EPT Prague 2018: Henrik Hecklen Posts Career-Best Score at the €10,300 High Roller For €503,700

The last event on the 2018 European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague roster was the €10,300 High Roller which drew in 259 runners generating a €2,512,300 prize pool. While several big names were seen in action, it was the Danish pro Henrik Hecklen (cover image) who ultimately took down the event for a career-best €503,700.

Hecklen’s first EPT title came back in 2014 when he won the €2,200 NLHE – Estrellas High Roller for €293,000 at the EPT – 11 – ESPT – 5 – Barcelona. He also made a deep run at the EPT Prague Main Event where he finished 23rd for €33,540.

“You shouldn’t look at two tournaments in correlation with each other,” Hecklen stated in the post-event interview, “But now that the Main Event didn’t really work out it’s nice to have this sort of consolation prize, and it’s a good one obviously.”

Talking about the final table, Hecklen said, “It was quite tough because there weren’t that many showdowns so it was kinda hard to figure out what [Schemion] was doing but overall I think he played really well. It was a tough one. My background is in deepstacked cash games and heads-up, I think the structure was very favourable for me. It was certainly better than 20 big blind shoving poker. It suits me very well for sure.”

Notables who finished in the money include Niall Farrell (11^th for €43,970), Charlie Carrel (17^th for €30,900), Timothy Adams (26^th for €22,110), Pavel Binar (28^th for €19,600), Patrik Antonius (37^th for €17,330) and the second €25K Single-Day High Roller winner Corentin Ropert (39^th for €17,330).

Max Silver (10^th for €43,970), who finished fifth in the €10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha, bubbled the final table.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Daniel Dvoress – 3,000,000

2. Alexandre Reard – 2,150,000

3. Michael Addamo – 1,650,000

4. Ole Schemion – 1,375,000

5. Henrik Hecklen – 1,220,000

6. Danny Tang – 1,150,000

7. Anton Yakuba – 1,050,000

8. Jasper Meijer van Putten – 775,000

9. Tomas Paiva – 600,000

Final Table Recap

Barely an hour into the final table Anton Yakuba was left desperately short when Alexandre Reard doubled up through him, making it hard for Yakuba to make a comeback. Minutes later, he risked his remaining stack with but was upended by Daniel Dvoress’ which bettered to a pair of kings with the board showing . Yakuba became the first casualty of the final table and exited in ninth place.

Australian star Michael Addamo had entered the final table with the third-largest stack, but soon enough lost a chunk of it to Henrik Hecklen and just before the first 20-minute break of the day, he was left with the shortest stack of 380,000. He tried to fight back and even managed to improve to 800,000, but in the end it wasn’t enough. He ran into Hecklen, who bested Addamo’s with his that improved to a full house on the runout , eliminating Addamo in eighth place.

Day 2 chip leader Jasper Meijer van Putten was one of the shortest stacks on the final table right from the start and it did not take long for his elimination to come about. It was the Danish pro Hecklen who ousted Van Putten when the former’s overpowered Van Putten’s , with the runout revealing . Hecklen hit a king-high straight on the turn to eliminate Van Putten in seventh place.

Around five minutes later, Tomas Paiva jammed from under-the-gun with for 1,100,000 and Hecklen re-shoved for 4,000,000 from the hijack holding . The runout missed both players and Hecklen’s stronger pair of queens sent Paiva to the rail in sixth place.

Daniel Dvoress came into the final table with a towering lead but by the time level 26 rolled in, he was down to just 925,000 having lost a huge pot to Danny Tang. A level later, Dvoress raised to 160,000 and Hecklen 3-bet to 525,000 from the small blind. Dvoress called to see the flop . Hecklen led out for 400,000 and Dvoress called yet again. With the turn showing Hecklen again opened for 575,000 and Dvoress called. The river brought and Hecklen moved all-in. Dvoress put his time-extension cards in front of his chips, and he started to count his stack of 1,200,000. After close to a minute of tanking, Dvoress called. Hecklen tabled revealing that he had top two pair. Dvoress paused before he open mucked , confirming his fifth place elimination.

Down to four-handed play, defending champion Danny Tang‘s bid at a title defense fell short. Tang shoved all-in from under-the-gun with and Alexandre Reard called from the big blind with . The community cards fanned out missing both players, however, Reard’s ace-high kicker was good enough to win him the pot and eliminate Tang in fourth place.

Tang’s departure reduced the field to three players which continued the battle for close to 30 minutes before Alexandre Reard fell at the hands of Hecklen. The Frenchman’s were no match for Hecklen’s as the rundown gave the latter a nine-high straight, ending Reard’s run in third place.

The heads-up play came down to Henrik Hecklen and Ole Schemion. Hecklen had eliminated five out of the nine players on the final table resulting in a massive stack of 10,000,000, while Schemion came into the fight with a paltry 2,620,000 in comparison. Schemion refused to bow out easily and gave Hecklen a run for his money when he took over the chip lead from the latter during level 28. Eventually Hecklen took the lead back from Schemion and kept it till the end.

On the final hand, Schemion called from the button with and Hecklen raised to 550,000 holding . Schemion sat silent for 15 seconds before announcing all-in for 4,700,000 and Hecklen snap-called. The board spread out and offered no help to Schemion who had no choice but to accept his consolatory runner-up title, as Hecklen became the €10,300 EPT Prague High Roller champion and bagged his best-live cash of €503,700!

Final Table Results (EURO)

1. Henrik Hecklen – €503,700

2. Ole Schemion – €334,900

3. Alexandre Reard – €244,950

4. Danny Tang – €197,720

5. Daniel Dvoress – €155,010

6. Tomas Paiva – €117,340

7. Jasper Meijer van Putten – €86,170

8. Michael Addamo – €63,310

9. Anton Yakuba – €52,510

Content & Images courtesy PokerStars Blog