The European Poker Tour is a popular poker option for players created by PokerStars. The tour recently stopped in Prague and saw several events taking place including the Main Event. It was Mikalai Pobal who won the €5,300 EPT Main Event, making history in the process. Pobal is now only the second person to have won two Main Events on the EPT.
Making History
The very first poker player to win two European Poker Tour Main Events was Victoria Coren Mitchell. For Pobal, he won his first EPT Main Event almost eight years ago and with this most recent win, joins the exclusive club with Mitchell.
Pobal was able to outlast the field of 1,154 to earn the win after taking down Norbert Szecsi in heads-up play. For the win, Pobal was able to secure just over $1.1 million! Before heads-up play began, Szecsi and Pobal held a discussion, perhaps to cut a deal. However, no deal was made, so the two ended up getting started on the final round.
Pobal would take a commanding lead and it would be all over shortly. A big bluff with 8-high would allow Pobal to take a more than four to one chip lead to then secure the win just a few hours later.
Final Table Results:
| Place | Player | Prize |
| First | Mikalai Pobal | €1,005,600 |
| Second | Norbert Szecsi | €598,880 |
| Third | Ricardo Da Rocha | €421,450 |
| Fourth | Gaby Livshitz | €316,780 |
| Fifth | Tomas Paiva | €241,230 |
| Sixth | Luke Marsh | €177,420 |
| Seventh | Laurent Michot | €134,610 |
| Eighth | Dietrich Fast | €96,100 |
| Ninth | Gab Yong Kim | €74,770 |
Pobal was interviewed by Poker News after the big win, and asked how he was feeling, with the player stating he was great. And who wouldn’t be? Winning over one million and setting a new record! Pobal was also asked if it meant more to win the title or the euros. He stated it was great to be the first male 2x EPT champion and one million euro is also not bad!
Winning two Main Events in the European Poker Tour is not an easy feat. The EPT is ripe with talent, as poker pros from around the world travel with the tour to be able to compete in the Main Events as well as high rollers and other offerings.
Next EPT Stop
The European Poker Tour will now pause for a bit while the New Year begins. For 2020, the first European Poker Tour stop is set for Sochi Russia in March. From March 20th to the 29th, the Casino Sochi will play host to the EPT with PokerStars Live acting as the sponsor.
Since the stop is a few months away, the schedule is still being determined. We do have the EPT Sochi Main Event info though. The tournament will take place from March 24th through the 29th and have a RUB 175,000 buy-in. The guaranteed prize pool will be 122,500,000. The buy-in in equal to around $2805 while the prize pool reaches around $1.9 million.
