Ben Heath Wins 2022 PokerStars EPT Prague Event #10: €25,000 High Roller (€227,130)
The second high-stakes contest of the 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague stop at the Hilton Hotel in Prague has determined a champion. Out of a 22-entry strong field in Event #10: €25,000 NLHE High Roller, the UK's Ben Heath earned the biggest slice of the €528,220 prize pool after defeating Alex Kulev in heads-up.
It was a small but elite field consisting of 15 unique players and seven re-entries and many of those who entered are expected to return the following day for the second edition of this one-day tournament. Only the top four spots were paid with Daniel Dvoress and Pablo Brito Silva also earning a profit on their investment.
Bubble boy was fellow Brazilian poker pro Rodrigo Seiji, who had won Event #3 €10,200 Mystery Bounty just one day prior but had to leave empty-handed without anything to show for this time.
Final Result Event #10: €25,000 NLHE High Roller
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | €227,130 |
| 2 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | €142,620 |
| 3 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | €95,080 |
| 4 | Pablo Brito Silva | Brazil | €63,390 |
The early stages of the day were dominated by rapid changes atop the leaderboard with Sam Greenwood, Adrian Mateos, Orpen Kisacikoglu, and Steve O'Dwyer taking their turns in the spotlight. Fedor Holz also made his first appearance during the festival but quickly vanished on his first entry.
Jean-Noel Thorel bowed out two times but returned once more to quickly double-up against Kulev with the superior straight. However, his fortune didn't continue and he fell in tenth place to set up the unofficial final table. Mateos and Holz ran out of chips in quick succession thereafter with the latter running with tens into the queens of Kulev.
Dvoress then scored a double knockout by dispatching Greenwood and O'Dwyer to bring the field down to the money bubble. It seemed just a matter of time to reach the money stages but a very tense period of two hours followed.
Heath doubled into the lead when then biggest stack Kulev applied maximum pressure with pocket treys only to run into pocket kings. Seiji showcased his survival skills with a very short stack but ultimately couldn't beat the pocket jacks of Dvoress to become the bubble boy.
Brito Silva was flipped out by Heath, who held more than half of the chips in play and Kulev doubled through Dvoress in a battle of the two short stacks. There was no miracle comeback from a single chip for Dvoress and Heath entered heads-up with a lead of nearly three-to-one.
Kulev, who was the most active player for most of the day, didn't give up quietly and even pulled back into the lead. However, a bluff catcher with ace-high sent most of the chips in play to Heath, who closed out the victory soon after.
The second €25,000 High Roller is only a few hours away, scheduled to kick off at 12.30 p.m. local time on Saturday, December 10, 2022. Stay tuned back then for more live poker action from Prague as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to cover multiple tournaments simultaneously.
