Paulius Plausinaitis raised to 30,000 on the button and Teun Mulder called in the big blind.
The flop came Q♣6♥J♦ and Plausinaitis bet 20,000. Mulder then raised to 75,000 and Plausinaitis called.
Mulder checked the 2♣ turn and Plausinaitis bet 65,000. Mulder called and the A♦ fell on the river. He checked to Plausinaitis again, who used up a time bank before betting 175,000.
Mulder also used a time bank before announcing he was all in. Plausinaitis snap-folded.
Paulius Plausinaitis opened to 30,000 and Niklas Astedt defended his big blind.
Astedt check-called for 30,000 on the 8♥7♠3♠ flop before the 9♠ turn checked through to the 7♣ river. Astedt, with 137,000 behind, checked and his opponent announced all-in.
Astedt used one of eight time banks before releasing his hand.
In a limped pot to the 10♥9♠8♦ flop, Teun Mulder checked from the big blind and Paulius Plausinaitis did the same from the button. The 4♣ turn checked through to the 3♥ river. Mulder bet 25,000 and was called.
Mulder had a pair of fours with his Q♥4♥ and his opponent mucked their cards.
Teun Mulder limped the button and Paulius Plausinaitis checked his option.
Both players checked the 9♠8♥5♠ flop before Plausinaitis led out for 60,000 on the 3♥ turn. Mulder then moved all in and Plausinaitis quickly called for 320,000.
Plausinaitis showed 10♠9♦ for top pair, but Mulder had 5♥3♦ for two pair. The river was the A♥ and Plausinaitis couldn't catch up, forcing him to settle for a runner-up finish as Mulder clinched the title.
After the hand, Plausinaitis asked Mulder what he had in the three-handed pot where he shoved the river. Mulder admitted he had king-ten for the straight and Plausinaitis said he folded a set of queens.
It's been quite the 24-months for Teun Mulder, and the Dutch star has added to his burgeoning legacy after securing another win on the PokerStars European Poker Tour.
His latest triumph has come at EPT's final stop of the year in Prague, a destination he's tasted success in before. This time around, he topped the 15-entry field in the festival's first €25,000 NL Hold'em event.
He defeated Lithuana's Paulius Plausinaitis in heads-up play, while online crusher Niklas Astedt rounded out the top three places. The trio were the only players to make the money and shared slices of the €360,150 prize pool.
With the €180,150 ($194,209) prize added to Mulder's extensive list of cashes, he finds himself within an inch of the Netherlands All-Time Money List leader Jorryt van Hoof, with less than $5,000 separating them.
Van Hoof currently sits at the top with $5,967,814 in recorded tournament earnings, while Mulder's tally now stands at $5,963,589 (includes $1.236M online win). It's also worth noting that Mulder has an additional seven-figure score in the online sphere, so there's a case that he should already be No.1.
What's impressive about Mulder's rise up the ranks is that a majority of his winnings have come over the last two years. On the live felt, 2022 saw him rack up $2,456,753 in prize money, and he's added a further $1,724,985 so far this year. With several events still to play out in the Czech capital, it seems a sure bet that Mulder will become the most successful poker player from his country of birth.
Six players registered for the start, with the three cashers along with Tsugunari Toma, Dimitar Danchev and Ognyan Dimov kicking off proceedings.
After the first two levels, Kayhan Mokri, who has been on a meteoric rise to poker's highest stakes, hopped into the action. Yesterday's €10,200 NLH Hold'em winner Tamas Adamszki also took a shot for another chance at EPT glory to see the entry count rise to eight.
At the first break, Toma had the chip lead, and the field then split onto tables after the arrivals of Robbie Toan and fan favorite Ole Schemion.
When play resumed, Danchev became the first casualty of the day after his big slick fell to Toma's ace-three. His seat was then taken by Japanese player Masato Kashiwabara.
Kashiwabara's brief cameo was ended by Plausinaitis just before Bruno Volkmann got into the mix. However, his fate was similar to Kashiwabara and the Brazilian was eliminated 15-minutes after he sat down. Toma scored his second KO of the session as Volkmann, who also had ace-eight suited, couldn't get there against the former's sailboats.
Toma then made it hat trick bustouts after seeing off Toan. Coincidentally, Toma had the ace-eight this time, and he showed his opponents how to properly play it, as Toan was drawing dead on the turn.
Mulder's first major pot came at the expense of the chip leader, as the eventual winner doubled up with a set of eights to climb up the counts.
What followed next was nothing short of extraordinary. A plethora of all-ins and calls took place, yielding zero eliminations. Toma booked a series of doubles and had more lives than a cat after finding himself in the lower end of the counts. O'Dwyer also found himself on the right side of lady luck for a brief period and amazingly spun up his last 2,000 all the way back up to the 100,000 starting stack.
Mokri and Astedt both commented that they had never seen anything like it, which added to the good nature of the table. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and the finish line appeared to be miles away as stacks peaked and troughed.
Three quickly became one as Mulder took out Astedt following an all-in preflop encounter. The Dutchman took a 3:1 chip lead going into heads-up, which he never relinquished. Mulder sealed the victory with two pair against Plausinaitis after the chips went in on the turn.
This marks the end of PokerNews' coverage of the event but be sure to return tomorrow as more high-roller action is scheduled.