Adrian Mateos Wins EPT Prague €25k High Roller Title

Spanish highstakes pro Adrian Mateos added an EPT Prague €25k High Roller to his impressive poker resume, fending off Alex Kulev heads-up to take the trophy, although the Bulgarian took the lion’s share of the prizepool!

It proved to be something of a highstakes SNG after only 8 players entered, one rebuy boosting the prizes though it would be €50k spent for no return for Dutchman Arnold Oosterbaan.

Others to fall before the three paid spots included Daniel Dvoress and Ben Heath, the latter bagging back-to-back highroller titles on this visit to Prague but falling first in this one.

Pascal Lefrancois, holding pocket 10s, ran the last of his chips into Kulev and Mateos, both holding kings, but another ten proved elusive and Lefrancois exited in 5th spot.

When Oosterbaan’s 2nd bullet only took him as far as 4th spot, the remaining trio, Kulev, Mateos and Sternheimer were in the money – registration had to be closed and the 2-day tournament became a one-day event.

When Kulev downed Sternheimer, he and Mateos agreed an ICM deal with the Bulgarian’s chip lead giving him just over €100k, Mateos settling for slightly more than €70k.

The flip for the trophy, however, saw Mateos take three straight wins and therefore the title.

Final results

*after heads-up ICM deal

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Afterwards Mateos told reporters: “It’s always nice to win a tournament. It’s a small field, like a sit-and-go, but nice to win.”

Spain’s all-time number one tournament moneywinner, with close to $30million, added: “(There was) one big stack and two smaller stacks, so the strategy changed. I had to play tighter to try to get the other player eliminated first before me.”