The Mystery Bounty format continues to prove ever-popular, and 716 entries ponied up the buy-in today for the €3,000 Mystery Bounty at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague, hosted at the Hilton Prague.
Only 184 players remain standing after the dust settled on twelve 40-minute levels of play, with Mats Ullereng of Norway (410,000) storming to the top of the standings, followed by Candido Cappiello of Italy (377,000) and Austrian Gerald Karlic (360,500). Late registration closes before the start of Day 2, so the Day 2 starting field and current prize pool of €1,228,656 are likely to swell further.
Ullereng boasts recorded cashes of over $425,000, his biggest score being victory in a €1,100 buy-in event for €144,520 at EPT Paris this year. Karlic has been in fine form at EPT Prague, with a runner-up finish in the Eureka Main Event already under his belt. Also in the top ten is Michel Molenaar, who is searching for a first EPT title to add to his $1,500,000 in recorded cashes.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mats Ullereng | Norway | 410,000 | 205 |
| 2 | Candido Cappiello | Italy | 377,000 | 188 |
| 3 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | 360,500 | 180 |
| 4 | Alejandro Peinado Guillen | Spain | 329,000 | 164 |
| 5 | Hrayr Grigoryan | Armenia | 326,000 | 163 |
| 6 | Oleh Okhotskyi | Ukraine | 308,500 | 154 |
| 7 | Michel Molenaar | Netherlands | 291,000 | 145 |
| 8 | Jari Mahonen | Finland | 264,500 | 132 |
| 9 | Chengzhou Zhou | Italy | 263,500 | 131 |
| 10 | Thierry Gogniat | France | 251,000 | 125 |
Day 1 Action
It seemed players came today ready to gamble, and Fabrice Maltez showed he was in just such spirit when he jammed blind in Level 1 and doubled-up, taking the rest of Hoang Phan's stack a couple of hands later. Maltez ended up bagging a top twenty stack.
By the first break, Ludvig Sterner topped the counts, followed by Jay O'Leary and Gerard Rubiralta, and Sterner was still up there at the second break, joined by Lei Wang and Ivan Banic. All of these players progressed to Day 2.
Action warmed up in the third stint, with Keith Johnson busting to Mitja Rudolf in a nuts versus third-nuts scenario, while Bartolomeo Tato was the beneficiary of an aces versus ace-king clash.
Conor Beresford found a two-outer in a three-way all in, but ended up firing four bullets without finding a bag, while Dean Hutchison scored a double-knockout with a set. Imad Derwiche, meanwhile, fired five bullets but managed to progress on the final one.
Other notables to have progressed are Jonas Hagstrom (203,000), Sonny Franco (139,500) and Jack Sinclair (97,000).
PokerStars Ambassadors Marle Spragg and Simon Wiciak fired a bullet each but did not make the cut, and will ponder whether to take advantage of Day 2 late registration.
Players will return to Hilton Prague on December 12 at 12:30 p.m. local time for Day 2, to blind Level 13 with blinds at 1,000/2,000, with a 2,000 big blind ante. Bounties will come into play at Level 15, and it is expected at least fourteen 40-minute levels will be played on Day 2 to whittle the field down for the final day.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all your coverage to see who can bag the biggest bounties and navigate their way to Day 3.
