Stephen Graner Wins EPT 11 Prague Main Event for €969,000

American Stephen Graner flew through the final day of EPT11 Prague to grab a massive €969,000 first prize along with the EPT Prague champion's title, trophy and watch from luxury Swiss brand SLYDE, the Official Watch Sponsor for EPT Season 11 Main Events and High Rollers.

Graner turned a massive chip lead into victory at the 102nd EPT stop in just under five hours of play on the final day. The Hawaii-born 26-year-old beat PokerStars qualifier Anton Bertilsson heads-up after entering the final battle with a huge chip advantage.

Graner, who currently lives in Las Vegas, came to Prague with his girlfriend as part of a 16-day trip to Europe. The couple planned to visit Munich this week before ending the trip in Paris - but Graner’s run in the Main Event means they will only manage a four-day sojourn in France before heading back to the United States.

Not that Graner is complaining after scooping nearly a million euros for his biggest ever live cash, and his first outside of America. His best result before now was sixth in the inaugural Millionaire Maker tournament at the World Series this summer for $273,854.

Graner not only dominated the final table of the €5,300 event but was among the chip leaders at the end of each of the five preceding days.

Stephen Graner's run in the EPT11 Prague Main Event: 
Day 1b - 21st out of 399 survivors with 123,800 chips 
Day 2 - 4th out of 200 survivors with 558,200 chips 
Day 3 - 2nd out of 61 survivors with 1,713,000 chips 
Day 4 - 2nd out of 22 survivors with 3,228,000 chips 
Day 5 - 1st out of 7 survivors with 12,405,000 chips

Bertilsson, also 26, won his seat to EPT Prague online on PokerStars and earned €582,720 for his runner-up finish, nearly ten times his previous best result. Londoner Jonathan Wong, 30, who was playing his first major event after a four-year break from poker, also achieved a lifetime best cash of €410,190.

Remi Castaignon, the former champion of EPT Deauville, was thwarted in his bid to become the second two-time EPT winner when he was eliminated in seventh place for €129,390. Another EPT champion who had a deep run in the event was EPT Berlin winner Davidi Kitai who was tenth for €59,970.

Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst enjoyed her best result ever in an EPT main event, finishing 14th for €48,400. Fellow pros George Danzer, the WSOP Player of the Year, Eugene Katchalov, Liv Boeree and Team PokerStars Pro Online’s Ike Haxton and Mickey Petersen also made the money.

EPT11 Prague finalists 
1st - Stephen Graner, USA, PokerStars player, €969 000 
2nd - Anton Bertilsson, Sweden, PokerStars qualifier, €582 720 
3rd - Jonathan Wong, UK, €410,190 
4th - Fabio Sperling, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, €308,180 
5th - Simon Mattsson, Sweden, €235,700 
6th - Bjorn Wiesler, Germany, €172,340 
7th - Remi Castaignon, France, PokerStars player, €129,390 
8th - Miltiadis Kyriakides Greece, PokerStars qualifier, €92,610

The EPT joined forces with the Eureka Poker Tour to host 59 events during the 11-day EPT Prague Poker Festival at the Hilton Prague. As well as the main event, the festival featured numerous prestige tournaments including the €50,000 Super High Roller event (the biggest buy-in tournament ever held in the Czech Republic), the €1,100 Eureka Main Event, which attracted a record-breaking 1,738-strong field, the €2,000 Eureka Prague High Roller (621 players, another tour record) and the €10,000 High Roller, which had 309 entries.