Another tournament, another six-figure pot. The WPTDeepstacks €1,100 Main Event has concluded following a stellar performance by Frenchman Saul Berdugo. By the time the dust settled, 
Berdugo had taken home $111,141 for his first-ever six-figure win. Given that his only previous score, according to Hendon Mob, was a 12th-place finish at the Pasino Poker Series in October for $1,208, he certainly has a lot of reason to celebrate.
474 entries were recorded for the tournament. There were 363 unique entries and 111 re-entries, allowing the prize pool to swell to $567,665. It took three days for the action to complete and Berdugo was a force to be reckoned with throughout the tournament. He began Day 3 as the chip leader with only 16 players remaining and told WPT officials, “I only lost the chip lead for five minutes, I never felt in danger.”
When the final table was set, Berdugo was determined to keep the pressure on. He took out Romain Hamouche, who exited in ninth place with $11,567, when his K-J found a match to beat Hamouche’s A-8 combo. Not long after, Mohamed Mamouni would fall to the eventual winner in seventh when they both battled it out with Aces. With A-J over A-10, Mamouni would have to settle for $16,448.
After three more players, including Abdelakim Laidouni, Clemente Carreira and Rabah Abdelmalek, were sent to the rail, Berdugo scored another elimination when he kicked out Joris Mahe in spectacular fashion. A board of 9-9-8-6 saw Mahe move all-in and Berdugo was only too happy to call. Mahe had only scored two pair with his 7-6 combo and was hoping for a straight that wouldn’t come. A Jack on the river sealed his fate and Berdugo took him out with a set, holding K-9. The $53,404 awarded to Mahe probably lessened the sting a little bit.
Berdugo was now in a showdown against fellow Frenchman Abdelhamid El Khayati. On the final hand of the match, with around a million chips in the middle, the flop came 5-3-8. Berdugo checked, only to have El Khayati push 700,000 into the stack. Berdugo moved all-in and a surprised El Khayati called. Berdugo didn’t have anything – the K-10 he was holding was blind against the flop. El Khayati had a slight lead, looking at an open-ended straight draw with his 4-2. However, a 10 on the turn gave Berdugo an out with a pair and a 7 on the river sealed the deal. El Khayati would have to walk away with an early Christmas present of $72,122 for his second-place finish.
