Three impressive feats of poker proliferance to bring you up to speed on, including victories for Georgios Zisimopoulos and Keith Johnson in the Italian Poker Tour, whilst Dzmitry Urbanovich runs riot in the European Poker Tour.
The decision to move the European Poker Tour (EPT) to Malta has proven to be a smart one. The poker playing community has flocked to the tiny island in their droves.
The Global Poker Index took advantage of the deluge (GPI) by hosting the inaugural Global Poker Masters (GPM). Italy winning poker’s version of the World Cup, every single second of which was streamed live on Twitch.
That was for glory.
What about the money?
The seventh season of the Italian Poker Tour (IPT) has benefited from the move to Malta. That is, unless, you were a local Italian who couldn’t afford the cost of a trip across Europe.
Georgios “Zisimo7” Zisimopoulos took down the €1,100 IPT Main Event for €221,200. It was the largest field in IPT history. There were 1,285 entrants, and all of them were unique.
The 26-year-old from Athens is a big winner online. There are $2m in online scores racked up against his name, but this was the biggest win of his live tournament career by some margin.
It’s been a great week for Greek poker.
A Greek player by the name kelly-koulis picked up the biggest prize in the 9th Anniversary Sunday Million on PokerStars two weekends past, and Konstantinos Nanos won the World Poker Tour (WPT) in Vienna only last week.
Zisimo7 beat the Pole Jaroslaw Sikora in heads-up action. The former EPT Main Event winner Julian Track also made the final table, finishing in eighth place.
Final Table Results
1st. Georgios Zisimopoulos – €221,200
2nd. Jaroslaw Sikora – €128,300
3rd. Nicolini Di Carlo – €90,200
4th. Michael Feil – €67,000
5th. Fred Reusch – €52,000
6th. Georgi Abuladze – €39,000
7th. Ezio Nisoli – €29,800
8th. Julian Track – €21,000
Keith Johnson Wins the IPT High Roller
The British cash game professional, Keith Johnson, defeated a star-studded final table to take the top prize of €144,500, in the €2,200 buy-in IPT High Roller.
The event attracted 473 entrants and raised close to a million euros in prize money. It was Johnson’s most significant victory since winning the Eureka Poker Tour Main Event in Prague, back in 2007, and he had to do it the hard way.
Three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche taking his seat at the final table, along with the likes of Artur Koren, Pierre Neuville, Noah Vaillancourt and Daniel Erlandsson.
Final Table Results
1st. Keith Johnson – €144,500
2nd. Oliver Weis – €144,500
3rd. Grzegorz Wyraz – €80,000
4th. Dominik Nitsche – €63,320
5th. Artur Koren – €50,000
6th. Pierre Neuville – €39,200
7th. Zhapar Sultanov – €29,300
8th. Noah Vaillancourt – €20,900
9th. Daniel Erlandsson – €16,700
The Unstoppable Dzmitry Urbanovich
What is it with heaters these days?
The latest player to go on a tear of Dirk Diggler proportions is the Pole Dzmitry Urbanovich.
Urbanovich came into EPT Malta full of confidence after winning the €2,200 High Roller event at the Eureka Poker Tour in Rozvadov for €25,725. A nice win, but not enough to set you up for life.
That changed quickly.
He defeated a field of poker luminaries to take €572,300 in the €25,500 EPT Malta High Roller. Two days later and he made the final table of a Hyper turbo side event finishing eighth for €2,405. Two more days passed before he won a €1,100 side event for €35,200, and he achieved the EPT Malta Triple Crown by winning a €5,200 side event for €110,000.
EPT Malta Main Event winner?
If he does, then he will walk away with €810,400 after 895 players made it the second largest Main Event of Season 11 behind EPT Barcelona (1,496 players).
Urbanovich, rather predictably, is now the leader of the EPT Season 11 Player of the Year race.
