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BACKGAMMON CHAMPION WINS FIRST EPT IN PRAGUE
Date: Friday, December 14, 2007
Venue: Golden Prague Casino, Hilton Prague Hotel
Event: PokerStars.com EPT Prague, €5,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em poker tournament
Parisian Arnaud Mattern, 28, has won the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague event - the first EPT to be held in the Czech capital - for a first prize of €708,400. Mattern, who is also a world-class backgammon player and the current French champion, triumphed against Italian Gino "El Diablo" Alacqua.
In the final hand, Mattern called Alacqua's all-in raise. He had AK and paired the King on the turn, beating the Italian's Q10.
Mattern is the third Frenchman to win an EPT - Jan Boubli won Season 2 Barcelona and Pascal Perrault won Season 1 Vienna. Mattern said: "This is the best result I've ever had. I did win the French Backgammon Championship but that was only ?5,000! It was a very tough final table and, during the heads-up, Gino picked up a lot of good cards but I just picked my spot and my good hands stood up."
Today was Mattern's first EPT cash and more than ten times his previous best win - the Gutshot Poker Masters in 2006 for $51,000. As well as today's first prize, Mattern also wins a ?10,000 seat to the EPT Grand Final, which takes place in Monte Carlo in April 2008.
Runner-up Alacqua, who is single and lives in Milan, says he came to Prague hoping to find love. Instead he picked up €407,300 for second place. The 46-year-old antiques dealer only took up poker 18 months ago but won the Campione d'Italia ?1k Main Event this summer and was runner-up in the 2006 Italian Championship.
High-stakes online player Kristian Kjondal, 21, from Oslo, Norway, came 3rd - adding ?235,300 to the ?471,000 he won last April for coming 4th in the EPT Season 3 Monte Carlo Grand Final. PokerStars player Johannes Strassman was 9th, winning €39,200.
A total of 555 players from 36 countries entered EPT Prague, including 104 players who won their seats online with PokerStars. Among those competing were Team PokerStars Pros Luca Pagano, Dario Minieri, Katja Thater and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier.
Conrad Brunner, PokerStars' Head of Communications, EMEA, said: "For a new event, the Prague EPT has been an outstanding success. Europe's top players have put on a real show, and great credit must go to Mattern for winning against a top class field. Mattern's victory in Prague catapults him to the top of the French EPT leader board."
The next EPT is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas (January 5-10, 2008) followed by the EPT German Open in Dortmund (January 29 - February 2, 2008).
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