Maybe it’s a case of having too much of a good thing, but yesterday’s EPT Prague Cuatro KO bucked the trend of rising tournament numbers, only 11 players entering, down a massive 51 on the previous version. The winner? Yauheni Tsiareshchanka, a relative newcomer to the highroller circuit.
The €12,300 buy-in event was a hugely popular addition to PokerStars’ EPT Barcelona schedule earlier this year, Steve O’Dwyer topping a field of 62 to pick up €163,720 ($182,949).
Perhaps the clash with not only the WPT Wynn World Championship in Vegas and WSOP Paradise in Bahamas, but also the €20k NLH in Prague, limited the amount of highroller spending to go round.
Whatever the case, a paltry 10 players, and Steve O’Dwyer’s double buy-in in an attempt to go back-to-back, was all there was on display. Not that the field was in any way weak – Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, Espen Jorstad and Teun Mulder all in the field.
Only two spots would be paid, and there were three bounties of €12k apiece up for grabs, but none of it would be going to 2022 WSOP main Event winner, Espen Jorstad, who ran into Buldygin’s aces and was sent to the rail.
Artsiom Lasouski saw his hopes ended with something of a cooler flop…
Lasouski: Q♦ 10♣
O’Dwyer: Q♠ 9♠
Flop: 10♥ 9♣ 9♥
The young Belarusian check-raised the flop…
Turn: 8♦
…and called the turn…
River: 3♣
Forced to call his stack off for his tournament life, Lasouski couldn’t get away from his two pair and that was that.
When Vaskresenski, Buldygin and Mulder all fell, it was bubble time in Prague’s Hilton hotel casino and it was a painful one for online poker legend Niklas Astedt.
Niklas Astedt: Q♠ 10♠
Yauheni Tsiareshchanka: Q♥ 9♦
Flop: Q♣ 8♠ K♠
Turn: Q♦
River: 9♠
Astedt’s rivered flush must have felt good but when all the chips went in, he discovered it had also brought his opponent a full house.
Tsiareshchanka took Astedt’s bounty and faced O’Dwyer heads-up, the best part of €100k on the line. It was all but over when O’Dwyer didn’t believe his young opponent’s river shove on a 10♦ Q♣ 5♣ A♥ A♠ board.
However, Tsiareshchanka turned over A♦ Q♥ to beat O’Dwyer’s Q♠ J♠ and a couple of hands later it was game over when O’Dwyer couldn’t catch up with pocket 4s in a race.
€12,300 Cuatro Knockout Final Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Bounties | Total |
| 1 | Yauheni Tsiareshchanka | Belarus | €60,000 | €36,000 | €96,000 |
| 2 | Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | €32,525 | €0 | €32,525 |
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