Among the next High Rollers to arrive with a ticket in the hand were Dietrich Fast, Sergio Aido, Xiaoyang Luo and Stefan Schillhabel. Action continues on three tables and further ones are prepared to accommodate additional late entries.
Igor Kurganov gave up an early pot against Adrian Mateos when the latter bet the turn for 14,200. Soon after it was Nick Petrangelo that opened the action on the button with a raise to 2,500 and Kurganov in the small blind three-bet to 11,000, Petrangelo called.
Both checked the flop before Kurganov bet the turn for 11,000, Petrangelo called. After the river, Kurganov's bet of 24,000 found no call and the PokerStars Team Pro raked in the pot without showdown.
In a limped pot in a battle of the blinds, Quan Zhou and Jean-Noel Thorel both checked the flop of and the fell on the turn. Zhou bet 2,500 and Thorel called before the fell on the river. Zhou now bet 3,800 and Thorel called to see Zhou turn over . Thorel had that beat with for a flush and claimed the pot.
Jean-Noel signed up and got Seat 2 on his ticket. Because his vision isn't as strong as it used to be, he asked if it was ok for him to move over to Seat 1. The tournament organization and other players agreed. Effectively, nothing has changed as all players moved a seat to their left, so the same position is still in order as it used to be. Now, though, Thorel can easily see the shot clock and the cards in the middle of the table. Everyone is happy.
Thorel shares the table with Quan Zhou, Daniel Dvoress, and Ali Reza Fatehi.
PokerStars Team Pro Igor Kurganov showed up with a ticket in the hand just before the cards went in the air and he was joined quickly after by Koray Aldemir, Stephen Chidwick and Jean-Noel Thorel.
As usual the Single-Day High Roller kicks off with a slight delay and some of the usual familiar faces have already showed up, waiting for the event to kick off. Manual seating will commence shortly and below are those that are ready to rumble.
The next opportunity to shine awaits for the big names of the international poker circuit with the first of two Single-Day High Rollers of the 2017 PokerStars Championship Prague taking place at the stunning Hilton Hotel Prague. The tournament comes with a price tag of €25,500 and is the second most-expensive buy-in of the festival in "the City of a Hundred Spires."
Back in 2016 when the tour was still dubbed the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT), not only one but three events took place at the Hilton Hotel in Prague upon Twitter request by Steve O'Dwyer and the Irish/American poker pro is expected to be among those to take to the felt this time around again after participating in the €50,000 Super High Roller and bagging up chips on Day 1a of the €5,300 Main Event.
The Single-Day High Roller has also been a fixture on the schedule of the PokerStars Championship and the last two festivals in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona hosted two each. In 2017, Stephen Chidwick has claimed the top spot and trophy twice while other champions include Bryn Kenney, the initial suggestor of this specific tournament format, as well as Quan Zhou, Oliver Weis, Spanish superstar Adrian Mateos, Philipp Gruissem and Pavel Plesuv.
Action will get underway at approximately 12.30 p.m. local time. All levels last 30 minutes each and a single re-entry is available during the registration period for the first eight levels, the participants receive 100,000 in chips. After the end of level 12, a 75-minute dinner break takes place before the tournament will then play down to a winner until the early morning hours. As usual, the PokerStars High Roller event also comes with a 30-second shot clock and all players receive three time banks at the start, one more after the end of the registration period and an additional time bank after reaching the nine-handed final table.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the exclusive action from the tables for this event!