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.
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.
