Mikalai Pobal has taken down the 2019 EPT Prague €5,300 buy-in NLH Main Event to become the 2nd player ever to win two EPT main event titles. The Belarusian pro who won EPT Barcelona in 2012 outlasted a field of 1,154 entries to earn €1,005,600 in top prizemoney. This was his first win of the year, but it was enough to see him move to the 4th place on the ‘Belarus All Time Money List’.
The final day began with Gaby Livshitz leading the final five runners. Tomas Paiva was the first player to hit the rail in 5th place after he shoved on a flop of 8s 5h 4h holding pocket queens against Livshitz’s Jh 6h. The turn 8h gave Livshitz a flush and it was enough to bust Paiva from the final table.
Pobal had started as one of the shortest stacks but managed to find two double-ups through Livshitz to come back into contention. Pobal and Livshitz clashed yet again. This time, AQ of Livshitz ran into pocket aces of Pobal. While Livshitz did flop a queen pair but it was no good to beat pocket aces and he hit the rail in 4th place. Following him in third place was Ricardo Da Rocha who shoved all-in for 1.185 Million with As Jh and was called by Norbert Szecsi who had Ah Qh.The board ran out Kd 5h 4s 6c 8s and Da Rocha got eliminated in 3rd place, leaving Pobal and Szecsi in heads-up for the title.
Heads-up began with Szecsi holding 18,385,000 against Pobal’s 16,215,000. The two agreed to a deal before finally deciding to play on. Pobal quickly overcame his slight chip deficit and eventually took more than a 3:1 chip lead. On the final hand, Szecsi’s pocket eights ran into pocket kings of Pobal. The board ran out 6432A, giving the pot as well as title to Probal who earned €1,005,600 for his win.
Final Table Payouts (EURO):
1.Mikalai Pobal – €1,005,600
2.Norbert Szecsi – €598,880
3.Ricardo Da Rocha – €421,450
4.Gaby Livshitz – €316,780
5.Tomas Paiva – €241,230
6.Luke Marsh – €177,420
7.Laurent Michot – €134,610
8.Dietrich Fast – €96,100
9.Gab Yong Kim – €74,770