The 2015 European Poker Tour Prague Main Event field was whittled to its final six players Tuesday as seventeen hopefuls fell by the wayside. Going into Wednesday’s final table, it is Ilkin Amirov who holds the most chips, enjoying a comfy lead with 9.975 million. Gleb Tremzin is in second with 7.785 million chips.
Ilkin Amirov, from Azerbaijan, isn’t quite a household name in the poker world, but he has been doing very well on the live tournament circuit the last few years, elevating himself to 133rd in the Global Poker Index. This year, he cashed eight times at the World Series of Poker, two of those coming at WSOP Europe. He didn’t win a bracelet, but came awfully close, making one final table and finishing in the top 15 two other times. Over the last three years, which is the period of time covered by the GPI, Amirov has 14 total WSOP cashes and four EPT cashes. Overall, he has more than three-quarters of a million dollars in live tournament earnings.
But enough about what the chip leader did during the last few years. Let’s talk about what he did in easily the biggest hand of the day and one of the nuttiest you will see in any tournament, period.
There were just thirteen players left in the field when Chris Walker moved all-in for 985,000 chips pre-flop. Marc MacDonnell, the chip leader to start the day, shoved for his last 165,000, probably figuring he was going to be heads-up with Walker. Oh, how wrong he was.
Amirov called both men and then Javier Gomez, coming off a World Poker Tour Prague Main Event win, decided to go all-in over the top of everyone for 2.58 million. So there they were, three players all-in with the chip leader already committed with nearly 1 million chips in the pot himself. Amirov quickly called, producing a four-way all-in situation.
Unfortunately for the other three, Amirov also had the best hand: pocket Kings. Gomez had Queens, Walker had Jacks, and MacDonnell had 9-8 of diamonds, which actually wasn’t too bad of a hand up against three big pairs, all things considered.
The flop was 6-A-9, all spades, giving Gomez a flush draw. The turn was a 2 of diamonds, making it all come down to the river. Everyone had a shot; nobody was drawing dead. The river was another 6, a brick for everyone, which meant that Amirov’s pocket Kings held up and producing the rare triple elimination.
And so the tournament moves on to the final table. We’re not sure if it can produce a moment that is any more exciting than what happened on Tuesday, but we’re certainly looking forward to finding out.
2015 European Poker Tour Prague Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
1. Ilkin Amirov – 9,975,000
2. Gleb Tremzin – 7,785,000
3. Thomas Butzhammer – 5,490,000
4. Slaven Popov – 3,640,000
5. Hossein Ensan – 2,715,000
6. Olivier Ferrero – 1,745,000
