EPT Deauville round up sees the crowning of the first Greek champion in the main event, and the continued rise to fame of Dominik Panka in the €10,300 High Roller.
Greece may well have the worst financial economy in Europe, but Sotirios Koutoupas has found a way to earn money in despite of those problems – lots of it in fact.
Koutoupas has just ended Eugene Katchalov’s efforts to join the esteemed Triple Crown club, by taking first place in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Deauville €5,300 Main Event for €614,000.
In doing so, Koutoupas becomes the first Grecian to win an EPT title, just a year after finishing as runner-up to the Swede Ramzi Jelassi at EPT Prague; where he earned €510,000 for his troubles.
Koutoupas has now earned over $1.5m in live tournament earnings after topping a field of 671-players that included an onslaught from players with their birth certificates printed in the British Isles.
It was great to see the former PokerStars Team Pro JP Kelly back into the deep end of a major live tournament. Kelly, is one of Britain’s finest tournament players, and he ran the gauntlet closer than he has done for a long time with a 10th place finish.
Harry Law (5th), Eli Heath (4th) and Oliver Price (3rd) all having great scores for British poker, but it was Eugene Katchalov who dominated most people’s thoughts as he got his head down and worked as hard as he could to become the latest player to win a live Triple Crown.
In the end fate just wasn’t on the Ukrainians side as he called off a tournament-defining shove from the Grecian when in fantastic shape. Koutoupas had made his move holding [Ah] [3s], and Katchalov called with the dominating [As] [Kc].
Just five cards away from a dominating chip lead, and possibly a place in history, when the deck produced the surprise of the tournament.
FLOP: [5C] [3H] [3D]
Trips for Koutoupas and after the turn and river bricked the EPT was crowning its first-ever Grecian champion.
Final Table Standings
1st. Sotirios Koutoupas – €614,000
2nd. Eugene Katchalov – €379,500
3rd. Oliver Price – €271,200
4th. Eli Heath – €207,800
5th. Harry Law – €164,600
6th. Rustem Muratov – €128,200
7th. Carlo De Benedittis – €93,000
8th. Anthony Lerust – €63,900
Dominik Panka Takes the €10,300 High Roller
What a start to the year it has been for the young Pole Dominik Panka.
Before 2014 had even stretched its arms, Panka’s combined live tournament earnings consisted of $8,000, coming in just two live scores.
He then trundled off the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) and came back to his homeland with the first place of $1,423,096. A nice bankroll to begin life in the slightly faster lanes of medium to high stakes poker.
Panka has settled into his new surroundings well.
He has put €10,300 into the EPT Deauville High Roller kitty and walked away with the €272,000 first prize after beating the impressive Albert Daher in heads-up action.
Final Table Standings
1st. Dominik Panka – €272,000
2nd. Albert Daher – €189,000
3rd. Kent Lundmark – €122,000
4th. Ondrej Vinklarek – €101,000
5th. Martin Schleich – €81,500
6th. Davidi Kitai – €64,200
7th. Nikolay Losev – €49,100
8th. Adrian Mateos Diaz – €37,000
