Uri Gilboa Becomes First-Ever Israeli European Poker Tour Main Event Champion

Uri Gilboa has won the 2019 European Poker Tour Sochi 191,800 Russian Ruble ($2,931 USD) buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. The 61-year-old overcame a field of 758 total entries to become the first-ever EPT champion from his home country of Israel, earning $439,600 USD for the win.

Gilboa was also awarded 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points for coming out on top in this event. This was enough to see him move into a tie for 41st place in the overall POY race standings, joining recent World Poker Tour Venetian main event champion Ben Palmer.

The fifth and final day of this event began with Zakhar Babaev as the chip leader with just six players remaining. Babaev sat with more than 150 big blinds, with his nearest competitor (Maksim Pisarenko) having just over 60.

Serafim Kovalevsky was the first player to be eliminated when his pocket sixes ran into the pocket eights of Babaev. Kovalevsky failed to improve and was sent home in sixth place ($86,240 USD). Vyacheslav Mizun followed him to the rail, with his flopped set of kings losing to the turned club flush of Gilboa to knock him out in fifth place ($113,456 USD). With that Gilboa moved into second place on the leaderboard behind Babaev.

Ivan Ruban got all-in with his pocket queens up against the AK of Babaev. The board came down A7459 and Babaev paired his ace to win the pot, eliminating Ruban in fourth place. He earned $143,248 USD for his deep run in this event.

A short-stacked Maksim Pisarenko three-bet all-in over the top of Babaev’s opening raise with K8. Gilboa woke up with JJ and called. He flopped a third jack and held up from there to bust Pisarenko in third place ($189,840 USD).

Gilboa entered heads-up play with 13,360,000 in chips to Babaev’s 8,385,000. Heads-up play lasted 36 hands, with a number of lead changes along the way. By the time the final hand arose, though, Gilboa held more than a 32-to-1 advantage.

With blinds of 60,000-120,000 and a big blind ante of 120,000, Babaev moved all-in for 655,000 from the button with the 84. Gilboa made the quick call with A4. The board ran out A10546 and Gilboa’s two pair were enough to earn him the pot and the title. Babaev was awarded $267,792 USD as the runner-up finisher.

Check out the final hand of the tournament in a video clip that PokerStars LIVE
tweeted out:

Watch Uri Gilboa's knockout blow.
He is the #EPTSochi Main Event champion, winning ~€380,000. pic.twitter.com/GwbDrwA5Yj

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) March 29, 2019

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

Winner photo credit: Neil Stoddart / Rational Intellectual Holdings Limited.

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