Who Will Win the €10,300 PokerStars Championship High Roller in Prague?
At 12:30 p.m. local time, the third and final day of the PokerStars Championship Prague €10,300 High Roller will kick off in the Hilton Prague. It's the last day of the first and only season of the PokerStars Championship, as the popular EPT-brand will be making a comeback in 2018. Along with the Main Event, the High Roller will play down to a winner today.
After two long days of ten hours each, a field of 256 players has been whittled down to the last 16 hopefuls. Each of them is already guaranteed at least triple their investment (€30,500), but the lion's share of the €2,483,200 prize pool is still up for grabs, including the first place price of €498,000.
Sergio Aido is coming in as the perennial favorite to win it all. The Spaniard had a big Day 2 at the tables and brings 2,147,000 to Day 3, enough for a towering lead over his nearest adversary Danny Tang (1,593,000). The highly experienced 29-year old Spanish poker pro dragged a massive pot from Christopher Kruk late on Day 2 to claim his spot at the top of the standings. Aido needs to finish 7th or better in this event to surpass the $6 million dollars in lifetime winnings. More than $3 million of that came in 2017 alone and a win here would cap off Aido's monster year in style.
As expected, the remaining field is stacked with big names from Europe and several from across the pond. EPT12 Prague Main Event winner Hossein Ensan (1,130,000), Ben Heath (966,000) and Viliyan Petleshkov (939,000) round out the top 5. Preben Stokkan (778,000) and JC Alvarado (692,000) both finished runner-up in earlier High Rollers this week and get another shot at a trophy. The bottom of the pack is rounded out by David Peters (515,000), Day 1 chipleader Roman Emelyanov (446,000), Tsugunari Toma (292,000) and the aforementioned Kruk, who survived the big clash but starts with the shallowest stack (186,000).
The action resumes at 12.30 p.m. local time with just under seven minutes remaining in level 20, with blinds at 8,000/16,000 with a running ante of 2,000. All levels last 60 minutes each. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand from start to finish to provide all the updates from the floor as we crown the last-ever PokerStars Championship High Roller winner.
EPT Prague €10,300 High Roller winners
| EPT | Entries | Prize Pool | Champion | County | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 26 | €254,800 | Nichlas Mattson | Sweden | €127,000 |
| 2011 | 50 | €490,000 | John Andress | USA | €176,400 |
| 2012 | 113 | €1,107,400 | Marvin Rettenmaier | Germany | €365,300 |
| 2013 | 176 | €1,724,800 | Ivan Soshnikov | Russia | €382,050 |
| 2014 | 309 | €3,028,200 | Andrey Zaichenko | Russia | €487,190 |
| 2015 | 315 | €3,055,500 | Kenneth Smaron | USA | €595,500 |
| 2016 | 407 | €3,947,900 | William Kassouf | United Kingdom | €532,500 |
| 2017 (PSC) | 256 | €2,483,200 | - | - | €498,000 |
improved Kruk, but he fell behind on the 
turn. Another spade would result in a split pot, yet the 
river sent the Canadian to the rail in 16th place for €30,500.
turn and 
river run out gave Stokkan a full house. "You are supposed to just call and let him flop top pair," Orpen Kisacikoglu said and Stokkan replied "I was thinking about it."
flop gave Emelyanov top pair and the 
turn left Yaroshevskyy drawing dead, making the 
river a formality. Yaroshevskyy headed to the payout desk to collect €34,300 for his efforts and all remaining 13 players now have €38,100 guaranteed.
turn. A blank 
river sent Davy to the rail in 12th place for €38,100.
rundown meant sayonara for the Japanese high roller. He said his goodbyes in 11th place and received €43,400.
flop gave Petleshkov some more outs with a gutshot straight draw, but the 
turn and 
. The Brit, supported by countrymen Will Kassouf and Artan Dedusha on the rail, was left with a mere 45,000.
