Czech-mate!

Jan Skampa of the Czech Republic has won the Main Event at the Czech stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT).

The stop, officially called EPT Prague, concluded this week at the Prague Hilton in Prague, the Czech Republic, in Eastern Europe.

The Main Event was a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament with 586 entrants and a buy-in of 5,000 euros.

The Main Event’s total prize pool–well over 2.5 million euros–made the Main Event the richest poker tournament in Czech Republic history, EPT officials said.

For the victory, Skampa, a 23-year-old college student, earns 682,000 euros (equal to almost a million dollars in U.S. currency).

Coming in second in the 2009 EPT Prague Main Event was Eyal Avitan of Israel, who earned 454,000 euros.

Taking third was Stefan Mattsson of Sweden, who earned 255,000 euros.

In fourth was Anthony Roux of France, who earned 171,000 euros.

Fifth was Laurence Ryan of Ireland, who earned 135,000 euros.

In sixth was Luca Pagano of Italy, who earned 100,000 euros.

Taking seventh was Gustav Ekerot of Sweden, who earned 71,000 euros.

Finishing eighth was Sven Eichelbaum of Germany, who earned 55,500 euros.

The EPT is one of the poker world’s three major circuits, along with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)