Portuguese Pedro Marques Wins Record Breaking EPT Prague Main Event

Nine top players faced off at the EPT felt last night as Portuguese player Pedro Marques landed his first-ever EPT Main Event title in style. With big names such as Jaehyung Park, Danut Chisu and Paul Runcan falling just short, Marques won after a late deal smoothed out the final stages for both the heads-up players.

A Record-Breaking Event

A total of 1,458 broke records for Prague on the EPT and that bumper field saw many big names reach the 216 money places, including Fintan Hand (201^st) and Morten Klein (203^rd), both of whom won a min-cash worth $9,000, a fine return on the $5,550 entry fee. Others such as Team PokerStars Pro Sam Grafton (163^rd for $10,330), Julie Sitbon (109^th for $13,630) and the WSOP Main Event winner from 2022, Espen Jorstad ($83^rd for $15,730) all made more without reaching the promised land of the final table and the bright TV lights.

Danut Chisu was the first player to leave the final table, busting in ninth place for $111,250 when his ace-six was unable to usurp Barak Oz’s pocket eights. The Israel player held firm through the 9-5-2-9-3 and on a day where players Jason Koon and Caitlin Comesky were chatting to staff about becoming the newest members of Team PokerStars Pro, the glamor of a final table in a record-breaking event was apparent to all.

Play continued without an elimination for some time before Austria’s Siegfried Kapeller departed with $144,600. He moved all-in pre-flop with ace-queen but again the pocket pair held as this time Marques held with pocket nine, a flop of J-9-7- almost ending it there. A jack on the turn gave Kapeller false hope for a miracle but all that hope was dashed away on the ace river, and the field was trimmed to seven players.

Soon, seven became six and play ended on the penultimate day. Dutch player Tjenno Eskes shoved with ace-six of spades and was called by Paul Runcan with king-ten of clubs. A killer flop of Q-J-9 flopped Runcan the nut straight and a nine on the turn ended Dutch interest in the finale one day before the gold confetti fell.

Return Home for Oz

Siarhei Alontsau was the first player to bust from the final six and he did so in a way he’ll not look back on fondly. Alontsau did nothing wrong but was coolered when he got his chips in with pocket aces on a flop of Q-J-9 and had run into Marques who had the fortune to have flopped two-pair with jack-nine in his hand.

It wasn’t immediately over, of course, the Belarussian requiring running cards, another pair to counterfeit his opponent or an ace, but a four on the turn and ten on the river fell to eliminate the unfortunate Alontsau for $244,500 in sixth.

Next to was the Swedish player Anton Bergstrom, who won $318,000 in fifth place after losing a flip to Runcan and it seemed like both Runcan and Marques would have a monopoly on bust-outs as they weaved their way inexorably towards a final showdown.

Barak Oz went soon after, wearing a hoodie proclaiming ‘live fast die young’, which as a slogan looks cool but in the context of a poker tournament isn’t the greatest declaration of belief out there. Ace-seven lost to Marques’ jack-eight and Oz returned home with a heel-clicking score of $413,275.

Park Life Closed Down, Marques Looking Up

“One of the best days of my life. Winning a Main Event is completely different.”

All three of the remaining players held the chip lead at different points in the action but as afternoon turned to evening and visitors to one of Europe’s most beautiful cities abandoned Christmas markets for warmer pursuits, play moved heads-up at last. Park shoved with ace-six, Runcan called with ace-king and a board of Q-7-5-7-K never really offered the South Korean hope that his stay at the felt might be extended, his score of $537,200 some comfort.

Going into the final battle, Runcan had a lead of almost 5:1 in chips. That was extended to 9:1 in double-quick time but Runcan couldn’t finish the job and two smallball pots added to a full double-up put Marques back up to 15.6 million chips to Runcan’s 28.1 million. The comeback was on.

A complete bluff by Marques soon after almost levelled the stacks and with the stacks so close, a deal was discussed and quickly agreed with tournament director Toby Stone. An unseen straight earned the Portuguese player the lead before all the chips went in pre-flop to decide it, Runcan’s queen-jack dominated to defeat by Marques’ king-queen, a board of K-6-3-2-9 seeing Runcan confirmed as the runner-up before the river.

“It’s an amazing, special feeling,” he said. “One of the best days of my life. Winning a Main Event is completely different from any of my other wins – it’s a really special moment.”

After so many of them this year on the European Poker Tour, 2024 has wrapped and while EPT Paris has been cancelled for 2025, the next EPT stop is bound to be right around the corner in one of Europe’s glamor cities.

“I don’t have any big plans right now,” Marques confessed. “I’m not playing that many stops nowadays. I’m just enjoying my family and my son. But let’s see, maybe I’ll play a few stops next year.”

The reigning champion is bound to defend his crown and when he does, we’ll be there to see whether he can do someting no-one has ever done – win back-to-back EPT titles.