Israeli Poker Insider Matan Krakow wins EPT Prague Main Event

The European Poker Tour Prague Main Event final table was won overnight by the Israeli player and poker industry worked Matan Krakow. After lifting the famous ‘golden shard’ trophy, the online poker room manager and co-author of the Eli Elezra autobiography Pulling the Trigger took home $913,700 after a three-way deal.

Cech Czechs Out

Going head-to-head with the WPT World Championships and the WSOP Paradise festivals, the European Poker Tour Prague festival still saw very popular events in terms of attendance. In the EPT Prague Main Event, a total field of 1,224 entries saw a $6.97 million prize pool saw Matan Krakow win the massive top prize, one that doubled his entire lifetime live poker earnings.

By the time the seven-handed final table was reached, the Turkish player Bora Kurtulus led the field with 12,325,000, the equivalent of 82 big blinds. Second in chips was the eventual winner Krakow on 65 bigs, with the Romanian player Traian Stanciu on 36 big blinds. There were several short stacks at the lower end of the counts, with Irishman Conor O’Driscoll the lowest on just eight big blinds.

An early double-up for O’Driscoll – sporting a Manchester United kit – at Vitezslav Cech’s expense left the last remaining home country player at risk of elimination himself. Sure enough, Cech checked out when his pocket jacks were all-in and at-risk to both Dimitrios Gkatzas’ pocket aces and Traian Stancu’s pocket queens.

“Why did I do this?” Cech moaned as the board played out nine high and he departed with $186,850 in seventh place. Gkatzas scooped a massive pot, with Stanciu losing a chunk of chips.

Bansal Finally Bows Out

Conor O’Driscoll was the next player to leave the party, cashing for $242,900 in sixth after he bet the farm on a flop of A-A-5. Pushing all-in with king-queen, it was a bluff with the nut flush draw. and it was the worst possible time to make it. It ran into Kurtulus’ ace-queen which had flopped trips. No fifth diamond came to complete O’Driscoll’s flush and the Irish player left a blessed Bansal to ladder up once more with just 50,000 chips to his name.

“You are the winner for the night,” Kurtulus told Bansal, who could only agree.

“I can’t believe it!” he replied.

Soon, however, Bansal’s incredible luck ran out. Having made three pay jumps to win $315,800 in fifth place, the Indian trebled up before drifting once more, forced all-in from the big blind with jack-four of clubs. Losing to Kurtulus’ queen-deuce of hearts as the Turkish player made a heart flush on the river, Bandal’s elimination saw just four players remain.

The next player to leave the party was the Romanian player Traian Stanciu, who cashed for $410,500 just outside the podium places. Very short in the big blind, Stanciu called off just two big blinds with six-four offsuit but had two live cards against Krakow’s king-three. A runout of A-T-2-9-8 saw Stanciu taken out and with three players left, a deal was discussed.

Krakow Takes the Win

“It’s become more of a hobby that I love.”

With Kurtulus still in charge and Gkatzas very much behind, numbers were agreed for a deal, with just $87,600 left to play for along with the PokerStars golden shard trophy. Gkatzas was soon thankful he did the deal, crashing out in third for an improved cash of $674,600. All-in with king-deuce, he lost to Kurtulus’ ace-eight as nothing came to help either player and play moved heads-up with Krakow in a marginal lead.

The final duel played out over many hands until Krakow enjoyed a 2:1 chip lead. It was at that point that a flop of K-5-4 with one diamond and two hearts dropped. Kurtulus held red pocket eights and pushed out a big c-bet. Krakow shoved with six-seven of diamonds and got a quick call from the Turkish player, who was a 75% favorite to win the pot and double into the lead.

An ace of diamonds on the turn added more outs for Krakow to win it outright, but he was still a 30% underdog in the fight. A four of diamonds upset those odds, however, and the Israeli had the ultimate victory, taking home a total top prize of $913,700, with Kurtulus a deserved runner-up for the $890,000 confirmed in the three-way deal.

“It’s more exciting than I can put into words,” said Krakow after the win. “It’s a dream come true. In recent years, since I got married and had kids, I’ve had less time. It’s become more of a hobby that I love.”

While the €50,000 Super High Roller event was cancelled this week in Prague, there were plenty of other big winners, with Yulian Bogdanov winning both the $11,900 Mystery Bounty event and the PokerStars Open Main Event for over $500,000 in prizes. Titles for Enrico Camosci and Aliaksandr Shylko in the $28,000 buy-in high roller events were added to by a victory for Polish player Dominik Panka in the $4,000 Mystery Bounty event for $240,250 up top.