Home / Poker News October 2009 / PokerStars EPT Warsaw – Day 5 – a champion is crowned
PokerStars EPT Warsaw – Day 5 – a champion is crowned
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2009-10-26 05:34
The final day of the 2009
PokerStars EPT Warsaw Main Event saw the emergence of France’s Christophe Benzimra, who defeated Alfio Battisti in a short heads-up confrontation to win the event and to secure the 5th overall EPT title for France.
As soon as the action kicked off, short-stacks began hunting for starting hands to which they could trust their tournament lives.
Anatoly Gurtovoy was the first one to make the move. Having picked up an A,Q he pushed all in and got called by the chip leader who was keen on nipping all such attempts in the bud.
Olekdsandr Vaserfirer had pocket Js and the coin-flip he’d undertaken paid off nicely when the board failed to help Gurtovoy.
Alexander Klimashin, the other short-stack took the plunge next. Only a few minutes after Gurtovoy’s elimination in 8th, Klimashin shoved all-in too, holding pocket 9s. Christophe Benzimra jumped on the opportunity to add some chips to his stack and called him with an A,K which made a pair with the board to eliminate Klimashin in 7th.
After the two short-stacks were out of the way, the remaining 6 players took a while to expel another victim. Clayton Mozdzen was that victim, sent to the rail by Battisti with pocket rockets over A,K.
Ruslan Prydryk fell next, in a hand which turned the tide of the action altogether. Vaserfirer (still the chip leader) Prydryk and Benzimra went all-in holding A,A, Q,Q and J,J respectively. As it usually happens, the board gave the weakest of the starting hands a set to eliminate Prydryk, and to triple Benzimra up.
Despite the hectic action that followed, 4-handed play continued for a while, the elimination being staved off by one player after the other. Eventually Luca Pagano’s A,5 succumbed to Benzimra’s Q,10 to end the Team PokerStars Pro presence in the event.
Facing an uphill struggle, Vaserfirer’s stack had grown smaller by three handed stage. He was eventually bounced by Alfio Battisti whose A,K made short work of the Ukrainian’s A,8.
Heads-up play lasted for only about half an hour after Vaserfirer’s elimination. The last hand of the event saw Battisti’s K,10 succumb to Bemzimra’s A,7 to give the Frenchman the win.
