PokerStars EPT Prague Won By Local Man Jan Skampa
December 7, 2009 11:27 amRising tournament player Jan Skampa has won the €5,000 EPT Prague a fortnight after coming in 4th at the EPT Vilamoura. At that time Skampa picked up his biggest win to date of $168,022 but now the 23 year old Czech man has crushed his own recent record after beating a field of 586 players to win an impressive €682,000 first prize.
Following his victory in front of a partisan Czech crowd Skampa commented, “Winning a large tournament like an EPT in my home town is one of the greatest achievements anyone can have.”
The final table got off to a high octane start as half the finalists were eliminated after just an hour and a half of play. First short stacked Sven Eichelbaum and Gustav Ekerot were knocked out of the tournament in quick succession in the first level.
Next, the table saw danger man Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano exit in 6th after his button raise with AJ was re-raised by Stefan Mattsson holding pocket Q’s. As all the chips went in pre-flop, Pagano found no relief from the board and the Italian pro added another €100,000 to his bankroll from his 13th EPT cash.
Laurence Ryan from Ireland was unlucky to receive pocket J’s at the same time Mattsson had AA and his fifth place finish earned him €135,000 while Anthony Roux picked up €171,000 in fourth after losing a race with his pocket 10’s against AK.
After 7 hours of play, the tournament got down to heads-up after Stefan Mattsson (Sweden) re-raised Eyal Avitan all-in and found himself in good shape with Q 10 versus J 10. However, a 6 on the river completed Avitan’s open ended straight and meant a €255,000 third place finish for Mattsson.
Heads-up was a tough, fiercely contested battle and after three hours of play Skampa managed to eek out a lead when the final hand occurred. Skampa holding pocket J’s raised pre-flop and his aggressive Israeli opponent moved over the top for his remaining 4.2 million chips holding J 9. The writing was on the wall for Avitan who walked away with €454,000 while Jan Skampa received €682,000 for the victory.
“Heads up was tough as it seemed we were both trying to avoid getting it in on a flip,” Skampa said following his win. “But after a while I felt he was getting more tired than me and by then I had figured out his play.”