Seat 3: Istvan Pilhofer (Hungary) - 10,600,000
He might be entering Day 5 as the short stack, but don’t rule out 39-year-old Istvan Pilhofer just yet. The Hungarian is on a hot streak at the moment, having recently taken down one of the biggest tournaments in Budapest, and while he’s had modest results on the EPT before, this is already his biggest career cash. Pilhofer played poker professionally for a couple of years but since 2017 he has owned and operated a hotel and restaurant in Siófok, a town on the southern bank of Lake Balaton.
“Obviously, there was a big downswing in the hospitality industry over the past few years,” he said. “It’s been hard but we’re in a good place now.” He’s done well to reach the final nine here in Prague, notably folding queens late on Day 4 when his opponents held pocket aces and pocket kings. Alas, a queen hit the flop, but he’s proud of the laydown. “It was the right decision at the wrong time,” he told us. “But as we always say, if I had called something else would have come!” Whatever happens today, he has his wife and young baby cheering him on.
Pilhofer’s chip count progression
Entering Day 2: 68,000 (245th out of 434 remaining)
Day 3: 587,000 (12/117)
Day 4: 1,050,000 (14/30)
Day 5: 1,530,000 (9/9)
Day 6: 10,600,000 (2/4)