Christmas Comes Early for Hometown Hero as Patrik Jaros Bags Second Title of EPT Prague 2024
As the curtains come down here at the Hilton Prague on another wonderful year of PokerStars European Poker Tour events, it is Patrik Jaros of Czechia who has emerged victorious in the final event of PokerStars European Tour Prague 2024, the €10,300 EPT High Roller.
Jaros takes a precious victory on home soil and €573,500, smashing his previous best career score of $443,783, a fifth place finish in the Main Event at EPT Barcelona in 2022.
Jaros defeated Nichan Khorchidian of Lebanon, in gregarious form and wearing a Santa hat throughout the final day, in a short heads-up match. The victory represents Jaros' second trophy of the festival, having triumphed in Event #28, a €5,250 Pot Limit Omaha event, for €151,600. Indeed Jaros considers himself primarily a PLO specialist.
Jaros was propelled to victory when he came off best in a collision with fellow big stack Anton Wigg with seven left to take a commanding lead. Jaros always looked the most likely winner from there, his relentlessly aggressive style paying off.
Winner's Reaction
"It's unbelievable, I feel so good, two titles in one festival, I'm not sure its real right now."
On the hand versus Wigg, "In the later stages of hold'em tournaments, I have a lot to learn. This was a fancy hand, I got lucky. I was trying to put pressure on everyone all the time, and this hand was a result of this, I was going for the win. Unlucky for him, lucky for me."
"I was just trying to generally enjoy it - deep run in an EPT, €10,000 buy-in, tough field. I was enjoying every moment of the game. I was trying to do my best, but as I say I have a lot to learn in hold'em. I 've worked hard to try to improve my hold'em game, my knowledge and my mindset recently, so to see it pay off is amazing."
On what's next, "I'll take a little break for Christmas. I have some high-stakes PLO tournaments in the New Year, and will be at every EPT for sure. I'll try to work on my game some more, I feel as I'm getting older I'm getting better, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's next."
On his opponents, "Luck was on my side. Overall the final table was a very good run for me, but I also did some very good things. I had to deal with Artsiom, very tough player, in my opinion the best at the table. So it was nice to see him, but I feel I really went for the win today, it was my day."
€10,300 EPT High Roller Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patrik Jaros | Czechia | €573,500 |
| 2 | Nichan Khorchidian | Lebanon | €358,400 |
| 3 | Artsiom Lasouski | Belarus | €256,000 |
| 4 | Vojtech Ruzicka | Czechia | €196,900 |
| 5 | Laszlo Molnar | Hungary | €151,500 |
| 6 | Mariusz Golinski | Poland | €116,500 |
| 7 | Anton Wigg | Sweden | €96,200 |
| 8 | Christian Pedersen | Denmark | €80,200 |
| 9 | Renji Mao | China | €66,800 |
Final Day Action
A fast and furious start to the day ensued, as the starting field of 14 players was trimmed to the final table before the players were sent on their first break.
Start of Day 2 chip leader David Boyaciyan had entered the final day as the short-stack, and he was the first to depart when he ran into the two pair held by Laszlo Molnar.
Maksim Vaskresenski was extremely active early on, but had the misfortune of coming off worst in almost every hand he played, eventually running his pocket eights into the overpair of Mariusz Golinski to leave the stage in 13th.
Arsenii Karmatckii was next to bust in 12th after calling off a four-bet jam from Artsiom Lasouski with another pair of eights, but they were again second best versus the Belarussian's jacks.
WSOP Main Event Winner Espen Jorstad followed Karmatckii out the door shortly after, when he lost a flip against the Big Slick of Vojtech Ruzicka. Bruno Bernardino, who had been nursing a short-stack all day, hit the showers as the final table bubble boy after running into the overpair of Renji Mao.
Final Table Action
Lasouski came into the final table with 92 big blinds and the lead, stalked by Wigg, who had a relatively quiet start to proceedings, while Jaros was in third.
Another Czech, Ruzicka, was in the middle of the pack with Christian Pedersen and Golinski, while Khorchidian brought up the rear - although with 19 big blinds he wouldn't have been panicking.
The start of the final table was relatively cagey, with substantial pay jumps coming into play. It took a cooler to get matters moving, with Mao running queens into the aces of Jaros to exit in ninth. Korchidian got lucky to double via Ruzicka despite his ace being dominated, before start of Day 3 chip leader Golinski lost the classic race against Molnar to be left short.
The last hand before the second break brought fireworks and another cooler, as Pedersen ran ladies into cowboys to depart in eighth.
There was further carnage in the first hand back, which proved to be the crucial hand in the tournament. Jaros five-bet jammed versus fellow big stack Wigg with a mediocre holding, and managed to overcome Wigg's kings. It was a brutal bad beat for the Swede, who couldn't believe his misfortune, and it put Jaros in a commanding lead.
In a crazy start to the third session, in the very next hand, Golinski ran into the queens of Khorchidian with a single overcard to bust in sixth. Jaros claimed a further scalp when he again came from behind against the short-stacked Molnar. Shortly thereafter, Lasouski got lucky to dispose of Ruzika in fourth despite his ace being dominated.
Three-Handed Play
In the final, three Jaros held a 25 big blind lead over Lasouski, while Khorchidian was the shortest, but certainly not out of it. Jaros, as befits someone with over $2 million in tournament cashes, leveraged his lead expertly, always maintaining a lead over Lasouski.
It looked like Jaros might run away with it, but there was a further twist when Lasouski rivered a straight for the full double-up against him, which brought the Czech almost level with the Belarussian, with Khorchidian trailing in third.
Lasouski and Jaros had always appeared most likely to face-off for the title, having been the players most prepared to go after it from the start, but Khorchidian threw a spanner in the works when he tripled-up. Lasouski flatted the Lebanese's all-in, but Jaros three-bet jammed from the big blind, forcing Lasouski to fold what he claimed would have been the winner. Khorchidian took the pot with ace-high and was right back in it.
If that seemed likely to halt Jaros' momentum, any such notion was dispelled when he quickly won a huge flip against Lasouski to eliminate the Belarussian, and set the stage for a final duel with Khorchidian.
Jaros started with a 3:1 chip advantage, and quickly got the job done when he rivered a straight and got Khorchidian to call off. The Czech player celebrated a precious victory passionately with his rail, and the players warmly embraced, bringing an end to EPT Prague 2024.