Friday, 29th March 2024 06:34
Home / Features / The haves and have-nots in the EPT Prague High Roller

It’s the final day of the European Poker Tour stop in Prague and there are just 17 players remaining in the €10K High Roller at the time of writing.

While all those still in the hunt would be deserved winners, we’ve cherry-picked four to put under the magnifying glass.

Two of them have never won a PokerStars title despite many recent close calls and tons of success, and the other two? Well, they probably have a repeat order set up for their trophy polish of choice.

Jack Sinclair

He might be hovering around the middle of the chip counts as the final day begins, but the player we’ve got our eyes on the most is British superstar Jack Sinclair.

Sinclair has gone home with silverware on other major tours–most notably his breakout bracelet victory in the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event for more than €1.1 million. But he’s so far been denied any trophies to add to his mantle at PokerStars events, despite many close calls.

And when we say close, we mean it.

Sinclair, who plays as “Swaggersorus” on PokerStars, finished second in the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event in Barcelona in August for €377,120. He then came as close as you can get to becoming an EPT champion without actually doing it, finishing runner-up at EPT London in October for another huge six-figure score (£414,650, to be precise).

And here in Prague, he’s been on fire once again. Sinclair battled through the enormous 4,017-entry field in the €1,100 Eureka Main Event but fell in fourth, adding an additional €168,560 to his 2022 haul.

This €10K High Roller title–plus the trophy and €543,750 that come with it–would be the perfect way to pop his PokerStars cherry.

Harry Lodge

But Sinclair isn’t alone in lacking a PokerStars title despite fantastic results at PokerStars events and elsewhere.

His fellow Brit Harry Lodge has two WSOP bracelets on his resume, his second coming this year in an online $7,777 online event for just shy of $400K.

But he’s also made five major PokerStars final tables in his time, with each result highlighting his poker career progression:

2013 – 5th – ÂŁ1,100 UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event – ÂŁ27,600
2017 – 3rd – ÂŁ2,200 PokerStars Festival London – ÂŁ36,150
2017 – 5th – €5,300 PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event – €196,000
2022 – 2nd – ÂŁ5,300 UKIPT Nottingham Super High Roller – ÂŁ50,341
2022 – 8th – ÂŁ5,300 EPT London Main Event – ÂŁ79,750

On the flip side, there are a couple of players still in who might need to invest in a new PokerStars trophy cabinet should they win today.

Mike Watson

Canada’s Mike Watson is a perennial PokerStars performer who has Main Event, Super High Roller and side event victories on his CV.

A €10K High Roller title would round that off nicely.

2012 – 1st – €5,200 EPT Berlin 6-Max Turbo – €70,300
2016 – 1st – $5,300 PCA Main Event – $728,325
2022 – 1st – €50,000 EPT Barcelona Single Day High Roller – €872,940

Steve O’Dwyer

Then there’s Steve “squeaky wheel” O’Dwyer and trust me when we say that trawling through his extensive Hendon Mob profile to pick out all of his PokerStars victories added about 20 minutes to our writing time.

2013 – 1st – €10,600 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event – €1.22 million
2014 – 1st – HK$500K APPT Macau Super High Roller – €1.81 million
2015 – 1st – PCA $100K Super High Roller – $1.87 million
2015 – 1st – EPT Malta €10,200 High Roller – €327,030
2015 – 1st – €50,000 EPT Prague Super High Roller – €746,543
2016 – 1st – $50,000 PCA High Roller – $945,495
2017 – 1st – $10,300 PokerStars Championship Panama High Roller – $240,451
2017 – 1st – HK$400K PokerStars Championship Macau Super High Roller – $1.08 million
2018 – 1st – $50,000 PCA High Roller – $769,500
2018 – 1st – €50,000 EPT Monte Carlo 8-Handed – €676,300
2022 – 1st – €25,000 EPT Barcelona side event – €405,760

AAANNND breathe.

As you can see, if you look closely enough, O’Dwyer already has several €10K High Roller titles. But one more, couldn’t hurt, right?

You can follow along with live updates from the €10K High Roller at EPT Prague on PokerNews.

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