"Dream Come True" as Industry Veteran Krakow Wins EPT Prague Main Event
Table Of Contents
Every winter, Matan Krakow makes it a point to travel from his home in Israel to play in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague. It’s his favorite stop of the year. It’s where he first cashed in an EPT festival nearly fifteen years ago. And today, at the final table of the 2025 EPT Prague Main Event, it’s where he enjoyed his crowning achievement in a long career in the poker industry.
Krakow spiked a flush on the river to defeat Turkey’s Bora Kurtulus heads up and capture the prestigious PokerStars Golden Shard trophy and €778,255 top prize for prevailing over the 1,224-entry field.
“It’s more exciting than I can put into words. It’s a dream come true. It really is,” the new champion said with the gold-plated trophy by his side and confetti strewn across the floor, taking in the scene that most poker players can only dream of.
EPT Prague Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matan Krakow | Israel | €778,255* |
| 2 | Bora Kurtulus | Turkey | €757,400* |
| 3 | Dimitrios Gkatzas | Greece | €574,600* |
| 4 | Traian Stanciu | Romania | €349,650 |
| 5 | Paawan Bansal | India | €269,000 |
| 6 | Conor O'Driscoll | Ireland | €206,900 |
| 7 | Vitezslav Cech | Czechia | €159,150 |
| 8 | Ding Fan | China | €122,400 |
*- denotes three-way deal
"A Hobby That I Love"
The win more than doubled his previous career earnings on a poker resume that dates back to 2011. The 44-year-old Tel Aviv native first cashed here in Prague in 2011, and finished 114th in the Main Event in 2016. His best result on the EPT before this week was 109th at EPT Malta in 2015.
Krakow, though, had taken a step back from playing professionally in the past few years. He took a job as the poker manager at an online card room, still involved in the industry but in a new, off-the-felt role. He also has experience as a journalist, co-authoring Eli Elezra’s 2017 autobiography “Pulling the Trigger.” His colleagues back home were following along, and he joked afterward that they were sending him messages about taking too much time off during his deep run this week.
"It’s become more of a hobby, a hobby that I love."
The former poker pro still enjoys sitting down at a table every chance that he gets. “In recent years, since I got married and had kids, I’ve had less time. So it’s become more of a hobby, a hobby that I love,” he said.
Krakow’s victory today was a monumental one for his home country. In the more than two decades of EPT history, just one Israeli player had won an EPT title, Uri Gilboa at the 2019 EPT Sochi. Krakow is now the second, and he hopes bringing the trophy back to Israel can serve as a bright light for the country, if even a small one.
“It’s amazing. The country is going through some hard times, and I’m sure I brought some people joy with this win. I’m happy to do that little bit,” he said.
Final Day Action
The finale began with seven players returning to the Hilton Hotel Prague to battle for the trophy. Kurtulus, the civil engineer who only plays poker recreationally, held the chip lead with 12,325,000, while Krakow followed in second place with 9,700,000.
Krakow got a boost on one of the first hands of the day when he turned the nut straight against Traian Stanciu, climbing up past 11,000,000. He soon after took the chip lead in a pot against Kurtulus, hitting a pair of nines on the flop against Kurtulus’ pocket sixes.
Krakow and Kurtulus began to run away from the field, at one point holding more than two-thirds of the chips in play between them while their opponents tried to hang on and climb the money ladder. Conor O’Driscoll began the day with just eight big blinds and found an early double-up, getting in his last 775,000 with ace-eight against Vitezslav Cech’s jack-ten and hitting two pair on the flop.
Krakow widened his lead over Kurtulus after turning a straight yet again to move up to 16,000,000. Just before the first break, Stanciu and Paawan Bansal got in a preflop raising war that ended with Stanciu all in for 2,300,000. He was on the right side of an ultimate cooler, turning over two aces against Bansal’s pocket kings to double up and leave Bansal with 50,000, less than a single big blind.
Bansal was forced all in the next hand and doubled up against Krakow, but still came back from the break with less than a big blind. He wasn’t the next to leave, however. On the first hand of the next level, Stanciu raised to 400,000 in the cutoff and Dimitrios Gkatzas three-bet to 850,000. Bansal folded his small blind, leaving himself with 50,000 yet again. Cech then called for his last 675,000, and Stanciu reshoved. Gkatzas called for his last 2,700,000 and showed the goods, two aces, against Cech’s jacks and the queens of Stanciu. Gkatzas held on to scoop the pot and double up off Stanciu, while the local favorite Cech was sent to the rail in seventh place.
Just one hand later, Krakow opened to 400,000, and Kurtulus and O’Driscoll called in the blinds. O’Driscoll shoved for 800,000 on the flop and Krakow folded, but Kurtulus snap-called with trip aces against O’Driscoll’s flush draw. O’Driscoll didn’t improve, and the Twitch streamer was eliminated in sixth place.
Bansal, who had laddered up more than €100,000 over the previous two hands, doubled up with ace-queen against Gkatzas’ ace-four, then picked up two fives to beat Krakow’s ace-four as he climbed all the way up to 1,550,000, good for seven big blinds that must’ve seemed like 70.
A misclick helped Kurtulus retake the chip lead from Krakow. After calling a bet of 1,000,000 from Krakow on the turn, Kurtulus checked the river and thought Krakow checked back. He turned over a pair of sixes before Krakow had a chance to act. Krakow, knowing what Kurtulus had, then bet 1,500,000 and Kurtulus called. Krakow could only show ace-high for a bluff, and Kurtulus chipped up above 17,000,000. “This is the most fun final table I’ve played,” Bansal said.
“This is the most fun final table I’ve played.”
Bansal’s chip-and-a-chair fairy tale, though, was not to be, as Stanciu won a race with two fours against his king-nine to leave Bansal short yet again. He was forced all in from the big blind a few hands later as three opponents joined in. Kurtulus ended up rivering a flush to win the pot, sending Bansal, the first India native to make an EPT final table, to the rail in fifth place.
Kurtulus then fired all three streets with just ace-high, forcing Stanciu off a pair of nines as the Romanian was left with just 700,000. Stanciu then called off his last 400,000 in the big blind a few hands later with six-four, but Krakow remained in the lead with king-high to bust Stanciu in fourth place.
And Then They Were Three
The three remaining players agreed to a deal, Kurtulus taking €757,400 as the chip leader, while Krakow locked up €703,600 and Gkatzas €574,600. That left €74,655 and the trophy on the table to play for.
Gkatzas was left short when he called Krakow’s 1,900,000 bet on the river with two pair, but Krakow showed trip jacks to win the pot. Gkatzas then shoved for 2,375,000 from the small blind with king-deuce and Kurtulus called with ace-eight. Gkatzas couldn’t catch up, and last year’s 14th-place finisher was eliminated in third place in his second straight deep run at EPT Prague.
Krakow had a narrow 19,150,000 to 17,525,000 lead over Kurtulus at the start of heads-up play. He quickly extended his lead by hero-calling a bet of 2,000,000 on the river with just ace-high as Kurtulus could only show ten-high. Kurtulus was knocked down to less than 10,000,000 after calling for 2,500,000 on the river with a pair of sixes, but Krakow showed two pair.
Kurtulus inched closer by firing three streets with a pair of tens. Krakow missed straight and flush draws, and was forced to surrender the pot. He still held a 24,400,000 to 12,280,000 chip lead when Kurtulus asked to take a smoke break.
On the first hand back, Krakow opened to 600,000 on the button, Kurtulus three-bet to 2,300,000, and Krakow called. The flop came king-high and Kurtulus continued for 4,000,000. Krakow then moved all in, and Kurtulus took little time calling off his last 11,100,000 with pocket eights. Krakow had a straight draw and picked up more outs with a flush draw on the turn. The river gave him his flush, and the trophy was his.
The 54-year-old Kurtulus, who came into the event with less than $60,000 in career earnings and admitted that the deep run through the Main Event left him exhausted, employed his own unique style at the final table. Krakow was left with nothing but praise for his opponent after their heads-up duel. “Super nice guy. Tough opponent. He was able to make hero calls against me, like three times. I was getting frustrated,” Krakow said.
“Great player. I had to get lucky on the last hand.”
Despite the significant score and history-making triumph, Krakow doesn’t see his life in the game changing all that much. He’s still going back to the office. “I don’t think it will change, but I don’t know. Let’s see what happens,” he said.
