POTD #104 I Bluff Ben Heath in Prague

Pictured: The lobby of the Hilton

I have a full Hilton Prague review coming up in a later POTD, but today I am going to write about one of the perils for a venue hosting a poker tournament using an old Yogi Berra quote: “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” I have never worked in the hospitality space and have only been a customer, but I believe a poker tour coming through town is an absolutely horrible week for the staff of a hotel. This is especially true in the early days of EPTs, where you had hundreds of 18-23 year olds who lived in a hotel for 10 days and treated each room like a dorm room. How can you clean every single room in a hotel when half the hotel was playing online poker until 4am?¹

In years of travelling to the same stops, I have developed a series of tricks to make life easier for myself. I know where I want my room to be.² I know the secret elevators that are rarely used. Occasionally you’ll see a familiar face in an elevator or bathroom that is tucked away and you’ll give each other a knowing nod— “We know something the rest of the players don’t.” I’ve developed coping mechanisms and the hotels have also prepared for the flood of poker players who show up at the breakfast buffet at 10:55 when it closes at 11:00, dozens of room service calls right after play ends, or the uncouth boorish Americans interfering with the “real” guests trying to enjoy the amenities of any of the hotels that host an EPT.

Unfortunately, what that means is many of these very nice hotels have chosen to prioritize efficiency over quality. The Prague Hilton is an unspectacular, but adequate, hotel, and the rooms were recently renovated. However, the last time I went in 2022, I did notice that their approach to service was less white-glove and more holding on for dear life to deal with the riff-raff an EPT brings into town. The restaurants shrunk their menus and the quality of the food decreased and I get it. Imagine working at a restaurant that is empty at 7:30, then packed at 7:45 and you need to have everyone out by 8:45. One nice thing about playing High Rollers is that your schedule is usually shifted away from the most popular tournament of the day, and usually your breaks don’t overlap with the breaks of big field tournaments.

I know complaining about the quality of food at a nice hotel getting slightly worse³ or occasionally needing to eat dinner next to *shudders* mid-stakes players is not going to garner me much sympathy. I do sympathize with the logistical gauntlet that hosting a massive event like an EPT must be, but I am just reporting my observations, and I assure you many other players are much more high-maintenance about the quality of their accommodations than me. I have not been back to Prague since 2022 because it overlaps with WSOP Paradise, but I am glad to see the tournaments are drawing big crowds because I think it’s a good stop. The city is beautiful and affordable, and the poker is great. I can’t wait to go back, but realistically, that will not happen until it no longer overlaps with WSOP Paradise. Today we will look at a hand I played from my last stop in Prague.

2022 PokerStars EPT Prague €25,000 NL Hold'em II
Starting Stack 100k, (3k/6k/6k) (SB/BB/BBA)

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It folds me (500k) on the button I make it 12k with K♣️7♣️, Ben Heath (146k) makes it 36k in the SB, I call.

Flop (84k) A♣️J♦️8♣️: Ben bets 22k, I call

Turn (128k): 6♥️: Ben checks, I check

River (128k): 9♥️: Ben checks, I shove for his final 88k, Ben calls off with Q♣️Q♠️