Atanas Malinov Leads at Eureka4 Prague: Down to 57 Players

There were still 57 players left on Day 3 of the biggest ever Eureka event, taking place here at the Hilton Hotel in Prague. But after eight levels, the actual composition of the final table remains unresolved until tomorrow, for ten players will return when the blinds restart at 50,000/100,000 (10,000 ante).

The chip leader is PokerStars qualifier Atanas Malinov. The Bulgarian had a real rush over the second half of the day, eliminating several players and generally causing trouble for the other players with three-bets a regularity.

Malinov has 6,675,000 in total - over two and a half million more than his nearest rival, PokerStars player Jonas Mackoff.

While Malinov dominated the second half of the day, it was the Canadian Mackoff who controlled the first four levels. After doubling up through Day 2 chip leader Antonin Duda, Mackoff took the chip lead when he eliminated Olli Vahala, Magnus Nordmark, Duda and Tomasz Kowalski in quick succession. Mackoff ended with day with 4,030,000.

The full list of chip counts is as follows:

Atanas Malinov, Bulgaria, PokerStars qualifier, 6,675,000
Jonas Mackoff, Canada, PokerStars player, 4,030,000
Vladimir Velikov, Bulgaria, 3,810,000
Endre Sagstuen, Norway, PokerStars player, 3,610,000
Lucas Blanco, Spain, 3,380,000
Ayman Zbib, Lebanon, 2,945,000
Athanasios Xenodochidis, Greece, 2,610,000
Periklis Charmpilas, Greece, PokerStars player, 2,555,000
Balasz Botond, Hungary, PokerStars player, 2,460,000
David Novak, Czech Republic, 2,325,000

With no player too short, it might yet be a while before a final table is reached. However, most players are just one double-up from taking the chip lead. To say the final day will be "tight" could be an understatement.