Belgian pro Jerome Sgorrano must be one of the most-travelled, multiple-cashing pros on the planet at the moment, with paydays from Morocco to Minsk this year alone, and he has just landed a big one to top off his year with a victory in the Eurasian Poker Tour Main Event in Prague for €126,500 ($148,729).
With 825 entries to the 1100 buy-in event at Prague’s Grandior Hotel, the €500K guaranteed prizepool was smashed to smithereens – a total of €783,750 ($921,473) up for grabs and attracting a world-wide field, Russia’s Anatoly Filatov perhaps the best known among those making the money, although the Team PartyPoker pro only managed just more than a min cash in the Czech capital.
Prague in December always attracts a mix of pros and enthusiastic amateurs, and with the Hilton hosting the PokerStars Championships event just around the corner, the smaller buy-in EAPT was a good spot to make some serious money away from the biggest names in the game.
The majority of the final table had all been there or thereabouts before, but for two of them it was a step up, Russian Igor Astashkin and Greek player Ionnis Ntousakis landing their first recorded cashes on the ‘bible’ for tournament play, the Hendon Mob database.
For Ionnis Ntousakis it was s short-lived affair, running into Sgorrano’s suited AQ to fall in 9th place, but Astashkin outlasted not only his more experienced compatriot Ustimov, but 6 other also to secure €62K, an excellent first-time cash.
The Russian’s deep run was ended only when he ran AQ into the big slick of Snejberg, the local Czech player holding on to ensure the first heads-up clash of his 5-year poker career.
It took two separate discussions before Snejberg and Sgorrano could come to an agreement, the PartyPoker updates revealing that they ‘finally agreed to take €106,500 each and play for the trophy and €20,000’.
That extra cash – and the EAPT Main Event Prague trophy – would be heading back to Belgium as the pair found big hands for the final clash – Sgorrano’s aces only needing to avoid any run-out which could help Snejberg’s pocket sixes and when the board bricked, the Belgian’s victory was assured – with €126,500 for his troubles.
EAPT Prague Final Table Results
| 1 | Jerome Sgorrano | €126,500* |
| 2 | Josef Snejberg | €106,500* |
| 3 | Igor Astashkin | €62,000 |
| 4 | Rasmus Vogt | €45,000 |
| 5 | Jaroslaw Lipien | €33,000 |
| 6 | Neculai Macovei | €25,000 |
| 7 | Viktor Ustimov | €18,000 |
| 8 | Krzysztof Dulowsky | €12,600 |
| 9 | Ionnis Ntousakis | €10,950 |
*reflects a heads-up deal