Semen Kravets Wins the 2019 EPT National Prague for €262,309
Semen Kravets scored his biggest ever live cash by winning the €1,100 EPT National here at the Hilton Prague for €262,309 during the 2019 edition of the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague. Kravets defeated a 2,452-strong field and Jussi Mattila heads-up who claimed €247,978 to his name.
The Russian player almost tripled his lifetime career earnings with his first-ever tournament win as his previous best result was when he came fourth in the €1,100 NLHE event at EPT Barcelona a few months back. Kravets is a regular on the EPT circuit, his first cash dates back to EPT12 in 2015 in Malta when he missed out on the final table in another €1,100 event.
Kravets made a three-way deal with Mattila and Jasper Meijer van Putten and won the extra money on top. The final table was rounded out by Yin Liu, Narcis Nedelcu, and Gregory Telman.
€1,100 EPT National Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semen Kravets | Russia | €262,309* | $290,098 |
| 2 | Jussi Mattila | Finland | €247,978* | $274,249 |
| 3 | Jasper Meijer van Putten | Netherlands | €202,048* | $223,453 |
| 4 | Yin Liu | China | €104,395 | $115,455 |
| 5 | Narcis Nedelcu | Romania | €87,095 | $96,322 |
| 6 | Gregory Telman | Israel | €70,265 | $77,709 |
| 7 | Rafael Alkhouri | Sweden | €53,670 | $59,356 |
| 8 | Grzegorz Wyraz | Poland | €38,770 | $42,877 |
| 9 | Patrick El Kallas | Jordan | €29,540 | $32,669 |
*reflects three-way deal
Start of the Day
With almost 14 minutes left in Level 34, six players returned with Kravets in the chip lead who immediately decided to make his mark by claiming the first significant pot of the day. It only took a few minutes before Telman bowed out in sixth place when he shoved his ace-ten into the ace-king of Liu. No help came on the board and Telman was sent to the payout desk to collect a cash to triple his lifetime career earning too.
Nedelcu took the chip lead from Kravets at one point when he turned a Broadway and got paid on the river by Kravets. But with a few raise-and-fold and lost posts, he found himself all-in an hour later with ace-king. Kravets held king-jack and even though Nedelcu flopped top pair and turned top two, Kravets hit a runner-runner flush to send the Romanian pro to the rail in fifth place with a personal record of his own.
Thirty minutes later, Liu lost his last ten big blinds when he shoved with ace-four and was called by Mattila who held king-jack suited. Liu was ahead throughout the board until the river fell to give Mattila the flush to send the Chinese player away from another final table as he finished in fifth place in the €1,100 Hyper-Turbo a few days ago.
Deal or No Deal
Kravets, Mattila, and Meijer van Putten played three-handed for around twenty minutes before it was time for a break and they decided to also start looking at numbers at that point. Meijer van Putten had just lost a pot to Kravets and went into the deal discussion as the shortest stack of the three. The ICM-numbers were given, €30,276 had to be played for. The first attempt to get a deal closed failed and the players went for their break. But when they returned from the break, a deal had been agreed upon and play continued.
Mattila held the lead most of the time with Meijer van Putten collecting more chips too. Kravets had almost twenty big blinds when he doubled up through the 2016 EPT Main Event champion with ace-eight against ace-seven. Fifteen minutes later, Kravets took the remainder of the Dutchman’s stack with the higher flopped pair. Meijer van Putten’s five biggest cashes have all been collected here in Prague which must hold a special place in his heart as it amounts to almost $1.4 million of his almost $1.8 million in tournament cashes.
Heads-Up Action
Heads-up play lasted almost ninety minutes with Mattila in the lead just over 60% of the chips in play. But Kravets wasn’t going away easily. Stacks started evening out until Mattila grabbed a commanding chip lead again when he had the bigger two pair than Kravets. The two players went for a break and soon after, Kravets shoved on Mattila on the four-seven-queen-six-queen board with three clubs. Mattila opted to fold the queen he claimed he had after a long tank while Kravets said he had a flush.
In the final hand, Mattila got his whole stack in when he three-bet-called the four-bet shove of Kravets with pocket sixes. Kravets’ ace-ten found another ace to pair up with on the turn to end the tournament. The Russian player celebrated and Mattila shook his hand as they both had their best results ever.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of the last EPT National of 2019 but stick around as there’s plenty more EPT action to come in the Main Event and the High Rollers.
and Kravets sighed.
and now it was Mattila's turn to sigh as he held his hand out to shake Kravets' who said it wasn't over yet even though he celebrated a bit already.
to seal the deal and secure the €30,276 on top of the €232,033 Kravets had already negotiated. They shook hands, Kravets hugged the floor, and Mattila made his way to the payout desk to collect €247,978 for finishing as the runner-up.
, Kravets bet 2,500,000 and Mattila called.
, Kravets quickly flicked in another 2,500,000 which was called.
and Kravets bet 3,000,000 which Mattila snap-called. Kravets tabled 
for two pair but Mattila held 
for the higher two pair to scoop the pot.
for both of them to flop a pair but for Kravets to take the lead with the higher one. 
which didn't change things and neither did the 
on the river as the 2016 EPT Main Event Champion was sent to the rail in third place for €202,048 after having agreed to a deal earlier. 
for Meijer van Putten to also hit two pair but still stay behind.
on the turn. Mattila bet 700,000 and Kravets called.
and Mattila now bet 1,400,000 which Kravets quickly called. Mattila tabled 
for two pair but Kravets held 
which didn't change things as Mattila already started counting out chips.
to bring the flush to Mattila to eliminate Liu in fourth place for €104,395.
, it was checked again to Nedelcu who now barreled a bet of 3,775,000 over the line. Meijer van Putten folded immediately but Kravets needed some more time. In the end, he made the call but mucked when Nedelcu tabled