Isaac Haxton Triumphs at EPT Prague €25,500 High Roller
December 16, 2016 5:17 pmWhen US pro Isaac Haxton is not plying his trade at the high-stakes cash tables, he likes nothing better than to enter a high-roller tournament or two. In fact, the 31 year-old is currently in the Czech Republic competing in the PokerStars sponsored EPT Prague, and on Wednesday took down the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller event for a cool €559,200 ($594,356).
The tournament was held at the Hilton Prague Hotel, with a total of 69 players and a further 14 rebuys helping to create a prize pool of €2,033,500. Money was subsequently set aside for the top 11 finishers, and when just 13 players remained Steve O’Dwyer ironically commented “Don’t worry, Isaac Haxton never wins tournaments.”
Despite many second and third place finishers, Haxton had only taken down two competitions in the past, including the 2010 Deep Stack Extravaganza II for $127,069, and the 2016 PCA 6-Handed event for $77,180. While O’Dwyer may have felt like the odds were firmly on his side, his prediction ultimately proved wrong and Haxton ended up walking away with his third career title.
Nevertheless, his latest victory proved only his 4th largest score, with his biggest coming in 2014 after finishing runner-up at the $250,000 Aussie Millions Championship for $2,525,841. To date, Haxton has now won $12,650,356 playing live events, placing him at number 24 on poker’s All Time Money List.
By the time the EPT Prague €25,500 High Roller reached three-handed play, just Isaac Haxton, Julian Stuer, and Adrian Mateos still remained in contention. Haxton subsequently rejected an offer by his fellow competitors to agree a chop, and soon after he was dealt pocket tens and busted Mateos (K-10) in 3rd to go heads-up against the German pro for the title.
Three hands is all it would then take before the deciding hand was played with Haxton all-in preflop holding poket eights and facing the A-J of Stuer. An 8 on the turn subsequently secured the win for Haxton, while Julian Stuer received €397,550 for his runner-up finish.
Money Finishers:
1: Isaac Haxton (US) €559,200
2: Julian Stuer (Ger) €397,550
3: Adrian Mateos (Spn) €260,300
4: Ramin Hajiyev (Azbj) €200,300
5: David Yan (NZ) €158,610
6: Steve O’Dwyer (Ire) €124,050
7: Pablo Fernandez (Spn) €97,600
8: Paul Newey (UK) €76,260
9: Charlie Carrel (UK) €57,950
10: Koray Aldemir (Ger) €50,840
11: Igor Yaroshevskyy (Ukr) €50,840