Tamas Adamszki set a goal for himself at the start of 2023 as he prepared to transition to playing more live poker tournaments: try to replicate the success he had online over a career that spanned more than a decade to the live arena.
He accomplished that in a big way today when the Hungarian emerged as the champion of the €50,000 Super High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague, defeating fellow Hungarian Laszlo Bujtas to earn €394,670 following a heads-up deal. The win is Adamszki’s second one here in Prague after he won the €10,200 No-Limit Hold’em event a few days ago, increasing his winnings from these two events to more than €500,000.
“I’m very happy. I didn’t expect that I would win two trophies at one event like this in Prague. So it’s a wonderful feeling to be here,” he said following his victory.
Adamzski was exclusively an online pro before this year. His first live cash wasn’t until EPT Prague last year. His largest live cash before coming to Prague was for just over $70,000.
With that meager live background, he prepared to take on some of the best players in the world in this event, including online crushers like Bujtas and Niklas Astedt to past EPT champions such as Steve O’Dwyer, Dimitar Danchev, and Ognyan Dimov. Beating a small but elite 23-player field like this one and being the one to hoist the trophy at the end meant a lot to a player who’s well on his way to establishing himself amidst their ranks.
“It’s a lot because this is the strongest field that there’ll ever be at an EPT, a Super High Roller. So it’s a pleasure to play here and take those achievements,” he said.
Final Table results
| Place | Player | Country | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tamas Adamszki | Hungary | €394,670* |
| 2 | Laszlo Bujtas | Hungary | €386,360* |
| 3 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | €200,800 |
| 4 | Tsugunari Toma | Japan | €133,900 |
*Denotes a heads-up deal
Day 2 Action
The 11 returning players from Day 1 were joined by three new arrivals at the start of the day, creating a total field of 23 entries and a €1,115,730 prize pool.
Bujtas picked up aces to send out Yuto Suzuki as the day’s first casualty. Ole Schemion, one of the players to jump in at the start of the day, quickly doubled up with aces versus kings but then shoved all in again for 420,000 with a pair of sixes. Bujtas picked up kings in the big blind and called to end Schemion’s tournament early.
Gregoire Auzoux, Motoyoshi Okamura, and Vladimir Troyanovskiy then fell as the final table of nine was set. Bujtas, who needed three bullets to survive the first day of the tournament, found himself as the chip leader with 1,370,000, more than 500,000 clear of his closest challenger Juan Pardo. Adamszki was in third place with 800,000.
Danchev, champion of the PCA a decade ago, was the first to leave the final table when, down to his last 55,000, he moved all in and Bujtas called with two aces. Teun Mulder then doubled up for 428,000 with two kings against the pocket tens of O’Dwyer.
Adamszki was also all in for 430,000 with two nines but Pardo picked up aces to leave Adamszki at serious risk of elimination. A nine on the flop gave Adamszki new hope with a set, but Pardo also picked up a flush draw. The turn and river were safe for Adamszki and he managed the miracle double up.
O’Dwyer doubled up twice on the river to stay alive, while Adamszki soon got the better of Pardo again. With already nearly 300,000 in the pot on the river, Pardo shoved for 130,000 with just ace-high and Adamszki picked him off with a rivered set of threes.
O’Dwyer’s luck finally ran out when he was all in with two nines against Bujtas’ ace-jack. The board brought four eights and Bujtas won the pot with his ace-kicker to send O’Dwyer to the rail. Kayhan Mokri and Jules Dickerson, the two table short-stacks, then tangled in a pot when Mokri won a race with fives against ace-jack to bust Dickerson in sixth place and bring the field down to the money bubble. It was Mokri who burst the bubble shortly after, jamming for 234,000 from the small blind as Mulder called in the big blind and won the pot with king-high to bust the start-of-day chip leader.
With an average stack of a hundred big blinds, the final four players settled into a war of attrition. Finally, after more than an hour of four-handed play, Tsugunari Toma got his last 369,000 in the middle on the turn with two queens and doubled up off Adamszki holding two eights.
Toma’s time as a big stack, though, proved to be short-lived. Soon afterwards, he moved all in on the turn with a pair and flush draw as Bujtas called for his last 1,331,000 with top pair. Toma missed the river and Bujtas scooped the more than 3,000,000-chip pot to take an overwhelming chip lead. Bujtas then jammed from the small blind and Toma called for his last 200,000. Toma hit a pair of queens on the flop to take the lead, but Bujtas turned a pair of aces and Japan’s all-time leading money winner was sent out in fourth place, adding €133,900 to his career total.
Adamszki dropped Mulder to a short stack when he moved all in on the river and Mulder tanked for several minutes before saving his last 550,000 for another spot. Mulder then moved all in for 545,000 with king-four and Adamszki called with king-ten, hitting two pair on the flop to bust Mulder in third place.
Bujtas led 3,385,000 to 2,365,000 at the start of the all-Hungarian heads-up match as the two players agreed to a deal, Bujtas taking €386,360 and Adamszki €354,670 as they left €40,000 left to play for.
On the first hand of heads-up, Adamszki swung the lead his way when Bujtas bombed the river for 935,000 and Adamszki snap-called with a full house. The two players then agreed to shorten the levels to 20 minutes as Adamszki remained comfortably ahead until what proved to be the final hand.
In a limped pot, Adamszki jammed all in on the river and Bujtas called for 1,200,000. Adamszki turned over a flush, while Bujtas could only show a pair of nines as he settled for a second-place finish.
For Adamszki, playing heads-up against his fellow countryman and friend was a challenge but the cards were in his favor on this day. “He plays heads-up cash games. I played heads-up sit-n-gos for a living like six years ago. So it’s pretty tough to play against him. But I went on a heater, so he couldn’t do anything about this run. So it was very tough [for him],” Adamszki said.
Adamszki would’ve been easy to overlook at the start of the tournament in this field filled with some of the biggest stars in poker. He spent his entire career playing online until only recently, venturing onto the live felt. His performance here in Prague, with two trophies, including the most prestigious for the high rollers, ensured he won’t be overlooked again. And his foray into the live arena is only getting started.
