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Bulgaria’s Martin Tsvetanov emerged victorious in the record-breaking €1,100 Eureka Main Event at the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague, taking home the sum of €449,034 from the €4,542,720 prize pool, after a heads-up deal with the runner-up, Austrian Gerald Karlic (€396,086).

Although cash game specialist Tsvetanov came into the final day as the chip leader, he did not have it all his own way, and at three-handed, he was down to ten big blinds. However, he went on a charge, doubling through Karlic twice and then spiking an ace to overcome the queens of Ricardo Caridade, sending the Portuguese to the rail in third to retake the lead. He then saw off Karlic in heads-up to take the trophy and €19,034 set aside for the winner.

With this triumph, Tsvetanov has obliterated his previous recorded career lifetime tournament cashes of $134,000 in one score, and he showed remarkable composure throughout the day as his rollercoaster ride played out.

€1,100 Eureka Main Event Final Table Results

*denotes heads-up deal

Winner’s Reaction

“I haven’t processed it yet, I’m going through hands in my head and I’m ready to play some more right now! It’s life changing, it will hit me in a few days.”

On how he maintained focus: “It was a real rollercoaster. I’ve been a professional player for a few years, cash mainly. My mentality is not to get phased, don’t think about the money, the pressures, have no expectations, and I’ve worked quite a bit on this recently. I just try to play my best, obviously I got lucky in some spots. The whole day was a rollercoaster, I lost half my stack in the first level and then the last three I was down to ten bigs, but yeh I never gave up or lost hope. Keep playing as long as you are alive, as we saw I was down to ten bigs then was chip leader 20 minutes later. But yeh, it definitely hasn’t sunk in yet.”

On whether this score means bigger events in the future: “I am definitely going to have to think about it. I am mostly mid-stakes cash, probably my tournament level will go up. I have a family, beautiful wife, second child on the way so Baby Run Good is real! So I will probably be more passive as compared to if this had happened ten years ago when I had no responsibilities. I will definitely be playing more EPT’s, unfortunately I can’t play the Main Event here as I have a family holiday booked, but you will definitely see me in Paris!”

Final Day Action

Only 14 players returned from the 4,732 entry field for the final day. It wasn’t long before the first player exited, with short-stack Manuel Roca busting when his pocket pair couldn’t hold against Karlic.

Alexantr Spatharis was involved in plenty of action early on, doubling up Andris Rasins and then getting some revenge on the Latvian, before he cracked the aces of Magnus Persson, to leave the Swede with crumbs, and Persson would depart in 13th in the next hand.

Rasins was next to hit the rail, when the Latvian lost a flip against Jack Sinclair. Martijn Kiers had become short, and he busted in 11th when he jammed and ran into the kings of Konstantinos Nanos.

Ryan Plant vaulted into the chip lead when he flopped quads against Sinclair.

The final table bubble was truncated, with play slowing down and one table continually behind the other. Hand-for-hand play was finally ended when Nanos jammed from the small blind but ran into a better ace with Spatharis in the big blind.

Final Table Play

At the start of the final table, Karlic held the chip lead, with a reasonable gap to his closest challengers, Plant and Spatharis, while Tsvetanov was in the middle of the pack. Mikkel Nielsen was the short-stack, and he exited in ninth when he ran into the superior ace of Tsvetanov.

Karlic then came unstuck when he lost a huge flip against Caridade, who flopped quads, giving the Portuguese the chip lead. Sinclair never really recovered from the earlier hand with Plant, and he exited in eighth when he lost a flip against Caridade, who by now had a significant chip lead.

Spatharis was next to head to the payout desk in seventh after he lost a flip against Tsvetanov, despite flopping additional outs. He was followed out the door by Matthew Micallef, who busted to Karlic, as the current short-stack.

Brief deal discussions were held five-handed, but no agreement could be reached, and battle recommenced. Karlic quickly scored a crucial double against Caridade to retake the chip lead. Theodoros Ampelikiotis had been grinding a shortish stack all day and had performed well to reach fifth, but his run came to an end when Big Slick let him down versus Plant.

Matters were relatively close between the final four competitors, with Tsvetanov and Karlic in front. Plant was left with crumbs after getting unlucky in a clash with Caridade, and although he tripled up in the next hand, he would soon exit in fourth after he ran into Tsvetanov’s overpair.

By the third break, Tsvetanov was leading with 50 big blinds, and there was barely anything to separate Karlic and Caridade around the 35 big blind mark. Something had to give, and when Karlic caught Tsvetanov bluffing with a missed up and down to take a commanding lead, that seemed to be it.

Tsvetanov wasn’t about to give up the biggest spot of his career without a fight however, and the Bulgarian then went on a tear, taking three significant pots in a row, doubling twice through Karlic, to retake the chip lead. Caridade was almost reduced to a watching brief at this point.

Heads-up play was eventually set when Tsvetanov spiked an ace versus Caridade’s pocket queens, and the players engaged in deal discussions, with Tsvetanov playing 45 big blinds to Karlic’s 23 bigs.

A deal was agreed whereby Tsvetanov took €430,000, and Karlic banked €396,086, with the players playing on for €19,034 and the trophy, and it didn’t take long for Tsvetanov to finish off Karlic.

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