Ramzi Jelassi Wins EPT Prague Main Event

Sunday December 16, 2012 :  EUROPEAN POKER TOUR PRAGUE MAIN EVENT RESULTS
 
Sweden's Ramzi Jelassi shows 'em how.
 
Sweden's Ramzi Jelassi bested 863 fellow entrants over the weekend in the Euro 5,300 buy-in main event of the 2012 Pokerstars European Poker Tour Prague after six gruelling days and a 14 hour final table bedevilled by extended negotiations on a three way chop.
 
Jelassi played masterfully throughout, to head by a million chips a final table that included talent like Sotirios Koutoupas, David Boyaciyan, Ben Warrington, Diego Gomez, Sergey Kuzminskiy, Aleh Plauski and Mark Herm.
 
With the lion's share of the Euro 4,190,400 prize pool at stake the action was intense and unforgiving Saturday as the table played down to three-handed competition involving Jelassi, Sotirios Koutoupas and David Boyaciyan, a Dutch banker who burst onto the European scene two years ago and has racked up over a million in winnings in several major tournaments.
 
The three started negotiating for a three-way chop, with the Dutchman taking a tough bargaining stance in demanding more than the Euro 415,000 his opponents were prepared to give. Haggling went on into the dinner break, but the issue remained unresolved when play recommenced.
 
As it turned out, and with the benefit of hindsight Boyaciyan would have been better off taking the deal – he was eliminated in third place and took home Euro 310,000 instead of the Euro 415,000 he could have made from the chop.
 
That left Koutoupas and Jelassi in the heads up, which despite Jelassi's 2 to 1 lead lasted for three hours before the Swedish pro was finally able to eliminate his plucky and tenacious opponent and claim the Euro 835,000 main prize, an expensive watch and the title.
 
Koutoupas will have taken some consolation from his impressive performance and the runner up prize of Euro 510,000.