Players start to leave the Catalan capital of Barcelona as Andre Lettau and Ihar Soika take the European Poker Tour Main Event, and €10k High Roller, as the 11th EPT Season opener comes to an exciting climax.
The final tables of the €5,300 Main Event, and the €10,000 High Roller, contained plenty of star names, but it was the relatively unknown Andre Lettau and Ihar Soika who took the titles.
Lettau will be the name most people remember. The German adds his name to that impressive list of EPT Champions after overcoming a final table that took a staggering 15-hours to complete.
The German was recording his first-ever live tournament cash on the Hendon Mob database and what a cash it was. Lettau, Samuel Phillips and the Seniors winner Hossein Ensan making a three-handed deal that saw young Phillips walk way with €1,021,275, and Ensan settling for €652,667. The champion collected €794,058.
It was a record-breaking Main Event with 1,496 players making it the largest Main Event field in EPT history. Lettau overcame a final table that included the former PCA final tablist Andrey Shatilov and the WPT Champions Club member Andrea Dato.
Lettau and Phillips battled for six hours, until the latter eventually moved all-in holding [8d] [7d], and Lettau hit two kings after calling with [Kc] [Ts] to take the title.
Final Table Standings
1st. Andre Lettau – €794,058
2nd. Samuel Phillips – €1,021,275
3rd. Hossein Ensan – €652,667
4th. Andrea Dato – €362,000
5th. Andrey Shatilov – €286,000
6th. Kiryl Radzivonau – €224,500
7th. Ji Zhang – €171,600
8th. Slaven Popov – €121,300
Ihar Soika Wins the High Roller for €747,200
The €10k High Roller event was another record-breaker with 393 entrants making it the largest €10k HR in EPT history.
As you would expect, the final table included some star names with the Aussie Millions winner Ami Barer, Frenchman Benjamin Pollak, Canadian Marc-Andre Ladouceur and the Brit Stephen Chidwick all looking to secure the win.
At the end of the day it was the vastly experienced Jason Mercier who would confront the Belarusian Ihar Soika at the end game. Mercier all-in with wired sixes, Soika calling with A9 and an ace on the flop sent the title Soika’s way.
It was Soika’s third €10k EPT High Roller cash and he has now has over $1.1m after picking up the €747,200 first prize. Mercier takes his 2014 earnings to $2.9m making it the most successful year of his career. His lifetime earnings now exceed $12.8m.
Final Table Standings
1st. Ihar Soika – €747,200
2nd. Jason Mercier – €473,500
3rd. Ismail Erkenov – €342,400
4th. Ami Barer – €276,900
5th. Benjamin Pollak – €219,000
6th. Marc-Andre Ladouceur – €168,600
7th. Stephen Chidwick – €125,600
8th. Carlos Chadha – €90,900
The next time the EPT rolls into town will be Oct 8-18 at the Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, London, England.
