Mats Ullereng raised to 600,000 from the small blind and Jonas Hagstrom called in the big blind.
On the A♦K♦8♥ flop, Ullereng continued with a bet of 600,000, and Hagstrom stuck around.
The A♣ hit on the turn, and Ullereng fired again, with a downsized bet of 700,000. Hagstrom again called.
The 3♦ river completed the board. Ullereng took some time to think before moving all in with the covering stack, and after some thought, Hagstrom made the call.
Ullereng tabled A♠K♠ for the full house, while Hagstrom had 8♣7♣ for two pair aces and eights, bringing a battling performance to an end.
Ullereng enters heads-up play with Grzegorz Kozieja with a 3:1 chip advantage.
Grzegorz Kozieja limped from the button and Mats Ullereng checked his option.
On the Q♣9♥5♦ flop, Ullereng check-raised to 1,600,000 versus a bet of 600,000 from Kozieja, who called.
The 4♥ hit on the turn, and Ullereng led out with a bet of 1,200,000. After a great deal of thought, Kozieja called.
The 10♣ river completed the board, and both players checked. Ullereng had 10♥6♥ for the turned flush draw and rivered pair of tens, but Kozieja was good with Q♥3♥ for top pair queens.
Mats Ullereng called on the button. Grzegorz Kozieja checked his option.
The 6♠2♠Q♦ was checked around. Kozieja then led for 300,000 on the J♣ turn. Ullereng called. On the 7♥ river, Kozieja bet 2,000,000 and was snap-called. Kozieja had 7♠2♥ but was beaten by the superior two pair of Ullereng with J♦2♦.
The next hand. Grzegorz Kozieja called on the button. Mats Ullereng checked his option. He check-raised a bet of 300,000 on the flop of J♣3♦Q♣. Ullereng made it 1,050,000 and Kozieja called.
Ullereng then check-called a bet of 1,300,000 on the 6♠ turn. The 6♦ river was checked down. Ullereng tabled Q♠9♠ which won him the pot.
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Mats Ullereng jammed from the button and Grzegorz Kozieja got his remaining stack of around 2,700,000 into the middle.
Grzegorz Kozieja: A♥J♣
Mats Ullereng: A♣3♥
Kozieja looked good for a double-up, but the 5♦4♦3♠ flop put Ullereng in front with a pair of threes.
Kozieja now required a jack for the pot, or a deuce for the chop, but the 8♣8♥ turn and river were bricks to bring an end to the heads-up battle and give Ullereng the trophy.
Ullereng let out a quiet “Yes!” In celebration as the river hit, and the players shook hands, saying “Good game”.
Start of Day 2 chip leader Mats Ullereng has triumphed in the €3,000 Mystery Bounty, taking home €265,560 plus bounties. Stay tuned for a full recap of the day.
Friday the 13th is known as the unluckiest date on the calendar, but for Mats Ullereng it proved to be a very lucky day indeed. Ullereng bested a field of 835 over three days of play to take home €265,560 in the €3,000 Mystery Bounty at the PokerStars European Tour Prague. The Norwegian pro also pulled €2,000 in bounties from the chest at the Hilton Prague for a total score of €267,560.
This is his second EPT title this year, having won €144,520 for a first place finish in the €1,100 No Limit Hold'em at EPT Paris this February. He dispatched last years €2,200 Eureka High Roller champion Grzegorz Kozieja in heads-up play which lasted just shy of an hour. Ullereng scored his biggest-ever cash and Koizieja secured his second-biggest cash. Kozieja pulled €9,000 in bounties in addition to his second place score of €165,700.
Rounding out the podium places was Jonas Hagstrom, who bagged €118,300 for his third place finish. Hagstrom, who predominantly plays online under the alias "flerrehuve," scored his second-biggest live cash. Hagstrom did, however, have more luck at the bounty chest then the first two finishers, as he pulled a total of €52,000, including a €25,000 and a €10,000 bounty, which boosted his total haul to €170,300.
Winners Reaction
In talking to PokerNews, Ullereng said, "I'm very happy to win, one of my friends [David Vinaya] was at the final table too, we travel together to EPT's. I only really play live at EPT's, most of my volume is from playing online."
Ullereng's immediate plans are to "celebrate and drink a few beers before flying home on Sunday."
Ullereng got into poker during COVID, and after a few well taken shots, he "quit his job in marketing" to pursue poker. It's safe to say that decision has paid some pretty sizeable dividends.
The tournament score isn't the only reason for Ullereng to celebrate, as he told PokerNews, "Me and my girlfriend are expecting our first child together." This just goes to show that the baby-run-good must be real.
Mystery Bounty Final Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (EUR)
Bounties (EUR)
1
Mats Ullereng
Norway
€265,560
€2,000
2
Grzegorz Kozieja
Poland
€165,700
€9,000
3
Jonas Hagstrom
Sweden
€118,300
€52,000
4
Humberto Lopes Galindo
Spain
€91,000
€3,000
5
David Vinaya
Norway
€70,000
€52,000
6
[Removed:548]
Austria
€53,800
€24,000
7
Abdelhakim Zoufri
Netherlands
€41,400
€8,000
8
Sebastian Malec
Poland
€31,900
€8,000
9
Erik Bakker
Netherlands
€24,500
€0
Jonas Hagstrom
The Big Bounties
The majority of the big bounties were pulled on Day 2, as players could cash in their tokens for an elusive envelope from the start of Level 15. David Savocka was the first recipient of a €75,000 bounty, with the second going to Dean Hutchison before play started today. Eros Calderone received the remaining €75,000 bounty.
David Von Schnehen pulled a €40,000 on Day 2 but did not make Day 3. David Vinaya, Ullereng's friend, added a €40,000 bounty to his deep run.
Arni Gunnarsson, Mikolaj Zawadzki, Mengshi Tian, [Removed:546], Raul Aguiar, and Francois Vincenti all pulled €25,000 bounties on Day 2. Hagstrom pulled the final €25,000 bounty today.
Dean Hutchison
Day 3 Action
Only 16 returned today and eliminations came fairly quickly with the final table reached in just shy of 2 hours of play. Gunnarsson was first to depart within the first few hands.
A short-stackedOleh Okhotskyi busted in 15th. It looked like Abdelhakim Zoufri would be the next departure, but he got there on the river to make a superior straight versus Hagstrom.
Hutchison managed to secure a double up, but couldn't maintain the momentum and he busted in 13th place.
Riccardo Usai and Jari Mahonen were knocked out in quick succession in 12th and 11th, respectively. Ori Miller was the unfortunate victim of the final table bubble as he lost a flip versus eventual runner-up Kozieja.
David Vinaya
Final Table Play
The final table was reached around two and a half hours into the day. With none of the big bounties left, the players were less incentivized to gamble for stacks in the hope of pulling a big score from the chest.
The first hand saw Hagstrom score a huge double to ascend the chip counts. EPT champion Sebastian Malec was left short but wasn't the first elimination of the final table.
Erik Bakker had his queens cracked by Zoufri and was sent to the rail in ninth. Malec couldn't spin up his short stack and lost a preflop all in to Kozieja, who flopped a set. Malec busted in eighth.
Action slowed down for a level and Zoufri was next to depart at the hands of eventual champion Ullereng. Zoufri's Big Slick was bested by Ullereng's ace-jack.
[Removed:548] had an up and down day and he was the first elimination when play resumed after the first break.
Galindo missed out on the first podium place as the river paired Ullereng's king.
Mats Ullereng
The Final Three
Before the final three took to their seats, an ICM deal was discussed for a matter of moments as all three agreed to play to a winner.
Hagstrom lost a huge flip after Ullereng flopped a set in a preflop all in to take the chip lead for the first time in final table play.
The Swede then battled back and doubled through Kozieja. Kozieja topped the chip counts for a decent chunk of final table play.
Ullereng was active throughout, putting his tablemates in some difficult spots. He attempted to trap Kozieja, having turned a straight, but the Polish national didn't bite.
