Bulgaria’s Martin Tsvetanov has seized victory in the EPT Prague €1,100 Eureka Main Event for the handsome sum of €449,034.
The cash game specialist defeated a healthy field of 4,732 entries to bag almost half a million euros from the €4,542,720 prize pool.
And it was a rocky road for Tsvetanov to navigate. He came into the fourth and final day as the chip leader but it was anything but plain sailing.
In his post-event interview Tsvetanov said:
“I haven’t processed it yet, I’m going through hands in my head and I’m ready to play some more right now! It’s life changing, it will hit me in a few days.
“It was a real rollercoaster. I’ve been a professional player for a few years, cash mainly. My mentality is not to get phased, don’t think about the money, the pressures, have no expectations, and I’ve worked quite a bit on this recently.
“I just try to play my best, obviously I got lucky in some spots. The whole day was a rollercoaster, I lost half my stack in the first level and then the last three I was down to ten bigs, but yeah I never gave up or lost hope.
“I will definitely be playing more EPT’s, unfortunately I can’t play the Main Event here as I have a family holiday booked, but you will definitely see me in Paris!”
Action Recap
When play resumed on the final day, there were only 14 challengers left in the mix and the action was hot from the very first hand.
Austria’s Gerald Karlic held the chip lead when the final table was set while Tsvetanov was still in the midfield with some work to do.
Mikkel Nielsen was the short-stack and could only last a few hands, busting in ninth place.
Karlic then lost around one third of his stack after a spectacular all-in against Ricardo Caridade.
The Portuguese playeropened to 1,000,000 from the cutoff with 8♣ 8♦and Karlic raised it up to 3,500,000 in the small blind holding A♠ K♥
The flop came down Q♠ 8♠ 8♥ and that was all she wrote!
Caridade then knocked out Jack Sinclair in a flip which saw him sitting with a significant chip lead.
Alexantr Spatharis followed the Brit to the rail after losing a flip to Tsvetanov and to leave only six left in the hunt.
Matthew Micallef soon followed with the Maltese player failing to ramp up his short stack in a hand against Karlic.
Discussions now took place about a five-way deal but nothing could be agreed upon and it was back to the battlefield.
Karlic was now on a roll again. The Austrian doubled up against Caridade to get his hands back on the chip lead.
Theodoros Ampelikiotis was the next casualty. Having navigated stormy waters for most of the day with a short stack, the man from Greece exited the event in fifth place with a €138,370 prize.
As four-handed play began, the chips stacks had all merged to around the same size. Tsvetanov and Karlic were in front but there wasn’t much in it.
Ryan Plant lost most of his stack in a confrontation with Caridade and then tripled up in the next hand. But just as he was thinking his luck had changed, he busted out in fourth after Tsvetanov’s overpair won the pot.
Tsvetanov now went on a rampage. Three large pots were pushed in his direction, including a double-up through Karlic.
Caridade could only watch as his stack was on life support and then terminated with Tsvetanov hitting a much-needed ace to see off his opponent’s pocket queens.
Another discussion about a deal commenced as Tsvetanov prepared to begin heads-up play with a 45 big blind stack while Karlic had only 23 big blinds.
The pair agreed that Tsvetanov would bank €430,000 and Karlic bagged €396,086 with only €19,034 and the trophy left to fight over.
Tsvetanov got the job done soon after and collected his first EPT trophy.
EPT Prague €1,100 Eureka Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
| 1 | Martin Tsvetanov | Bulgaria | €449,034* |
| 2 | Gerald Karlic | Austria | €396,086* |
| 3 | Ricardo Caridade | Portugal | €233,860 |
| 4 | Ryan Plant | United Kingdom | €179,890 |
| 5 | Theodoros Ampelikiotis | Greece | €138,370 |
| 6 | Matthew Micallef | Malta | €106,400 |
| 7 | Alexantr Spatharis | Greece | €81,680 |
| 8 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €62,690 |
| 9 | Mikkel Nielsen | Denmark | €48,430 |
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