Yulian Bogdanov Wins EPT Prague PokerStars Open for €398,135

€1,650 PS Open Main Event

The most recent PokerStars-affiliated event of this EPT saw a healthy field of 3,024 come together over six Day 1 flights at the Hilton Prague, assembling a tidy prize pool of €4,354,560. By the time the fourth and final day rolled around, only 12 remained in contention for EPT glory.

Austrian Matthias Auer came into the day with 5,000,000 chips more than his closest competitor, a difference of 12 big blinds. He returned for the final day at the top of the counts, with a decent margin between himself and Lulei Hu in second.

Yulian Bogdanov was in pursuit of his second title of the week, having won the €10,200 Mystery Bounty earlier this week for a total score of €147,000. He was sitting in third place and hot on the heels of Hu.

Final Table Lineup

Player	Country	Chip Count
Matthias Auer		15,850,000
Lulei Hu		12,375,000
Ben Hurwitz		10,450,000
Yulian Bogdanov		11,050,000
Amato Landi		3,775,000
Rama Prema		8,025,000
Ivan Poroliev		10,250,000
Simon Lofberg		8,675,000
Adrian Ziemichod		10,250,000

Poland’s Adrian Ziemichod came into the day at the bottom of the pile, but he navigated his way to make the final table. Once there, he scooped a three-way all-in to eliminate Amato Landi in eighth, leaving Simon Lofberg short in the process. Ziemichod scooped a monster pot with A A , and he was up against Landi’s 8 8 and Lofberg’s 8 8 . The three players were all in on the flop of 5 3 2 , and the 7 9 provided no miracle runouts for Landi and Lofberg.

Ziemichod Zooming Up the Counts

Ziemichod was zooming up the counts, aided by busting Lulei Hu, who was reduced to short-stack duties at this stage of the tournament. Lofberg also recovered, doubling twice in quick succession after losing a significant chunk of his stack to the Polish national.

Bogdanov was still in contention, and he claimed the remnants of Ben Hurwitz’s stack to send him to the rail in sixth place. Hurwtiz defended the big blind with six-four offsuit and couldn’t hit his gutshot draw he picked up on the flop to crack Bogdanov’s sevens. Matthias Auer was Ziemichod’s next scalp, and he departed in a blind v blind confrontation where Ziemichod flopped two pair. Lofberg couldn’t complete a miraculous comeback, and his time at the final table ended with his chips going to Ivan Proliev. This then took play three-handed.

Three-Handed Play

The players went on a break before three-handed play began, and talk of an ICM chop was in the air. Ultimately, it was reached quickly. Ziemichod locked up €440,100, Bogdanov, €398,135, and Ivan Poroliev, €368,755, based on chip counts taken before the final frames began. This meant only the PokerStars Golden Shard and prestige were on the line for the trio. Shortest stack Poroliev was first to fall as he jammed pocket fours from the blinds over a Bogdanov open, who had king-jack offsuit. The 10 6 3 6 10 left Poroliev’s pair counterfeit, and two pair with a king-kicker was good for Bogdanov. Bogdanov was now atop the counts, as he doubled through Ziemichod to draw close to parity, before going on to stack Poroliev.

Ziemichod wasn’t lying down, and he drew even with Bogdanov once again. However, around ten minutes later, all the chips were in the middle. Ziemichod found his pocket sevens dominated by Bogdanov’s jacks. The 9 8 3 provided no relief for Ziemichod, but the 6 turn gave him extra outs. However, it wasn’t meant to be, as the 9 gave Bogdanov a superior two pair and the trophy. Bogdanov must be getting used to this winning feeling in Prague, as he earned his second title of the week and a bumper payout of €398,135. Below are the final table payouts.

Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Payout
1	Yulian Bogdanov		€398,135*
2	Adrian Ziemichod		€440,100*
3	Ivan Poroliev		€368,755*
4	Simon Lofberg		€200,000
5	Matthias Auer		€154,000
6	Ben Hurwitz		€118,380
7	Lulei Hu		€91,000
8	Amato Landi		€69,980
9	Rama Prema		€53,820

What’s Next?

There is still plenty more action to come from EPT Prague, so stay tuned to pokerlistings.com for more updates from the Czech capital.

That’s all for now, folks. Until next time.