Five days of poker action has come to an end, and just one more day’s play stands between five players a million Euros in Prague. The latest EPT Main Event has seen some spectacular action over the past week and the penultimate day at the felt was no different.
From the final dozen players, just five remain in with a chance of winning the fabled EPT Main Event trophy, and it is Gaby Livshitz who will enter the home straight with the chip lead.
The penultimate day at the felt saw the final dozen of the 1,154 overall tournament entries reduced from the off. Vlastimil Pustina was out almost as soon as he sat down, all-in in the blinds for his tournament life with queen-ten, unable to hit against the other blind player with king-seven.
Norbert Szecsi went into play as the chip leader and he maintained that position throughout almost all of the day, starting off with the elimination of Erdal Gusleven, the Turkish player biting the dust when his jack-nine was crushed by Szecsi’s queens. Shortly after his bust-out, former PCA champions Dominic Panka as he joined them on the rail when he was all-in with ace-ten and dominated by Brazilian player Ricardo Da Rocha, who held ace-king to reduce the field to nine.
The unlucky Gab Yong Kim was the next player to depart, missing out on being part of the final eight players when he moved all-in with aces and was called by the Hungarian hero Norbert Szecsi. Szecsi was well behind with pocket queens, but an all-diamond flop gave him a flush draw that Kim didn’t have the ace for, and although the turn was safe for the leading hand, a diamond on the river drew gasps in the auditorium.
Dietrich Fast made an exit becoming his name when he went out in eight place, the entertaining German pro going out with a pair of kings after Mikalai Pobal had flopped a Broadway straight.
Two players later, play was done for the day, with Laurent Michot busting in 7th place, before Luke Marsh couldn’t survive the final level, which was going to end play no matter how many remained. Marsh’s top pair on the flop was two pair on the river, but Da Rocha’s flush saw him crash out and Belarussian player Mikalai Pobal shorter-stacked than he might have liked. Gaby Livshitz held the lead, however, and it will be the Israeli who is the man to beat when play resumes at a couple of minutes past 12 noon local time.
EPT Prague Main Event final day chipcounts:
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1 | Mikalai Pobal | Belarus | 4,740,000 (47bb) |
| 2 | Ricardo Da Rocha | Brazil | 7,925,000 (79bb) |
| 3 | Tomas Paiva | Portugal | 3,380,000 (33bb) |
| 4 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 7,350,000 (73bb) |
| 5 | Gaby Livshitz | Israel | 11,205,000 (112bb) |
