With a pot of around 1,000,000 already existing between the two players, the board read . Stephen Chidwick checked to Bertrand Grospellier who counted out a bet of 650,000 and Chidwick called.
The river was the and Chidwick checked it again. Grospellier opted to check it back this time and Chidwick showed for two pair. Grospellier let his cards go in defeat and Chidwick scooped another pot.
The two players have been playing a lot of small pots and Stephen Chidwick has been coming out on top in the majority of them. Once again in a limped pot, the dealer spread the flop of . Both players checked and the landed on the turn.
Bertrand Grospellier checked again and Chidwick flicked in a bet of 100,000. Grospellier called and the completed the board. Grospellier checked once more and Chidwick made a pot-sized bet of 500,000. Grospellier burned through a time extension before releasing his cards.
Stephen Chidwick opened to 200,000 and Bertrand Grospellier three-bet all in for 2,375,000. Chidwick called.
Stephen Chidwick:
Bertrand Grospellier:
The flop came keeping Grospellier in the lead for another double up. However, the paired Chidwick and the bricked sending Grospellier out in second place.
Stephen Chidwick defeated a battling Bertrand Grospellier heads-up to win the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €50,000 Super High Roller for €725,710.
The Frenchman came into heads-up with a huge deficit to make up, but two double-ups saw him put up a fight. However, the day was Chidwick's who walked away with his 16th six-figure or more cash of the year.
Grospellier meanwhile secured his biggest cash in two and a half years, taking his lifetime earnings above $14.5m.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (EUR)
Prize (USD)
1st
Stephen Chidwick
United Kingdom
€725,710
$804,123
2nd
Bertrand Grospellier
France
€501,590
$555,787
3rd
Adrian Mateos
Spain
€320,170
$354,764
4th
Steve O'Dwyer
Ireland
€245,460
$271,982
5th
Jean-Noel Thorel
France
€192,100
$212,856
6th
Ben Heath
United Kingdom
€149,410
$165,554
Winner's Reaction
Coming into the final table third in chips, Chidwick said that the final table is a "fun kind of balancing act."
"You have to change every single hand depending on the stacks," Chidwick told PokerNews. "It depends on how people are playing and it's all about trying to get away with as much as you can. It's about getting in a good chip lead position and that's where you want to be at the final table without risking too many chips."
Chidwick admitted that he had one eye on the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race.
"It's close at the top, so I hope this will help," he said. "I've not had a good record in the big buy-in events at PokerStars festivals. I think this is my first win over 25k at a PokerStars event.
Now over $13m in cashes this year, Chidwick admitted that the cashes will continue to rack up because of the size of the buyins in modern poker.
"I'm always looking to get better year by year, but the biggest difference in recent years is just the size of the buyins."
Final Day Recap
It didn't take long for the first elimination of the day, with Ben Heath sent packing on just the third hand of the day. Jean-Noel Thorel was the beneficiary, with his sevens holding against Heath's ace-queen to not only eliminate the Brit but also move into the chip lead.
Thorel seemed in command for large portions of the early going, chipping up to within touching distance of five million in chips before the pivotal hand came against Stephen Chidwick.
Chidwick had turned a full house while Thorel had turned a straight. The pair got it in on the river and Chidwick doubled into the lead to sit with almost six of the eleven million in play.
Thorel in Reverse
Yesterday, Bertrand Grospellier scored successive doubles through Thorel, and it seemed that streak of luck for him in the battles between the Frenchmen would continue. Getting it in dominated with king-queen against Thorel's ace-queen, Grospellier spiked a king on the flop to double up.
A further double from Steve O'Dwyer would push Thorel closer to the exit before O'Dwyer delivered the coup de grâce to send the Frenchman packing in fifth.
Chidwick in Command
O'Dwyer and Grospellier would both trim the lead of Chidwick, but he still led the way at the first break of the day. When the four players resumed, it was Chidwick who padded his chip lead by sending O'Dwyer to the rail. After Chidwick opened with aces, he called a three-bet shove from O'Dwyer who held eights and held to move further ahead.
Adrian Mateos came into the final day as chip leader and had a pretty easy time of it up until now. However, he was next to go. Again it was Chidwick who finished him off, holding queen-jack and turning a jack to best the ace-ten of Mateos.
Heads-up Action
Coming into heads-up, Grospellier held 1.6m to Chidwick's 9.4m in the chips. Grospellier battled away, but that didn't stop Chidwick soon opening an even bigger gap. However, two doubles from Grospellier extended the contest including one where Chidwick rivered the nut flush only for his opponent to turn over a straight flush.
However, with the mounting blinds eventually, the chips had to get in, and all it took was a ten on the turn to seal the victory for Chidwick and for him to add another victory to an already illustrious list of poker achievements.
That concludes PokerNews coverage of the largest buy-in event of the PokerStars EPT Prague festival, but there's still plenty of poker going on, including the EPT Prague Main Event which kicked off earlier today.