The plan for Day 4 of the 2014 European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague Main Event was to play down to 24 players, but…BONUS POKER! The festivities went so quickly that when the chips were bagged and tagged, just 22 players remained, with Germany’s Fabio Sperling on top with 4,357,000 chips. In second place is the same player who began the day in that spot, Stephen Graner, though he has quite a few more chips than when he finished Day 3. He is still more than a million behind Sperling, though, and the two of them are the only players above 2,700,000.
Sperling does not have an extensive live poker tournament resume, but he did win an Estrellas Poker Tour event this year, scoring for more than $100,000. That makes up the bulk of his career live earnings, so a strong finish in this tournament could make a huge difference in his lifetime figures.
Our chip leader actually made his run to the top of the leader board thanks to winning some pots that hurt his closest competitor. First, to get to the 3,000,000 chip mark, PokerNews reported that Sperling raised pre-flop to 45,000 and was called by both Graner and Anton Bertilsson. On the flop of 6-7-5, it was more of the same: Sperling bet 70,000 and his opponents called. With the 7 on the turn, Sperling again bet, this time for 175,000 and again both men called. The 3 on the river slowed everyone down as they checked around. Bertilsson revealed his 7-9 for trips, but Sperling had him beat with pocket Sixes and a full house.
Later, Sperling and Graner were squared off on a board showing 2-6-3-7-3. Graner bet 215,000 and after a few minutes, Sperling raised him up to 628,000. Graner knew Sperling had flopped a set again and even asked him as much. He made the call anyway, though, and his fears were confirmed: Sperling held pocket Deuces for a flopped set and a rivered full house.
Despite all sorts of things going wrong for him, Graner was able to recover, thanks especially to a hand in which he rivered a set of Threes against Vanessa Selbst, allowing him to scoop a 1,770,000 chip pot and getting his chip stack to about where it was when the closing bell sounded.
Today’s action is currently underway and will continue until the six-handed final table has been determined.
2014 European Poker Tour Prague Main Event – Day 4 Chip Leaders
1. Fabio Sperling – 4,357,000
2. Stephen Graner – 3,228,000
3. Sam Grafton – 2,610,000
4. Davidi Kitai – 2,307,000
5. Vanessa Selbst – 2,040,000
6. Miltiadis Kyriakides – 1,900,000
7. Andras Nemeth – 1,813,000
8. Bjorn Wiesler – 1,504,000
9. Remi Castaignon – 1,385,000
10. Tamer Kamel – 1,304,000
