It took an extra session to crown the winner of the 2,200 Eureka High Roller at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague, but Poland’s Grzegorz Kozieja sprinted to the finish line on Day 3 to wrap up proceedings.

The professional poker player and coach overcame a 2:1 chip deficit as he defeated Safwane Bahri in heads-up play to capture the 474,510 up top along with the trophy.

However, any plans to commemorate the triumph will have to wait as Kozieja has hopped straight into Day 1b of the 5,300 Main Event in hopes of another bankroll boosting payday.

Also returning for the final stage were veterans Bruno Volkmann and Jason Wheeler, who bowed out in third and fourth place respectively.

Overall, the tournament saw 1,478 entries and generated a prize pool of 2,837,760. The top 221 players made the money with past EPT champions such as Giuliano Bendinelli (166th 3,750) and Simon Brandstrom (142nd - 4,310) finishing in the paid places.

2,200 Eureka High Roller Final Table Results

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Action of the Day

Fourth-place finisher Wheeler was the first casualty of the day, jamming jack-five for his last few big blinds into Volkmann’s kings. Wheeler, who has been a resident in Prague for the last six years, picked up the tenth six-figure live cash of his career. The score sees him inch closer to the $5 million mark in live earnings, which slightly trails the $8.4 million he’s banked on the virtual felt.

Volkmann dropped out next after a roller coaster of a few hands. He was left short by Bahri after the latter got three streets of value with aces. The Brazilian doubled up the hand after but soon ran his ace-jack into Bahri’s ace-queen and could not overcome the domination.

There was a brief break before heads-up play got underway, where Kozieja and Bahri discussed the possibilities of a deal. No agreement was reached, and Bahri entered the final showdown as the favorite.

Bahri took the first few pots to widen the gap, but from there on out, it was all Kozieja. Momentum began to swing in his favour, with Kozieja getting value with trips on a four-spade board. A few hands later, he doubled into top spot with his ace-six holding versus king-ten suited after all the chips went into the middle preflop.

The start-of-day chip leader then made quick work of what Bahri had behind. In a limped pot, Kozieja flopped a six-high straight and played it fast. He moved all in on the river, and after some time in the tank, Bahri opted to put on his cape and hero call with ace-high for his final eight million (13 big blinds).

Kozieja’s rail was jubilant while Bahri’s camp became sombre, but the Frenchman can soothe any wounds with the 292,520 runners-up prize.

The victory marked Kozieja’s first major live tournament win and added heaps to the $74,052 in live earnings that he had before the event.

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