Dzmitry Urbanovich Wins the EPT Malta €25k High Roller

Dzmitry Urbanovich Wins the EPT Malta €25k High Roller

Dzmitry Urbanovich has defeated Connor Drinan, in heads-up action, to take the first prize of €572,300 in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Malta €25,000 buy-in High Roller event.

The European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 11 visit to Malta has kicked off in style.

Dzmitry Urbanovich Wins the EPT Malta €25k High Roller
[Image Credit: PokerNews]
The €25,000 buy-in High Roller event attracted 88 entrants (68 unique, 20 rebuys), creating a €2,156,000 total prize pool, and the young Pole Dzmitry Urbanovich has taken the top prize of €572,300.

Urbanovich continued an impressive run of form that has seen him also win the High Roller at the recent Eureka Poker Tour in Rozvadov, after beating the American Connor Drinan, in heads-up action. The pair entered the final table of eight with the two largest towers in town.

Victory catapults Urbanovich to number four in the all-time Polish live tournament money list. He has earned $867,603 in the past two years, with $714,171 coming in the first half of 2015 alone.

Prodigious Poles

1st. Dominik Panka – $1,955,770

2nd. Marcin Horecki – $1,299,977

3rd. Jakub Michalak – $1,036,567

4th. Dzmitry Urbanovich – €867,603

The final table contained three Americans, two Poles, two Canadians, and your bog standard German crusher. This time it was Martin Finger’s turn to give Ole Schemion a rest, but he had to settle for a measly eighth place finish worth €79,800.

Drinan entered the fray with the chip lead. He very nearly took it all the way. The youngster is slowly getting over the most brutal beat in the history of poker. His second place finish means he has won close to a million bucks this year. He recently took third behind Jason Koon and JC Tran in the $50,000 buy-in High Roller at the World Poker Tour (WPT) LA Poker Classic.

The other two Americans at the final table were Nicholas Petrangelo and Dani Stern. Global Poker Index (GPI) 2015 Player of the Year hopeful, Petrangelo took fourth, and Stern was a seat behind in fifth. Daniel Dvoress (3rd) and Max Greenwood (7th) earned some cash for the Canadians. The recent WPT Vienna High Roller winner, Piotr Franczak, finished sixth for Poland.

Final Table Results

1st. Dzmitry Urbanovich – €572,300

2nd. Connor Drinan – €397,800

3rd. Daniel Dvoress – €263,000

4th. Nicholas Petrangelo – €205,900

5th. Daniel Stern – €166,000

6th. Piotr Franczak – €129,400

7th. Sam Greenwood – €102,400

8th. Martin Finger – €79,800

The inaugural EPT Malta is the biggest event in the tour’s history with 69 tournaments scheduled to take place at the Portomaso Casino.