Former PKR Team Pro Vladimir Geshkenbein becomes the only person in history to win both a European Poker Tour and Asia Championship of Poker Main Event after victory in Macau.
The only online poker room where I made any profit playing cash games was PKR. I put up with the annoying graphics and the lack of multi-table options for only one reason.
His name was Beyne.
Now and then, he would play at the 200NL tables and move all-in almost every hand. The cash register would shoot open, money would fly everywhere, and most of it would land in my bank account.
I later discovered that this mad man was Vladimir Geshkenbein and his moments of madness were reserved for the times he had sunk one or twenty too many ales and wanted a laugh.
From what I can gather, Beyne is one of those players who has all of the talents in the world but lacks the inclination or control to utilise them properly. And that’s a shame as he can control them, as we saw in Season 7 of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event in Snowfest, and a few days ago in Macau.
Geshkenbein Becomes The First Player to Win EPT & ACOP Main Events
After enjoying a deep run in the HK$9,000 No-Limit Hold’em side event at the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) in Macau – finishing 24/819 – Beyne hopped into the HK$100,000 buy-in ACOP Main Event.
It proved to be a sound investment.
The Russian-born pro topped a field of 302 entrants and took the HK5,463,000 ($727,483) first prize after agreeing to a heads-up deal with the American Neel Murphy. The cash prize is the largest of Beyne’s career, eclipsing the $552,901 he earned for winning EPT7 Snowfest back in 2011.
The victory means Geshkenbein becomes the one and only player to win both ACOP and EPT Main Events before PokerStars retire both brands in favour of the PokerStars Championship & Festivals.
PokerStars Team Pro, and Global Poker League (GPL) Hong Kong Stars, Bryan Huang, finished sixth for $162,565, and the Spaniard Sergio Aido continued his rich vein of form with a 10th place finish for $70,389.
Final Table Results
1. Vladimir Geshkenbein – $727,483*
2. Neel Murphy – $663,024*
3. Kahle Burns – $343,179
4. Jimmy Zhou – $270,856
5. Shinobu Tanaka – $198,662
6. Bryan Huang – $162,565
*Indicates a heads-up deal
Yuan Li Defeats Justin Bonomo to Take the ACOP Super High Roller Title
The largest payout at the 2016 ACOP Festival went to Yuan Liu.
Liu agreed to a heads-up deal with Justin Bonomo after Paul Newey had exited in third. Liu earned $863,865 for his first score of any note. Bonomo’s $721,392 score sees him jump nine places in the All Time Money List with $12,502,242 – more than the likes of Carlos Mortensen, Vanessa Selbst and Scotty Nguyen.
Final Table Results
1. Yuan Liu – $863,865*
2. Justin Bonomo – $721,392*
3. Paul Newey – $413,624
4. Tobias Ziegler – $317,051
5. Shunu Zang – $248,200
6. Mikita Badziakouski – $193,016
* Indicates a heads-up deal
David Peters Defeats Paul Newey to Win The ACOP High Roller
Bonomo is not the only player having a sterling 2016. David Peters is not doing bad either. Peters took the $629,868 first prize in the baby High Roller after beating Paul Newey in heads-up action to take his all-time earnings to $13.3m, good for 22nd place in those rankings. Newey’s runner-up spot plus his third in the SHR means he came away from ACOP with over $850,000 in money earned, not bad for a part-time poker player.
Final Table Results
1. David Peters – $629,868
2. Paul Newey – $452,171
3. Daniel Dvoress – $293,840
4. Artem Metalidi – $221,766
5. Leo Cheng – $172,256
6. Yaxi Zhu – $133,447
7. Roman Korenev – $105,468
8. Shunu Zang – $8,873
9. Yaqi Sun – $62,404
