9.10pm: Day two is done
A frantic Day 2 has seen the field reduced to just 36 over eight levels of play. It really is too close to call right now with chip leader Daniel Havlik ahead by less than one big blind. In fact the top four are separated by less than three big blinds.
News of who they are and what happened today coming to you shortly in a wrap of the day's play. Tomorrow play starts at noon when the final 36 will play down to the final table of eight.
8.50pm: Chip counts
A few 'eyes on' rough chip counts as time ticks down: Andrew Hulme (500,000), Matias Knaapinen (650,000), Menikos Panagiotou (400,000), Mariusz Klosinski (500,000), Robert Vukovic (145,000), Team PokerStars Pro Ana Marquez (250,000) and Stelyan Georgiev (400,000).
8.45pm: Last three hands
With 15 minutes left in the level the clock has been paused and players will play three more hands in the main event before they're done for the day. Just 36 players remain.
8.35pm: Exits
There's been a mad scramble to the payouts cage, the following players have followed the well trodden path in the last hour or so...
43rd. Eyal Zalzberg, Israel, €2,840
44th. Andguladze Amiran, Russian Federation, €2,840
45th. Bartolomiej Kowalówka, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,840
46th. Adam Tomasz Jaguscik, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,840
47th. Yulian Mitev, Bulgaria, €2,840
48th. Ronan Gilligan, Ireland, €2,840
49th. Vasile Calin Zagon Romania, €2,530
50th. Elena Tamarovskaya, Russian Federation, €2,530
51st. Jacek Ladny, Poland, €2,530
52nd. Dennis Huebner, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,530
53rd. Iulian Iacob, Romania, €2,530
54th. Yosef Lahmosh, Israel, €2,530
55th. Yuriy Gapon, Finland, €2,530
56th. Stavros Kalfas, Greece, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,530
57th. Hakan Inan, Switzerland, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,210
58th. Spivac Ariel, Germany, €2,210
59th. Ricardo Ibanez, Spain, €2,210
60th. Tim Volf, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,210
61st. Matej Kalcic, Slovenia, PokerStars Player, €2,210
62nd. Nichlas Mattsson, Sweden, €2,210
8.20pm: More half million stacks
Both Tams Olah (500,000) and Petr Targo (560,000) have half a million or more in front of them and are up there with the chip leaders.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 3,000-6,000 ante 500
8.05pm: Two more exits
Just 42 players are left in here in Prague, players are busting out right, left and centre, I managed to catch the last two first hand.
Exit 1: Marcel Buissink padded his stack by eliminating Andguladze Amiran. The former held [Ah][10h], whilst Amiran had [9s][7s]. They both flopped a pair on the [6d][10s][7h] flop but Amiran didn't improve on the turn or river, Buissink is up to 300,000.
Exit 2: Eyal Zalzberg was all-in for his last 55,000 with [Ad][7d] and was in horrible shape against Florian Kossler's [Ac][Kh]. It got even worse on the [Ks][Js][4h] flop and the [3c] turn and [10c] river couldn't save him.
7.55pm: Leader of the board
With the money bubble bursting, Alija Filipovic not only guaranteed himself a min-cash but also guaranteed, that for now, he'll go to the top of the Eureka Poker Tour Season 2 Leader Board.
He could still be overtaken if one of his rivals performs well in a side event, but he's promised to play those too. He's clearly very determined to win the Leader Board.
7.40pm: Chip counts
Tournament staff have been busy beavering away behind the scenes to input 100% accurate chip counts of the 58 players who started Level 17. You can see everyone's chip count here. The top 10 are as below.
Matias Knaapinen, currently third, has won two EPT side events - here in Prague he took down the €300 NLHE Turbo Rivers last season and at EPT7 Tallinn he won the €1,000 NLHE Turbo Bounty
Pawel Kulak, Poland, PokerStars Qualifier, 681,000
Robert Vukovic, Croatia, PokerStars Player, 515,000
Matias Knaapinen, Finland, 360,000
Tamas Olah , Hungary, PokerStars Qualifier, 345,000
Daniel Havlik, Czech Republic, 320,000
Alexandros Kolonias, Greece, 305,000
Menikos Panagiotou, Cyprus, PokerStars Player, 304,000
Ioannis Triantafyllakis, Greece, PokerStars Qualifier, 290,000
Tomasz Gluszko, Poland, PokerStars Player, 280,000
Bernd Vogelhuber, Germany, 272,000
7.30pm: Just 52 remain
Another ten players have exited in the opening 25 minutes of the level so just 52 players are left in the Eureka Main Event. I'll get the names of just who has finished where as soon as the queue at the payouts desk shortens.
7.20pm: Targa back in it
Petr Targa just won a monster pot to climb to 340,000 whilst Jacek Ladny now has just one ante chip left.
I only saw the flop action but on a [3s][Jc][5s] flop, with about 90,000 in the pot, Targa and Ladny got it all-in for 126,500 more each.
Targa: [Kc][Kh]
Ladny: [Ks][9s]
Made hand against the flush draw then and the best hand held up on the [Kd] turn and [3c] river.
7.10pm: In the money
As of the last break the following players had busted (boo) in the money (yay).
63rd. Dario Filippelli , Italy, €2,210
64th. James Grogan, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,210
65th. Jozsef Liszkovics, Romania, €2,210
66th. Richard J Upton, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,210
67th. Jan Bendik, Slovakia, €2,210
68th. Pawel Jaskolski, Poland, €2,210
69th. Filipe Fernandes, Portugal, €2,210
70th. Athanasios Hubertus Fergiatakis, Netherlands, €2,210
71st. Yuriy Gapon, Ukraine, PokerStars Qualifier, €2,210
72nd. Chulpan Garaev, Russian Federation, €2,210
7.05pm: Back from the break
During the break tournament staff raced off the 100 denomination chips as they're no longer needed.
Play is now back underway.
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,500-5,000 ante 500
6.45pm: Break time
That's the end of level 16, the players are now on a 15 minute break. During the break we'll be getting chip counts of those who're still in and catching up on who's busted where.
6.40pm: Starter for 10
As per usual the bubble bursting has seen a massive pressure release. In the 20 minutes since the bubble burst, 10 players have bust out meaning that just 62 players remain.
6.30pm: Double up for Marquez
Just before the bubble Team PokerStars Pro Ana Marquez doubled through Jozsef Liszkovics. By the time I reached the table, his hand had been mucked, but Marquez had [Ah][Kc] on a [4d][Ad][Qs][8s][5h] board and she's up to around 230,000 now.
6.20pm: The bubble has burst
Stevan Sudar is the bubble boy here in Prague, in fact two players busted on the same hand in 74th and 73rd meaning that the 72 other players are all in the money.
6.10pm: 75 left
75 players are left, Oleg Prokhorov, Paata Khmaladze and Kim Andre Torsvik the latest to hit the rail.
5.55pm: Big hand on the bubble
I just saw a big hand go down on the bubble and it left one player very unhappy. I'm talking pouting, slamming chips on the felt, talking at a pitch that only dogs can understand, that kind of angry.
From under-the-gun Athanasios Fergiatakis moved all-in for 15,900, next to act Yulian Mitev flat called and it folded to Dany Parlafes on the button and he moved all-in over the top for 127,100. After getting a count Mitev made the call.
Fergiatakis: [Ad][Kh]
Parlafes: [Ad][Kd]
Mitev: [10h][10c]
The [As][Ks][Ah] was as surprising as it was devestating, the [7d][6s] turn and river tame in comparison. The denouement was that no one was eliminated, Mitev took a big hit as Parlafes won the 235,000 side pot. He was left with 62,500 and really not happy, but despite the bad beat his actions in throwing some of the chips he had to pass to Parlafes quite roughly at the dealer was not warranted.
5.45pm: Five off the money
Just 77 players remain, among them are: Andrew Hulme (190,000), Ronan Gilligan (110,000) and Team PokerStars Pro Ana Marquez (110,000).
LEVEL UP: BLINDS 2,000-4,000 ante 400
5.30pm: Filipovic takes a hit
Eureka Croatia champion Alija Filipovic needs leader board points badly, a min cash will do ( see 2.35pm post)
And he just took a dent that's not going to do his chances any good, Iulian Iacob min-raised to 6,500 from the cut-off and Filipovic flat called from the button. On the [Qh][6d][7c] flop, Iacob bet 8,000, call from Filipovic. The [9d] fell on the turn, it checked to Filipovic and he set Iacob all-in for his last 51,300. After a dwell Iacob called and showed [Ks][Qd], Filipovic had the draw-tastic [Ad][8d], but missed all his outs on the [Js] river.
After that hand Filipovic is down to 110,000.
5.20pm: Exits
All of the following narrowly failed to cash here in Prague: Niculina Grasu, Michael Huber, Krzysztof Chmielowski, Victor Mishin, Dejan Dikovic, Giovani Gouveia, Martin Jacobson and Andrei Shubin Vladimirovich.
I'm sure the field won't be too sorry to see the back of two-time EPT runner-up Martin Jacobson.
5.05pm: It's getting cagey
Down to just 79 now and it's getting cagey, a couple of recent examples.
Hand one: Matej Kalcic's mid-position min-raise was flat called by an in position Menikos Panagiotou. The two of them saw a [Qh][Ah][Kc] flop, action? No, it checked through to the [3s] turn, at this juncture Kalcic bet 12,000, call from Panagiotou. The [5d] completed the board, it checked to Panagiotou and after a dwell he bet 19,000. He received a quick call from Kalcic and Panagiotou rolled over [Ad][3d], Kalcic mucked his hand, although the [4c] was exposed.
Hand two: From under-the-gun Nichlas Mattsson raised to 7,000 and Hana Soljan flat called two seats to his left and everyone else left them to it. The flop fell [Kc][6d][4s], c-bet of 5,700 from Mattsson, raise to 17,000 from Soljan, call from Mattsson.
That was all the betting action though as the two of them checked the [7c] turn and [8h] river, Soljan showed [As][Ks] and took the pot.
4.50pm: Chip leaders
Leading the way as the bubble approaches are Ioannis Triantafyllakis (335,000) and Yulian Mitev (330,000). They're closely followed by Damien Lhommeau (315,000), Tomas Petru (294,000) and Bernd Vogelhuber (272,900).
4.40pm: The bubble is approaching in Prague
Just 87 players from the 652 who started remain in the Eureka Prague main event. It's getting to be squeaky bum time, as 72 of these 87 will make the money, €2,210 for the player who busts 72nd, nada for the person in 73rd.
That will no doubt be playing on the minds of the shortstacks as the bubble gets ever closer. It should pop within the next 90 minutes, although this is poker and anything can happen. Strap in it could get bumpy.
PokerStars Blog reporting team in Prague: Nick Wright. Photos by Tomas Stacha.