Jordan Saccucci Takes Down Record Breaking EPT Prague Main Event for €913,250

Jordan Saccucci Wins €5,300 EPT Prague Main Event for €913,250

We already knew by last week that this EPT is going to be a big one. As we reported, the €5,300 buy-in Main Event saw a record turnout with 1,267 entrees registering. And, as expected, those 1,200 players included some big names as well. High rollers Timothy Adams and Sam Greenwood from Canada, poker streamer Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg from the UK, and 3-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Davidi Kitai from Belgium were all in the mix at one of the two Day 1’s.

However, by the time the 9-handed final table formed, none of those big name pros were around. Who was around was Jordan Saccucci from Canada, who ended Day 5 with a narrow chiplead and with only 3 men left to beat. Day 6, the final day, was played on December 18, the same date Argentina and France were playing the FIFA World Cup final in Doha, Qatar.

Frenchman Antoine Saout knocked out Hungary’s Istvan Pilhofer in 3rd place. Thus, the final duel for the title came down to a match between Saout and Saccucci, starting with roughly even chips in front of them. The two players quickly struck up a deal, guaranteeing each other €800,000 each from the prize pool, and then playing for the remaining €113,000 and “change”.

Saccucci pulled ahead early into the heads-up match, and he never relinquished that lead. The last hand came when the Canadian pro 4-bet all-in with A3 off-suit pre-flop for the last 38.6 big blinds in his opponent’s stack. Saout called with pocket 6’s, then got the bad news on the flop: two 3’s fell, along with a 4. No 6 or straight came on the rest of the board, so Saccucci was crowned the happy winner.

This was the largest live cash of Saccucci’s career - by a mile. In fact, the vast majority of his $1.330 million in live tournament earnings is made up of this €913K (around $960K in US currency) payday.

Adrián Mateos Triumphs in €25,000 EPT High Roller for €71,072

Only 8 players gathered for the €25K NLHE tourney on Saturday at EPT Prague, so the event technically started with the final table. Given this was the 5th and last high roller on the schedule with this exact buy-in (impressively, two of which were won by Ben Heath!), the lack of hype wasn’t entirely surprising. Spanish poker superstar, 4-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Adrián Mateos topped that narrow field and got himself a cool €71,072 paycheck. 

The second place finisher, the Bulgarian Alex Kulev, actually won more, €101,798. Those who've been following poker for a while probably are fully aware of what made that possible: a heads-up deal. In fact, the largest event in poker history, the £1.050 million buy-in Triton Million in London back in August 2019, ended the same way, with second place finisher Bryn Kenney taking home the largest chunk of the prize pool.

Here are some of the results of the biggest events of the 2022 EPT Prague at King’s Casino.

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