Online Qualifier Grzegorz Glowny Wins EPT Prague Main Event (€692,252)
Grzegorz Glowny has entered his name into the European Poker Tour (EPT) history books after winning the 2021 EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event at King’s Casino at the Hilton Hotel in Prague for €692,252.
Glowny journey to become the fifth EPT champion from Poland began like many other hopeful champions by winning a €530 satellite at PokerStars.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Glowny as lost a chunk of his stack after turning down a deal when the action was down to four players. Glowny battled back before eventually agreeing to a deal with Gab Yong Kim, Andrea Cortellazzi, and Symeon Alexandridis which left €110,796 in the prize pool for the eventual winner.
The EPT has a long and storied tradition dating back to 2004. Similar to other poker festivals around the world, the EPT organizers had to cancel most of their schedule ever since the 2019 EPT Prague in December 2019 with the festival squeezing in two EPT festivals in Sochi in 2020 and 2021. In fact, this EPT Prague was labeled for 2021 as originally this event was scheduled to take place in December before being postponed until March with the 2022 EPT Prague planned for later this year.
The return of the EPT to Prague was worth the wait as it provided tons of excitement with 1,190 entries generating a massive €5,771,500 prize pool. Many big names made it deep only to fall short of the final table including Dimitar Danchev and 2019 WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan advancing to the penultimate day in hopes of joining the small club of three-time EPT champions.
2022 EPT Main Event Prague Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Grzegorz Glowny | Poland | €692,252* |
| 2 | Andrea Cortellazzi | Italy | €579,420* |
| 3 | Symeon Alexandridis | Greece | €497,278* |
| 4 | Gab Yong Kim | South Korea | €622,610* |
| 5 | Demetrio Caminita | Italy | €245,870 |
| 6 | Armin Rezaei | Austria | €181,800 |
| 7 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | €138,570 |
| 8 | Valentino Konakchiev | Bulgaria | €98,750 |
*Reflects four-way ICM deal
Final Table Action
According to the PokerStars Blog, the final day began with a six-max televised final table after Teun Mulder and Valentino Konakchiev were eliminated at the final table on Day 5. Kim kicked off the final day as the table captain with Glowny firmly positioned in the middle of the pack.
It was all Glowny early on as he took the chip lead after eliminating Armin Rezeai when his big slick held against ace-queen suited. Glowny extended his lead after winning a flip with fives against eight-six suited to eliminate Demetrio Caminita and bring the action down to just four players.
Kim wrestled the chip lead back before the next break, at which point the four remaining players discussed a deal.
“I would like to keep playing,” said Glowny before the action resumed.
Glowny could have been temporarily regretting the decision as things turned disastrous for the Polish poker player after losing a few pots to Alexandridis and Kim.
However, this wasn’t the end of the story as Lady Luck was on Glowny’s side. Glowny four-bet jammed with ace-jack and got there to double up into the chip lead after Kim called with ace-king.
Kim snagged the chip lead back and shortly after the players agreed to a deal leaving €110,796 to be played for.
Kim coughed up the chip lead to Alexandridis, who subsequently doubled up Cortellazzi into the chip lead when his fours were no match against tens. Time was then up for Kim after he jammed the river with two pair holding six-three only to hit the rail when Cortellazzi called with eight-seven suited for a flush.
Cortellazzi had more chips than his two opponents combined throughout the three-handed action. Glowny was once again the recipient of some luck to bring things close to even to start heads-up play after his ace-eight got there against ace-nine to eliminate Alexandridis.
Glowny stormed ahead early in heads-up action to take the chip lead and held double the chips of Cortellazzi before the Italian stormed back to bring the chip stacks back to regain the chip lead.
The pivotal hand of heads-up action was when Cortellazzi jammed with ace-nine and was called by Glowny with queens. The queens held and Glowny had his opponent down to just 11 big blinds. Shortly after, Glowny was crowned the latest EPT Main Event champion after his king-queen suited dominated Cortellazzi’s eight-four suited.
The EPT is back with a vengeance and will next head to Casino de Monte-Carlo from April 28 to May 7, 2022. Head to PokerStars to qualify for what promises to be another spectacular EPT for pennies on the dollar with satellite and feeder tournaments running around the clock.
*Images and hand information compliments of the PokerStars Blog and PokerNews.
