They came into the final table 1-2 in the standings, so it was only natural that they would vie for the title. After what would prove to be a draining heads-up battle, Jean Montury outlasted his countryman, France’s Valentin Messina, to capture the inaugural championship at the European Poker Tour Malta Main Event early Sunday morning.
The six men remaining on the official final table (Remi Wyrzykiewicz, who finished eighth, and Antonin Duda in seventh will also get credit for an EPT final table finish) came back on Saturday looking to crown a champion. Messina and Montury were the crème of the field at that point, both sitting over 7 million in chips (7.805 million for Messina, 7.185 million for Montury), while the remainder of the field looked to catch up. Stefan Schillhabel (5.515 million), Javier Gomez Zapatero (3.8 million), former EPT champion Dominik Panka (1.68 million) and Hossein Ensan (865,000) rounded out the table as the cards went in the air.
On the third hand of the day, six men would become five. In a blind-versus-blind battle, Ensan pushed his stack into Panka and was immediately called. Panka’s K-Q off suit held the edge over Ensan’s Q-10 off suit and the 5-K-10 hit both but hit Panka better. Ensan was left drawing dead, however, once a King hit on the turn; after the formality of dealing the river, Ensan was out of the tournament in sixth place.
Panka would remain active, eventually pushing his stack over the three million chip mark, but he would give many of those to Montury after Montury caught a straight against him. As Panka yo-yoed his stack, Messina would begin to exert some force against the table, taking four consecutive hands to bump his stack over the 10 million chip mark. Panka attempted to steady his ship in knocking off Zapatero in fifth place, but his 3.43 million in chips was dwarfed by Messina as the first break of the day occurred.
The foursome would shift chips around for over 40 hands before the next elimination would occur. On Hand 71, the short-stacked Schillhabel would get his chips in the center of the felt with pocket fours, but Messina woke up in the big blind with pocket sixes and made the call. After no six appeared on the K-9-J-5-10 board, Schillhabel headed to the cage to pick up his fourth place money.
Panka, looking to become only the second person to win two EPT Main Event championships in the tournament circuit’s history, fought from the short stack for more than 45 hands before finally succumbing to the bigger stacks of Montury and Messina. He would get his money in well with pocket nines against Montury’s A-Q and the 2-K-7 rainbow flop looked good. A Jack on the turn opened up Broadway straight outs for Montury and those came home on the river ten, cruelly eliminating Panka in third place.
The two Frenchmen decided to take a dinner break before starting the heads-up match, with Messina (15.105 million) holding the lead over Montury (11.67 million). In addition to something to eat, the twosome decided to work out a deal between each other. After some discussion, Messina negotiated a €615,000 piece of the remaining prize pool while Montury picked up €587,000. €100,000 would be left on the table alongside the EPT title to give the men something to play for.
The decision for some sustenance was probably a good one as the two men would battle it out into the early morning hours in deciding the champion. Although both had pocketed nice six-figure paydays for their efforts, Messina and Montury played as if everything was still on the line. After 20 hands of heads-up, Messina had extended his lead to more than 2:1, but Montury kept coming back for more.
Montury brought the stacks back to even a few moments later, cracking Messina’s pocket Aces with pocket fours that caught on a 4-9-J flop, and the battle raged on. The duo would remain close together for over 100 hands of heads-up play before Messina (holding A-Q) shipped a bunch of chips to Montury (A-9) when he thought he had the best of it on an A-7-A-6-9 board.
It wasn’t over yet, though. Messina fought back from his misstep, drawing back to even with Montury after only 20 hands of action. Montury maintained his steady demeanor, however, and would end the tournament after another 20 hands of action. On the final hand, Messina pushed his 8 million-plus stack into the center pre-flop and Montury made the call with an A-10. A 6-J-J flop kept Messina in the lead and a four had him one step from taking back the chip lead, but another six on the river changed everything. In counterfeiting Messina’s pocket fives, Montury’s Ace played to give him the championship of the inaugural EPT Malta.
1. Jean Montury, €687,400*
2. Valentin Messina, €615,000*
3. Dominik Panka, €347,300
4. Stefan Schillhabel, €260,500
5. Javier Gomez Zapatero, €205,300
6. Hossein Ensan, €153,700
7. Antonin Duda, €108,200**
8. Remi Wyrzykiewicz, €76,000**
(* – reflects heads-up deal)
(** – eliminated on Friday)
There is only one event left on the Season 11 schedule for the EPT. Next month, the circuit will head to their traditional finale, the EPT Grand Final, in Monte Carlo. The break will allow for the best of the European poker scene to rest up, but it is Jean Montury who will rest up the best with the laurels of victory from the stop at the Portomaso Casino in Malta on the EPT.
