Arnaud Mattern raises to $200,000 on the button and Gino Alacqua takes very little time before deciding to move all-in. Mattern makes an instant call and shows A K to Alacqua's Q T. The French pro is ahead both in cards and in chips, holding a $2.9 million to $2.4 million advantage as we head to the flop.

The dealer burns and turns and the flop comes J 6 2, maintaining Mattern's lead but giving El Diablo plenty of flush-draw outs. The turn is the K and Mattern pairs his king but Alacqua now picks up straight-draw outs as well. The crowd is on its feet, screaming encouragement in French and Italian at its respective pros, and the tension is palpable as we head to the river.

The river card is the 2 and Mattern dodges all of Alacqua's outs, winning the hand and the tournament with a pair of kings. For the victory, the former backgammon pro earns an official haul of €708,400, although the reported chop may see his take reduced to "only" €550,000.

For second place, Gino "El Diablo" Alacqua earns either €407,300 (official) or €450,000 (chopped), which one hopes will enable the 48-year-old antiques dealer to fulfill his stated goal of finding love in the Czech Republic.

Congratulations to both players and to PokerStars.com, the European Poker Tour and the city of Prague for an incredible inauguration of the game of poker in the Czech Republic. See you in the Bahamas!

Gino Alacqua raises to $210,000 and Arnaud Mattern gets the last of his $1.49 million in chips in pre-flop with J J. Alacqua makes the call, turning up A 9. The flop comes K Q 4 and the Frenchman retains the lead, needing to dodge an ace or running cards to stay alive. The turn is the 2 and the river the 4 and Mattern has doubled-up, taking the chip lead and the advantage in this heads-up battle.

After making some progress Mattern is starting to deflate. Gino Alacqua is stealing almost every blind and Mattern has worked his way down to approximately $1.5 million while "El Diablo" has an intimidating $3.5 million. Better make your move soon, Frenchman!

Arnaud Mattern is winning a number of small pots in this heads-up battle with a combination of clutch bets and all-in pushes. In one of the few pots to go to showdown, Mattern raised to $150,000 and Gino Alacqua made the call. The flop came A-K-8 and both players checked, as they did on the turn (a jack) as well. The river card was a trey and Alacqua bet out $135,000. Mattern called and showed K-9, taking down the pot after El Diablo mucked his hand.

The chip counts now see Mattern with $1.9 million, still a long way behind Alacqua's $3.6 million.

The break is over which means players will have to now deal with increased blinds of $30,000/$60,000 and a $6,000 ante. Arnaud Mattern will have to make his move soon.

Gino Alacqua and Arnaud Mattern are taking a much-deserved 15-minute break. Join us in a cool 15 minutes for more action straight from Prague.

Gino Alacqua bets $150,000 from the button and Arnaud Mattern calls. With over $300,000 in the pot we head to the flop, which comes A-K-3. Both players check and the turn is a four. Both players check again and the final card is a queen.

Alacqua bets $135,000, which sends Mattern into the tank. After several minutes Mattern makes the call but to his immediate disappointment Alacqua shows J-10 for the straight. Mattern is getting into dangerously low territory.

As heads-up play begins, the chip counts are as follows:

Gino Alacqua	$4 million
Arnaud Mattern	$1.5 million

 

Gino Alacqua raises to $145,000 on the button and Kristian Kjondal makes the call in the big blind. The flop comes 5 4 3 and Kjondal checks to Alacqua, who bets out $200,000. Kjondal moves all-in over the top and Alacqua stands, takes a deep breath and makes the call with the bigger stack. He turns up K 5 for top pair while Kjondal is staking his tournament life on K 6 for the open-ended straight draw. The turn is the 8, taking away a number of the Norwegian's outs. The river card is the J and Kjondal has been eliminated. He officially earns €235,300 for his efforts, although if our information is correct he'll take home €350,000 for his time.

We're now heads-up between Gino Alacqua and Arnaud Mattern.

Rumor has it our three remaining runners, Kristian Kjondal, Gino Alacqua and Arnaud Mattern, have decided to make a deal which will see each player receive €350,000, with second place getting an extra €100,000 and first place taking home an extra €200,000.

In the meantime action has resumed from the Golden Atrium casino and we'll have more live updates for you as they happen.