Welcome To EPT Prague Day 1a
Good morning, good afternoon or good evening! Whatever time it is where you are reading this from, welcome to the 2012 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague Main Event!
Last night saw PokerStars throw a lavish party at The Duplex club where the champagne, beer and cocktails were flowing long into the cold winter night. Hopefully, those who were in attendance managed to get plenty of sleep because we have the not-so-small matter of a €5,300 buy-in EPT main event to get through over the course of the next week.
The EPT first visited Prague back in Season 4 (2007) and is safe to say it was an instant hit. A huge field of 555 took part in the inaugural Prague tournament, Arnaud Mattern outlasting all of them to leave the Czech Republic with €708,400 and the coveted EPT trophy.
Since Mattern’s win, Salvatore Bonavena, Jan Skampa, Roberto Romanello and Martin Finger have each tasted success here and won an EPT Prague Main Event; Finger’s victory coming in Season 8 where he had to best a star-studded field of 722 entrants.
EPT Prague Champions
| Season | Entrants | Prizepool (EUR) | Winner | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 555 | €2,530,240 | Arnaud Mattern | €708,400 |
| 5 | 570 | €2,764,500 | Salvatore Bonavena | €774,000 |
| 6 | 586 | €2,842,100 | Jan Skampa | €682,000 |
| 7 | 563 | €2,730,550 | Roberto Romanello | €640,000 |
| 8 | 722 | €3,501,700 | Martin Finger | €720,000 |
This season’s EPT Prague main event has the potential to be one of the biggest tournaments ever held in the Czech capital. The city is teeming with poker players, many of whom have been competing in the World Poker Tour Prague festival and the Eureka Poker Tour that have been taking place over the past few days — the final tables of each of those events take place today — and what better way to cap off a fantastic fortnight of poker by taking down one of the most prestigious titles in the game today?
Over the two starting flights we should see Team PokerStars Pros such as Liv Boeree, Jonathan Duhamel, Jason Mericer, Johnny Lodden, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and a many others too.
Join the PokerNews team from 12:00CET for all of the action, as it happens, from the PokerStars EPT Prague Main Event.