Nível 38
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Elias Suhonen
Anton Suarez was in a heads-up pot against the short-stacked Elias Suhonen on a flop of . Suarez bet on the flop and Suhonen raised all in. The fellow Scandanavian called.
Elias Suhonen:
Anton Suarez:
Suhonen was looking for a club but couldn't get it as the board finished out to leave him out-kicked to be eliminated in fifth place for €129,650.
Leonardo Romeo was all in and at risk for around 12,800,000 against Anton Suarez, who had him covered.
Leonardo Romeo:
Anton Suarez:
The flop was a tease to Romeo as it landed to give him a set while also giving Suarez the stone nuts with a Broadway straight. Incredibly, the immediately peeled off on the turn to improve Romeo to a full house and have Suarez drawing dead before the river.
Suarez' luck has clearly turned around today after the Italian suffered one and two-outers on Day 3.
Nível 40
: Blinds 1,000,000/1,500,000, 1,500,000 ante
Jack Sinclair
Pieter Theelen raised from the button and Jack Sinclair three-bet jammed a stack of around 14,000,000 from the big blind. Theelen snap-called.
Jack Sinclair:
Pieter Theelen:
Sinclair had run into aces and the flop of had him drawing to just a running flush or trips. Sinclair rose from his seat when the bricked off on the turn to have him drawing dead before the river.
The fourth-place finish marks yet another deep run for Sinclair, who earlier this year finished second in both the EPT Barcelona Estrellas Main Event and the EPT London Main Event.
Nível 40
: Blinds 1,000,000/1,500,000, 1,500,000 ante
Leonardo Romeo
Leonardo Romeo open-jammed from the small blind and Pieter Theelen quickly called from the big blind.
Leonardo Romeo:
Pieter Theelen:
Romeo was in trouble but got some help from the flop of . Nonetheless, the peeled off on the river to give Theelen a full house and leave Romeo drawing dead before the river to go out in third place for €219,120.
Theelen and Anton Suarez are taking a quick break and heads-up play will begin when they return.
Nível 42
: Blinds 1,250,000/2,500,000, 2,500,000 ante
Pieter Theelen
Pieter Theelen of The Netherlands was a short stack at various points at the final table in the €1,100 Eureka Main Event at 2022 PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague, but that didn't stop him from winning the record-breaking event for a career-best €496,760 after defeating Sweden's Anton Suarez in a brief heads-up battle.
“I’m feeling awesome, but I just have to start realizing (what happened)," Theelen said. "I don’t know what happened, actually. I was short a lot of the time and then (I was) chip leader, and after that it went pretty well. But after that it was close heads-up, kind of. So I’m happy that I managed to take it down.”
The four-day event drew a massive 4,017 entrants across four starting flights to break the previous entry record set in March and to generate a €3,856,320 in prize money. Defending champion, PokerStars ambassador and freestyle rapper Alejandro Lococo was looking to go back-to-back but fell on Day 3 in 21st place for €14,080.
Others who joined Theelen and Suarez at the final table included Norway's Silius Moll (7th - €76,700), Finland's Elias Suhonen (5th - €129,650) and Britain's Jack Sinclair (4th - €168,560), who has been on an EPT tear as of late that saw him finishing second in both the EPT Barcelona Estrellas Main Event and the EPT London Main Event.
€1,100 Eureka Main Event Final Table Results
PLACE
PLAYER
COUNTRY
PRIZE (IN EURO)
1
Pieter Theelen
Netherlands
€496,760
2
Anton Suarez
Sweden
€306,770
3
Leonardo Romeo
Italy
€219,120
4
Jack Sinclair
United Kingdom
€168,560
5
Elias Suhonen
Finland
€129,650
6
Quentin Guivarch
France
€99,720
7
Silius Moll
Norway
€76,700
8
Waldemar Starostin
Germany
€59,000
9
Marko Martinkovic
Croatia
€45,390
What Can Happen in a Year
Theelen only had $12,250 in Hendon Mob-reported earnings headed into the event, but he's no newcomer to the felt. The 30-year-old has been playing poker since he was 18 years old and professionally for the last five years. But he said this is the first year he's traveled to poker festivals and got his first live cash at EPT Prague in March.
“In one year, this is already what I managed to achieve, so that’s great," Theelen said in reflection.
As is so often the case in poker, it wasn't always smooth flying for the Dutchman.
“I think it’s been up and down all the time. I think on Day 2 I had probably the chip lead, and then I lost a lot of it again. And then I built it up again, I lost a lot of it, it’s just been a swingy tournament all around.”
Pieter Theelen in the tank in a hand against Jack Sinclair
The swings continued at the final table, which Theelen entered toward the middle of the pack but dipped early after losing a big pot to Sinclair.
“This final table, I just had to wait a lot, because most of the time I was short-stacked, so I just had to wait around and wait until the good moments to run good," he said. "And that’s what happened … I’m still thinking (about) what happened.”
Final Table Action
Marko Martinkovic of Croatia was the first to go in one of the first hands of Day 4 when he found himself pipped with pocket jacks against the queens of Suarez. Germany's Waldemar Starostin was next out in eighth place when he ran ace-jack into the rockets of the eventual champion.
The tricky and aggressive Sinclair entered the final day as chip leader and spent most of the day steamrolling the table until a critical misfire where he jammed into the turned straight of Suarez. But the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event champion still managed to eliminate two opponents (Quentin Guivarch in sixth and Suhonen in fifth before himself falling in fourth place to Theelen, who again picked up aces at the right time to stack an unlucky opponent.
Jack Sinclair
After Theelen's nines held up against the ace-seven of third-place finisher Leonardo Romeo, he entered heads-up play with a huge chip lead before Suarez doubled with two pair to even things out. But the Swede could never pull ahead and after about a half hour of heads-up play found himself jamming with king-eight over a limp only to find himself trapped by the Dutchman's Fishhooks.
Anton Suarez
"He had been jamming a lot so I think it’s good to limp a strong hand there as well," Theelen said about the hand. "So that worked out perfectly.”
That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team's coverage of the record-breaking €1,100 Eureka Main Event. Be sure to check out the EPT Prague reporting portal for coverage of other events at the Eastern European stop.
. Suarez bet on the flop and Suhonen raised all in. The fellow Scandanavian called. 
to leave him out-kicked to be eliminated in fifth place for €129,650.
to give him a set while also giving Suarez the stone nuts with a Broadway straight. Incredibly, the 
immediately peeled off on the turn to improve Romeo to a full house and have Suarez drawing dead before the 
river. 
had him drawing to just a running flush or trips. Sinclair rose from his seat when the 
bricked off on the turn to have him drawing dead before the 
river. 
. Nonetheless, the 
peeled off on the river to give Theelen a full house and leave Romeo drawing dead before the 
river to go out in third place for €219,120.
flop to give him a set. 
