Alexandre Reard Wins €2,200 EPT National High Roller Prague (€342,810)
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Frenchman Alexandre Reard has won his first PokerStars European Poker Tour trophy after he emerged victorious in the €2,200 EPT National High Roller played out at the beautiful Hilton Hotel in Prague. Reard ended up on top in the 980-entry tournament after beating Italian Luigi D'Alterio heads-up in only a matter of minutes for a career-best score of €342,810.
D'Alterio had to settle for €207,840 while Lior Tal took bronze for €145,830.
Reard managed to dominate the final table after he entered as the chip leader with over 20% of the chips in play. Reard took out four opponents himself at the final table and started the heads-up match with a 5-to-1 chip advantage.
This tournament win is Reard's third of the year and the $381,648 adds on to the $2,517,000 of recorded cashes he already had according to HendonMob, getting him closer to the $3,000,000 mark.
€2,200 EPT National High Roller Prague Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (~USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexandre Reard | France | €342,810 | $381,648 |
| 2 | Luigi D'Alterio | Italy | €207,840 | $231,387 |
| 3 | Lior Tal | Israel | €145,830 | $162,353 |
| 4 | Josip Vidovic | Croatia | €109,510 | $121,918 |
| 5 | Jose Quintas | Portugal | €84,740 | $94,341 |
| 6 | Christoforos Chrysochoidis | Greece | €62,390 | $69,459 |
| 7 | Piotr Wiecek | Poland | €45,350 | $50,489 |
| 8 | Robbie Toan | Ireland | €32,400 | $36,072 |
Early Day 2 Action
Day 2 saw 143 players return to action after playing nearly 17 full 40-minute levels on Day 1 to play into the money.
With everyone already secured a min-cash of €3,465 after the first day, eliminations piled up early and often with familiar faces such as Kristen Bicknell, Viktor Blom, Dietrich Fast and Michal Mrakes all making trips to the payout desk as 143 moved closer to nine.
Meanwhile, Reard found himself outlasting the likes of Sam Grafton (16th place) and Clement Richez (18th place), consistently being above average in the counts as the field continued condensing. After being just a hair behind Christoforos Chrysochoidis in the counts at the final three tables, he kept climbing from there and became chip leader once the field reached 16.
He then won a big pot against Chrysochoidis shortly before the unofficial final table and entered the unofficial final table of nine with a stack north of 6 million, about 20% of the chips in play.
Reard op Top After Long Day
The official final table started with Reard in the chip lead, but D'Alterio was getting closer after he eliminated Jean-René Fontaine in ninth place. Reard immediately stepped up to the plate and took out Robbie Toan with ace-king versus king-queen to distance himself again.
With already a 12-hour day at the tables, it took a while before Piotr Wiecek bowed out in seventh place, getting it in with ace-queen against the ace-jack of Lior Tal who hit a jack on the flop. D'Alterio eliminated Chrysochoidis next to move back up to Reard again, with the pair holding over 50% of the chips in play between.
Tal knocked out Jose Quintas in fifth place to overtake both of his adversaries, but Reard quickly regained the lead by first eliminating Josip Vidovic, then taking care of Tal himself to start the heads-up with a sizable lead.
The heads-up lasted only a couple of minutes and Reard ended things in drama-free fashion by flopping top pair and getting it in against D'Alterio's inferior second pair. The remaining board ran out clean for the French pro to eliminate D'Alterio and nab a career-best score.
Make sure to keep an eye on PokerNews as we continue with live coverage from the EPT in Prague, heading on to the second flight of the $5,300 Main Event.
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