EPT Prague 2018: Corentin Ropert Takes Down €25K Single-Day High Roller For €277,560

Corentin Ropert (cover image) was on his way to watch a movie, but decided instead to play the second Single Day High Roller at the 2018 European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague. The decision turned out to be a wise one since Ropert outran 28 other players to win the event for a career-best €277,560.

“I saw that the winner of the other €25k [Thomas Boivin] had qualified through a satellite, so I thought why not? And here I am!” Ropert said, after the win.

Ropert had to fend off Tsugunari Toma heads-up to stake claim to the title.

“Having the support on my rail was incredible. The tournament was very tough but luckily I had quite a lot of good situations and I was very happy with how I played. It was exhausting, but it’s a crazy feeling,” he added.

Prior to this win, Ropert has most notably finished fourth in the FPD Deauville Main Event for €60,100.

The event saw 34 entries, including 29 unique entries. Winner of Single Day High Roller 1, Thomas Boivin and Steve O’Dwyer also jumped into the action.

The first player to hit the rail in the event was Jean-Noel Thorel. With only the top six to bank a min cash of €57,140, Thorel’s efforts saw him return to the rail empty-handed.

Boivin and O’Dwyer were among the others who were eliminated empty-handed.

When the field narrowed down to the final two tables, action saw a spate of double-ups that included Pavel Plesuv doubling up twice and Dietrich Fast scoring a double up followed by a triple-up.

Final Table Chip Counts

1.Michael Addamo – 450,000

2. Norbert Szecsi – 260,000

3. Charlie Carrel – 950,000

4.Sergi Reixach – 295,000

5. Pavel Plesuv – 430,000

6. Juan Pardo – 185,000

7. Dietrich Fast – 355,000

8. Corentin Ropert – 160,000

9. Tsugunari Toma – 290,000

Michael Addamo (450,000) and Norbert Szecsi (260,000) were the top stacks coming into the final table. Ropert was among the short stacks, but managed to navigate his way up the ranks.

Final Table Recap

Juan Pardo turned out to become the first elimination from the final table when his pocket fours were run down by Toma’s pocket sixes.

Charlie Carrel had held the chip lead for better part during the early levels of play and made it to the final table with the third largest stack of 950,000. Surprisingly, Carrel failed to enter the money line after his ace-seven was cracked by Tsugunari Toma’s ace-ten and fell out in eighth place.

Shortly afterwards, the bubble burst when both Sergi Reixach and Ropert flopped pairs but Ropert’s held the dominant hand. Reixach’s elimination in seventh place left the remaining six players in the money.

Pavel Plesuv was eliminated in sixth place when Toma moved all in for 494,000 and action folded to Plesuv who thought for a minute before making the call from the small blind. Fast open folded from the big blind. Tom and Plesuv tabled their cards, the former showing against Plesuv’s . The jack on the flop gave Toma top pair. The turn and the river sealed Toma’s win.

Norbert Szecsi open-raised to 115,000 from the cutoff and saw Fast raising to 200,000 from the button. The rest of the table folded, and Szecsi made the call with his . Fast was in the lead with . The board fell and Fast’s flopped two pair had Szecsi dominated. The turn and the river bricked for Szecsi and he was eliminated in fifth place.

Even after getting a boost after eliminating Szecsi, Dietrich Fast was scalped by Addamo and finished in fourth place. In the hand, Addamo called for 25,000 on the button and Fast made it 70,000 from the small blind, to be left with only 28,000. Ropert called from the big blind and Addamo moved all in. Fast pushed the remainder of his stack in the middle and Ropert folded. The cards were turned over, with Addamo tabling against Fast’ . The board ran and Addamo who had flopped top pair stayed in the lead, while Fast exited.

The pace of play was expected to slow down but Michael Addamo moved all in from the small blind for 550,000 with and big blind Ropert woke up with . Ropert was going strong and the flop fell . The turn and the river changed nothing, as Addamo was forced to exit in third place.

Tsugunari Toma entered the heads-up play with a big one-to-four chip deficit against Ropert, but the Japanese pro fought hand to hand to even out the stacks. It looked like he would take the chip lead at one point, but he soon made a wrong move, one that cost him the title. In the hand, Ropert opened for 60,000 and Toma 3-bet to 205,000. Ropert called. Toma led out 155,000 on the flop and Toma called to see the on the turn. Here, Toma asked for a time extension before deciding to check. Ropert bet 275,000 and Toma wasted no time in moving all in for 1.1 Million, prompting Ropert to snap call.

Ropert:

Toma:

Ropert and his rail could be heard celebrating as the on the river gave Ropert quads and he was declared the champion!

Final Table Results (EURO)

1.Corentin Ropert – € 277,560

2. Tsugunari Toma – € 191,840

3. Michael Addamo – € 122,450

4. Dietrich Fast – € 93,880

5. Norbert Szecsi – € 73,470

6. Pavel Plesuv – € 57,140

Content & Images courtesy pokerstars.com

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