Sign Up For Card Player's Newsletter And Free Bi-Monthly Online Magazine

BEST DAILY FANTASY SPORTS BONUSES

Poker Training

Newsletter and Magazine

Sign Up

Find Your Local

Card Room

 

Italian Wins European Poker Tour Prague for First Time

Salvatore Bonavena Lifts $774 For Outlasting 569 Opponents in Czech Republic

Print-icon
 

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.

Nasr El Nasr Eliminated in Seventh Place (€99,500)

Nasr El NasrAndrew 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.

 

Fredrik Nygard Eliminated in Sixth Place (€130,000)

Andrew Chen pushed all in, and Fredrik Nygard called. Chen had Q-2, and Nygard holds A-8.

The board came: K 3 2 10 4

A little deuce is all it took, and Nygard busted from the event in sixth place, €130,000 richer.

Francesco Cirianni Eliminated in Fifth Place (€166,000)

Andrew Chen and Francesco Cirianni went head to head with A-K versus A-8, respectively. The board was of no use to anyone, and A-K held up.

Francesco Cirianni was eliminated in fifth place for €166,000.

Konstantinos Alexiou Eliminated in Fourth Place (€199,000)

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.

Chip Counts Three Handed

Salvatore Bonavena: 2,564,000

Andrew Chen: 1,813,000

Massimo di Cicco: 1,320,000

Andrew Chen Eliminated in Third Place (€257,000)

Andrew Chen and Salvatore Bonavena just went head to head in a big pot. All in, the cards were:Andrew Chen

Chen: K Q

Bonavena: A 6

Board: 7 5 3 4 8

Bonavena was ahead preflop with ace high, and as is the luck of the Italians today, the board brought a straight for overkill to knock young Andrew Chen right out of the event.

Chen left in third place and took home €257,000 for a long hard day of coming back from being the underdog.

Heads Up Chip Counts

Salvatore Bonavena: 4,123,000

Massimo Di Cicco: 1,574,000

Bonavena's nearly 3-1 chip lead did not last too long.

On a 10 4 2 flop, Massimo Di Cicco and Salvatore Bonavena checked it down. The turn is the 7, and Di Cicco bet 120,000. Bonavena raised, and Di Cicco pushed all in almost straight away. Bonavena called just as quickly.

Di Cicco: 10 2

Bonavena: Q 10

River: 5

Bonavena doubled up, and now the stacks are almost evenly split:

Bonavena: 2,889,000

Di Cicco: 2,808,000

Salvatore BonavenaIn 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.