Josip Simunic wins the €10,300 High Roller, at the European Poker Tour Deauville, after beating the Frenchman Jean-Noel Thorel in heads-up action.
Before this event played out, almost all of Simunic’s previous live tournament results had come in his homeland. His €309,170 first prize was larger that the entirety of his previous six years worth of effort.
“It’s incredible. It’s unbelievable. I don’t know what to sa,.” A gobsmacked Simunic told PokerNews after his win.
It was another record-breaker for a tour that continues to go from strength to strength. 102-entrants (26-rebuys) created a total prize pool of over €1.2m, and that was a first for a High Roller at the Casino Barriere de Deauville.
The Belgian Triple Crown winner Davidi Kitai had another deep run ending in 12th place. It cements his place as one of the EPT Season 11 Player of the Year front-runners. Kitai also walked away from Deauville with a victory in the €2,150 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Cash 8-Handed event.
Artur Koren was another Deauville side event winner who came close to reaching the final table. What a roll the young man is on. A fourth place finish at EPT London, a six figure cash for winning the European Poker Championships in Baden, and a 14th place finish in this one.
French Poker Series (FPS) High Roller winner Vladimir Troyanovskiy (15th), and the two time World Poker Tour (WPT) Champion Jonathan Little (17th) also enjoying deep runs.
The final table was an interesting mix of young and old; experienced grinders and part time enthusiasts. Former EPT London winner Robin Ylitalo came in fourth, high roller regular Fadi Kamar ended in third, and the wonderful run of young Ivan Luca continued with a fifth place berth in this one.
The heads-up encounter fell between Simunic and the wonderful French amateur Jean-Noel Thorel. The first time I saw Thorel playing was when he five-bet Viktor Blom with air. That was Deauville. This was Deauville. It’s a place Thorel generally does well at. In 2009, he finished second in the €20,000 version of this event, and that’s exactly where he finished in this one after Simunic’s two-pair {[6c] [4c]} was too strong for the one pair of Thorel {[Tc] [9s]} on a board of [Ts] [6h] [2c] [4d] [5c]. The money going in on the turn.
Congratulations to Simunic.
EPT Deauville High Roller Final Table Results
1st. Josip Simunic – €309,170
2nd. Jean-Noel Thorel – €208,900
3rd. Fadi Kamar – €135,780
4th. Robin Ylitalo – €112,440
5th. Ivan Luca – €90,690
6th. Eric Sfez – €71,520
7th. Joao Ribeiro – €54,680
8th. Thomas Butzhammer – €41,160
