EPT Prague early highlights; Chin Wei Lim wins Single Day High Roller; Mateos and Chidwick claim titles

The PokerStars EPT Prague festival is well underway, with champions having topped star laden fields and six figure scores being won.

The early events have seen some of the best talents in the world go head to head, with stellar names having already picked up titles.

€25,000 Single Day High Roller – Winner: Chin Wei Lim

The Single Day High Roller saw 50 of the world’s best players put up €25,000 (US$27,800) to take a seat in this tournament, with the final prize pool growing to top €1,200,000 (US$1,334,399). By the time the money bubble had burst, just 7 remained, with Jorryt van Hoof leading the way. Yang Wang was the first player in the money to fall, with Pavel Plesuv soon following him to the rail. It took some time before the next player was felted, with Japan’s Jun Obara taking 5^th place spot.

Chin Wei Lim and van Hoof had been using their big stacks well and staying out of trouble, but Austria’s Matthias Eibinger had soon closed the gap in the chip counts. His elimination of Timothy Adams helped his ascent, but his joy was to be short-lived. He soon got his stack in with against the of Chin Wei Lim and was shown the exit door. Wei Lim began heads up play with the chiplead and quickly strengthened his hold on the match before finishing off van Hoof. The final hand was a flip, with catching a jack on the flop to outrun the of van Hoof.

Here are the final payouts:
1^st – Chin Wei Lim (Malaysia) – €378,160 (US$420,321)
2^nd – Jorryt van Hoof (Netherlands) – €273,120
3^rd – Matthias Eibinger (Austria) – €174,070
4^th – Timothy Adams (Canada) – €132,055
5^th – Jun Obara (Japan) – €102,040
6^th – Pavel Plesuv (Moldova) – €78,035
7^th – Yang Wang (Austria) – €63,020

€50,000 Super High Roller – Winner: Stephen Chidwick

The €50,000 (US$55,600) Super High Roller provided the watching world with some great high stakes action, with many high roller regulars pulling up a chair to get involved. The final field size grew to 44, which generated a prize pool of €2,134,440 (US$2,373,495). The two-day event reached its final table of 6 players at the end of day 1, with Adrian Mateos holding he overnight lead. He was closely followed by Jean-Noel Thorel, with high roller masters Stephen Chidwick and Steve O’Dwyer following in the chasing pack.

Short stack Ben Heath was the first to depart, getting his 15 big blinds in with only to lose the resulting flip. Former short stack Bertrand Grospellier was then the fortunate beneficiary of a double up when his came up against the of compatriot Thorel, only to be saved by a king on the flop. Thorel busted in 5^th shortly after. Chidwick had taken the lead by this point, and his advantage grew further with the elimination of Steve O’Dwyer. Chidwick happily looked up O’Dwyer’s 3 bet shove with pocket aces, while O’Dwyer could only table pocket eights. Mateos was next to fall, once again to Chidwick, when his couldn’t stand up to the of Chidwick.

This brought the action heads up, with Grospellier staring down the barrel of a near 6 to 1 chip disadvantage. He was able to fight back in the early stages of the contest, reducing the deficit to almost 2 to 1 before sliding back to where he started. Once more though, Grospellier came back at his opponent, eventually levelling the match. The roller-coaster battle continued to rage until finally, Chidwick called off his opponent’s three bet shove and showed . Grospellier had the lead with but the turn paired Chidwick, and the title was finally in the UK pro’s hands.

The final payouts are as follows:
1^st – Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) – €725,710 (US$804,123)
2^nd – Bertrand Grospellier (France) – €501,590
3^rd – Adrian Mateos (Spain) – €320,170
4^th – Steve O’Dwyer (USA) – €245,460
5^th – Jean-Noel Thorel (France) – €192,100
6^th – Ben Heath (United Kingdom) – €149,410

€10,300 8 Handed Event – Winner: Adrian Mateos

The opening event of the EPT Prague festival was the €10,300 (US$11,454) NLH8 Handed event which attracted a field of 61 entries, creating a final prize pool of €591,700 (US$655,841). Many big names were still in contention at the final table stage, with the elimination of Matthias Eibinger bursting the bubble and leaving just 8 survivors. He was swiftly followed by a few lesser-known players, before Bertrand Grospellier exited in 5^th place. Vladimir Troyanovsky and Derek Ip were the next fallers, leaving just Anton Yakuba and Adrian Mateos to fight for the title.

Mateos has been on a great run of form lately, having won both the Main Event and Super High Roller event at the partypoker MILLIONS series in the Bahamas last month for a combined total of almost $1,700,000. His run did not let up in Prague either as he eventually overcame Yakuba to take this title. The final hand saw Mateos shove the river with two-pair, only to be treated to an optimistic call by Yakuba with just king high.

The final payouts are as follows:
1^st – Adrian Mateos (Spain) – €177,500 (US$197,380)
2^nd – Anton Yakuba (Russia) – €128,400
3^rd – Derek Ip (Hong Kong) – €82,840
4^th – Vladimir Troyanovskiy (Russia) – €62,720
5^th – Bertrand Grospellier (France) – €48,520
6^th – Tsugunari Toma (Japan) – €37,870
7^th – Orpen Kisacikoglu (Turkey) – €30,180
8^th – Arsenii Karmatckii (Russia) – €23,670

National events

Meanwhile, in the national events which have been taking place in Prague, two winners have been crowned. The €1,100 (US$1,223) event saw a deal struck between the two final players who emerged from the 2,452 starting field to take a large portion of the €2,353,920 (US$2,617,557) prize pool. Semen Kravets and Jussi Mattila made the heads up deal, with Russian player Kravets then taking the title. He picked up €262,309 (US$290,098) for the win.

Over in the €2,200 (US$1,446) National High Roller, 980 players took part in the event, building a prize pool of €1,862,400 (US$2,060,678). The heads up battle was contested by Alexandre Reard and Luigi D’Alterio, with Reard going on to triumph in the event. He took home the top prize of €342,810 (US$379,307) for his efforts.

Article by Craig Bradshaw