Russian Leonid Markin claimed the €50k EPT Prague Super High Roller title today while pros Johnny Lodden and Shannon Shorr built big stacks on Day 1a of the EPT Prague Main Event.

Markin, who had a very limited amount of live scores before a 4th-place run at the EPT London 10k in October, defeated British businessman Paul Newey heads up for the title.

Collecting €771,360 for the win, Markin bumped his career live earnings up over the $1m mark.

Newey bagged his second-highest career live score at €557,090 behind the $1.4m he earned at this summer’s Big One for One Drop.

Fellow Brit Stephen Chidwick finished third for €355,070 and long-time Finnish vet Juha Helppi fourth for €269,360. Final table and payouts:

• 1. Leonid Markin €771,360
• 2. Paul Newey €557,090
• 3. Stephen Chidwick €355,070
• 4. Juha Helppi €269,360
• 5. Ivan Soshnikov €208,150
• 6. Vladimir Troyanovskiy €159,170
• 7. Brian Roberts €128,565

For a complete recap of the final-table action, check the PokerStars blog.

Ponomarev Leads, Lodden and Shorr Build Stacks

While the Super High Roller was wrapping up the showcase event of the 2014 Prague Poker Festival – the €5,300EPT Prague Main Event – was getting underwy with Day 1a.

A total of 342 entries were registered for Day 1a but with two more Day 1s to come the field is expected to grow significantly.

The chip leader at the end of Day 1a is another Russian, Dmitry Ponomarev, who bagged up 159,000.

Close behind him are Ukrainian Oleksii Khoroshenin (150,500) and American Brian Altman (150,300).

Also crossing the 100k mark were PokerStars pro Johnny Lodden (111,700) and 2014 Most Inspiring Player Award winner Shannon Shorr (101,700). The Top 10 chip counts:

• 1. Dmitry Ponomarev 159,800
• 2. Oleksii Khoroshenin 150,500
• 3. Brian Altman 150,300
• 4. Morten Christensen 143,800
• 5. Petr Jelinek 137,100
• 6. Igor Pihela 131,500
• 7. Jean-Philippe Piquette 128,000
• 8. Kenny Kousgaard 126,000
• 9. Simon Boss 116,500
• 10. Maxim Panyak 115,600

For a full rundown of the day’s action check the PokerStars blog. The daily live stream, which you can watch right here, begins Sunday on Day 2.

One Champion, One Orbit: Olivier Busquet

Level 4 – Blinds 100/200/25, average stack c. 33,000

Busquet doesn’t need much of an introduction. He’s a great representative of poker, an expert in commentary and analysis and a highly respected, successful player.

His last titles were the €50k Super High Roller at EPT Barcelona and the UKIPT £2k High Roller in London. We caught up with Olivier in the middle stages of the first day of the main event and watched him play for one orbit.

When we arrived at the table he had just been moved into the Big Blind. This is how he played.

1) Busquet – Stack c. 30,000; Position: Big Blind

There was a raise to 400 from middle position. The button and Busquet called. On the 4♦ T♣ 4♦ flop nobody was willing to bet, but on the Q♥ turn the button squeezed out a bet and everyone folded.

2) Small Blind

One player raised from middle position and Busquet laid it down.

3) Button

Again, a player raised to 400 from middle position. Busquet called from the button and the blinds called as well.

On the 5♠ 7♣ 5♣ flop the initial raiser c-bet 525, but Busquet raised it to 1,300 which caused everyone else to fold.

4-6) Cut-off, Hijack, MP1

Busquet folded all three hands pre-flop.

7) MP2

It was folded to Busquet who raised it to 500. The big blind was the only player to defend.

The flop 5♥ T♥ K♦ went check-check, but then the big blind bet the Q♠ on the turn. Busquet felt he couldn’t win the hand anymore and folded.

8/9) UTG+1, UTG

Busquet wasn’t interested in playing any of these hands from early position.

In this orbit, Busquet played three hands and won one. Doesn’t sound very good but when he raised in position on the flop in Hand 3 he had three pre-flop callers outplayed and picked up double big blinds plus the c-bet of the MP player.

Note that the flop looks innocuous but could bring somebody trips and/or a flush draw. This could have hit the blinds’ range but apparently didn’t.

The result is that Busquet ended the orbit with 725 chips more than he had at the beginning. Efficienct play by a top pro.

Decision of the Day

We spoke with Head Floorman Luca about situations that required a ruling from him. He told us that he had several; some straightforward, some very unusual.

Today we’ll present a very straightforward example but one that many players will have encountered in home games and that might have caused arguments, friendships to end or worse.

In a freeze-out tournament the player in the big blind has just been eliminated. The player to the left now puts out his big blind and the button moves.

Due to the elimination, there is no small blind. The player Under The Gun sees only one blind to his right and thinks that he is actually the big blind, so he puts the corresponding amount of chips on the table.

It is folded to the button who then points out the fact to the UTG player that he has made a mistake. The UTG player tries to take back his chips and the floor gets called.

Ruling: Although the UTG player did not announce his action it was considered a call under the gun. As the action had progressed to the button the UTG player would also have an unfair advantage because of all the information he had gathered.

The player was not allowed to take back his chips and the action remained on the button.