Jordan Saccucci Wins EPT Prague Main Event as Heath and Mateos Dominate High Rollers

Another season of European Poker Tour (EPT) has come to a close with the final EPT Prague stop. As usual, the Prague leg of the Tour was a massive success, breaking records and creating poker history.

The 11-day festival saw EPT and Eureka tournaments run hand in hand, with events from just €220 and all the way up to €50,000 on the schedule.

While living poker legends like Ben Heath and Adrian Mateos continued making poker history, it was Canadian Jordan Saccucci who locked up the biggest win of the festival. Saccucci took home the Main Event trophy, the first of this sort in his career.

Plenty of poker history was made this winter in the Czech capital, so let’s take a quick look at the results of the major events and the most interesting details of the EPT Prague 2022.

Fast and Loose Action from Day 1

EPT Prague 2022 kicked off on December 7 with a preliminary €10,200 Mystery Bounty event, a format which now seems unavoidable on any respectful live tournament stop.

When all was said and done, it was Brazilian Rodrigo Seiji who took the event down and reminded everyone of his win in the €2,200 Mystery Bounty event at the first edition of EPT Prague in 2022, played out in March.

It would not be Seiji’s final hurray for the festival either. He came back just days later and defeated Sergio Aido heads-up to claim the €50,000 EPT Super High Roller title as well. This brought his cumulative winnings for EPT Prague to well over €850,000.

Vamos!

Brazil's Rodrigo Seiji takes down the #EPTPrague SHR for €773,630 score. 🏆

👉 https://t.co/EKo4bBDn5F pic.twitter.com/PBucjV73nN

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) December 13, 2022

While all this was going on, Dutch online grinder Pieter Theelen took down the biggest event of his live career, the €1,100 Eureka Main Event for an astonishing €496,760, nearly 500x the initial buy-in for the event.

Things were only just heating up though, as some of the top events of the festival were yet to be played and the biggest stories yet to be told.

Ben Heath and Adrian Mateos Dominate High Rollers

There are some poker players whose poker resumes are so impressive and results so dominant that no one in the poker world is surprised when they win. Bet Heath certainly falls into that category.

Heath arrived to the EPT Prague in the early days of the festival, ready to play the big buy-in events, and crushed the small and selected field of high-stakes players in two consecutive €25,000 High Rollers.

He won half a million Euros in the process, along with two new pieces of silverware for his cabinet.

Back to back Ben!

Ben Heath made it two €25K Single Day High roller titles in as many days at #EPTPrague.

He defeated Thailand's Kannapong Thanarattrakul heads-up to collect €273,710 and his second trophy of the festival. 🏆 🏆 pic.twitter.com/dNjE2qRbhC

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) December 11, 2022

The final of the three €25,000 High Rollers that played out at the festival was won by none other than Adrian Mateos, the Spaniard whose name seems to be in the highlights of every major tournament stop anywhere in the world.

Yet, all three of these events had fairly small fields, so perhaps a bigger story comes from the €10,300 EPT Prague High Roller. This tournament went to a Thai player and Triton Poker Series regular Kannapong Thanarattrakul, bringing his career tournament winnings to over $2,000,000.

Main Event Trophy Goes to Canada

Despite all the High Roller commotion and the side events being played out, it was the €5,300 EPT Prague Main Event that drew by far the most attention of both players and media.

A stacked field of pros, PokerStars satellite winners, and hopefuls started playing on December 12, and by December 18, there were only four left.

A truly international final table had representatives from all corners of the world sit down and play for the biggest title of the festival.

But when all was said and done, it was Canadian player Jordan Saccucci who took the gold and €913,250 for the win.

ICYMI, this is how Jordan Saccucci secured the #EPTPrague Main Event title, winning €913,250 👏🏆🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/389UGCR0uO

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) December 19, 2022

Saccucci did make a deal with former November Niner Antoine Saout when they came down to heads-up play. The deal guaranteed both players €800,000 in cash, which meant the French pro also took home a significant payday.

The action came to a close following Mateos’ win in the final High Roller of the series, ending yet another successful season of European Poker Tour, which is scheduled to come back in early 2023 with a brand new stop in the French capital of Paris.

Article by

Zvonimir Potocki

Zvonimir has played poker for well over a decade and shared his knowledge with his fans and followers on various sites. He will help you master anything from basic strategies to advanced topics, so you will not go wrong with his articles. He also loves watching poker on TV and shares his insights about poker celebrities. You can connect with Ivan via his LinkedIn profiile.