Hometown Hero Wins EPT Prague

Jan Skampa: Prague's new poker hero.

A new European poker star was born in the Czech Republic Sunday night.

Just a few weeks removed from his first PokerStars European Poker Tour final table in Portugal, Jan Skampa won his first title, taking down EPT Prague in his hometown.

“It feels great,” Skampa said, moments after booking the win and an €682,000 first-place prize.

“It’s just my fourth EPT and I win an EPT in my hometown. It’s one of the greatest accomplishments in poker one can have.”

With 584 entrants, EPT Prague was the largest poker tournament in Czech Republic history, a fact that was not lost on the new hometown hero.

“It was the biggest tournament in Czech Republic ever, so it feels marvelous,” he said. “I had lots of support from the rail, lots of people cheering me on.”

The final eight set up as one of the most notable in EPT history.

Not only was it back-to-back finals for the 23-year-old Skampa, who finished fourth at EPT Vilamoura in Portugal, but it marked Luca Pagano’s record breaking sixth final table.

Plus, WPT and WSOP finalist Stefan Mattson and WSOP and WSOPE finalist Anthony Roux were added to the mix, both looking for a breakthrough win to add to their resumes.

German Sven Eichelbaum was actually the first out of the final eight, running ace-jack suited into Laurence Ryan’s aces.

Shortstack Swede Gustav Ekerot was the next to go, throwing rags at Eyal Avitan’s aces before Mattsson suddenly took over the table.

Pagano’s record sixth final table came to an abrupt end when he four-bet shoved ace-jack into Mattsson’s aces.

Then, just moments later, Ryan ran jacks into Mattsson’s queens to bust fifth and hand the aggressive Swede a massive chip lead.

Skampa turned things around, however, when he got Mattsson to call his five-bet shove.

The Prague native had kings against the Swede’s queens and doubled up to take over the chip lead.

Winamax Pro Roux was out next, losing a flip against Avitan, and three-handed play began as a virtual dead heat between Skampa and the Israeli, with Mattsson not too far behind.

Avitan inched his way into the lead and then took care of Mattsson after three hours of three-handed play, flopping a straight and fading a combo-draw after getting it in with jack-ten versus the Swede’s queen-ten.

Avitan then took a 2:1 chip lead into heads up with Skampa, but the young pro chipped away until more than three hours of careful play had passed and he had grabbed the advantage.

In the end, Avitan shoved in with jack-nine offsuit facing a Skampa raise.

Skampa called with pocket jacks and had the Israeli drawing dead by the turn as the pro-Czech crowd went wild, draping Skampa in the nation’s flag and roaring in appreciation.

“Both of us were trying to avoid races it seemed, and as the time went on I felt like my opponent was getting tired a bit,” Skampa said. “Especially during this last level I tried to put the pressure on him a bit more. I just felt I had a solid grasp on his play already.”

An economics student at St Charles University in Prague who has been playing quite succesfully online for the past three years, Skampa said the money would not change his life and he plans to continue playing European Poker Tour events throughout this season and beyond.