EPT Prague Whittled Down to 31 Players

PokerStars latest stop on their European Poker Tour (EPT) has hit the Czech Republic capital of Prague and after four days of play, just 31 remain from the huge 722 player field. Sitting atop the leaderboard is Dutch player Patrick Renkers, who holds a huge chip lead with 2,423,000 chips in front of him, way out in front of Martin Finger’s second place stack of 1,289,000.

Mike McDonald Can Become First Ever Two-time EPT Champion

Day 3 was a busy one where the cash bubble broke and now just a few remain hoping to take home the title. After Anton Wigg went out late on Day 3, just Mike McDonald remains as a current EPT main event winner hoping to be the first ever two-time EPT champion. He had a good day and sits with an above average stack of 740,000. A number of other former champions, including English favourite Liv Boeree, Rupert Elder and Kent Lundmark, all hit the rail, missing out on a chance to make history.

Other big names still in contention include Irish pro Jude Ainsworth who is in the top ten with close to one million in chips, and Juan Manuel Pastor who is just ahead of McDonald in the standings.  Chris Moorman can never be counted out and he is still among the final few with a decent stack of 557,000.  While a few progressed, many fell, including UKIPT favourite Max Silver and pro Dag Palovic.

Players will return today to play down to a final eight, and the six who are in the seven-figure club in chip counts as things stand will hope to still be there.

Top chip counts after Day 3:

1^st            Patrick Renkers                         2,423,000

2^nd            Martin Finger                            1,289,000

3^rd            Denys Drobyna                          1,218,000

4^th            Vojtech Ruzicka                        1,128,000

5^th            Mads Wissing                           1,059,000

6^th            Ari Engel                                   1,053,000

7^th            Nicolas Levi                             948,000

8^th            Jude Ainsworth                        929,000

9^th            Ramil Boyazitov                        892,000

10^th            Yann Brosolo                           828,000

John - hailing from Watford, UK John became hooked on the game of poker ever since his uncle taught him the rules of 7-card stud during a home game at the young age of 15. He caught the online bug three short years later after turning 18 and began regularly playing Texas Hold'em SNGs.