Niall Farrell Wins 2015 European Poker Tour Malta Main Event

Niall Farrell has emerged victorious in the 2015 European Poker Tour Malta €5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. The Scottish poker pro outlasted a 651-entry field, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Alen Bilic heads-up to capture his first EPT title and the the €534,300 ($588,211 USD) first-place prize.

“It feels incredible,” said Farrell after the win. "I ran so pure the last two days. When we got to heads-up, I got good cards but there was one big bluff I made which felt like a momentum swinger. Bilic is a really good player. I’ve played a lot online with him. He played really tough.”

The final day of this tournament saw six players return to battle it out for the title and the top prize, including notables Samuel Greenwood (6th – €125,660) and Rainer Kempe (5th – €161,340).

Bilic lead the final six, with Farrell the second largest stack. The two survived to heads-up, where they made a deal to re-arrange the payouts, with Farrell’s slight lead securing him at least €444,300 with Bilic locking up €440,000, leaving €90,000 and the trophy left to play for.

The two battled back in forth but eventually Farrell began to pull away. On the final hand he had more than a 3-to-1 chip advantage. Bilic raised to 250,000 from the button with blinds of 50,000 – 100,000 with an ante of 10,000. Farrell called and the flop brought the A76.

Farrell checked and called when Bilic bet 300,000. The 5 on the turn prompted another check-call from Farrell, this time for 650,000. The Q on the river drew yet another check from Farrell and Bilic moved all-in for just over 2.5 million. Farrell made the call with the 65 for two pair. Bilic had missed a flush draw and a turned straight draw with the 82 and just like that it was all over.

With that Bilic was sent to the rail as the runner-up and Farrell became only the second Scottish player to win an EPT main event, with 2010 EPT London champ David Vamplew being the first.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Photo courtesy of PokerStars / Neil Stoddart.

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