EPT Prague Ended in Dramatic Fashion!
That’s a wrap for EPT 2023, folks! After visiting Paris, Barcelona and Cyprus, the last stop for the EPT in 2023 was held in Prague. Seven events were played between December 6th-17th. Three of them were Eureka events, and the other four were versified EPT Events. Naturally, a lot of focus were on the €5 300 EPT Main Event, which turned out to be very dramatic in the end.
Let’s take a look at what happened during EPT Prague 2023!
Padraig O’Neill Conquers
EPT Prague 2023 was an absolute blockbuster of a live poker event. 936 unique players battled it out for the title, and 349 re-entries were made. This meant 1 285 entries in the Main Event, which surpassed last year’s record of 1 267.
With a €6 232 250 prize pool and €1 030 000 up top, there was a lot to fight for. After six days, it was time for the final five players to battle it out for the trophy. At this point, there was only one name on everyone’s mind: Jon Kyte. The Norwegian bagged the chiplead both day 3 and 4 and when he entered the final table, he had 23 million in chips. Closest to Kyte was Chenh Zhao who had roughly 8 million.
It wasn’t until the three-handed play that Irishman Padraig O’Neill overtook Kyte’s chiplead. O’Neill almost were the first one to bust during the final day when he flipped with pocket fours against Kyte’s ace-king combo. Now suddenly, he was the chipleader.
Eventually Umberto Ruggeri was eliminated in third place and it was time for Heads-Up play. At this point, Padraig held a 4-1 chiplead over Kyte. Little did they know they were in for a rollercoaster-ride. One pot here, one pot there, and suddenly Kyte was once again chip leader. Players took turns trading blows and the poker audience were treated with amazing bluffs and well-calculated bets. It truly was a poker show!
Time went on and O’Neill won a couple of pots back to back. Kyte was now bleeding and he had roughly six big blinds when O’Neill put the Norwegian all in. Kyte didn’t have much choice other than calling with 10 5 . O’Neill turned over K 10 . Was this going to be O’Neill’s unforgettable moment? The flop came Q 9 3 . Then turn 2 . With the river 9 it was over. O’Neill had successfully accomplished an insane comeback and took home the EPT Prague 2023!
O’Neill understandably had a hard time taking the win in:
“It feels amazing. It just happened. It hasn’t sunk in. I was hoping to get fourth. Third would’ve been amazing. To get Heads-Up, I never thought it would’ve happened.”
Even though Jon Kyte might feel disappointed right now, the Norwegian can look back at a good year, winning big in both WSOPE Tallinn and the Festival Bratislava.
EPT Prague 2023 Main Event – Final Table Payouts
| Position | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Padraig O’Neill | €1 030 000 |
| 2. |  Jon Kyte | €643 000 |
| 3. |  Umberto Ruggeri | €459 240 |
| 4. |  Cheng Zhao | €353 240 |
| 5. |  Adam Wagner | €271 660 |
| 6. |  Grigorii Rodin | €209 000 |
| 7. |  Govert Metaal | €160 750 |
| 8. |  Marle Spragg | €123 600 |
| 9. |  Vincent Meli | €95 000 |
Once again, EPT fulfilled the year with great live poker stops. They recently announced the EPT Schedule 2024 and we can’t wait for the action to unfold!
