalot check shoved for about 270,000 and Tang called.
Danny Tang:
Benjamin Chalot:
Chalot picked up some extra outs with the on the turn but the on the river wasn't one of the cards he was looking for and he exited in 18th place. The remaining 17 players are guaranteed €30,500 from here on out.
The PokerStars Championship Prague €10,300 High Roller is down to its final 16 competitors, and everyone's looking way up at Spanish super high roller Sergio Aido. Aido bagged 2,147,000 to give himself a wide lead over second-place Danny Tang (1,593,000).
The Spaniard has been one of the more successful players on the nosebleed circuit this year, totaling over $3 million in cashes across all of his tournaments. The only player north of 100 big blinds, he's certainly positioned himself as well as possible after the long Day 2 grind that lasted about 12 hours.
Christopher Kruk was the player looking most dominant for much of the day as he racked up an absurdly large stack with crushing play in the early levels. However, Aido victimized him in the penultimate level, flopping bottom set of eights in a three-bet pot and barreling down. Kruk called a river shove with king-queen on the board that contained two aces, a king and a queen.
Tang also chipped up courtesy of a set against Kruk, getting a huge river bet paid off after playing top set in a tricky fashion with a flop check-raise and a turn check.
Despite the devastating series of losses, Kruk still maintains a pulse, going into the final day of play as the shortest stack with a little under 12 big blinds.
Other players of note in the final 16 include Hossein Ensan, JC Alvarado and David Peters.
Ensan won the EPT Prague Main Event in this very venue back in 2015 for €754,510. This wouldn't be quite as handsome a prize — first place is €498,000 — but Ensan and his fellow Day 2 survivors certainly wouldn't sneeze at pocketing half a million euro.
Pocket nines proved to be Ensan's lucky hand, as he put a sick beat on PokerStars Team Pro Jake Cody when each player flopped a set but Ensan turned quads to beat Cody's queens full. Ensan then flopped another set of nines against the aces of Antoine Saout to bust him in the money.
Some other players cashing among the 39 paid spots were Anton Wigg, Anthony Zinno, Ryan Riess, and Sam Greenwood.
Day 3 play commences with just under seven minutes remaining in Level 16 (8,000/16,000/2,000) as the players bagged up at the two-table redraw. They'll play down to a winner who will claim the aforementioned prize, and you can find all the updates here on PokerNews.