EPT Prague highlights; Mikalai Pobal wins €5,300 Main Event; Tsugunari Toma takes down the €10,300 High Roller

A few hours ago, the 2019 EPT Prague reached its thrilling conclusion.Pobal became the second player after Victoria Coren-Mitchell to win two EPT Main Events. Tsugunari Toma won a second High Roller Title.

€5,300 EPT Main Event – Winner: Mikalai Pobal

Mikalai Pobal (Belarus) makes history after taking down the 2019 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague €5,300 EPT Main Event for €1,005,600 (USD 1,118,730.00). Pobal topped the field of 1,154 entries, concluding with a heads up against Norbert Szecsi (Hungary).

He notably won his first title seven and a half years ago, in Barcelona, and his first place finish at the Main Event makes him the second player (Victoria Coren Mitchell was the first player to have won twice) in history to win two EPT Main Event titles.

Both players started the heads-up duel with relatively even stack sizes, a little over 100 big blinds, and despite both parties’ interest in making a deal there was no conclusion reached.

The heads-up was short lived as Pobal moved to a four-to-one lead after check calling three streets with two pairs, catching Szecsi’s triple barrel bluff. Pobal then got it in good with a pair of Kings versus Szecsi’s pair of eights concluding his epic comeback from short-stack to champion. Szecsi takes home €598,880 (USD 666,254) for his second place finish.

The final payouts are as follows:

1st – Mikalai Pobal (Belarus) – €1,005,600 ( US$1,118,730)
2nd – Norbert Szecsi (Hungary) – €598,880
3rd – Ricardo Da Rocha (Brazil) – €421,450
4th – Gaby Livshitz (Israel) – €316,780
5th – Tomas Paiva (Portugal)– €241,230
6th – Luke Marsh (United Kingdom) – €177,420
7th – Laurent Michot (France) – €134,610
8th – Dietrich Fast (Germany) –€96,100
9th – Gab Yong Kim (South Korea) – €74,770

€10,300 High Roller – Winner: Tsugunari Toma

Just days after winning the €10,200 Single-Day EPT High Roller for €135,220 (USD $150,410), Tsugunari Toma (Japan) claimed another first place victory in the three-day €10,300 EPT High Roller at the same festival adding €523,120 (USD $581,971) to his tournament life winnings.

Despite coming in the final day as one of the short stacks, Toma would realize a full double up after getting it in good with his pair of jacks versus Simon Lofberg’s pair of tens. Toma would then eventually maneuver his way through the field of remaining players, avoiding the early slew of eliminations and securing a seat at the final table.

After the final table reached the last three players, there was a brief discussion of a possible deal. However, the remaining players would eventually opt to just play it out.
It was a quick finish for the three-handed line up.

Simon Pedersen (Denmark) fell into the hands of Lofberg after he three-bet shoved his pair of jacks into Lofberg’s ace-eight. Lofberg spikes an ace on the flop and sealed Pedersen’s fate as 3rd place finisher.

The head’s up battle would continue to run at an aggressively quick phase after Toma four-bet shoves pre flop in the first hand. He continued to relentlessly play for stacks, three-bet shoving ace-eight pre-fop the very next hand, only to be dominated by Lofberg’s ace-king. The tables were however turned after an eight on the flop. Toma dodged both straight and flush outs on the turn and river, making him event champion. Lofberg takes home €352,230 (USD$392,585) for his second place finish.

The final payouts are as follows:

1st – Tsugunari Toma (Japan) – €523,120 (US$583,054)
2nd – Simon Lofberg (Sweden) – €352,230
3rd – Simon Pedersen (Denmark) – €248,340
4th – Matthias Eibinger (Austria) – €201,340
5th – Yunye Lu (China)– €159,290
6th – Gianluca Speranza (Italy) – €120,950
7th – Masato Yokosawa (Japan) – €88,300
8th – Rainer Kempe (Germany) – €64,560
9th – George Wolff (United States) – €53,430