EPT Deauville 2014 - Panka Wins High Roller, Koutoupas Has Main Event Title

The weekend saw the conclusion of both the Main and the High Roller events of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Deauville 2014 stop. Victories went to Sotirios Koutoupas and Dominik Panka, respectively.

Dominik Panka

The eight-handed Final Table of the €10,300 High Roller event took place on Saturday. Albert Daher had a major lead but EPT Barcelona title holders Martin Schleich and Kent Lundmark, EPT Berlin champion Davidi Kitai, WSOPE 2013 Main Event winner Adrian Mateos Diaz, 2011 Player of the Year Ondrej Vinklarek and PCA Main Event champion Panka were also sitting at the table.

First out was shortstack Diaz, followed by Nikolay Losev and then Kitai; the Belgian 3-bet to 101,000 from the SB on Panka’s open to 40,000 from UTG on Level 22 (3,000/12,000/24,000). Panka 4-bet to 220,000, Kitai shoved after tanking a bit and Panka called, checking his A A hand once more. Kitai held 4 3 and the board did not help him.

Schleich and then Vinklarek followed, before Lundmark lost his stack of 377,000 to Panka.

Dominik Panka – 2,935,000
Albert Daher – 2,816,000

Panka dominated the heads-up and had a 4:1 lead by the time of the key hand of the game on Level 24 (5,000/20,000/40,000): Daher raised to 80,000, Panka called and the flop came A 5 K. Daher bet 100,000, Panka check-called and the turn came T. Daher bet 230,000 and Panka check-called again. He checked the 2 river as well, Daher bet 700,000 to have only 200,000 left and Panka called, showing K J second pair. However, Daher was bluffing with 9 4. In the next hand, the fate of the title was decided as Panka’s A-9 held out against Daher’s K-4.

The end results are as follows:

1st: Dominik Panka – €272,000
2nd: Albert Daher – €189,000
3rd: Kent Lundmark – €122,000
4th: Ondrej Vinklarek – €101,000
5th: Martin Schleich – €81,500
6th: Davidi Kitai – €64,200
7th: Nikolay Losev – €49,100
8th: Adrian Mateos Diaz – €37,000

While Panka was taking down his second major event this year after his PCA victory, Eugene Katchalov came close to adding an EPT title to his WSOP and WPT victories for a live tournament Triple Crown. However, he was stopped in the last minute by Sotirios Koutoupas in the EPT Deauville €5,300 Main Event.

The seat draw of the eight-handed Final Table was as follows:

Seat 1: Oliver Price – 1,735,000
Seat 2: Harry Law – 3,130,000
Seat 3: Carlo De Benedittis – 685,000
Seat 4: Eugene Katchalov – 3,280,000
Seat 5: Anthony Lerust – 1,295,000
Seat 6: Eli Heath – 2,475,000
Seat 7: Rustem Muratov – 1,070,000
Seat 8: Sotirios Koutoupas – 6,400,000

Anthony Lerust opened the line of eliminations and then Carlo De Benedittis, Rustem Muratov, Harry Law and Eli Heath followed. The heads-up was formed when Oliver Price was railed; five players lost their stacks to Koutoupas, who had a proportionately dominating lead in chips.

Sotirios Koutoupas – 15,050,000
Eugene Katchalov – 4,990,000

Katchalov did put up a fight but could not come back. The last hand was played on Level 31 (20,000/60,000/120,000): Koutoupas raised to 200,000, Katchalov 3-bet to 500,000, the former moved all-in and Katchalov called.

Koutoupas: A 3
Katchalov: A K

Board: 3 3 5 2 Q

Koutoupas got his three of a kind and won.

Sotirios Koutoupas

After finishing runner-up in EPT Prague 2012, Koutoupas earned his title, while Katchalov is yet to be awarded the coveted Triple Crown.

The end results are as follows:

1st: Sotirios Koutoupas – €614,000
2nd: Eugene Katchalov – €379,500
3rd: Oliver Price – €271,200
4th: Eli Heath – €207,800
5th: Harry Law – €164,600
6th: Rustem Muratov – €128,200
7th: Carlo De Benedittis – €93,000
8th: Anthony Lerust – €63.900