Track Does Not Like EPT Prague but Wins Anyway

PLO specialist Julian Track says the field is strong and game is slow at live events, so it is unlikely he will enter many more in the future. He did take down the EPT Prague Main Event, though, for €725,700.

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On 18 December, the eight-handed finale EPT Prague €5,300 Main Event took place. In the lead was German Julian Track, just ahead of British pros Max Silver and Stephen Chidwick. With SuperNova Elite Wan ‘Kaju85’ Lau and PPT Cannes champion Ole Schemion also in play, the finale was set to be an exciting show.

The Final Table seat draw was as follows:

Seat 1: Jorma Nuutinen – 975,000
Seat 2: Stephen Chidwick – 4,935,000
Seat 3: Ole Schemion – 2,400,000
Seat 4: Georgios Sotiropoulos – 4,320,000
Seat 5: Julian Track – 7,240,000
Seat 6: Ka Kwan Lau – 2,995,000
Seat 7: Zdravko Duvnjak – 1,225,000
Seat 8: Max Silver – 5,935,000

Play started on Level 26 (5,000/20,000/40,000) and shortstack Jorma Nuutinen soon went all-in – to double up through Silver. However, a couple of hands later he raised to 100,000 from Hijack, Chidwick 3-bet to 225,000 from the CO, Track 4-bet to 650,000 from the BB and Nuutinen shoved with 1,810,000 in chips. Chidwick folded his A K but Track called.

Nuutinen: A K
Track: T T

Board: T 4 8 7 5

Track won with a three of a kind and Nuutinen finished in 8th place.

Zdravko Duvnjak followed him, losing his 1,400,000 stack with T 8 to Schemion and his A K hand on a neutral board, and then Chidwick and Silver got all-in with 7-7 against A-T, respectively. A ten arrived on the flop but Chidwick improved to a set on the river, winning the flip and sending Silver home in 6th place.

Schemion finished 5th, losing his chips in a cooler, his tens being cracked by sevens and a third on the turn. Lau was eliminated next, losing with top pair to Georgios Sotiropoulos’ two pairs. On Level 31 (20,000/60,000/120,000), Chidwick open limped with A T from the SB and Sotiropoulos raised to 340,000 from the BB with K Q. Chidwick 3-bet all-in for 2,785,000, Sotiropoulos called and the board came 3 6 Q 4 Q. Sotiropoulos won with a three of a kind and Chidwick was out in 3rd place.

Julian Track – 16,745,000
Georgios Sotiropoulos – 13,465,000

The players made a deal in the heads-up and the Track moved on to crush his Greek opponent. He kept decreasing Sotiropoulos’ stack and the latter moved all-in eventually with just 3,000,000 in chips on Level 33 (30,000/100,000/200,000). Track called.

Sotiropoulos: Q J
Track: T T

Board: K 9 2 4 3

Track won the tournament with a flip.

The German player has just scored his first ever major live tournament result and he is already an EPT champion. The $1/$2 PLO cash game player stated he barely plays NLHE but wanted to test himself in a live tournament environment. Managing to win satellites to EPT Prague and the Aussie Millions, he is unimpressed with the game as he finds the field strong and players taking minutes to make decisions frustrating. As a result, he is unlikely to frequent live games in the future.

The end results are as follows:

1st: Julian Track – €725,700*
2nd: Georgios Sotiropoulos – €700,000*
3rd: Stephen Chidwick – €378,000
4th: Ka Kwan Lau – €283,800
5th: Ole Schemion – €218,300
6th: Max Silver – €160,200
7th: Zdravko Duvnjak – €118,200
8th: Jorma Nuutinen – €84,600