Home / Poker News November 2008 / Joao Barbosa wins EPT Warsaw
Joao Barbosa wins EPT Warsaw
Posted by: James Carter. - Fri, 2008-11-21 09:43
Joao Barbosa made himself a very nice and expensive gift for his birthday, taking down the first prize of the European Poker Tour’s Warsaw stop, worth €367,141.
At the final table, he bested players like Arnaud Mattern, Ludovic Lacay, who had his best finish in 13
EPT participations, and the chip leader, Dario Minieri.
The final table participants were: Dario Minieri with 359,500 chips, Sergey Shcherbatskiy with 349,000, Nico Behling with 343,000, Ludovic Lacay with 296,500, Arnaud Mattern with 238,000, Atanas Gueorguiev with 186,500, Joao Barbosa with 123,000, Andrea Benelli with 100,000, and Michael Muheim with 89,000.
The first casualty of the final table was short-stack Michael Muheim who was compelled to act by the increasing pressure of the blinds. He got all his chips in on a A,9, only to be called by Shcherbatskiy with pocket rockets. The board failed to bail Muheim out, and thus he headed to the payout booth to pick up his €21,114 prize for his 9th place finish.
Despite the relatively large stack he had started the final table on, Ludovic Lacay became the second victim of the day, after he pushed all-in on a pair of Aces against Nico Behling’s 8,8. Unfortunately for Lacay, Behling hit a set on the flop, and he failed to improve his aces.
Andrea Benelli made the move next, and ran his J,J into Dario Minieri’s suited A,Q who then proceeded to make a flush on the turn and eliminate Benelli in 7th.
Sergey Shcherbatskiy fell next, followed by Arnaud Mattern who dropped two huge pots one after the other to reach the point where shoving all-in became a necessity. He put his tournament life on the line with 10,10 against Barbosa’s 8,8, but by that point Lady Luck had already made her mind up about him, and a third 8 on the turn sent him to the rail.
Atanas Gueorguiev was eliminated in 4th at the hands of Joao Barbosa, and the three handed play that followed continued past the dinner break.
It was Barbosa who eventually sent Minieri to the rail in 3rd, taking a huge chip lead into the heads-up stage.
Nico Behling went all-in on a J,7 in the final hand, on a flop of A,7,3, as Barbosa held a A,10. The 6 on the turn and another 6 on the river sealed the fate of the EPT Warsaw trophy and that of the first prize.
