Czech Mate — Skampa Stamps Authority on European Poker Tour

By Rebecca McAdam and Ryan Lucchesi

As 2009 drew to an end Jan Skampa from the Czech Republic finished fourth at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Vilamoura in Portugal before following it up with a win at EPT Prague.

However, Vilamoura will be remembered for Antonio Matias who plowed his way to the top of the leader board the day before the Vilamoura final table. The Portuguese player kept up the pressure on day five and persevered through the final until he was crowned champion at the Casino Vilamoura in November.

In doing so he became both the tour’s oldest winner at 54 and the first winner on home turf since Sandra Naujoks in EPT Dortmund last season. He went home with €404,793 from a total prize pool of €1,561,700 for beating a field of 322, which included 62 other Portuguese players.

“I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world but it is very satisfying to win an EPT in my home country,” Matias said, “I wasn’t intimidated by the competition because I play a lot of very good players in cash games. I just decided to play the way I play and hope that luck didn’t turn its back on me. I play poker just for a hobby, but when I got the chip lead yesterday, at that point the only thing I had on my mind was winning.”

Belgian PokerStars qualifier Pierre Neuville finished in second place for €257,681 and, at 67-years-old, is the oldest finalist in the history of the EPT.

Andrei Vlasenko was the first to hit the rail. Eighteen-year-old American Ryan Franklin bet 55,000 preflop, and Antonio Matias called from the small blind. Vlasenko then moved all in from the big blind, and Franklin followed suit, pushing all of his chips over the line. Chip leader Matias folded, and the two flipped over their cards. Vlasenko held pocket nines but was behind to Franklin’s pocket tens, and with no help on the board he remained that way, leaving the tournament in eighth place for €31,234.

Ryan Franklin was next out when Pierre Neuville opened for 75,000 and the American moved all in for around 550,000. Jeff Sarwer then also shoved, and Matias and Neuville folded their cards. Franklin showed pocket eights but was behind this time to Sarwer’s pocket jacks. A jack came on the flop, and Franklin hit the rail in seventh place with €46,851 for his efforts.

Michelle Abecassis then became the sixth-place finisher for €62,468 after shoving all in for 344,000 with A 7 over Matias’ preflop raise of 93,000 from the button. Matias made the call and flipped over Q J. The ace was ahead to begin with, but a queen fell on the flop, and despite hitting a 7 on the turn, the river was a 3 and the Frenchman made his exit.

Local player Joao Silva then gave all of his chips to Jan Skampa and left in fifth place for a payday of €78,085. From under the gun, Skampa bet 100,000, and both Silva and Neuville called from the blinds. The flop was dealt 3 3 2, and both the small blind Silva and big blind Neuville checked.

Skampa then bet out 175,000, triggering a wealth of action in his favor — Silva raised to 550,000, Neuville folded, Skampa moved all in, and Silva made the call. It was queens for Skampa and jacks for Silva, and with the 9 turn and 3 river, Skampa became the new chip leader, and Silva hit the rail.

Skampa was barely finished stacking his new chips when he got involved in a huge pot with Jeff Sarwer, who took a devastating chunk out of Skampa’s stack with Q-Q versus K-9, respectively — with both players all in and only a 9 falling on the board. Sarwer then finished him off in the very next hand. Skampa moved all in from the small blind, and Sarwer called from the big blind with K J. Skampa was behind with K 7, and the board made no difference to either of them. Skampa made his exit in fourth place for a nice €117,128.

Going into threehanded play, the stacks were:

Jeff Sarwer — 4,220,000
Antonio Matias — 3,815,000
Pierre Neuville — 1,590,000

Matias and Sarwer continued to take each other on. The two were involved in a hand worth more than 2,500,000. Matias raised to 130,000 from the button, and Sarwer called from the big blind.

The flop was dealt Q 7 2, Sarwer checked, Matias bet 160,000, and Sarwer raised 220,000 on top. Matias added another 600,000, and Sarwer threw in a million more. Matias moved all in, and Sarwer thought it over. Sarwer said, “I’m going to need some help here,” but eventually folded, and watched as Matias took over the chip lead.

Sarwer then saw his stack decrease even further when he tangled with Neuville. The hand began with a raising war, which eventually saw Neuville move all in with a call from Sarwer. Neuville was miles ahead with A K in front of Sarwer’s A 2. The board brought an ace, and Neuville moved up to more than 1.8 million.

Sarwer’s stack was totally wiped out soon after, but at least the former chess phenomenon finished closer to the goal than in Poland, where he finished 10th, bubbling the final table. It all began with a raise of 125,000 from Matias. Both players called. The flop was 9 7 3, and Sarwer bet 275,000. Matias quickly moved all in and, with Neuville now out of the way, Sarwer decided to make the call.

Sarwer showed top pair with 9[[suit:spade] 5, but Matias was ahead with pocket tens. The turn fell in Sarwer’s favor, giving him two pair with the 5, but it wasn’t to be as the river was the 3 pairing the board and giving Matias a better two pair. After an astounding performance, the Canadian went out in third place for €156,170.

Heads-up the chip counts were:

Antonio Matias: 8,380,000
Pierre Neuville: 1,245,000

Despite Neuville getting an early double-up, he could not make it back against the local cash-game player. The final hand came when Neuville bet 240,000 from the button and Matias called.

The flop fell J 8 7, and Matias checked. Neuville bet 315,000, Matias bumped it up with 500,000 on top, which prompted Neuville to move all in. Matias made the final call of the event and then turned over 8 7 for two pair.

Neuville held J 10 for top pair with an inside-straight draw, but the 7 turn gave Matias a full house, and the 2 river was meaningless. Neuville left in second place, €257,681 richer, while Matias was handed his novelty-sized check worth €404,793.

European Poker Tour Prague
The final eight at the €5,000 no-limit hold’em main event of PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague had emerged from a field of 586 players and one of them would walk away with €682,000 at the end of the day, and once again Jan Skampa was in the thick of the action, bent on avenging his blow-up at the Vilamoura final table.

Team PokerStars pro Luca Pagano was making his sixth EPT final table appearance and still looking for his first title. He was joined at the final table by Swedish professional Stefan Mattsson.

The chip counts going into the final table were:

Seat 1: Anthony Roux — 2,839,000
Seat 2: Stefan Mattsson — 3,553,000
Seat 3: Laurence Ryan — 1,338,000
Seat 4: Gustav Ekerot — 502,000
Seat 5: Sven Eichelbaum — 658,000
Seat 6: Jan Skampa — 3,985,000
Seat 7: Eyal Avitan — 2,627,000
Seat 8: Luca Pagano — 2,119,000

It took half an hour for the first player to risk all of his chips and it was Sven Eichelbaum. He held A J preflop but he was dominated by the pocket aces of Laurence Ryan. The board changed nothing and Eichelbaum busted in eighth place (€55,500). The early going remained spirited when Gustav Ekerot moved all in preflop with Q 7. Once again a player woke up with aces and this time it was Eyal Avitan. The board stayed out of the way and Ekerot was eliminated in seventh place (€71,000).

The next elimination hand involved the two remaining titans in the event. Pagano raised to 125,000 preflop from the button and Stefan Mattsson then reraised to 320,000. Pagano rereraised all in and Mattsson called him down. Pagano held A J but he was behind the pocket queens of Mattsson. The board fell K 6 4 Q 6 and Pagano was eliminated in sixth place, taking home €100,000 for his 13th EPT cash.

On the hand after Pagano’s elimination there was another all-in situation. Mattsson had raised the action to open the pot and Ryan reraised. Mattsson moved all in and Ryan made the all-in call. Ryan held pocket jacks but once again pocket aces reared their menacing head. The aces held for Mattsson and Ryan was eliminated in fifth place (€135,000). Half of the final table had been eliminated in an hour-and-a-half.

The final four then settled in and things calmed down for a bit before Anthony Roux found himself holding pocket tens in the hole preflop. He moved all in with them and Avitan made the call with A-K. An ace and a king fell on the flop to give Avitan aces up and that was enough to eliminate Roux in fourth place (€171,000).

The race that decided third place was a little closer. Avitan raised to 375,000 preflop from the button and Mattsson reraised all in from the small blind. Avitan made the call and they flipped over their cards:

Mattsson: Q 10
Avitan: J 10
Board: 9 8 7 3 6

Avitan scored a straight on the flop and Mattsson missed his flush draw so he was out in third place (€255,000), which brought things down to the final two. The heads-up final would be contested between Avitan and Jan Skampa.

Avitan had been active and he took a chip lead into the final, while Skampa had stayed quiet and let others bust ahead of him. His time to jump into action had arrived and he pulled even with Avitan during the first hour of heads-up play. Two hours into the final they were still even before Avitan used trip tens to take a slight lead of 10.5 million to 7 million. Skampa never relented and over the next hour he worked to reverse the chip counts in his favor. That would be the final lead change. Skampa shut the door on his opponent when he raised to 450,000 preflop and Avitan reraised all in for 4.2 million.

Skampa made the call and the two finalists flipped over their cards:

Skampa: J J
Avitan: J 9
Board: K 6 2 8 5

Avitan was eliminated in second place and he was awarded €454,000. Skampa won the hand, €682,000, and his first EPT title in his home country. He also proved once again that winning a final table is all about peaking at just the right time.