The inaugural Pokerstars.net European Poker Tour Prague Main Event has taken place at the Hilton Hotel in Prague, with Frenchman Arnaud Mattern emerging victorious.
Mattern, who as well as being a great poker player is also a backgammon ace, fought his way through a field of over 500 players to claim the title and prize money of £506,988.
The competition included players such as Nicolas Levi, current EPT Baden Champion Julian Thew, 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Katja Thater, Dario Minieri, Bertrand Grospellier, EPT Dublin Champion Reuben Peters, 2007 EPT Warsaw Champion Peter Jepsen and the newly crowned European Poker Awards “Tournament Performance of the Year” winner for her WSOP Europe Main Event win, Annette Obrestad.
However, none of these players made it to the final table. An indication of just how competitive the field was.
The players that did make it to the final table were, Mikael Norinder (Sweden), Dag Palovic (Slovakia), Kristian Kjondal (Norway), Gino Alacqua (Italy), Juha Lauttmaas (Finland), Markus Golser (Austria), Johannes Strassmann (Germany) , Nedzib Suman (Sweden) and of course, Arnaud Mattern.
Going into the final table Mikael Norinder was chip leader with Mattern not too far behind.
The first player to be eliminated was Johannes Strassmann as he was taken out by Norinder. For making the final table, Strassmann earned £28,055. Despite his chip lead going into the final table and some early good form, Norinder was knocked out into eighth place. He exited the competition by getting into a huge hand with Mattern. He made the mistake of presenting 50 percent too many chips, and it was ruled that he had to make a minimum raise. Norinder picked up £45,088 for his efforts.
The next player to be eliminated was Dag Palovic as he lost out to Kristian Kjondal. The Slovakian’s seventh place finish earned him £66,988. The remaining Swedish player Nedzib Suman was next to leave the field, a victim of some smart tactics by Juha Lauttmaas. Suman took home prize money of £85,166 for finishing sixth. Lauttmaas was in good form as he took out Markus Golser. The German’s fifth place finish earned him a payday of £108,068. Lauttmaas was however unable to continue his good form and lost out to Gino Alacqua to finish in fourth place. £130,397 was a good consolation prize for Lauttmaas.
The three-way action between Kjondal, Alacqua and Mattern was an intense battle lasting over an hour. Eventually Kjondal was eliminated by Alacqua. For finishing third, the Norwegian earned himself £168,400.
So the final two players were Alacqua and Mattern. Alacqua had twice as many chips as Mattern at the start of the heads-up action. However, Mattern played smart, tactical poker to reduce Alacqua’s lead. Eventually Mattern’s persistence paid off and he was crowned the inaugural EPT Prague Main Event Champion. Gino Alacqua picked up a runners-up cheque for £291,496.
Mattern well deserved the title and prize money of £506,988.
This also marked the first major poker tournament to be staged in the Czech Republic.
