Alejandro 'Papo MC' Lococo Wins Eureka Prague Main Event

The 2022 European Poker Tour Prague Eureka €1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event attracted a record-setting field of 3,155 total entries. The huge turnout blew away the previous top turnout of 2,452 entries in the event set back in 2019. As a result, the prize pool this year swelled to €3,028,000 ($3,326,531 USD).

When the dust settled, the lion’s share of that prize money was awarded to Argentinian rapper and poker player Alejandro Lococo. The PokerStars ambassador, known to many online by the name ‘Papo MC’, took home €417,820 ($455,424 USD) for the win.

This was the second-largest score in Lococo’s live tournament career, behind only the $1,225,000 he secured as the seventh-place finisher in the 2021 World Series of Poker main event. The 30-year-old from Mar del Plata now has more than $1.7 million in career earnings.

“I’m going to take the trophy to my room and then come back and join the EPT main event,” Lococo said after coming out on top.

In addition to securing that trophy and the big six-figure payday, Lococo also earned 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win in this event. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, but it alone was enough to catapult him into a tie with Bin Weng for 21st place in the 2022 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day began with Lococo in the lead, with his 60-big-blind stack being nearly twice as large as that belonging to the nearest competitor. Alexandre Reard was the first to fall, with his A-K running into the pocket kings of Bartolomeo Tato. Reard earned $35,817 USD as the ninth-place finisher after a 10-high runout.

Merijn van Rooij’s run in this event came to an end shortly after his pocket eighths clashed with the pocket tens of Nicolas Cottin. He was unable to come from behind in that hand and was left on fumes. He was eliminated shortly after that in eighth place, taking home $47,339 USD for his deep run. Cottin soon found himself facing pocket tens in the next major preflop showdown. His A-K was unable to win the race against Lococo’s pocket pair, and Cottin was eliminated in seventh place ($62,501 USD).

Ville Jantunen’s last four or so big blinds went in from under the gun with 9-6 offsuit. Jon Kyte called from the hijack with A-Q and flopped top pair to extend his lead. Jantunen hit a pair of sixes on the turn, but was unable to improve any further and was knocked out in sixth place ($82,502 USD).

Lococo scored his next elimination when his 86 beat out the J10 of Yann Nasser ($108,913 USD). It was the start of a knockout spree for Lococo, who picked up A10 against the K10 of Jon Kyte soon after that. Kyte had both flush and straight outs heading into the river, but Lococo’s pair of aces ended up the winner. Kyte secured $143,771 USD as the fourth-place finisher. Minutes later, Jakub Koleckar shoved from the small blind with K7 and Lococo called with a dominating K10. Neither player imrpoved after five cards and Lococo’s kicker played to earn him the pot. Koleckar hit the rail with $189,802 USD for his strong showing in this event.

With that, Lococo took nearly a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Tato. In the final hand, Lococo limped in from the button for 800,000 total with AJ. Tato raised to 4,000,000 holding 75. Lococo called and the flop came down AKQ. Tato bet 4,500,000 and Lococo called. The 7 saw Tato move all-in for approximately 25,000,000. Lococo made the call with his pair of aces and a broadway draw. The 8 on the river secured the pot and the title for Lococo, while Tato earned $271,410 USD as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Tomas Stacha / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.

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