Mikalai Pobal becomes second two-time EPT champion

The Belarusian player took down €1,005,600 after beating Hungary's Norbert Szécsi heads up.

The 2019 European Poker Tour Prague €5,300 Main Event attracted 1,154 players, who created a €5,596,900 prize pool. It was Belarus' Mikalai Pobal, who came out on top, making history, as the second two-time EPT Main Event winner after Victoria Coren.

Pobal's first victory dates back to 2012, when he took down the EPT Barcelona Main Event, for almost the same amount, €1,007,550. With his latest score, he now stands with $2,482,435 in total live earnings.

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Israeli Gaby Livshitz and Szécsi started the final day as the biggest stacks, and they took control of the action, trading the lead back and forth. It was Portugal's Tomas Paiva, who fell first when his top paired couldn't hold against the combo draw of Gaby's. Paiva added €241,230 to his bankroll.

At the start of the four-handed play, it was Pobal, who stood with the smallest chip stack, having only 12 big blinds. However, he managed to score a double-up against Livshitz, to stay alive. They got their chips into the middle shortly after, and Pobal came out on top once again. Mikalai didn't have enough, and he eventually busted Gaby when his pocket aces held against the top pair of his opponent.

Gaby left the tournament in fourth place, which earned him €316,780 this time.

He was followed by Ricardo Da Rocha. The Brazilian first lost a huge pot to Szécsi, who managed to extract max value with quads. He then moved in with his last holding ace-jack, which couldn't beat the ace-queen of Norbert's. The 26-year-old Brazilian left in third place taking down €421,450.

Before starting the heads-up, the two remaining players discussed a potential deal, but they couldn't come to an agreement, so the play resumed.

Even though they both started with 100-big-blind stacks, the duel was over shortly. Szécsi first pulled a triple barrel bluff and got called by two pairs, and then got finished off when he ran into pocket kings with eights.

Norbert received €598,880 for his runner-up finish, while Mikail added €1,005,600 to his winnings.

2019 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague Main Event Final Table Results