Renkers in Front With 31 Left
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Well, that's a wrap for Day 3 of the PokerStars.com EPT Prague.
We've put another seven levels in the books, and we have a Dutchman leading the 31 survivors into Day 4. Patrick Renkers won a pot of more than 1.8 million chips during the penultimate level of the night, and he bagged up 2.423 million chips to set the pace for tomorrow's run to the final table.
It was bubble day today, and with 104 spots being paid out, a couple dozen players had to leave with nothing. Early exits from the field included Ramez Haddad, Narendra Banwari, David Peters, Dominik Nitsche, and Team PokerStars Pro Johnny Lodden. As expected, though, the pace of the eliminations began to taper off as they closed in on the bubble and the start of the payouts. Once they did make it to the hand-for-hand stage on the direct bubble, it took nearly a full level to find the unlucky next elimination. It was Mads Amot going home with the proverbial wooden spoon in 105th place, and the other 104 returned from a break to learn that they had all made some money.
The notables were still scattered throughout the field, but we'd bid farewell to many of them as the night finished up. Small cashers included EPT6 Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity, Grayson Ramage, Marty Smyth, and Mike Watson. A bit further into the payout ladder, we also lost the likes of Artur Wasek, Walid Bou-Habib, Rupert Elder, Vitaly Lunkin, and Anton Wigg.
Wigg's elimination means that only Mike "Timex" McDonald is the only former EPT champion left in the hunt for a repeat. The tour has never had a double winner, and McDonald is well on his way with 740,000 chips in his bag. It's also worth mentioning that two of our Team PokerStars Pros are still alive as well. Jude Ainsworth finished up with 929,000, while Spain's Juan Manuel Pastor bagged up 742,000.
Everyone's chasing Renkers, though, and they'll have some work to track him down. Apart from those we've already mentioned, guys like Ari Engel, Martin Finger, Nicolas Levi, and Chris Moorman will be trying to do just that tomorrow.
Play resumes at high noon CET.