Oleg Vasylchenko Wins €10,200 Mystery Bounty
Oleg Vasylchenko has overcome a 56-entry field and defeated Enrico Camosci heads-up to win his first EPT title and the €74,673 first-place prize here at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague. Vasylchenko also claimed four mystery bounties en route to his victory totaling €80,000 to bring his total prize up to €154,673.
Vasylchenko's win comes after a long history of close calls. Before today, Vaslychenko had final-tabled four times in other EPT events over the past several years but was never able to take down the title.
"It feels great. I was craving for [an EPT title] for ten years," Vasylchenko said. "I made several final tables so I'm really glad I won it... besides the money."
Vasylchenko, who entered the final table as the big stack, explained that he was a bit disappointed to miss out on the largest bounties (which were claimed by Elias Gutierrez), but is satisfied nonetheless.
"I was in good shape to make some bounties, but you actually need to make some hands. I didn't get the opportunities that [Gutierrez] got, so I'm kind of frustrated about that. But it was fine, at least I got a trophy!"
Gutierrez ended up claiming five of the nine mystery bounties, leaving him as the highest cash winner of the tournament after earning €238,150 between his third-place finish and the bounty prizes.
€10,200 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Bounty Prize | Total Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oleg Vasylchenko | Ukraine | €69,673* | €80,000 | €154,673 |
| 2 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | €58,277* | €0 | €58,277 |
| 3 | Elias Gutierrez | Spain | €38,150 | €200,000 | €238,150 |
| 4 | Marcelo Bonanata | Uruguay | €28,950 | €0 | €28,950 |
| 5 | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | €22,350 | €0 | €22,350 |
| 6 | Masato Kashiwabara | Japan | €17,100 | €0 | €17,100 |
| 7 | Paul Newey | England | €13,150 | €0 | €13,150 |
| 8 | Antoine Labat | France | €10,550 | €0 | €10,550 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
Final Table Action
Day 2 began with several short-stacked players as a result of the event's turbo structure. As expected, the final table got off to a blazing start, with Antoine Labat, Paul Newey, and Masato Kashiwabara all being eliminated in eighth, seventh, and sixth place, respectively, within the first half-hour of play.
Vasylchenko claimed the first couple of mystery bounties after eliminating Antoine Labat and pulled a €10,000 + Draw Again bounty followed by a €25,000 bounty. However, it was Gutierrez who far and away claimed the lion's share of the mystery bounty prize pool.
Following Labat's elimination, Gutierrez claimed the next three eliminations, including Dimitar Danchev after getting him all-in preflop and catching a queen on the turn.
Gutierrez wasted little time before drawing his first two bounties, in which he claimed the top prize of €100,000 and the second prize of €50,000. Gutierrez saved his third bounty for the first break of the day and promptly pulled a €25,000 bounty. This brought his bounty earnings to a staggering €175,000 — more than double the first-place prize.
Marcelo Bonanata, who started the day as one of the short stacks, managed to double up several times and at one point took the chip lead during four-handed play. His momentum quickly fizzled out, however. After losing a couple of sizable pots to Vasylchenko and Camosci, Bonanata shoved with king-queen and lost a race against Gutierrez's pocket fives to bow out in fourth place. Unsurprisingly, Gutierrez drew the highest available €25,000 bounty following the elimination to bring his total bounty prize to €200,000.
It looked to be Gutierrez's day, but soon after three-handed play began, he lost a big pot after running top pair into Vaslychenko's trips. Vasylchenko claimed the rest of Gutierrez's chips after calling a shove from Gutierrez with pocket fours and holding with pocket fives.
The heads-up battle between Vasylchenko and Camosci proved to be a short one. On just the fifth hand of play, Vasylchenko shoved with pocket fives and was called by Camosci, who held ace-deuce. The board ran out sweat-free for Vasylchenko and with that, he claimed his first EPT title.
That's a wrap for PokerNews' coverage of the €10,200 Mystery Bounty here at the Hilton Prague. For continuing coverage of EPT Prague events and others around the globe, be sure to check out our live-reporting hub.