Italian Wins European Poker Tour Prague for First TimeSalvatore Bonavena Lifts $774 For Outlasting 569 Opponents in Czech Republic |
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The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague has brought a close to the European circuit for 2008, and there were understandably mixed fortunes for the 570-stong field which assembled at the Hilton Hotel Casino in the Czech Republic. The €5,000+€250 buy-in event generated a prize pool of €2.76 million and lured some of the biggest names in the European game, including Luca Pagano, Marcin Horecki, Johannes Strassmann, Gino Alacqua, Casey Kastle, Joe Elpayaa, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Ludovic Lacay, Michael Martin, Arnaud Mattern, Dario Minieri, Katja Thater, Roland de Wolfe, Nenad Medic, Noah Boeken, Juha Helppi, Praz Bansi, Alexander Kravchenko, Davidi Kitai, Andreas Krause, and William Thorsson.
Fifty-six players goit paid in the event, and the final table had a decidely European flavour comprising three Italians, one Canadian, one German, one Spaniard, one Finn, and one Greek player:
Salvatore Bonavena: 1,402,000
Alexiou Konstantinos: 1,382,000
Francesco Cirianni: 807,000
Fredrik Nygard: 666,000
Massimo Di Cicco: 429,000
Nasr El Nasr: 376,000
Raul Mestre: 309,000
Andrew Chen: 309,000
Here's all the action as it unfolded live.
Raul Mestre Eliminated in Eighth Place (€71,800)
Raul Mestre from Spain made it 30,000, Fredrik Nygard raised to 211,000, and Mestre moved all in for 311,000. Nygard called and showed 9
9
. Mestre flipped over A
7. An exciting board developed. Firstly, the flop came J 8
3, and Nygard was ahead with his nines.
The turn was the A, which blew Nygard's nines out of the water. The river is the Q, and Nygard makes his nine-high flush. Raul Mestre is EPT Prague's eight-place finisher, and he takes home €71,800 for his efforts.
Andrew Chen raised 30,000, and Nasr El Nasr shoved all in. Chen called.
El Nasr showed K J, and Chen revealed 10 10.
The flop brought presents for everyone: 10 4 2, giving a flush draw to El Nasr and a set to Chen.
The turn was the 7, and the river the 8. No flush came for El Nasr, and Chen knocked him out in seventh place for €99,500.
El Nasr's game received a lot of respect, and, as predicted, Chen was right back in the game with just under one million chips.
Konstantinos Alexiou moved all in for 1,163,000. It was 963,000 more for Salvatore Bonavena to call, and call he did.
Alexiou: 3 3
Bonavena: K Q
Board: 6 2 2 7 K
The king on the river knocked the Greek (who fell from grace) out of the tournament in fourth place for €199,000.
In the final hand of the evening, Massimo Di Sicco moved all in on an 8 3 2 flop with A 4. Salvatore Bonavena called with 8 7.
The turn was the 6, and the river was the J. Bonavena's pair of eights held, and we have our first-ever Italian EPT champion.
Dario Minieri, among other Italian notables, were there to congratulate him as he picked up the cheque worth €774,000, the trophy, the title, and, of course, the honor.
Di Sicco finished runner-up for €445,000.
That's all from the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour for 2008. Join CardPlayer.com again in 2009 for all of the action from the Bahamas, Deauville, Dortmund, San Remo, and Monte Carlo as the tour revvs up for its exciting d'enoument.
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