After the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague kicked off yesterday, today’s €12,300 Cuatro Knockout offered players their first chance to join the action in a high buy-in event ahead of this week’s High Rollers.
However, the tournament failed to attract a large crowd, with only 11 entries recorded—far fewer than the 62 registrations in the inaugural edition last August in Barcelona. In Catalonia, Steve O’Dwyer claimed the spade trophy and came close to achieving back-to-back wins by reaching the heads-up stage here at the Hilton Prague.
Yet, his pursuit of another victory was thwarted by Yauheni Tsiareshchanka, who was crowned the champion. Tsiareshchanka claimed the first-place prize of €60,000 and all three €12,000 bounties after eliminating Niklas Astedt in third place and O’Dwyer in second place (€32,525). The third bounty was Tsiareshchanka's own bounty.
€12,300 Cuatro Knockout Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Bounties | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yauheni Tsiareshchanka | Belarus | €60,000 | €36,000 | €96,000 |
| 2 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | €32,525 | €0 | €32,525 |
Today's Action
Far from the Eureka Main Event’s action and its 1,211 entries, a smaller group gathered for the €12,300 Cuatro Knockout, with only 11 entries registered in the tournament.
This number includes a reentry by Steve O’Dwyer, who became the first player eliminated early in the day. He later doubled through Mario Navarro, who was sent to the rail shortly afterward. Scott Margereson suffered a similar fate almost simultaneously, bluffing into Yauheni Tsiareshchanka’s set.
Espen Jorstad was the next to fall, running into Viacheslav Buldygin’s pocket aces. This hand propelled Buldygin into the chip lead before the next break. However, the following two hours didn’t go as planned for him.
First Tsiareshchanka doubled up through him with a superior straight. Buldygin managed to double his stack twice in the following hands, but his momentum came to an end just before the dinner break after Tsiareshchanka caught him bluffing. His exit marked the close of late registration for the tournament with four remaining players, as Artsiom Lasouski and Maksim Vaskresenski were eliminated as well.
After the dinner break, it took only a few minutes for Teun Mulder to hit the rail. His king-jack fell to O’Dwyer’s ace-queen, leaving just three players to battle it out with bounties now in play.
However, Niklas Astedt didn’t get the chance to hunt for one, as his flush ran into the eventual winner’s full house. For “Lena900,” it was a double blow, as he not only missed out on a bounty but was also eliminated on the bubble.
Now in the money, O’Dwyer started the heads-up play with the shortest stack but quickly took the chip lead. However, just half an hour into the final duel, all the chips went into the pot, with Tsiareshchanka doubling up with a full house against O’Dwyer’s two pair.
Left with only three big blinds, O’Dwyer managed to save himself once, but on the second attempt, Tsiareshchanka won the flip and clinched the tournament victory.
That concludes PokerNews coverage of this event, but be sure to check out the rest of our extensive coverage from EPT Prague 2024.
