Pieter Theelen Goes from Short Stack to Champ in €1,100 Eureka Main Event (€496,760)
Pieter Theelen of The Netherlands was a short stack at various points at the final table in the €1,100 Eureka Main Event at 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague, but that didn't stop him from winning the record-breaking event for a career-best €496,760 after defeating Sweden's Anton Suarez in a brief heads-up battle.
“I’m feeling awesome, but I just have to start realizing (what happened)," Theelen said. "I don’t know what happened, actually. I was short a lot of the time and then (I was) chip leader, and after that it went pretty well. But after that it was close heads-up, kind of. So I’m happy that I managed to take it down.”
The four-day event drew a massive 4,017 entrants across four starting flights to break the previous entry record set in March and to generate a €3,856,320 in prize money. Defending champion, PokerStars ambassador and freestyle rapper Alejandro Lococo was looking to go back-to-back but fell on Day 3 in 21st place for €14,080.
Others who joined Theelen and Suarez at the final table included Norway's Silius Moll (7th - €76,700), Finland's Elias Suhonen (5th - €129,650) and Britain's Jack Sinclair (4th - €168,560), who has been on an EPT tear as of late that saw him finishing second in both the EPT Barcelona Estrellas Main Event and the EPT London Main Event.
€1,100 Eureka Main Event Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (IN EURO) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pieter Theelen | Netherlands | €496,760 | |
| 2 | Anton Suarez | Sweden | €306,770 | |
| 3 | Leonardo Romeo | Italy | €219,120 | |
| 4 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €168,560 | |
| 5 | Elias Suhonen | Finland | €129,650 | |
| 6 | Quentin Guivarch | France | €99,720 | |
| 7 | Silius Moll | Norway | €76,700 | |
| 8 | Waldemar Starostin | Germany | €59,000 | |
| 9 | Marko Martinkovic | Croatia | €45,390 |
What Can Happen in a Year
Theelen only had $12,250 in Hendon Mob-reported earnings headed into the event, but he's no newcomer to the felt. The 30-year-old has been playing poker since he was 18 years old and professionally for the last five years. But he said this is the first year he's traveled to poker festivals and got his first live cash at EPT Prague in March.
“In one year, this is already what I managed to achieve, so that’s great," Theelen said in reflection.
As is so often the case in poker, it wasn't always smooth flying for the Dutchman.
“I think it’s been up and down all the time. I think on Day 2 I had probably the chip lead, and then I lost a lot of it again. And then I built it up again, I lost a lot of it, it’s just been a swingy tournament all around.”
The swings continued at the final table, which Theelen entered toward the middle of the pack but dipped early after losing a big pot to Sinclair.
“This final table, I just had to wait a lot, because most of the time I was short-stacked, so I just had to wait around and wait until the good moments to run good," he said. "And that’s what happened … I’m still thinking (about) what happened.”
Final Table Action
Marko Martinkovic of Croatia was the first to go in one of the first hands of Day 4 when he found himself pipped with pocket jacks against the queens of Suarez. Germany's Waldemar Starostin was next out in eighth place when he ran ace-jack into the rockets of the eventual champion.
The tricky and aggressive Sinclair entered the final day as chip leader and spent most of the day steamrolling the table until a critical misfire where he jammed into the turned straight of Suarez. But the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event champion still managed to eliminate two opponents (Quentin Guivarch in sixth and Suhonen in fifth before himself falling in fourth place to Theelen, who again picked up aces at the right time to stack an unlucky opponent.
After Theelen's nines held up against the ace-seven of third-place finisher Leonardo Romeo, he entered heads-up play with a huge chip lead before Suarez doubled with two pair to even things out. But the Swede could never pull ahead and after about a half hour of heads-up play found himself jamming with king-eight over a limp only to find himself trapped by the Dutchman's Fishhooks.
"He had been jamming a lot so I think it’s good to limp a strong hand there as well," Theelen said about the hand. "So that worked out perfectly.”
That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team's coverage of the record-breaking €1,100 Eureka Main Event. Be sure to check out the EPT Prague reporting portal for coverage of other events at the Eastern European stop.
