PokerStars EPT Returns with Big Numbers in Prague

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on March 21st, 2022

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More than two years passed from the December 2019 EPT Prague to the one that just wrapped at King’s Casino Prague. The European Poker Tour could only host events in Russia and online in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. PokerStars tried to schedule EPT Prague for December 2021, as poker players always seemed to enjoy the pre-holiday season in Prague. But Covid-19 said, “Nope.” That forced a reschedule to March 5-16. The players couldn’t have been more excited or ready to hit the tables. The numbers showed it.

Full Side Event Results

Players turned up at King’s Casino Prague with cash in hand. Buy-ins ranged from €220 to €50K. The most well-attended event was the EPT National NLHE Main Event, which delivered 3,155 entries and a prize pool that exceeded €3M. Alejandro Lococo of Argentina, also known as Papo MC is a rapper (MC) but a poker player who has been improving his skills and playing more tournaments outside of Argentina. He hit the world stage in November 2021 when he made the final table of the WSOP Main Event and finished in seventh place for $1,225,000. He won a tournament in February at the Enjoy Poker Tour Punta del Este stop, and then he flew to Prague and won two EPT titles. Yes, in fact, he won two events in Prague. Andras Nemeth of Hungary also won two events. See the chart below for all of the winners and basic information from each event. (Missing event numbers reflect satellites, not official EPT trophy events.)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_lx7Xe7SaI

A Qualifier’s Journey

The EPT Main Event started with a €5,300 buy-in and two starting flights. Quite a few people satellited in to the event, as per usual. The first starting day delivered 391 entries, and there were 134 bagging chips at the end of the night. The second flight added 740 entries with 292 surviving. A Polish qualifier named Grzegorz Glowny barely made it through, bagging only 25,400 chips. Day 2 burst the money bubble for the top 175 players and ended the night with just 119 left. Glowny had a much better day, chipping up to 554K, which was good for 14^th place on the leaderboard. Day 3 whittled the field down to just 42, with Glowny losing ground to finish that night with just 425K, quite below the average stack. Day 4 found Glowny chipping up substantially, finishing among the 16 remaining players with 2.26M chips, right in the middle of the pack. Day 5 consisted of setting the final table. Teun Mulder led that day to start with a significant lead over everyone else. Glowny played cautiously at first but then got involved in a big hand against George Chiriac, which Glowny won. He took another one against Valentino Konakchiev a bit later. Glowny had to fold out of a few hands, but he then eliminated Dimitar Danchev in ninth place. He then lost some when Andrea Cortellazzi doubled through him. Down to just seven players, Glowny was the shortest stack among them. But Glowny soon doubled through Mulder and then took a massive pot from Mulder and Symeon Alexandridis to soar. He got aggressive with his big stack and increased his lead. He had a bit of a roller-coaster last level of the night, ending it third of the final seven. Glowny started Day 6 slowly but, at the right time, took decent pots to chip up. Glowny then ousted Armin Rezaei in sixth place to get his lead back. A bit later, he busted Demetrio Caminita. Gab Yong Kim did take a pot from him to garner the lead, but Glowny remained in a solid second. During four-handed play, Glowny lost ground and flirted with a short stack before doubling through Kim. The final four paused – for a second time – to discuss a deal, and they did agree on one. It gave Glowny the second-highest guaranteed payout, but there was another €110K left for the winner. From there, the roller coaster continued for all players. Cortellazzi eventually eliminated Kim, Glowny doubled through Alexandridis and eventually eliminated him. Glowny and Cortellazzi were close to even in chips going into heads-up play. They exchanged the lead and played for a while…until Glowny took a big pot with queens over A-9. Cortellazzi then pushed with 8-4 suited, and Glowny called with K-Q of the same suit. The board brought no flush but gave Glowny a king. The Polish online player, who qualified for his first live EPT event via a €530 online satellite, won the EPT Prague Main Event.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ACuyKbFnxM    

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