Julian Track Runs by Field, Captures EPT Prague Togel Hongkong Championship
Racing through the largest field in the history of the event, Germany’s Julian Track outran a talented final table on the way to taking down the 2013 European Poker Tour Prague Main Event last night in the Czech Republic.
Coming to the final table, Track held a decent lead over
former EPT champion Max Silver, but it was far from secure with Silver and
others in pursuit of him. Stephen Chidwick was in the middle of the pack and in
excellent form during the tournament, while Ole Schemion lurked as one of the
shorter stacks on the table. Jorma Nuutinen, Georgios Sotiropoulos, Ka Kwan Lau
and Zdravko Duvnjak rounded out the final group as the cards hit the air on
Wednesday afternoon.
Track would extend his lead early on by creating the first
knockout. Nuutinen, who came to the final table as the short stack but was able
to grind up a bit through the early action, opened the betting in Level 26 but
saw Chidwick pop him with a three bet. In the big blind, Track would four bet
the action and Nuutinen would put his tournament life on the line while
Chidwick backed away. It was a race situation, Nuutinen’s A-K against Track’s
pocket tens and a ten on the flop basically ended any discussion. Once a seven
on the turn failed to provide any assistance to Nuutinen, he was gone in eighth
place (for the record, Chidwick folded two of Nuutinen’s outs with his own Big
Slick).
Silver, trying to become the first player to ever win two EPT
championships, did not have a great day of play on Wednesday. As he watched his
chip stack dwindle, he was able to see Duvnjak depart the festivities before
Silver himself hit the door. Pushing all in with an A-10, Chidwick decided to
look him up with his pocket sevens. A ten would come on the flop to give the
lead to Silver and the board paired with a four on the turn. Silver was one
step away from a big double, but a seven on the river quashed that double and
eliminated the Brit in sixth place.
Schemion also had some difficulties in getting anything going
on Wednesday. On his final hand, Schemion saw Sotiropoulos bet out and Track
three bet his action. Schemion moved all in for almost 3.5 million chips and,
after Sotiropoulos (and his K-9 off suit) got out of the way, Track called.
Schemion’s pocket tens were vastly outpacing Track’s pocket sevens and things didn’t
change on the 2-8-2 flop. A seven on the river, however, suddenly pushed Track
to the lead and, once neither of Schemion’s two remaining outs came on the
river, he was done in fifth place.
That hand further solidified Track’s lead
over the remaining three http://54.251.28.102/ players as he held
almost 60% of the chips in play. Looking to gain some ground, Sotiropoulos was
responsible for the eliminations of both Lau and Chidwick to bring the match to
heads up but, suddenly, the play was stopped. Track (holding 17.2 million
chips) admitted that he wasn’t feeling well and offered Sotiropoulos an even
chop of the remaining money on the table (worth €700,000), saving back roughly €25K and the
trophy to play for. Sotiropoulos accepted and, once those formalities were
complete, the twosome went about deciding a champion.
Even with the money in the (proverbial) bank, Track and
Sotiropoulos battled it out as if the entire prize pool was on the felt. Track
would wear down Sotiropoulos to a point that Track held a 4:1 lead, but
Sotiropoulos wouldn’t go away quietly. Over four hours, Track and Sotiropoulos
fought it out before the penultimate hand was dealt. Pushing his stack all in
with a Q-J off suit, Sotiropoulos was called by Track and his pocket tens and,
once the board came down K-9-2-4-3, Sotiropoulos had missed all his outs and
the tournament was over.
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