EPT11 Prague Main Event – Simon Mattsson Leads Remaining 61

From over thousand to couple of hundreds; from couple hundreds to just 61 – the Main Event of the EPT Season 11 in Prague is quickly approaching its final resolution as the list of names of those eligible for the nearly €1 million first prize is getting ever shorter.

Two hundred players returned yesterday, looking to make money and to set themselves up in position to make history. Some 140 of them fell along the way, leaving the field of just 61 players to continue to battle it out on the green felt.

Of those 61, it was the Swede Simon Mattsson (photo) emerging with the biggest stack of around 1.8 million when the last card of the day was dealt. Mattsson is an EPT regular whose most recent success is a third place finish in the EPT Barcelona side event. Cashing for €37,900 in Spain, he will be looking to improve on that success in the Prague Main Event. All remaining players are already guaranteed €14,230.

Many notables are still in contention, making this great event even more fun to follow. Team PokerStars Pro members Vanessa Selbst and George Danzer will come back today to try and find their way to the final table. EPT8 Berlin winner Davidi Kitai will be coming back strong as well, after bagging a stack of 1,364,000, which secures him a third spot on the leaderboard.

Many yet have sadly fallen, amongst them always enjoyable to watch Liv Boeree and the Ukrainian pro Eugene Katchalov. Another member of PokerStars Team Pro, Italian Christian Favale was also eliminated yesterday, and his was perhaps the most painful exit, as the only thing he takes home is the unfortunate title of the bubble boy.

Damn, busted after losing vital coin flip. One day! Bye bye #EPTPrague
— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) December 14, 2014

Out in 63rd with only a few hands left in the day. €10k Highroller Tomo will be next and last in Prague for me this year.
— Eugene Katchalov (@EugeneKatchalov) December 14, 2014

The plan for today is to play for another five levels and predictions are that the field will get to around 16 players by the time the clock runs out. Then the day after, it will be the battle for the final table seats, until we finally have another EPT champion on Wednesday.

The first prize of €969,000, an expensive watch and the prestigious EPT trophy are what awaits the winner and these three combined pretty much define the phrase ‘the stuff that dreams are made of’. Winning here really is the dream for the most players, even those with many titles behind them.

But there can only be one winner.