Albert Daher Wins PSC Prague €25,000 Single Day High Roller For €324,727

Prague in December has long been a hotbed of poker action and despite the cold weather it proved to be a happy-hunting ground for Lebanese pro Albert Daher who took down the first of two scheduled single-day €25K High Rollers for €324,727 ahead of a host of big names.

The likes of Bryn Kenney, Adrian Mateos, Steve O'Dwyer, Ryan Riess, Igor Kurganov, Stephen Chidwick, Koray Aldemir, Dietrich Fast, Dominik Nitsche, Stefan Schillhabel and Mustapha Kanit were among the 50 entries at the Hilton Prague Hotel chasing a prize fund of €1,225,000 ($1,440,295).

There would be no repeat by Tim Adams of his success in the €50K Super High Roller of a few days ago, however, as the Canadian’s re-investment of a chunk of his €555,000 payday saw him bust out twice in quick succession – the single re-entry format meaning he’d spend the rest of the day watching the action from the rails.

The one surprise to many was the failure of the German contingent to get a representative in the money, although for Schillhabel it was a close-run affair, falling in 9th at the final table to a cooler when his AK was rivered by Daher’s AQ making a straight, the German soon joined by Mustafa Kanit who became the money bubble boy.

Spain’s Adrian Mateos had finished 3rd behind Adam’s in the €50K event and was looking to go at least one better, and he found himself in the chip lead after Machon, Palumbo and Khoroshenin all fell by the wayside – but it wasn’t to be for Mateos as he twice came off worse against Riess in big pots and was finished off by Daher.

Three-handed play was short-lived, as the trio sat down to discuss a deal, Daher and Vaskaboinikau apparently very tired, and when Riess was given some extra ICM to make up for Daher taking the title without playing on it was settled – the Belarus man and the Lebanese winner content with career best paydays, while Riess will be unlikely to ever match the $8,361,570 scooped as WSOP Main Event champion back in 2013.

A second €25K will kick-off in two day’s time and meanwhile the action continues with the Main Event, PokerTube bringing you the best of the week’s play.

Final table results

*denotes a three-way deal