2021 PokerStars EPT Prague

€25,000 Single-Day High Roller IV
Day: 1
Event Info

2021 PokerStars EPT Prague

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
€318,370
Event Info
Buy-in
€25,000
Prize Pool
€936,390
Entries
39
Level Info
Level
23
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
80,000
Players Info - Day 1
Entries
39
Players Left
1

€25,000 Single-Day High Roller IV

Day 1 Completed

Rodrigo Selouan Wins €25,000 Single-Day High Roller IV (€318,370)

Level 23 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante
Rodrigo Selouan
Rodrigo Selouan

The IV edition of the €25,000 Single Day High Roller tournament took over 14 hours to complete. The single-day event attracted 39 entries to generate a prizepool of € 936,390 to make it the largest one so far.

Taking home the spadie trophy and the €318,370 grand prize was Rodrigo Selouan of Curitiba, Brazil. A mainly online player, Selouan made his first cash in Europe in style with a score that is almost ten times greater than his total registered career poker earnings thus far (~$34,000). The best of which was for $12,578, coming when he won a $300 buy-in Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza event in 2018.

Selouan was steady all day, being a constant presence among the top of the counts without ever being the true big stack until very late in the night. After his victory, Selouan was mobbed by his fellow Brazilian players and friends and celebrated by posting some social media messages to some Brazilian fans as he was now an EPT champion.

Final €25,000 Single-Day High Roller IV Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize Money
1Rodrigo SelouanBrazil€318,370
2Sam GraftonUnited Kingdom€220,050
3Sirzat HissouGermany€140,460
4Orpen KisacikogluTurkey€107,680
5Timothy AdamsCanada€84,280
6Johan GuilbertFrance€65,550

Action of the Day

The day would begin with everyone seemingly in great spirits, as the early part of the day was full of talkative play and joking around amongst the players. The entries would peak with 26 players playing at one time shortly after dinner break and with several players re-buying, the 39 entries were made up of 27 unique entrants, including Charlie Carrel, who made a surprise appearance with a rare sighting at a poker table these days as he entered in the middle part of the day.

There would be a furious flurry of eliminations after dinner as the field was quickly shrunk from four tables down to just one in the span of only one segment between breaks.

But the tension would soon dial up as the speed of play would dial down. The chatter went away and the players became far more deliberate and careful in decisions as the field reached the final table of eight, where it would take over two hours to eliminate Juan Pardo and eventually Stephen Chidwick in seventh as he became the bubble boy for the second consecutive 25k Single Day High Roller.

From there the eliminations happened fairly quickly with Johan Guilbert going out in sixth place after making the long trek over from Las Vegas from Wynn Millions. Timothy Adams followed him out the door in fifth after being a short stack for much of the day and at one point was as low down as a measly couple of big blinds at 10k.

Orpen Kisacikoglu started the day very well and was the big chip leader of the tournament early, being the first player to go over a million. His river would run dry after the bubble burst as he lost some key flips and other hands to eventually dwindle his stack and send him out in fourth place.

Play would again slow down three-handed as the remaining players traded chips around a bit. Selouan had the big advantage to start but would be clipped down by runner-runner flush of Sirzat Hissou to put everyone at even again. But Selouan would get his revenge not long afterwards as he returned the favor with runner-runner flush to bust Hissou in third place, who made his second cash in a row in a 25k event.

Heads-up play was a short affair as Sam Grafton was going for his second spadie trophy of the series after taking the opening bounty event. But he would not be able to gain much traction at all as Selouan made quick work of him in five hands to take the title.

That wraps things up for this event in EPT Prague. The PokerNews coverage continues on Monday.

Tags: Charlie CarrelJuan PardoOrpen KisacikogluRodrigo SelouanSam GraftonSirzat HissouStephen ChidwickTimothy Adams

Sam Grafton Eliminated in 2nd Place (€220,050)

Level 23 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante
Sam Grafton
Sam Grafton

Rodrigo Selouan open jammed the small blind / button for Sam Grafton's last 700,000 chips. Grafton called, and Selouan was a flip away from victory.

Sam Grafton: {8-Hearts}{8-Spades}
Rodrigo Selouan: {a-Clubs}{j-Spades}

The {k-Spades}{10-Clubs}{4-Hearts} flop gave Selouan four additional outs to victory, and one of them came in on the turn as the dealer dropped the {a-Hearts} on the table.

Down to two outs to survive, Grafton's hopes were washed away on the river as the {6-Hearts} fell, giving Selouan the victory and ending Grafton's run in second place.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Rodrigo Selouan br
Rodrigo Selouan
3,900,000
950,000
950,000
Profile photo of Sam Grafton gb
Sam Grafton
Busted

Tags: Rodrigo SelouanSam Grafton

Sirzat Hissou Eliminated in 3rd Place (€140,460)

Level 23 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante
Sirzat Hissou
Sirzat Hissou

Rodrigo Selouan jammed from the button, Sirzat Hissou called in the big blind.

Sirzat Hissou: {a-Spades}{q-Clubs}
Rodrigo Selouan: {q-Spades}{10-Spades}

Hissou was very slightly covered and held the advantage. The flop came {5-Clubs}{8-Spades}{6-Clubs} The turn was the {5-Spades} to open up a flush draw and the river came the {k-Spades} to bring it in as Selouan went runner-runner and got revenge on Hissou for going runner-runner flush on him not long before.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Rodrigo Selouan br
Rodrigo Selouan
2,950,000
1,450,000
1,450,000
Profile photo of Sam Grafton gb
Sam Grafton
950,000
-70,000
-70,000
Profile photo of Sirzat Hissou de
Sirzat Hissou
Busted

Tags: Rodrigo SelouanSirzat Hissou

Level: 23

Blinds: 40,000/80,000

Ante: 80,000

Hissou Doubles Through Selouan, Stacks Tightening

Level 22 : 30,000/60,000, 60,000 ante
Sirzat Hissou
Sirzat Hissou

Rodrigo Selouan raised to 120,000 on the button, and after Sam Grafton folded, Sirzat Hissou moved all in for 720,000. Selouan snap-called and was in great shape to get to heads-up play versus Grafton.

Sirzat Hissou: {a-Hearts}{4-Hearts}
Rodrigo Selouan: {k-Hearts}{k-Diamonds}

The {6-Hearts}{8-Diamonds}{6-Clubs} flop was safe for Selouan, but the {a-Clubs} gave Hissou new life, with the {q-Diamonds} sealing the huge double up for Hissou.

With that pot, each of the three remaining players is now over 1,000,000 in chips.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Sirzat Hissou de
Sirzat Hissou
1,500,000
450,000
450,000
Profile photo of Sam Grafton gb
Sam Grafton
1,330,000
40,000
40,000
Profile photo of Rodrigo Selouan br
Rodrigo Selouan
1,075,000
-500,000
-500,000

Tags: Rodrigo SelouanSam GraftonSirzat Hissou

Level: 22

Blinds: 30,000/60,000

Ante: 60,000

Orpen Kisacikoglu Eliminated in 4th Place (€107,680)

Level 21 : 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Orpen Kisacioglu
Orpen Kisacioglu

Rodrigo Selouan opened to 100,000 in the cutoff, and was clicked back by Orpen Kisacikoglu on the button to 150,000, which was just under half of Kisacikoglu's stack. Sam Grafton then moved all in from the small blind.

Selouan folded, and after a brief deliberation, Kisacikoglu called to put his tournament life at risk.

Orpen Kisacikoglu: {5-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}
Sam Grafton: {9-Spades}{9-Clubs}

The board came jh}{q-Spades}{a-Clubs}{8-Hearts}{q-Diamonds}, and Grafton's nines held up to eliminate Kisacikoglu and retake the chip lead.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Sam Grafton gb
Sam Grafton
1,705,000
630,000
630,000
Profile photo of Rodrigo Selouan br
Rodrigo Selouan
1,575,000
-205,000
-205,000
Profile photo of Orpen Kisacikoglu tr
Orpen Kisacikoglu
Busted

Tags: Orpen KisacikogluRodrigo SelouanSam Grafton