Irish player Padraig O’Neill became only the second player from Ireland to win a European Poker Tour Main Event as he conquered EPT Prague for over $1.1 million on Sunday evening. At a final table where O’Neill had started as a short stack, the big leader from Norway Jon Kyte was overcome at the last as O’Neill won the final EPT Main Event of the 2023 season.

Bumper Prague Main Event Ends EPT Season in Style

Heading into the nine-handed final table, it had already been a real Main Event to remember in the Czech capital. A record-breaking field of 1,285 entries meant a prizepool of over $6.3 million was up for grabs and that meant a top prize of $1.124 million. Nine made the final, but it wasn’t long before Vincent Meli was on the rail.

The French player moved all-in for his last dozen big blinds with but chip leader Jon Kyte shoved with and that shifted early raiser Govert Metaal from the players chasing the pot. He folded and escaped elimination too, as a board of sent Meli to the rail with €95,000, the equivalent of $103,700 in U.S. currency.

Next to go was the only remaining American in the field, Marle Spragg. Wife of Ben Spragg and a bona fide star of the poker circuit in her own right, Spragg moved in for almost exactly the same amount as Meli, holding . Kyte called with and while he started the hand behind, he overtook Spragg when the board of landed to eliminate Spragg for $135,000 in eighth place after a painful river.

Heavy Metaal Crashes Out

A long period of time elapsed before the next player was busted. When they were, it was the Dutch poker personality Govert Metaal. All the chips went in on the turn of a board showing , as Kyte shoved with and Metaal correctly called with . The river gave Kyte a straight and eliminated the Dutchman in seventh place for $175,400.

With six players remaining, one more player busted before the overnight chipcounts. That player turned out to be Russian player Grigorii Rodin. He shoved with but was miles behind Kyte’s and the board of had Rodin practically drawing dead from the flop and actually dead from the turn. Rodin cashed for $228,100 as Kyte went into the last night’s sleep before the final with 22.87 million, more chips than his four opponents combined, who between them only totalled 15.4 million.

When players returned on the final day, the eventual winner O’Neill only had 12 big blinds to his name, but that was to change. It was Adam Wagner who busted first on the day, cashing for $296,500 in fifth place when his shove with was called by the marginally better stacked O’Neill with . The flop of actually gave Wagner a wheel straight draw but a on the turn and river were no further help to him and he crashed out just shy of the top four.

O’Neill’s Magical Moment Arrives

“To get heads-up, I never thought it would’ve happened.” ~ Padraig O’Neill, EPT Champion.

Crawling up the chipcounts into second place, O’Neill still only had 21% of Kyte’s chips. The latter score an important elimination as he took out Cheng Zhao in fourth place for $385,500, the Chinese player shoving with and being called and beaten by Kyte with after a seven-high board landed. Now with 26.1 million chips, Kyte had way more than O’Neill (8m) and Umberto Ruggeri from Italy, who was the short stack with just 4.29m chips.

Ruggeri doubled on several occasions to hurt Kyte’s stack and, at one point, each player was separated by the other only by a couple of million. It was hours before one player fell short again, during which point the blinds shallowed considerably, and Ruggeri paid the ultimate price, losing with to O’Neill’s as a board of gave him the cruelest of false hopes on the flop but dashed them on the river to send the Italian home with $501,250.

Heads up, O’Neill now had four times the stack of Kyte, a complete role reversal of how the chips had looked so many hours earlier at the start of the final day, but a long drawn-out battle ensued. As the players headed to their final break, just 48 big blinds were in play, with O’Neill holding 36 big blinds to Kyte’s 12. When O’Neill shoved with , Kyte called with hoping that he had two live cards, only to be dominated. The flop of kept O’Neill ahead and just two cards from victory, and after the turn, only a five would save the overnight leader. Kyte failed to hit on the river and a new EPT Champion was crowned.

“It feels amazing [that] it’s just happened. It hasn’t sunk in.” O’Neill said in the immediate aftermath. “I was hoping to get fourth. Third would’ve been amazing. To get heads-up, I never thought it would’ve happened. I booked a flight last night for 7pm. today. That’s how optimistic I was.

As Joe ‘Stapes’ Stapleton discovered interview with the new winner after the action, that all changed when Zhao hit the rail in fourth.  “Three-handed, I thought: ‘Right, I’m winning this.’ I’m relieved the heads-up is over – it’s going to hit in the next few days.”

Here’s the moment that Joe Stapes’ Stapleton handed Padraig O’Neill his first-ever EPT Main Event trophy and he won $1.124 million in the result of his poker career to date.

Congratulations to Padraig O'Neill on taking down the #EPTPrague Main Event! 🏆

The Irishman walks away with €1,030,000 and the coveted trophy after a 4 hour heads up match against Jon Kyte. 💪

👏 🇮🇪 👏 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/7ZmmXgNNgU

— PokerStars UK & IRE (@PokerStarsUK) December 18, 2023

Headline photograph by Manuel Kovsca for PokerNews