Bart Lybaert Wins Eureka Poker Tour Czech Republic Main Event for €115,000

March 25, 2013

Pamela Maldonado

Season 3 of the Eureka Poker Tour kicked off last week with 21-year-old Belgian Bart Lybaert winning the €1,000 buy-in Main Event in the Czech Republic. Lybaert bested a field of 421 to earn €115,000 and the first major victory of his poker career.

Eureka Poker Tour Czech Republic Main Event Results

Place	Player	Prize
1	Bart Lybaert	€115,000
2	Fabian Leib	€77,250
3	Giovanni Mazza	€47,500
4	Bulent Demirtas	€36,875
5	Kasparas Klezys	€28,125
6	Thomas Erier	€20,000
7	Ronald Szczerba	€15,000
8	Dirk Recknagel	€11,250

Entering the event at King's Casino Rozvadov last week, Lybaert's only live tournament score came at this month's £700 buy-in UKIPT London Main Event. He took 139th there for €1,200. Now, he's added a title to his résumé after having an incredible run in the Eureka Poker Tour Czech Republic Main Event.

“It feels really awesome,” Lybaert told the PokerStars Blog after his win. “This is the first time I’ve got so deep in a tournament. Everything went my way. I didn’t have a downswing at all. It went all up.”

Lybaert was the chip leader entering Day 2 and began the final table second in chips, trailing by just a handful of big blinds. Things really took off for the young Belgian when he took the chip lead in a massive pot against PokerStars qualifier Kasparas Klezys. According to the PokerStars Blog, Klezys turned a set of queens and Lybaert, who flopped top pair of kings, ended up with a rivered straight.

Klezys, who had been pretty aggressive throughout the final table, opened to 60,000 from the hijack. Lybaert three-bet to 125,000 and insurance broker Fabian Leib called from the button. Klezys came along as well, and the flop showed 2♥9♣10♦. Klezys checked, Lybaert bet 150,000, and Leib called, resulting in a fold from Klezys. The two players checked the 3♣ turn, but when the Q♠ came on the river, Lybaert bet 300,000. Leib reluctantly called while saying, “Queens?” Lybaert showed K♥K♣, and Leib tossed his hand into the muck.

Lybaert ran over the table from there and at one point even forced a player to fold pocket aces when he himself had pocket rockets. After Lybaert raised from the button, Giovanni Mazza three-bet from the big blind, which was followed by a four-bet from Lybaert. Mazza simply called. The flopped came 4♦10♦J♦ and Mazza checked. Lybaert bet 400,000 and Mazza called. Mazza checked in the dark before the Q♣ came on the turn and said, “We’re the chip leaders. We should check it down.” Instead, Lybaert moved all in and Mazza folded his aces face-up.

Lybaert continued to build his stack as each player fell by the wayside. Going into heads-up play, Lybaert held an eight-to-one chip lead against Leib, who doubled up a couple of times but couldn’t gain much momentum against Lybaert.

In the final hand, Lybaert opened to 130,000 and then called Leib’s 280,000 three-bet. On the A♣2♥9♣ flop, Leib shoved his remaining chips to the pot and was instantly called by Lybaert. Lybaert showed top pair with A♠3♠ but was trailing Leib’s A♦10♦. The 7♣ came on the turn, keeping Leib in front, but the 3♥ gave Lybaert two pair and the title.