The latest edition of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague is now complete, closing out the PokerStars LIVE tournament schedule for 2023. And it was another record-setting outing in the Czech capital.
Prague is no stranger to records for the Red Spade with the series always coming in as one of the top outings of the PokerStars Live year. 2023 was no exception, with more than €6.2 million in total prizes for the Main Event.
The season-ending outing from the EPT was another huge success this year, following a trend that seems to continue every year in the capital of the Czech Republic. In the end, over 15,000 entries were recorded for the series, with total prizes in the €30 million range and several tournaments setting records for size.
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Seven games ended up with more than €1 million in prizes, and the two big standouts from a prize pool perspective were no surprise to any observers of PokerStars and EPT Prague.
It has been a pretty common occurrence in past years for the Main Events in Prague to go huge and set records, and 2023 continued on that trend with both the Eureka and EPT Main Events setting records for their size.
The full-size Main Event that closed the series, won by rising Irish star Padraig “Smidge” O’Neill, set a prize pool record with over 1250 entries, which translated into €6,232,250 in prizes.
Meanwhile, Prague is also home to the Eureka series season-closer every year and this year a field of over 4400 entries set another record for total entries in that Main Event which opened the series.
EPT Prague 2023: Key Facts
- Dates: Dec 6-17, 2023
- Total Prizes: €28,708,598
- Total Entries: 15,240
- EPT Main Event:
- Dates: December 12-17, 2023
- Total Prizes: €6,232,250
- Total Entries: 1,285
- Eureka Main Event:
- Dates: December 6-11, 2023
- Total Prizes: €4,226,880
- Total Entries: 4,403
Record-Setting Christmas in Prague
Setting records during the holiday stopover in Prague is becoming a habit for PokerStars and the EPT. The season-ending series combines the charm of Christmas in the heart of central Europe with some of the biggest and best poker games in the world.
Players flock to the event every year, with field and prize pool records falling year after year.
This year’s series had total prizes in the €30 million range, with results from selected events coming to a total of €28,708,598. That total does not include all the events in the series, however, so the actual number likely pushed past the third decade.
That €28.7 million was built from 15,240 entries recorded in 42 of the 65 total games on the schedule.
A total of seven games found prize pools of more than €1 million with the two Main Events topping the list. However, three other games managed prize pools in the €2 million range with a couple of others capping €1 million.
Event 50 — €1,650 NLH Mystery Bounty gets a special mention for just missing the seven-digit threshold with €966,240 in prizes from 671 entries.
2023 EPT Prague Biggest Prize Pools
| Event | Name | Dates | Prize Pool | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event 23 | €5,300 EPT Prague Main Event | December 12-17, 2023 | €6,232,250 | 1,285 |
| Event 1 | €1,100 Eureka Main Event | December 6-11, 2023 | €4,226,880 | 4,403 |
| Event 18 | €2,200 Eureka High Roller | December 10-12, 2023 | €2,837,760 | 1,478 |
| Event 52 | €10,300 EPT High Roller | December 15-17, 2023 | €2,328,000 | 240 |
| Event 38 | €3,000 NLH Mystery Bounty | December 13-15, 2023 | €2,137,492 | 787 |
| Event 13 | €550 Eureka Cup | December 9-12, 2023 | €1,139,040 | 2,373 |
| Event 100 | €50,000 EPT Super High Roller | December 10-11, 2023 | €1,115,730 | 23 |
| Event 50 | €1,650 NLH Mystery Bounty | December 15-16, 2023 | €966,240 | 671 |
On the entries side of the ledger, there were four games to get more than 1000 entries in Prague this year. The top two games in terms of runners this year were both from the Eureka side of the series.
The Eureka Main Event crushed the field-size race with 4,403 entries, but the bargain-priced €550 Eureka Cup saw almost 2,400 runners for second place.
A third Eureka game made the top three a clean sweep for the regional European tour in terms of sizes, with the EPT Main coming in fourth as the final game to crack 1000 entries.
2023 EPT Prague Biggest Fields
| Event | Name | Dates | Prize Pool | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event 1 | €1,100 Eureka Main Event | December 6-11, 2023 | €4,226,880 | 4,403 |
| Event 13 | €550 Eureka Cup | December 9-12, 2023 | €1,139,040 | 2,373 |
| Event 18 | €2,200 Eureka High Roller | December 10-12, 2023 | €2,837,760 | 1,478 |
| Event 23 | €5,300 EPT Prague Main Event | December 12-17, 2023 | €6,232,250 | 1,285 |
| Event 38 | €3,000 NLH Mystery Bounty | December 13-15, 2023 | €2,137,492 | 787 |
“Smidge” Breaks Through with Main Title
The record-breaking Main Event was won by rising Irish star Padraig O’Neill. Known to friends as “Smidge”, this was his first win in more than a decade on the live felt, but his top three scores have all come in the last 18 months, including this massive win which tops his list by a mile.
The win pushed him to nearly $1.75 million in total live earnings now, but he has spent a lot of his poker time in the online streets.
During the pandemic, he was the first player ever to go back-to-back in Unibet Open Online Series Main Events, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that they were online versions of the pandemic-canceled live series with impressive and tough fields given the lack of any live poker at the time.
