Jean Montury wins EPT Malta Main Event for €687,000

Jean Montury defeated Valentin Messina during heads up play at the EPT Malta Main Event to claim the title and €687,000. Dominik Panka, winner of the 2014 PCA finished in third for €347,000 and also made a truly amazing fold during the 4-handed phase of the final table.

23 players started Day 5 of the EPT Malta €5.300 Main Event, the chipleader was Antonin Duda with 3.476.000 chips, but 2014 WCOOP Main Event champion Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz and 2014 PCA Main Event champ Dominik Panka were also in the hunt for the title and the €810,400 first place prize.

The first player to bust was Brazilian player Bruno Volkmann, he was soon followed by Jacek Ladny, Dennis Kaj Smit, Bjoern Lundgren, Glib Kovtunov, Jorma Nuutinen, Rudolf Zintel, Koray Aldemir, Sergio Aido, Robin Ylitalo, Mateusz Moolhuizen, Carlo Citrone, Julien Duveau and Bart Kuiper.

At this point player sat together on one table, and it was Fedor Holz who busted in 9th place to set the official final table.

During Level 28 (30k/60k-10k ante), he raised to 125,000 and Jean Montury called. Montury check/called 150,000 on the flop and then check/raised all-in on the turn over Holz's bet of 445.000. Holz thought for a long time before calling all-in for 1.6 million. 

Montury showed 5-5 for a flopped set, while Holz had A-A, and the river Ten didn't improve his hand. 

Play continued until two more players were eliminated, Remigiusz Wyrzykiewicz and Antonin Duda were the ones to bust.

On Saturday play continued on Level 29 (40k/80k-10k ante) with the following stacks:

Seat 1. Stefan Schillhabel - 5.515.000
Seat 2. Javier Gomez Zapatero - 3.800.000
Seat 3. Valentin Messina - 7.805.000
Seat 4. Hossein Ensan - 865.000
Seat 5. Dominik Panka - 1.680.000
Seat 6. Jean Montury - 7.185.000 

Hossein Ensan busted in the third hand of the day, his Q-T couldn't beat Panka's K-Q in a preflop all-in.

Zapatero finished in fifth, the 24 year old Spanish pro, who lives in London with Sergio Aido and Adrian Mateos also lost with Q-T against Panka's K-Q.

Schillhabel finished in fourth after losing his chips with 4-4 against Messina's 6-6.

When Level 33 (100k/200k-30k ante) started, Messina and Montury had close to similar stacks while Panka was the shorstack with 20 big blinds.

Valentin Messina - 12.565.000
Jean Montury - 10.245.000
Dominik Panka - 4.040.000

Panka busted in third, he re-raised to 1.05 million after Montury opened to 425,000, Montury shoved with A-Q and Panka called it off with 9-9. The board came 2-K-7-J-T and with that the young Polish player's great run came to an end.

Valentin Messina - 15.105.000
Jean Montury - 11.670.000

The two players agreed on a deal before heads-up started, Messina got €615.000, Montury got €587.400 and they left €100,000 for the winner.

The heads-up battle lasted until Level 38 (300k/600k-100k ante), in the last hand Messina shoved with 5-5 and 8.7 million chips, Montury called with A-T and hit a higher two pair with an Ace kicker on the 6-J-J-4-6 board.

Final table results

1. Jean Montury - €687.400*
2. Valentin Messina - €615.000*
3. Dominik Panka - €347.300
4. Stefan Schillhabel - €260.500
5. Javier Gomez Zapatero - €205.300
6. Hossein Ensan - €153.700
7. Antonin Duda - €108.200
8. Remi Wyrzykiewicz - €76,000