Jan Bendik Wins 2016 European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event

Jan Bendik has won the 2016 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event. The 51-year-old defeated a record field of 1,098 entries, the largest in tournament’s 12-year history, to become the first ever Slovakian EPT champion and win the €961,800 ($1,097,077 USD) first-place prize.

“I’ve been trying for this my whole career. Before this, the biggest tournaments I’d won were €2,000 [events]," Bendik told PokerStars reporters after the win. “I’ve played a lot of final tables, so I wasn’t thinking specifically about EPT Main Event ones today. But if you look me up, when I’ve made it to heads-up – apart from one time, I’ve always won. That’s why I didn’t want to make any deal, I trusted myself to beat my opponent heads-up. A lot of luck had to be involved to make that happen but that’s part of the game.”

Bendik came into the final day in third chip position among the six remaining players, but was well behind the leaders in Adrien Allain and Jimmy Guerrero. He busted Oren Rosen in sixth place to make up some ground and then survived to three handed play as Allain and Guerrero sent the other finalists packing. Allain eliminated Guerrero in third place to take a 2-to-1 chip lead into the final showdown.

As Bendik mentioned he declined to make a deal after reaching heads-up and the final two batted it out for 136 hands. In the end Allain got all-in preflop with the 88 against Bendik’s 1010. Allain flopped a set on a A84. Bendik caught back up in a hurry when he spiked the 10 to make a higher set. The 3 completed the board and Allain was sent to the rail as the runner-up, earning €577,800 ($659,068 USD).

In addition to the title and the money Bendik was also awarded 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year but it alone was enough to see him jump into 15th place in the standings. Allain’s 1,600 points moved him into 30th in the rankings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in this event:

Winner photo courtesy of PokerStars / Neil Stoddart.

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