PokerStars EPT Prague �50,000 Super High Roller Day 2: WSOP Champ Jacobson Bubbles
The 2014 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Season 11 Prague �50,000 Super High Roller began with 51 entrants, but after two full days of play the field has been cut down to the final table of seven. The final table is full is full of familiar names such as Juha Helppi and Stephen Chidwick, but the man leading the way is Leonid Markin.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Chidwick | 660,000 | 16.5 |
| 2 | Paul Newey | 1,510,000 | 37.8 |
| 3 | Juha Helppi | 2,030,000 | 50.8 |
| 4 | Ivan Soshnikov | 1,925,000 | 48.1 |
| 6 | Brian Roberts | 275,000 | 6.9 |
| 7 | Leonid Markin | 3,350,000 | 83.8 |
| 8 | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | 3,000,000 | 75 |
Day 1 saw 32 players survive in Prague, but there were more players seated at the start of the second day. Fedor Holz (third bullet) and Timothy Adams (second bullet) both reentered, while Spain's Pablo Fernandez entered for the first time.
Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier was the first to go when he ran ace-king into Brian Roberts' aces. The 2 Months 2 Million star catapulted to a stack of 1 million, taking the lead in the tournament. Joni Sointula, Mike McDonald, and Joao Vieira followed shortly after.
The extra �150,000 in the prize pool supplied by the late additions wouldn't find a way back into their pockets, either. Holz, Adams, and Fernandez all busted well before the money.
Other eliminations on the day were Ole Schemion, Steve O'Dwyer, Christoph Vogelsang, and Micah Raskin's.
The initial plan for the day was to play down to eight players, but as the prize pool consisted of seven paid spots this plan was changed and play would continue until the final seven was set. With several shorties on the unofficial final table of nine, play was slow.
Falling in ninth place just two spots short of a cash was Italian poker player Mustapha Kanit. His elimination set up the official bubble of the event, and it was one that would burst with the fall of a superstar.
The player busting in eighth place turned out to be Martin Jacobson, the reigning World Series of Poker Main Event champion. Jacobson pushed his last nine big blinds from the button over Ivan Soshnikov's min-raise. Soshnikov called with fours and Jacobson tabled ace-king. Two aces on the flop gave Jacobson the lead, but the four on the turn was catastrophic for the Swedish WSOP champion and two-time EPT runner-up. The five on the river was a blank, and Jacobson officially bubbled the Super High Roller.
Markin, who started out as the chip leader in the ��10,000 High Roller back in October in London as well (finishing fourth for ��145,800), had some unconventional moves on the second day in Prague, but it worked out just fine for him as he bagged up the chip lead. Troyanovskiy, runner-up in 2013 PCA's High Roller, finished a close second. Helppi, who qualified for this event for �5,000, sat in third. Roberts will be the short stack with just shy of seven big blinds to start the final day. None of the players still in reentered, so they all make at least �78,565 as a seventh-place finish nets �128,565.
There are 36 minutes and 16 seconds left in level 17 (20,000/40,000 with 5,000 ante). Players return at noon local time on Thursday to battle it out for the following prizes:
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | �771,360 |
| 2 | �557,090 |
| 3 | �355,070 |
| 4 | �269,360 |
| 5 | �208,150 |
| 6 | �159,170 |
| 7 | �128,565 |
In the meantime, check out the video Remko Rinkema did with Paul Newey after play finished, as they talked about his day and potential at Thursday's final table:
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