Timothy Adams Wins 2022 European Poker Tour Prague €50,000 Super High Roller

Timothy Adams defeated a field of 45 entries to take down the 2022 European Poker Tour Prague €50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em super high roller event. The Canadian poker pro and World Series of Poker bracelet winner earned his 15th career live tournament title and €742,200 ($814,965 USD) as the champion.

This score was the seventh-largest of Adams’ career. It saw him surpass $27.6 million in career tournament earnings, leapfrogging Antonio Esfandiari ($27,275,185) to move into 17th place on poker’s all-time money list. The big payday also helped Adams
further cement his hold on the second-place spot on the Canadian all-time money list, sitting behind only Daniel Negreanu ($45,100,233). He is currently $4.2 million ahead of his nearest competitor on that list, Sam Greenwood ($23,369,811).

In addition to the title and the money, Adams was also awarded 510 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified final-table finish of 2022.

The final day began with five players remaining and four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos atop the chip counts after he knocked out Brazilian star and two-time bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski ($167,791 USD) just a few hands before the end of day 2.

Mateos lost a huge chunk of his stack five-bet jamming in a preflop battle against Chris Brewer. The American poker pro snap-called all-in with pocket aces, which had Mateos’ A-8 in rough shape. Mateos was ultimately knocked out in fifth place ($215,732 USD) when his A-4 suited failed to outrun the A-Q suited of Adams. Mateos flopped top pair a steel wheel draw but failed to improve any further on the turn or river. Adams’ pair of aces with a superior kicker earned him the pot and narrowed the field to four.

Brewer lost several all-ins against smaller stacks to slide back down the leaderboard during four-handed play. He eventually got all-in with A-9 against the K-J suited of Adams, who made a flush by the river to send Brewer home in fourth place ($275,652 USD). He also secured 255 POY points for his sixth POY-qualified score of the year, climbing into 23rd place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

Three-handed play was a swingy affair, with a multitude of short-stack double-ups and lead changes. Two-time bracelet winner Nick Petrangelo was ultimately the next player to fall, with his K-2 from the small blind failing to outrun the A-9 of Adams. Petrangelo earned $359,542 USD and 340 POY points for his seventh final-table finish of the year. With three titles won, nearly $2.6 million in POY earnings, and 1,728 total points, Petrangelo now sits in third place on the POY leaderboard.

Heads-up play began with Adams sitting on 8,050,000 while Orpen Kisacikoglu had 3,200,000. Adams was able to extend his chip advantage even further by the timethe final hand was dealt. Kisacikoglu shoved all-in for roughly 2,700,000 from the button with KDiamond Suit6Diamond Suit and Adams called with AClub Suit10Club Suit. The board ran out ADiamond SuitKClub Suit7Club Suit10Heart SuitJClub Suit, giving Adams aces and tens for the win. Kisacikoglu earned $563,284 USD as the runner-up.

Earlier this month Kisacikoglu has publicly pledged to match donations to Oxfam in support of those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. He tweeted that he would match donations up to €10,000, and also said that he would triple that donation if he were to cash for six figures at the EPT Prague series. With that threshold surpassed, it appears as if the Turkish businessman and poker player is set to make a big donation.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Tomas Stacha / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.