Thomas Santerne has come out on top in three of the six high roller events that have played out so far at the ongoing 2024 European Poker Tour Prague festival. The Frenchman completed this high-stakes hat trick by taking down a €25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event on Thursday, Dec. 12. This win came just three days after he emerged victorious in the €50,000 event, which is the largest buy-in of the series. His title streak began with a win in the €20,000 buy-in tournament three days earlier. The trio of victories has added $733,494 to Santerne’s career haul, putting him just shy of $5.3 million in lifetime earnings.
The most recent win saw Santerne outlast a smaller field of just 11 entrants. The prize pool ended up at $276,925, with Santerne capturing $139,125 and his third PokerStars spade trophy of the week.
In addition to the hardware and the money, Santerne has also accumulated plenty of Card Player Player of the Year points at this series. The 618 points from his three victories bring his total on the year to 2,870. He now has four titles and seven final-table finishes on the year, and is ranked just outside the top 100 in the 2024 standings presented by Global Poker.
Santerne’s other win this year came in the Prior €50,000 buy-in at EPT Paris in February for $960,638 and 612 points. He also finished second in a $100,000 buy-in at the Triton Poker Montenegro festival back in May for a career-best payday of $1.7 million.
The bubble was burst in this event when Santerne’s A-10 outran the pocket fives of Viacheslav Buldygin. Santerne then eliminated three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Martin Kabrhel with rivered aces full besting flopped trips for the Czech Native. Kabrhel earned $55,120 as the third-place finisher.
Santerne took roughly a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with reigning EPT Monte Carlo main event champion Derk van Luijk. Santerne was trailing slightly by the time the decisive hand of the heads-up match arose. His A
K
held against the A
6 of van Luijk to leave the Dutchman on fumes.
The final hand of the tournament saw van Luijk get his 11 or so big blinds in preflop with A-K leading the 8-6 of Santerne. The board came down 65
439 and Santerne made a pair of sixes to bring the event to a close. van Luijk was awarded $82,680 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Thomas Santerne | $139,125 | 168 |
| 2 | Derk van Luijk | $82,680 | 140 |
| 3 | Martin Kabrhel | $55,120 | 112 |
Photo credit: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Manuel Kovsca.