Although numbers were slim in Dublin, the latest stop on the European Poker Tour proved that interest in European poker was still rife, with an impressive 555 players turning up to the Czech capital and happily stumping up the €5,000 entry fee.
Perhaps it was the smaller buy-in or the new location, but either way, Prague doubled upon Dublin's attendance and formed a tasty £708,400 for first prize, one that would be hotly contested by the likes of Marc Karam, Julian Thew, Thomas Wahlroos, Rolf Slotboom and WSOPE victor Annette Obrestad who sat among the usual sea of young, aggressive Scandinavian hotshots.
The final table wasn't a showcase in celebrity faces, but did boast a Monte Carlo finalist in Kristian Kjondal, a well-known high stakes cash player in Markus Golser and the enigmatic Mikael Norinder who had finalled in the Amsterdam Master Classics just several weeks ago.
Going into the last day, the chip counts were as follows:
Seat 1: Juha Lauttmaas -- 567,000
Seat 2: Kristian Kjondal -- 740,000
Seat 3: Gino Alacqua -- 660,000
Seat 4: Markus Golser -- 352,000
Seat 5: Mikael Norinder -- 1,036,000
Seat 6: Nedzib Suman -- 216,000
Seat 7: Dagomir Pavlovic -- 759,000
Seat 9: Johannes Strassmann -- 245,000
Seat 10: Arnaud Mattern -- 980,000
Although the structure was as generous as always, it didn't take long for fireworks to spark, and after a shortstacked Johannes Strassman fell at the hands of Mikael Norinder (2-2 vs. 9-9), Norinder made a faux-pas that will haunt him for years.
Chip leader at the table with over a million in chips, Norinder flat-called a raise from Krisitan Kjondal before calling a re-raise behind him from Arnaud Mattern. Unfortunately for the Swede, he raised, it was believed, by mistake and as his bet was over 50%, was forced to add the surplus chips. Mattern had Kings and pushed in, by which time Norinder considered himself too deep to fold and made the call with A-Qs. A blank board later and Norinder was crippled and facing an early exit, which duly arrived when he ran into the Big Slick of Kjondal.
With Pavlovic (A-T vs. Kjondal's A-J), Suman (A-T vs. Lauttmaas' 7-7) and Golser (K-Tc vs. Lauttmass' Q-J on Jc-6s-5c Flop) snapping up 7th, 6th and 5th respectively, we were left with our fab four.
Juha Lattamaas -- 1,850.000
Arnaud Mattern -- 1,696,000
Gino Alacqua -- 1,176,000
Kristian Kjondal -- 940,000
Suprisingly, it was Lattamaas who would be forced to settle for 4th and a payday of €182,200, his demise predominantly due to a crucial Nines versus Aces confrontation with Mattern before Italian Frasier look-a-likey Gino Alacqua picked up the pieces with Q-4 versus Q-2.
That encounter left the hip and trendy Kjondal as the shortstack, and after his K-6 versus Alacqua's K-5 on a 3-4-5 Flop failed to improve, he was sent packing in 3rd.
Heads up and with a foreboding 4 to 1.5 million chip advantage, the Sicilian antiques dealer looked set to become the Tour's latest champion, but Mattern had other ideas, first doubling through with Jacks versus A-9 before finally sealing the deal with Big Slick versus Alacqua's inferior Q-Ts.
A Frenchman currently residing in London, Arnuad Mattern was understandably emotional in victory and celebrated his triumph with running buddy and best friend Nicolas Levi who had been watching eagerly from the stands.
A former Backgammon player from Paris, Arnuad has been playing professional poker now for three years and was the 2006 Gutshot Series of Poker Champion where he took home $51,000 for his troubles. However, this is by far his biggest victory to date, and, as with Julian Thew in Baden, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
1st Arnaud Mattern -- €708,400
2nd Gino Alacqua -- €407,300
3rd Kristian Kjondal -- €235,300
4th Juha Lauttmaas -- €182,200
5th Markus Golser -- €151,800
6th Nedzib Suman -- €119,000
7th Dagomir Pavlovic -- €93,600
8th Mikael Norinder -- €63,200
9th Johannes Strassmann -- €39,200