Mikalai Pobal makes poker history by becoming the second-ever Two-Time EPT Champion!

Gaby Livshitz from Israel entered the Final Table as chipleader

After Day 5 only 5 players were left and Gaby Livshitz from Israel took the chiplead with 11,205,000 chips followed by Ricardo Da Rocha from Brazil (7,925,000).

Gaby Livshitz Poker
Gaby Livshitz

The other three players, who made the 2019 EPT Prague Main Event final table, were Norbert Sceszi from Hungary (7,350,000), Mikalai Pobal from Belarus (4,740,000) and Tomas Paiva from Portugal (3,380,000).

Chipcounts before the start of the Final Table:

SeatPlayerCountryChip CountsBig Blinds
1Mikalai PobalBelarus4,740,00047
2Ricardo Da RochaBrazil7,925,00079
3Tomas PaivaPortugal3,380,00034
4Norbert SzecsiHungary7,350,00074
5Gaby LivshitzIsrael11,205,000112

All of them had already secured a mimimum of €241,230, but were obviously gunning for the staggering first prize of €1,005,600!

And the best thing was that the entire EPT Prague Main Event Final Table was streamed live and you can watch it here!

Mikalai Pobal with the chance to make history by becoming second-ever Two-Time EPT Champion

The big story of the final table was that Belarussian pro Mikalai Pobal had the chance to become the second two-time EPT Champion in history!

Mikalai Pobal Poker

Pobal won the EPT Barcelona Main Event back in 2012 for €1,007,550 and now had the chance to make history 7 years later.

However, he started the final table in 4th place as one of the shortstacks.

Final Table Bustouts

Portuguese player Tomas Paiva was the first one who hit the rails after getting it in with top pair on 8s-5h-4h against the straight and flush draw from Livshitz. The 8h turn brought the flush for the Israeli and after a blank on the turn Paiva left in 5th for €316.780.

He was followed by Day 5 chipleader  Gaby Livshitz. He first doubled up Mikalai Pobal twice and then even ran with Ad-Qs into his Pocket Aces to bust. With this pot Mikalai Pobal, who started the day as one of the shortstacks, took over the chiplead and his chances to become a Two-Time EPT Champion increased significantly.

With 3 players left Brazilian player Ricardo da Rocha was the absolute shortstack and he then got it in with A-J vs A-Q from Norbert Szecsi:

3-1

No help from the board and we were Heads-Up.

Mikalai Pobal vs Norbert Szecsi Heads-Up for the title

Now Mikalai Pobal was only one step away from poker history, but with Hungarian top pro Norbert Szecsi a real poker heavyweight was still in his way.

Here are the chipcounts at the start of the Heads-Up:

  • Norbert Szecsi – 18,385,000
  • Mikalai Pobal – 16,215,000

As you can see from above the stacks were pretty even with a slight advantage for Szecsi.

Mikalai Pobal wins 2019 EPT Prague Main Event!

However, it was Mikalai Pobal, who dominated the Heads-Up right from the start. First he won a massive pot when he flopped top pair and called down Sceszi’s bluff and then he continued to increase his lead step by step to more than 3 to 1.

The final table was a classic cooler situation as Norbert Sceszi found Pocket Eights and went All-In after Pobal’s Raise just to see the bad news that he was dominated by Pocket Kings.

No help from the board and Mikalai Pobal from Belarus is the second player ever after Victoria Coren Mitchell, who has won  two EPT Main Events and all of that on top of the whopping €1.005.600 first prize!

Congratulations from Team VIP-Grinders for this outstanding accomplishment!

Unbenannt-15

Final Result and Payouts 2019 EPT Prague Main Event:

#NAMECOUNTRYPRIZE
1Mikalai PobalBelarus€ 1.005.600
2Norbert ScesziHungary€ 598.880
3Ricardo da RochaBrazil€ 421.450
4Gaby LivshitzIsrael€ 316.780
5Tomas PaivaPortugal€ 241.230
6Luke MarshUnited Kingdom€ 177.420
7Laurent MichotFrance€ 134.610
8Dietrich FastGermany€ 96.100
9Gab Yong KimSouth Korea€ 74.770
10Dominik PankaPoland€ 62.070
11Erdal GulsevenTurkey€ 62.070
12Vlastimil PustinaCzech Republic€ 55.690
13Morten HvamDenmark€ 55.690
14Stefan EgermannGermany€ 50.090
15Aleksandr SheshukovRussia€ 50.090
16Akin TunaGermany€ 44.500
17Jakub OlivaCzech Republic€ 44.500
18Wing Sang LeeHong Kong€ 38.900
19Luigi ShehadehItaly€ 38.900
20Pierre CalamusaFrance€ 38.900
21Fidan ZahitiSweden€ 33.300
22Denys ShafikovUkraine€ 33.300
23Sorin FluturRomania€ 33.300
24Pieter AertsBelgium€ 27.930
25Alessio Di CesareItaly€ 27.930
26Stefan JedlickaAustria€ 27.930
27Orpen KisacikogluTurkey€ 27.930
28Hossein EnsanGermany€ 23.560
29Ranno SootlaEstonia€ 23.560
30Boris KuzmanovicCroatia€ 23.560

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Professional Poker Journalist
An avid poker player, he dreams of one day playing the WSOP Main Event and has promised himself he will fold aces and kings if he gets them on the first hand to avoid front-page headlines.
Filed Under: Featured Articles Live Poker News Poker News

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