Julian Track Wins PokerStars.com EPT Prague Main Event for €725,700
The record-breaking third stop of the 10th season of the PokerStars European Poker Tour came to its conclusion Wednesday with the completion of both the EPT10 Prague Main Event and €10,000 High Roller. You can read about the latter by clicking here, but as far as the former was concerned, just eight players returned to action on Day 6 to play down to a winner. It took a full day of play, but eventually Germany's Julian Track emerged victorious over the 1,007-player field to capture the title and the €725,000 first-place prize.
EPT10 Prague Main Event Results
| Place | Player | Country | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julian Track | Germany | €725,700* |
| 2 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | Greece | €700,000* |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | UK | €378,000 |
| 4 | Ka Kwan Lau | Spain | €283,800 |
| 5 | Ole Schemion | Germany | €218,300 |
| 6 | Max Silver | UK | €160,200 |
| 7 | Zdravko Duvnjak | Croatia | €118,200 |
| 8 | Jorma Nuutinen | Finland | €84,600 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
Action resumed in Level 26 (20,000/40,000/5,000), and given how deep the stacks were, everyone was settled in for a long day. The first elimination came when Jorma Nuutinen opened the hijack to 100,000 with the A♦K♠ only to have Stephen Chidwick make it 225,000 to go from the cutoff with the A♠K♥. Track, who began the day as chip leader, then four-bet to 650,000 from the big blind with the 10♣10♥. Nuutinen shoved for 1.81 million, and Chidwick folded. Track called, the board ran out 10♦4♦8♣7♥5♣, and that was all she wrote for Nuutinen, who notched his third EPT Main Event cash in Prague.
It took a few hours before the next bustouts, but eventually Zdravko Duvnjak and Max Silver fell in seventh and sixth place, respectively.
Silver began the day second in chips, but seemed to be stuck in reverse. His final hand came in Level 29 (40,000/80,000/10,000) when he open-shoved his last 1.58 million and got a reshove from his friend Chidwick behind. The other players folded and Silver discovered his A♠10♥ was racing against Chidwick's 7♠7♣. Things were looking pretty good for Silver through the 10♠4♣8♠ flop and 4♦ turn, but then disaster struck when the 7♥ spiked on the river. The rollercoaster of emotions ended with disappointment for Silver, though he did give Chidwick a big hug before exiting the stage.
In Level 30 (50,000/100,000/10,000), the German sensation that is Ole Schemion — who just turned 21 back in September — was sent to the rail, though it took a bad beat to make it happen. In the hand, Georgios Sotiropoulos made it 200,000 to go preflop with the K♠9♣, Track three-bet to 540,000 with the 7♦7♥, and Schemion responded by moving all in for nearly 3.4 million with 10x10x. Sotiropoulos folded, Track tank-called, and Schemion was in great shape to double. The 2♥8♣2♠ flop was innocent enough, but then the 7♠ appeared on the turn. Track hit his two outer and Schemion was left drawing to a ten on the river. The 9♥ was close to what he was looking for, but not close enough. The young German had to settle for fifth place while Track amassed 57% of the chips in play.
Ka Kwan Lau was the next to go in fourth place, and then Chidwick followed him out the door in third. Mind you, this was Chidwick's second third-place finish in a field of over 1,000 players. Just a week ago, Chidwick took home €92,500 for finishing third out of 1,315 players in the Eureka Prague Main Event.
That set up a heads-up match between Track and Sotiropoulos with the German holding 17.265 million to the Greek's 12.915 million. Despite that, the two struck a deal where they would each lock up €700,000 and play for €25,700. Track wasn't feeling to well and just wanted to be done with it.
Despite the deal and relative small amount of money still in the middle, Track and Sotiropoulos still played for hours. Sotiropoulos was grinded down time and time again, but doubled twice to find new life. Eventually it wasn't meant to be for the Greek, who couldn't win the most important flip of his life with queen-jack to Track's pocket tens.
Sotiropoulos moves from 65th place to first on the Greece All-Time Money List, according to Hendon Mob. German's Julian Track is much less interested in stats like that. Before the final table started, he was quoted saying he didn't like live poker all that much and the upcoming Aussie Millions will likely be his last live tournament. Whether or not he likes live events that much, he's going to have a pretty good ROI, whatever the outcome in Melbourne next year.
That does it for our coverage from the EPT10 Prague. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will next be in the Bahamas from Jan. 5-14 to bring you all the action from the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Track will most likely not be attending, but many others will be going to Paradise Island for the $10 million guaranteed Main Event. You won't want to miss it!
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