After an intense two days of battle, the final table is set for the inaugural European Poker Tour stop in Campione, Italy, with two prominent names heading the field of eight who will vie for the title.
99 players returned on Thursday and quickly were able to work their way down to the 88 players who would walk away with a minimum payday of €7500 from the tournament. After those players were determined, however, the survivors were in for a long haul to work their way down to the 24 players who came back on Friday to determine the final table. Notable names who were eliminated during the action on Thursday included former EPT champions Rupert Elder (88th, €7500), Martin Finger (67th, €7500), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (61st, €9000), Liv Boeree (51st, €9000) and Roberto Romanello (49th, €9000), while other top pros such as Ivo Donev, Todd Terry and Per Linde also dropped from the field.
Coming back to the tables on Friday, PokerStars qualifier Jannick Wrang led the field with a nice 1.74 million in chips, but Fabrice Soulier was in pursuit with his 1.23 million stack. Lurking further back in the Top Ten was noted cash game player Olivier Busquet (hovering just under a million chips), David Vamplew and Day Two chip leader Balazs Botond.
It took only slightly more than five hours for the remaining 24 men to work their way down to the eight handed EPT final table. Within a half hour of the starting gun, three men had been bounced from the tournament, including former EPT champion Ronnie Kaiser. Vamplew bolstered his stack with the elimination of Andrea Benelli, while Soulier would push his stack upward by knocking out Adrian Veghinas. By the time the players reached the first break, there were only sixteen men remaining, with Koen De Visscher holding onto the lead.
Soulier continued his march to the top of the leaderboard by dropping Alessandro Minasi from the tournament in sixteenth place, putting him at just under two million in chips. When he eliminated Giuseppe Biancouiso in fourteenth, the popular French pro moved into the chip lead. While Soulier was assaulting the other players at the table, Busquet was riding a rollercoaster with his chip stack.
Busquet would put his name into the mix for the EPT Campione title by knocking out the final EPT champion in the field, Vamplew. After the duo (Vamplew in the small blind, Busquet in the big) saw an 8-5-Q flop after a Vamplew raise, Busquet called a continuation bet from Vamplew to see a King on the turn. After Vamplew put another bullet in the chamber for 115K, Busquet moved his remaining chips to the center. As the shorter stack, Vamplew agonized over the decision but eventually made the call, tabling his K-J for a turned top pair. That wasn’t good enough, however, as Busquet showed his Q-8 for a flopped two pair. Once the river blanked, Vamplew was out in tenth place.
The players redrew for the nine handed final table, with Soulier slightly ahead of Wrang, and set about the task of eliminating one more player. While everyone in the Casino di Campione expected a drawn out fight – due to the deep stacks of the players remaining – it took less than an hour for the final elimination of Friday’s action.
After taking some chips off of Botond, Busquet would use that final elimination to cast himself to the top of this particular mountain. After a raise from Wrang, Busquet three bet him, only to see Simeon Naydenov four bet the action. After Wrang dropped from the fight, Busquet moved all in over his shorter stacked foe. Naydenov made a quick call, tabling his pocket Jacks against Busquet’s A-K. The drama was over immediately as Busquet caught on the K-7-4 flop and, once the turn and river brought no Jack, Naydenov was out in ninth place and Busquet soared up the leaderboard.
1. Fabrice Soulier, 3.48 million
2. Olivier Busquet, 3.011 million
3. Jannick Wrang, 2.882 million
4. Balazs Botond, 2.08 million
5. Koen De Visscher, 1.856 million
6. Stefano Puccilli, 1.45 million
7. Mario Nagel, 1.21 million
8. Robin Ylitalo, 1.153 million
The final table for the EPT Campione promises to be one of the more intriguing events of Season Eight. Soulier and Busquet have the pedigrees and the background to storm to the title, but De Visscher also have a wealth of experience. Wrang and Botond has demonstrated some excellent skills during the run of the tournament and – although they are on the bottom of the chip counts – Puccilli, Nagel and Ylitalo are a double up away from putting themselves in the mix.
The final table of the EPT Campione begins at 2PM in the Casino di Campione (8AM Eastern Time) and the champion will take home a hefty €640,000 payday for their efforts.
