Hello everyone and welcome to Prague, the beautiful capital of the Czech Republic. The casino of the Corinthia Hotel is hosting the WPT Prague and Day 1B of the Main Event started at 14:00 with 340 players. Yesterday 231 played Day 1A. With a total playing field of 571 players, WPT Prague sets a new record for the largest WPT staged in Europe.
This is a re-entry tournament which means that the players who were eliminated had the right to buy-in a second time on Day 1B. The structure of this €3,500 NLH re-entry event is the WPT standard structure: 30,000 chips – 1 hour levels with blinds 50/100 to start.
Team Titan pro players Floria Desgouttes (France), Christophe Benzimra (France) and Marvin Togel Hongkong (Germany) took their seats to participate in the action on Day 1B.
Level 1 – Blinds 50/100
Christophe Benzimra started the day quietly, playing a solid and controlled game. A player raised to 300 and another one made the call in middle position. Christophe 3-bet to 1,000 with A♣K♦. Then the small blind decided to 4-bet to 2,800. Christophe paid.
Flop: Q♥4♦2♥
Small blind player opened to 2,000 and Christophe raised to 5,025. He obtained a quick fold from his opponent.
Christophe played other small pots without showdowns and ended the first hour of play with 34K.
Florian Desgouttes was eliminated early in the tournament. Just before the change of level, Florian raised to 250 in middle position with A♠4♠. The whole table checked until the big blind who re-raised to 625. Florian made the call.
On the flop, 9♣10♠6♦, the big blind opened to 1,000 and Florian made it more expensive: 2,125 chips. Call from his opponent.
Turn: K♠
The big blind check-raised to 8,000 after the 3,500 bet from Florian. The French Titan pro completed.
On the river came the J♣ and the small blind checked again. Florian moved all-in for around 15K and his opponent tanked for a while before calling. Florian mucked his hand and his adversary didn’t show his hand but commented that he didn’t have the nuts. He probably held pocket Kings for a set.
Florian was down to 2.5K when he played his last hand. Florian Desgouttes raised to 250 and a really active player 3-bet to 800 in middle position. Florian 4-bet all-in and his opponent paid.
Marvin Rettenmaier registered late and took his place alongside Italian player Mario Adinolfi, Ukrainian pro Eugene Katchalov, and the Frenchman Xavier Detournel. He finished the first level with 28K.
Level 2 – Blinds 75/150
UTG+1 player raised to 400 and Christophe from the button, the small blind and the big blind called.
On the flop Q♦J♠3♠ everybody checked.
When the turn K♠ came, everyone checked until Christophe who bet 900. The small blind player 3-bet to 2K and just Christophe made the call.
River: 5♠ and the 2 players checked.
Christophe Benzimra won the hand showing A♣10♠ against the 3♦3♣ of his opponent.
Christophe finished the level with 36K and Marvin with 31K.
Level 3 – Blinds 100/200
Edward Kam raised 500 from the button. Christophe Benzimra 3-bet to 1,800 in small blind. Kam decided to 4-bet to 4,000 and Christophe just paid with K♣K♥
Flop: Q♥7♥2♠
Christophe checked, Edward Kam bet 6.5K and Christophe made it more expensive raising to 17K. His opponent moved all-in and Christophe instantly called.
Bad news for our French Titan pro when he saw the hand of Kam, Q♣Q♠
But the turn delivered a magical K♦ which brought a higher set to Benzimra who eliminated Kam after a blank completed the board.
Christophe Benzimra was up to 73K at the end of this third level.
During the same time Marvin Rettenmaier was really active but didn’t succeed to win a big pot. He finished the level with 26K.
Level 4 – Blinds 100/200 ante 25
On a flop A♣2♥K♥. Italian Mario Adinolfi checked (BB), Marvin (UTG) opened to 825 and Eugene Katchalov called. Adinolfi paid as well.
Turn: Q♠
Adinolfi and Marvin Rettenmaier checked. Katchalov bet 2.2K and both Adinolfi and Marvin paid.
River: 3♠
The three players checked and Katchalov showed AJ for the winning hand and Marvin Rettenmaier was down to 22K at the middle of the level. At the middle of the level, 315 players were left from the 340 entrants for an average of 32K.
A player raised to 400 in middle position. Christophe 3-bet to 1,100 with A♥K♥ but the player on the button 4-bet to 2,500 chips. Christophe called and the two players checked the flop Q♦8♦8♥
Then o the turn, the 2♥, Christophe Benzimra bet 3,700 and was called by his opponent.
Finally on the river, the 8♣, Christophe put his opponent under pressure betting exactly his stack (16K). After 3 minutes thinking, he finally folded pocket Kings face-up.
Christophe was up to 80K but lost a hand to finish the level with 74K.
Marvin Rettenmaier had a bad day and was eliminated at the end of the level. First he lost a strange and funny hand against the “crazy” Italian Mario Adinolfi.
Adinolfi raised to 500 in early position and Marvin 3-bet to 1,400 UTG +2. The Italian called. The flop came K-9-8 and after a check from Adinolfi, Marvin bet 1,625. The Italian decided to pay.
Both players checked on the turn, the 10, and on the river the Italian check-called the bet of 2,825 from Marvin.
Showdown:
Marvin: J 6
Adinolfi: 10-3 !!!
A few minutes later, the same Adinolfi eliminated our German Titan pro.
An Italian player raised to 650 in hijack position and Adinolfi 3-bet from the cut-off to 2,000. Marvin Rettenmaier, at the button, moved all-in for around 12K and Adinolfi made the call A♥10♣
Marvin held 9♣9♦
The dealer offered a 10 to the Italian player straight on the flop and Marvin Rettenmaier was eliminated.
Level 5 & 6 – Blinds 150/300 ante 25 and 200/400 ante 50
At the end of these two levels Christophe Benzimra was at 85K thanks to few raises and 3-bet without showdown.
Level 7 – Blinds 250/500 ante 50 – Average 42,6 K and 239 players left
No significant hands during this level and Christophe ended it with 77K.
Level 8 – Blinds 300/600 ante 75
Christophe Benzimra won a big pot to climb to over 100K at the middle of the level. The Frenchman raised to 1,600 in middle position and the small blind 3-bet to 3.9K. Christophe called and on the flop K-7-3 rainbow, the small blind bet 6.7K. Christophe made the call.
The turn came as a 10 and the small blind fired another bet for 14K. Christophe paid again.
Finally on the river, an A, both players decided to check.
Showdown:
Christophe Benzimra: A♥ K♠
Small Blind player: ♣ 6♦
Christophe’s table broke and he joined a really hard table with Canadian Mike McDonald and French player Castaldi. All the players had big stacks and after losing three hands, Christophe was back down to 75K.
Then a bad period came for our French Titan player who was really card dead for the rest of the day.
Christophe was down to 66K, then to 55K without playing a single hand.
He started the last level of the day at blinds 500/1,000 ante 100 with 50 big blinds when the average was 72.8K for 140 players left.
Finally, on the last hand of the day Christophe Benzimra, at the button, called the raise of 2.8K from McDonald.
The two players checked the next flop: K♣9♥10♥
Mike McDonald bet 3.3K on the turn 9♦ and Christophe 3-bet to 8K. The aggressive McDonald 4-bet to 14.4K and was faced against a 5-bet All-in from Benzimra for 35 K more.
The Canadian gave up his hand and Christophe Benzimra finished the day with 69.8K while the average was 79K.
126 players are left at the end of Day 1B and tomorrow Christophe will be back at 14:00 to play Day 2 with a total of 218 players remaining.
