Macdonnell leads 23 players who remain in contention for the title and €921,540 first prize in the EPT12 Prague Main Event, bagging up 3,600,000 tonight. This year has been Macdonnell's best on the live scene; he clinched his two biggest results: runner-up in the WSOP $1k NL Hyper Turbo for $155,876 and 12th in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open for another $50k. Last year he was third in the Sunday Million for over $100k, and he's now seeking to hit it big once again; he is already guaranteed €30,730 as he goes in to Day 5.
Another Irish player in good shape for today is Gavin O'Rourke. O'Rouke was playing online on PokerStars early this morning and was drawn to a $1M spin & go event. He didn't clinch the million but he was very close (!), finishing second for an appetising $100k start to his day. In his Main Event campaign, he has a respectable 1,746,000 stack.
It was a tight race for the chip lead tonight with Gleb Tremzin, who led at the end of Day 2, coming close to finishing tonight in the lead as well. He bagged up 3,535,000 - only two and half big blinds fewer then Macdonnell.
With EPT Malta winner Niall Farrell's elimination today in 40th place, the Main Event lost its last remaining champion - and a new one will be crowned here on Wednesday. EPT11 Malta finalist Javier Gomez, EPT11 Barcelona third place finisher Hossein Ensan, French rap star Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes and last year's EPT Prague 16th place finisher Thomas Butzhammer are all among those who are still chasing the title.
EPT12 Prague Main Event top five chip counts:
1st - Marc Macdonnell, Ireland, PokerStars player
2nd - Gleb Tremzin, Russia, PokerStars player, 3,535,000
3rd - Benjamin Lamprecht, Austria, PokerStars player, 3,190,000
4th - Javier Gomez Zapatero, Spain, PokerStars qualifier, 2,282,000
5th - Samuel Vousden, Finland, PokerStars player, 2,039,000
Source: EPT press
