Home / Poker News October 2015 / Mike McDonald Wins EPT Malta High Roller
Mike McDonald Wins EPT Malta High Roller
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2015-10-27 08:00
The final day of the EPT Malta's €25k High Roller saw 8 players return to its tables, all set to play down to a winner. In the end, one was left standing: Mike McDonald, happy with his first ever High Roller win and with the €498.5k prize too. A total of 74 players entered the
poker tournament, the vast majority of them "name" pros, so taking down the title under those circumstances was by no means a walk in the park.
The first player to bite the dust at the beginning of the last day of action was Sylvain Loosli, of 2013 November Nine fame, who ran his Q,8 into McDonald's K,2. Loosli picked up some €67.9k for his 8th place. The first victim was soon joined on the rail by his fellow countryman Benjamin Pollak, who was bounced by McDonald too. Pollak's share of the prize-pool was some €87k.
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With the French contingent clear out of the way, the next player to hit the rail was Canada's Sam Greenwood. Then, it was the turn of US contingent to head to the payout-queue. One after the other, Byron Kaverman, Jason Wheeler and Nick Petrangelo were eliminated. Kaverman picked up €141.4k, Wheeler had to settle for €178.5k, while Petrangelo's share of the prize-pool was €232k.
The elimination of the Americans set the final stage of the action between McDonald and Finland's Juha Helppi. While it was Helppi who had the lead when the heads-up bout commenced, McDonald had the initiative all along. The final hand of the tournament saw Helppi's K,8 suited lose out to McDonald's K,J.
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