EPT weathers winter poker war with big turnout for Prague Main Event

The European Poker Tour wrapped up its 2025 season in Prague with another strong turnout for its Main Event, once again drawing players from all over the continent to the Czech capital city in its most picturesque time of year. 

While two of the game's biggest legacy brands are actively engaged in trench warfare, PokerStars and the EPT stood pat in their corner of the world and pressed on with the regularly scheduled winter stop. They faced the headwinds of the WPT Championship in Las Vegas and WSOP Paradise in The Bahamas, but the Prague Main Event and other mid-level buy-ins held strong, even if the high rollers may have suffered. 

Europe turns out, high rollers don't

The turnout was impressive for the lower buy-ins, as it always is. The PokerStars Open Main drew over 3,000, while the Open's High Roller edition did 1,115 entries. Elsewhere, the higher buy-ins did appear to take a hit from the magnet of Triton and a $25,000 Super Main Event in The Bahamas. The €50K High Roller was canceled and the regular €20K/€25K high rollers only ran with a single table for each. 

Meanwhile, the Main Event was the fourth-biggest ever at the Prague Hilton with 1,224 entries. The winner, Israel's Matan Krakow, emerged after a three-handed deal with Bora Kurtulus and Dimitrios Gkatzas. Krakow won the big trophy and €778,255, well more than he previous career earnings of $461K. The former pro had transitioned to a life behind the scenes in the online poker industry, and he helped co-author Eli Elezra's autobiography in 2017. 

Matan Krakow has spent most of his recent years in poker behind the scenes.

Krakow, Kurtulus dominate

The livestreamed final went down at midway local time with seven players and wrapped up before a reasonably scheduled dinner. Kurtulus, who would go on to finish second, started the day as chip leader ahead of the eventual winner. Krakow soared early, eventually grabbing the chip lead, while Kurtulus kept pace with him. The rest of the field disappeared behind them, jockeying for the lower payouts while the top two vacuumed up most of the chips. Local Czech Vitezslav Cech was out first, followed by the Irishman Conor O'Driscoll. O'Driscoll had an early hope spot, but no momentum to carry him beyond sixth place. 

Paawan Bansal was next in fifth, followed by Traian Stanciu in fourth to set up the three-way deal. Kurtulus had the chip lead when the deal went down, so he took €757,400. Krakow agreed to €703,655 for second and Gkatzas won €574,600 for his third-place stack. They played for an extra €75K and the trophy, and Krakow pushed Gkatzas out to take the chip lead. Krakow maintained the chip lead and fought off a late recharge from Kurtulus to close the deal on his first EPT Main Event victory. 

Bora Kurtulus had only $51K in lifetime earnings before his runner-up finish.

The tour will now close its books on 2025 and plan the path for next year. Already on the itinerary is the Paris stop in February and the regular Monte Carlo excursion in May. Prague will host WSOP Europe in the spring, and it remains to be seen if they will once again lock in the winter spot on the EPT calendar. 

2025 EPT Prague Main Event final table results

^{Images courtesy of Rational Intellectual Holdings, Ltd.}