Kannapong Thanarattrakul Wins €10,300 EPT Prague High Roller (€543,750)

After three days of play, Thailand’s Kannapong Thanarattrakul outlasted 20 players on Day 3 to win the €10,300 High Roller at PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague.

The field of 274 generated a prize pool of €2,454,100, from which Thanarattrakul collected €543,750 for the victory.

The victory capped off a dominating Day 3 in which Thanarattrakul dominated the final stages of the competition with several knockouts. Marius Kudzmanas finished in second place for €339,830 and third place went to Carlos Spoddig, who took home €242,740 for the top-three finish. Askar Bekbayev and Davidi Kitai rounded out the top five finishers with €186,710 and €143,630, respectively.

€10,300 EPT Prague High Roller Final Table Results

Day 3 Begins With 20 Returning Players

Day 3 started fast and within minutes two players had fallen from the returning field of 20. First to go was Stoyan Obreshkov, who came in with the short stack and found an early spot with ace-ten, but Sanjarbek Sabyrkulov was there to catch up with king-jack to score the knockout. Nazar Buhaiov was right behind in 19th place when he ran into Maloku’s pocket kings.

Other players that ran out of luck before the final table were Rui Bouquet, Nuri Hadioglu, Preben Stokkan, Harry Lodge, Jorryt van Hoof, Pedro Marques, Mike Watson, Steve O’Dwyer, and Conor Beresford, who was eliminated on the final table bubble when he couldn’t improve his ace-nine against Thanarattrakul’s pocket fives.

Final Table Action

Kudzmanas was the chip leader as the final table play got underway with over 3 million in chips. It was the short-stacked Kubanychbek Abakirov who got in first, and he was out in ninth place for €63,340 when his ace-seven couldn’t improve against Bekbayev’s pocket kings.

Action slowed down after Abakirov’s exit and the tournament went another 90 minutes before Jack Sinclair got his stack in with a suited ace-eight, but Spoddig made the Broadway straight with Big Slick to send him to the rail in eighth place for €76,010.

The pace of eliminations picked up after Sinclair’s exit and Kreshnik Maloku was next to hit the rail when his king-queen could not improve against the turned pair of tens for Thanarattrakul. Maloku hit the rail in seventh place for €91,220 just before Sabyrkulov hit the rail in sixth place for €110,480. Sabyrkulov got it in with the better ace-ten, but Thanarattrakul had an offsuit ace-five when he found a fourth spade on the board to knock him out with the flush.

Next to go was Kitai in fifth after he got it in with a suited ace-three, but Thanarattrakul outdrew him with an ace-deuce offsuit to pick up another elimination. Kitai picked up €143,630 for the top-five finish.

The final four players stepped away for a break to watch the conclusion of the World Cup Final before they returned to play down to a winner. It was Bekbayev that hit the rail shortly after play resumed. Bekbayev made his move with ace-queen, but Kudzmanas was waiting with pocket kings to end his run in fourth place for €186,710.

Three-handed action settled in, and the finalists jockeyed for position until Spoddig got it in with pocket sixes and was outdrawn by Kudzmanas and his ace-jack. Spodding wrapped up his run in third place and he will take home €242,740 for the effort.

Heads-up play kicked off, and Thanarattrakul held a 3:1 chip lead before Kudzmanas began to close the gap. It wasn’t long, however, when Thanarattrakul regained momentum and put Kudzmanas on the ropes. The big moment came when Thanarattrakul made a straight with ace-jack to beat Kudzmanas’ flopped pair of queens.

This wraps up coverage of the €10,300 High Roller at PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague. Be sure to join the PokerNews team for live updates from your favorite tournaments around the world throughout 2023.

Live Reporting Executive

Las Vegas-based PokerNews Live Reporting Executive, originally from Chicago, IL