The bust outs were frequent on Saturday at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov as the European Poker Tour continued onward with its EPT Prague Main Event. Despite 453 players coming back for Day 2 action, the players were leaving the casino quick enough to allow for the money bubble to be popped. As the dust settled from the battle, Argentina’s Ezequiel Waigel emerged as the top dog on the leaderboard, stacking just under a million chips to head to Day 3 as the leader of the pack.
Million Euro Payday to Eventual Champion
With late registration open until the cards hit the air on Saturday (players were allowed a singular re-entry in this event), the final numbers and the prize pool were not officially set. At the close of business on Friday night, 1158 entries were in the books and 422 players were left in the event. After a flux of stragglers made it into the event before the start of action on Saturday, the final numbers were set, and the prize pool announced.
The 2022 EPT Prague will officially go into the books with 1190 entries overall, the second largest field in the history of this event (only topped by the 1192 entries in 2016). That set the prize pool at €5,771,500, and 175 players will divvy up that money. A min-cash in the tournament earned the finisher a €8830 return on their buy-in, but absolutely nobody was interested in that amount of money. Instead, they were looking up to the final table and, in particular, the first-place money.
For the official eight-handed EPT final table, only that unfortunate eighth place finisher will not earn a six-figure payday – eighth place will take home a “paltry” €98,750. The payouts ramp up significantly from there until you reach the million-plus Euros that first place will take home:
1st – €1,033,520
2nd – €608,890
3rd – €428,250
4th – €320,900
5th – €245,870
6th – €181,800
7th – €138,570
8th – €98,750
Waigel Rides Day 1 Stack to Chip Lead
Waigel started off the day in good shape, sitting in the Top Ten on the leaderboard with his 258,800 stack. By the time the dinner break rolled around, he was the only player who started the day in the Top Ten who remained in that rarefied air. Waigel trailed only Czech favorite Martin Kabrhel as the action resumed after dinner, and Waigel went to work immediately in his drive to the top of the standings.
As the action moved into the late evening, the money bubble approached. Kabrhel helped with this effort, knocking off Ramon Colillas to bring the field to hand-for-hand play, while Valentino Konachiev brought about the moment all were waiting for. When Konachiev’s 10-5 flopped a ten to vanquish Henrique Gois’ pocket fives, the remaining 175 players were in the money.
Once the bubble was popped, the cage became a popular location. Players such as Robert Cowen, Keith Lehr, Karolis Serika, Jason Wheeler, and Davidi Kitai would hit the rail and finish their tournaments on Day Two. Waigel, however, went in the other direction, finishing the Day 2 festivities with 955,000 chips. That lead, however, is a tenuous one:
1. Ezequiel Waigel (Argentina), 955,000
2. Dawid Kuliberda (Poland), 909,000
3. David Huspeka (Czech Republic), 871,000
4. Andreas Boeling (Germany), 836,000
5. Alexandros Kolonias (Greece), 812,000
6. Leonardo Romeo (Italy), 804,000
7. Andrea Cortellazzi (Italy), 655,000
8. Piotr Nurzynski (Poland), 617,000
(tie) Manuel Labous (France)
10. Robert Heidorn (Germany), 585,000
119 players remain for the Day 3 battle on Sunday. Action resumes at noon (Czech time) with PokerStars TV picking up the delayed stream at 12:30 CET (7:30AM Eastern DAYLIGHT Time – don’t forget to put your clock forward!). The tournament is scheduled to play the final day on Wednesday but, with only 119 players left, they will have to slow the pace a bit if they plan to hold to that schedule.
