Nenad Dukic completed in the small blind and Vlada Stojanovic raised to 310,000 from the big blind. Dukic then limp-jammed for around 1,600,000 and Stojanovic quickly called.
Nenad Dukic:
Vlada Stojanovic:
Dukic had been caught making a move and was eliminated in fifth place for €64,240 as the board ran out .
Niko Koop was first to act and opened to 350,000. Action folded to Daan Mulders in the big blind and he moved all in for 2,100,000. After getting a count, Koop made the call.
"Wow, you really must want me out of here," said Mulders as the cards were revealed.
Daan Mulders:
Niko Koop:
The flop was one that Mulders enjoyed. "Another club," requested Mulders and the dealer complied with the , which took away some of Koop's pair outs. However, the river gave Koop a pair of queens for the winning hand.
Niko Koop put in his last 3,500,000 from the button, which prompted Mathieu Di Meglio to ask for a count from the small blind. He decided against calling, however, Vlada Stojanovic was up to the challenge.
Niko Koop:
Vlada Stojanovic:
Koop was dominated and found no help on the flop. The turn meant he had one foot out of the door and the river confirmed his third-place finish for a six-figure payday.
Mathieu Di Meglio opened to 1,250,000 from the button and was called by Vlada Stojanovic. The flop checked through to the turn. Stojanovic check-called for 2,225,000, which left him with around 3,400,000 behind.
The river checked through to showdown and Stojanovic tabled his for Broadway.
"Wow," DI Meglio exclaimed, before flashing an and sending his cards into the muck.
After losing his last hand, Vlada Stojanovic had just 3,400,000 in his stack. Mathieu Di Meglio jammed from the button and Stojanovic called for his tournament life from the big blind.
Vlada Stojanovic:
Mathieu Di Meglio:
Stojanovic added some immediate outs after pairing up on the flop. The turn kept Di Meglio ahead and the river confirmed his victory.
Stojanovic was awarded the €151,990 runners-up prize while Di Meglio pocketed the €243,186 set aside for the winner.
France's Mathieu Di Meglio has won the €3,000 EPT Mystery Bounty at PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague for €243,186 after defeating heads-up opponent Vlada Stojanovic of Serbia in what proved to be a back-and-forth heads-up battle.
Di Meglio is primarily an online player and had $44,046 in Hendon Mob-reported live earnings headed into the event. Speaking through a translator, he told PokerNews he was "very satisfied after many years of failing and sometimes almost getting there and sometimes not."
"(I'm) very happy," the Frenchman said.
Like other tournaments at this stop, the Mystery Bounty event attracted a sizable field of 776 runners for a prize pool of €1,331,616 that didn't include the bounty prize pool featuring two €100,000 bounties. Only 18 players returned on Day 3 and nine made the final table including fellow France and Croatia natives Gregoire Auzoux (8th - €29,240) and Nenad Dukic (5th - €64,240) and Germany's Niko Koop (3rd - €108,570)
€3,000 EPT Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
PLACE
PLAYER
COUNTRY
PRIZE (IN EURO)
1
Mathieu Di Meglio
France
€243,186
2
Vlada Stojanovic
Croatia
€151,990
3
Niko Koop
Germany
€108,570
4
Daan Mulders
Netherlands
€83,510
5
Nenad Dukic
Croatia
€64,240
6
Nils Pudel
Austria
€49,420
7
Mats Ullereng
Norway
€38,020
8
Gregoire Auzoux
France
€29,240
9
Iliodoros Kamatakis
Greece
€22,490
Bounty Action
There weren't many bounty sweats at Friday's final table as most of the biggest envelopes had already been claimed. On Day 2, Orpen Kisacikoglu and Poland's Pawel Krol pulled the two €100,000 mystery bounties, while Toni Kaukua was lucky enough to pull a €50,000 envelope.
The Day 3 field of 18 dwindled down quickly as players including Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi (18th - €9,490) and Turkey's Yigit Aksoy (14th - €12,560) were eliminated. Krol went out on the final table bubble when his king-jack couldn't pull ahead of the pocket sixes of Koop.
Sixes would soon after doom France's Gregoire Auzoux as he four-bet jammed with the starting hand only to run into the queens of the eventual champion to fall in eighth place. Di Meglio began the day as chip leader and only ran his stack up from there as other players dropped, including Nils Pudel, who shoved a short stack with queen-eight only to be called and pipped by the queen-nine of Stojanovic.
The Croatian went on to eliminate Nenad Dukic in fifth place and Koop in third place when Koop's ace-three was dominated by the runner-up's ace-jack.
Heads-up play went on for several levels as the two players exchanged chip leads and played dozens of single-raised and limped pots. Stojanovic took a big lead in a flush-over-flush hand before another hand where his two pair was counterfeited to lose heaps to Di Meglio.
As the number of big blinds in play shrunk, Di Meglio extended his lead and Stojanovic eventually shoved a short stack with queen-five only to run into the Cowboys of Di Meglio. A queen on the flop gave Stojanovic hope but an inconsequential runout confirmed his runner-up finish.
That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team's coverage of the exciting €3,000 EPT Mystery Bounty. Be sure to check of the team's coverage of other events throughout EPT Prague.