Grzegorz Glowny won his way into the 2022 European Poker Prague €5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event via a €530 online satellite on PokerStars. The native of Poland was one of 1,190 total entries in this massive tournament. After seven full days of tournament action, Glowny managed to emerge victorious with the title and the top payout of €692,252 ($754,555 USD).

This was Glowny’s largest recorded live tournament score by nearly $750,000. His previous top cash was $5,221, made earlier at this same series.

In addition to the money, Glowny also became the fifth Polish player to win an EPT main event title. As this year’s EPT Prague main event champion, Glowny was awarded 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his first POY-qualified score ever, but it alone was enough to move him into sixth place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

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The final day of this event began with just six players remaining, with Gab Yong Kim in the chip lead and an average stack of roughly 50 big blinds. Armin Rezaei was the first to fall, getting all-in with a three-bet squeeze from the big blind after Glowny raised from the cutoff and Kim called from the button. Glowny called with ADiamond SuitKDiamond Suit, which had Rezaei’s AHeart SuitQHeart Suit in rough shape. The board improved neither player and Rezaei was eliminated in sixth place ($198,162 USD).

Demetrio Caminita’s run in this event came to an end thanks to a preflop battle of the blinds. He shoved for just shy of 2 million with 8Diamond Suit6Diamond Suit when it folded to him in the small blind. Glowny called from the big blind with 5Heart Suit5Diamond Suit. The pocket fives held up and Caminita was sent to the rail with $267,998 USD for his fifth-place showing.

The final four players battled on for more than four hours after Caminita left the table, with a few pauses in play to discuss a deal. Eventually, the quartet came to an agreement that saw them readjust the remaining payouts based on ICM numbers. The deal left $120,768 USD in prize money remaining for the eventual champion. Here is a look at what each player locked up (in USD):

Gab Yong Kim (46 big blinds) – $678,645 USD
Andrea Cortellazzi (37 big blinds) – $631,568 USD
Grzegorz Glowny (37 big blinds) – $633,787 USD
Symeon Alexandridis (23 big blinds) – $542,033 USD

Kim secured the largest guaranteed payout thanks to the deal, but shortly after agreeing to it began to slide down the leaderboard. In his final hand he got all-in on a 10Diamond Suit6Diamond Suit4Club Suit3Diamond SuitQSpade Suit board with 6Spade Suit3Club Suit. His two pair was no good against the 8Diamond Suit7Diamond Suit of Cortellazzi, who turned a flush to take the lead and held from there. Kim went home in fourth place with the payout he negotiated for in the four-way deal.

Symeon Alexandridis got the last of his stack into the middle with his AHeart Suit9Spade Suit leading the AClub Suit8Spade Suit of Glowny. The KSpade Suit3Diamond Suit2Spade Suit8Heart Suit2Heart Suit runout gave Glowny eights and deuces for the win, though, and Alexandridis settled for third place.

With that, heads-up play began with Cortellazzi holding 19,425,000 to Glowny’s 16,300,000. The lead changed hands a couple times, but Glowny managed to win a huge all-in with pocket queens against Cortellazzi’s A-9 to take a decisive lead in time for the final hand of the tournament. Cortellazzi shoved his last eight big blinds with 8Club SuitClub Suit from the button. Glowny called with KClub SuitQClub Suit out of the big blind. The board ran out 10Club Suit7Spade Suit2Heart SuitKSpade Suit4Spade Suit, giving Glowny aa winning pair of kings and the pot. Cortellazzi took home $631,568 USD as the runner-up, while also securing 1,600 POY points. The Italian now sits in a tie for 11th place in the overall POY standings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded during the final day of action:

Winner photo credit: Danny Maxwell / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.