Czech-Mate! Ondřej Már Wins €550 Main Event for €91,001!
The final day of this Festival Series saw a new winner crowned in this year's Rozvadov installment of the €550 Main Event. Ondřej Már of Czechia came out on top after a 12-hour stint at the tables here at Europe's palace of poker, King's Resort. Let's run down the highlights.
A field of 22 took to the felt at the start of play today/yesterday at 1 p.m. sharp local time. That number quickly shortened up as eventual final tablist Rasmus Lundstroem caught Matteo Intiso speeding on one of the two outer tables. Intiso was the first out in today's play.
Czech national Tomas Fara was next to go, and the first elimination of today's feature table as he lost a flip versus German Andreas Rauch.
The sole remaining lady in the field, Anja Wisney, was dispatched by eventual winner .Már flopped the top two pair to crack Wisney's pocket jacks. Mourad Tounnouti, the Netherlands' sole representative, quickly followed suit.
"Andrey" and "Mr B" were stacked by Rauch on the feature table. Both players were all in for sub-10 big blind stacks, and Rauch had them both covered by heaps. His eights held against sevens and a suited king to send two players to the rail.
Next, it was Karaminev's turn to depart as he ran into cowboys after jamming his nineteen big blind stack with queens. from the button over an early position open from another final tablist, Giuseppe Grupposo.
Stefanos Michalidis departed in 13th, an unlucky number for some (not for Festival photographer Mairo Toom, though) and is certainly the case for Michalidis. Rauch and Fare were eliminated in quick succession, with the latter also running into cowboys. He jammed his short-stack from the button against Grupposo, who again had Kings from early position.
Vasyl Pidhrushnyi was the victim of an ace from space after he called off a three-bet jam versus Ondrej Mar, who was climbing up the counts consistently.
Ten remained at that point, and one player had to miss out on making the Main Event final table and a shot at the first place prize of €91,101. That player was Samuel Saariano, who was the final elimination on the feature table before the players assembled to form the final table.
Final Table Play
The final table was reached after around three and a half hours of play, with Már, Richard Koppel, who started the day as an overwhelming chip-leader, and Giuseppe Grupposo in first, second, and third, respectively.
Georgian Giorgi Surmava came into the final table in sixth, but he doubled up through Lundstroem, who started in fourth. Another cooler spot, Lundstroem had queens, and Sumarva had kings, which left Lundstroem short.
Kuablek accumulated some early final chips, courtesy of multiple barrels from Koppel into his flopped Broadway straight.
"Easy Game" didn't have such an easy game, and he couldn't spin up his short-stack and was the first casualty of the final table.
Lundstroem was left even shorter by "Schulle" as the German doubled through him with a superior ace. It was then Lundstroem's turn to double as his kings held against Mar's ace-queen suited.
Grupposo was next out, as once again, queens ran into kings in a pure cooler spot around half an hour after the end of the first break in final table play.
Lundstroem then doubled again from short-stack to middle of the pack, but then fell around twenty minutes later, losing his short-stack in back-to-back hands.
"Schulle" was short for most of the final play and was eventually toppled by Koppel in sixth place, having moved all in for his final five blinds.
Finnish national Sami Pullianinen was active throughout and decided to run a bluff on Oliver Kubalek of Sweden. Kubalek was a non-believer and called Pullianinen with ace-high on a board containing trips.
Surmava doubled through the native Czech Már to stay in contention, having turned a boat in a preflop all-in situation.
Már continued to chip up and got paid with a boat, cracking Koppel's queens in the process.
Pullaianinen's time came to an end at the final table as he found the solver special. He elected to three-bet jam ace-five suited for 18 big blinds from the big blind versus Kubalek's cutoff open. Unfortunately for the Fin, Kubalek had Big Slick, and he made top-top to finish off Pullianinen.
Surmava was the shortest stack after Pullianinen's departure, and he was next on the chopping block. He jammed 4,150,000 from under the gun with king-ten suited for around 11 big blinds and was sent packing by Kubalek, who called in the small blind.
Three-Handed Play
Mar showed great understanding and situational awareness throughout today's play. He opened to 900,000 with the blinds at 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante with K Q . Koppel three-bet to 2,700,000, and Már called.
The 9 J 2 flop was checked around before both players hit the K turn. It hit Koppel harder as he made two pair, and he bet 3,500,000. Már called. Koppel attempted to trap on the 2 river, but Már didn't bite and checked back, losing the perceived minimum.
Már then proceeded to put Kubalek in the blender as he four-bet jammed ace-king offsuit versus Kubalek, who had tens. Kubalek tanked for five minutes before shipping his cards face down to the dealer.
The final three briefly discussed a deal, but those talks were quickly put on ice before the players headed off to an impromptu 30-minute dinner break.
Play resumed about as even as it gets in terms of distribution, as each player had at least 30% each of the total chips in play.
Koppel won a few uncontested pots and put himself ahead to put some distance between himself and his opponents.
However, he lost a flip with tens after calling a limp-three-bet jam of 25 big blinds blind v blind. Már had ace-king off and binked a king on the turn to secure the double up to 50 big blinds to put Már in a significant lead.
A few hands late, Már raised with ace-queen off from the small blind, and Koppel called in the big blind. Már flopped top two on A Q 10 and bet five big blinds into Koppel who called. The 7 turn saw Már size up to a bet of 10 big blind,s and Koppel called again.
The river 10 paired the board and put Koppel all in, and he snap-called and was eliminated to Már superior two pair, taking play heads-up.
Heads-Up
Már came into heads-up play with a whopping 94% of the total chips in play, as his 99 big blinds played Kubalek's 6 big blind stack.
It was Kubalek who struck first, doubling up with ace-eight off suit versus jack-three suited. He paired his eight to scoop the pot to chip up to 11 big blinds.
The next hand of note involved Kubalek doubling again after Már jammed queen-duece off on the button. Kubalek flopped trips with ten-seven suited and turned quads to stay alive.
Kubalek continued to take from Már, chipping up to 26 big blinds after jamming on the turn with a pair and a flush draw with 6 3 versus Már's 6 4 . The board was 9 7 6 Q .
Kubalek then chipped up to 31 big blinds after flopping trips and check-raising the turn, which forced Már out of the pot.
The Swede continued to chip away at Már, winning numerous small pots pre and post-flop. Remarkably, Kubalek chipped up to hold 45% of the chips in play when the recount was published on the stream 45 minutes into the heads-up duel.
It was then Már's turn to take down numerous pots as he continued to apply pressure to maintain his chiplead.
Már scooped a sizeable one when defending ten-nine offsuit in the big blind versus a 2.2 big blind open from Kubalek, who had queen-eight offsuit.
Már check called a bet of three big blinds on K 10 5 before check-calling again on the 3 turn, this time a wager of 5.5 big blinds. Kubalek surrendered on the board-pairing 3 river, and Már's pair of tens was good at showdown, and his lead grew.
Kubalek was resilient and fought back, attempting a double-barrel bluff on turn and river with five-high on a flush completed and paired board. However, Már sniffed it out and called with king-high with no heart in hand.
This hand set up Már to regain the majority of the chips in play. Már then jammed ace-three off, and Kubalek snap-called with queens for his tournament life.
The 2 6 10 flop was clean, as was the 8 turn. However, yet another ace from space hit on the A river sealed Kubalek's fate for good, leaving Már with all of the chips in play, and the Czech national €91,001 richer and his first Festival Series title.
That's all from us at the beautiful King's Resort in Rozvadov. Stay tuned to thefestival.com and on social media channels for upcoming articles and events. The cardroom, now the quietest it has been in the last eleven days, as players from across Europe and the world depart for the lands they call home. Until next time.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ondřej Már | 🇨🇿 | €91,001 |
| 2 | Oliver Kubalek | 🇸🇪 | €55,000 |
| 3 | Richard Koppel | 🇪🇪 | €38,700 |
| 4 | Giorgi Surmava | 🇬🇪 | €29,000 |
| 5 | Sami Pulliainen | 🇫🇮 | €22,500 |
| 6 | "Schulle" | 🇩🇪 | €16,800 |
| 7 | Rasmus Lundstroem | 🇫🇮 | €12,000 |
| 8 | Giuseppe Grupposo | 🇮🇹 | €8,600 |
| 9 | "Easy Game" | 🇵🇹 | €6,811 |
