Rainer Kempe was in the hijack and put in a raise to 280,000, which was more than half of his stack. Action folded around to Simon Lofberg in the big blind, and he announced he was all in. Kempe called.
Rainer Kempe:
Simon Lofberg:
Kempe was behind and the flop was of no immediate help. The turn took away his two outs to a set and replaced them with eight new ones to a straight. Unfortunately for Kempe, he would not fill up as the river hit the felt to complete the runout and he found himself eliminated as the eighth-place finisher in the tournament.
Masato Yokosawa moved all in for 380,000 from under the gun. It folded to Eibinger in the big blind who checked one card, and then the other, before calling.
Masato Yokosawa:
Matthias Eibinger:
Ace-high was ahead and held on the board and Yokosawa was eliminated in eighth place.
Action folded around to Simon Lofberg in the small blind and he went all in. Yunye Lu looked at his cards in the big blind and announced a call.
Yunye Lu:
Simon Lofberg:
Lu would need to hit one of his two live cards to stay alive and would not do so as the board ran out , giving Lu the second-nut flush that proved to be the second-best hand to Lofberg's nut flush.
Stacks were counted with Lofberg having 1.525 million, covering Lu by about 200,000 to result in Lu becoming the fifth-place finisher in the tournament.
Simon Pedersen opened to 500,000 from the button and called an all in from Matthias Eibinger in the big blind.
Pedersen was all in for 1,330,000 and held against the of Eibinger.
The flop came giving Pedersen quads. The runout changed nothing and he doubled up.
A short while later, Eibinger got has last 550,000 in with suited against the of Pedersen. The board ran out with Pedersen turning a flush to eliminate Eibinger.
Simon Lofberg opened to 200,000 on the button and Simon Pedersen three-bet all in for 1,585,000 from the big blind. Lofberg asked for a count before calling.
Simon Lofberg:
Simon Pedersen:
There was an ace in the window of a flop. "That's not good," said Pedersen.
In the first hand of heads-up action, Tsugunari Toma raised to 240,000 on the button. Simon Lofberg three-bet to 875,000 and Toma four-bet shoved all in which got Lofberg to fold.
Following that, Lofberg opened to 225,000 and Toma just ripped all in. Lofberg looked down back at his cards and called off his stack of around 5,500,000.
Tsugunari Toma:
Simon Lofberg:
Lofberg was in a dominating position but the flop of put Toma in the lead with a pair of eights. The on the turn gave Lofberg plenty of outs with a straight and flush draw but the on the river bricked off. The stacks were counted to be sure but Lofberg was forced to settler for second place.
A year after finishing runner-up in a €25,000 Single Day High Roller here at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague, Tsugunari Toma obviously had a goal in mind when returning to the Czech capital this year.
And, after winning a €10,200 Single Day High Roller earlier in the festival for €135,220, he added victory in the prestigious three-day €10,300 High Roller for a further €523,120, bringing his total cashes at the festival to over $650,000.
Runner-up Simon Lofberg came into the day as chip leader, but the Swede would have to settle for second place out of a field of 255 entries and a payday of €352,230
PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague €10,300 High Roller
Place
Player
Country
Payout (EUR)
Payout (USD)
1st
Tsugunari Toma
Japan
€523,120
$583,054
2nd
Simon Lofberg
Sweden
€352,230
$392,585
3rd
Simon Pedersen
Denmark
€248,340
$276,792
4th
Matthias Eibinger
Austria
€201,340
$224,408
5th
Yunye Lu
China
€159,290
$177,540
6th
Gianluca Speranza
Italy
€120,950
$134,807
7th
Masato Yokosawa
Japan
€88,300
$98,417
8th
Rainer Kempe
Germany
€64,560
$71,957
9th
George Wolff
United States
€53,430
$59,551
Final Day Recap
Just 17 players remained heading into the final day, but the two table redraw was reached almost immediately after the elimination of Thi Nguyen. Start-of-day short stack Sam Greenwood was looking for a second High Roller title of his own, but would fall next.
Toma himself started as one of the short stacks, but would double with jacks through Lofberg's tens early in the day. A sign of things to come?
Masato Yokosawa's spell at the top of the chip counts was cut short by a resurgent Lofberg, who wasn't afraid of getting involved in pots during a period where the eliminations slowed, and it became apparent that players were more interested in securing a payjump above anything else.
Well-known players Daniel Dvoress and Ludovic Geilich were among those to miss out on a seat at the final table, with Lofberg still in the lead ahead of Matthias Eibinger and Yunye Lu.
Final Table
Although Rainer Kempe sent George Wolff to the rail in ninth, it was Kempe who was out next as Lofberg's stack moved to around 3.5 million seven-handed. However, Eibinger was hot on his heels with the elimination of Yokosawa next as the Austrian's class began to show.
Lu sent Gianluca Speranza to the rail, but it was Eibinger in control, quietly moving above five million in chips with ruthless efficiency. That was until Toma secured a vital double - jacks through tens, just like against Lofberg at the start of the day - and the stacks began to level out.
After Dinner
Fed and watered, the five players returned from their dinner break with Toma now in the lead and in control. Lofberg, who had sat in the middle of the pack, moved back to the fore with the elimination of Lu in fifth, while another Simon was preparing a one-two combination to oust arguably the most dangerous player at the table.
First, Simon Pedersen doubled with sevens against king-queen, flopping quads to leave Eibinger drawing all but dead, and he would then make a flush to send Eibinger to the rail in fourth.
There was the briefest discussion of a deal, although it turned out that Lofberg's "trip to the bathroom" was exactly that, and the trio opted to play on.
Rapid-fire Finish
The tournament ended in a flurry. First, short-stack Pedersen three-bet shoved jacks into the ace-eight of Lofberg, but an ace on the flop spelled the end for his tournament.
A four-bet shove from Toma on the very first hand of heads-up set the tone for the heads-up, as on the second hand Toma wasted even less time. Three-bet jamming with ace-eight only for Lofberg to turn up with ace-king.
However, an eight on the flop was all it took to hand Toma the lead, and he dodged both straight and flush outs on both turn and river to secure his second victory in a matter of days.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of the 2019 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague. Be sure to check out the live updates from all the events covered here, and we look forward to seeing you again at another EPT in 2020!