Tunisian Wins World Series Of Poker Europe Event No. 1

The first event of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe, the €2,700 ($3,490) buy-in sixhanded no-limit hold’em tournament, has been taken down by Imed Ben Mahmoud, the first gold bracelet winner from Tunisia.

Mahmoud took the lion’s share of the €544,800 prize pool, €147,099, for topping a field of 227.

The final table featured two familiar names Matan Krakow and Roberto Romanello. In this case they were familiar for two different reasons; Krakow was on the same final table in last year’s festival, and Romanello is a well-known pro who was looking to complete poker’s triple crown.

With World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour titles in his collection, Roberto Romanello was hoping to add his name to the triple crown list. Last year he finished in fifth place in the €1,000 no-limit hold’em event and had his poker tastebuds teased once again this summer when he took seventh in the $3,000 no-limit hold’em shootout in Vegas.

It was another fifth place on Cannes soil for the Welshman however and he walked away with €31,925 for yet another strong performance.

In 2011, Matan Krakow finished in fourth place out of 360 in the same event, but could only do one better this time around in his hunt for the top spot and busted out in third place for €63,671.

The heads-up stage saw Frenchman Yannick Bonnet take on Mahmoud with 879,000 to the Tunisian’s 824,000 in chips. The battle came to an end when Mahmoud raised to 62,000 on the button and Bonnet reraised to 150,000 from the big blind prompting Mahmoud to shove all in. Bonnet called and turned over A K while Mahmoud revealed J J. The pocket pair held and Bonnet was sent to the rail in second place for a payday of €90,884.

Here are the final table results, payouts, and Card Player Player Of The Year Points:

1. Imed Ben Mahmoud (Tunisia) €147,099 ($190,216) (576 POY Points)
2. Yannick Bonnet (France) €90,884 ($117,542) (480 POY Points)
3. Matan Krakow (Israel) €63,671 ($82,347) (384 POY Points)
4. Senh Ung (UK) €44,913 ($58,082) (288 POY Points)
5. Roberto Romanello (UK) €31,925 ($41,286) (240 POY Points)
6. Sylvain Ribes (France) €22,876 ($29,578) (192 POY Points)

Photographs courtesy of WSOP.com.

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