The final champion for the 2010 calendar year on the European Poker Tour has been determined, with Martin Finger outdueling David Boyaciyan to take home the crown at the Golden Prague Poker Room in the Hilton Prague Hotel, the Czech Republic.
Of the eight men who came to the felt on Saturday, it was thought that only two – Finger and Nicolas Levi, the second place chip stack – had a realistic shot at the title. With each man well over the five million chip mark, they accounted for almost half of the chips in action. Still, with such competition as Boyaciyan, Ari Engel and Andreas Wiese in contention, it would take some work to take down the latest EPT championship.
Within minutes of the opening bell, the leaderboard changed completely. Although Finger was able to take some chips from Guillem Usero to push his way over the six million mark, it was Boyaciyan who made the largest jump. After Boyaciyan raised to 140K and Levi made the call, the duo saw a K-7-10 flop. This turned out to be the trigger, as Boyaciyan made a continuation bet and Levi raised. Boyaciyan wouldn’t back down, however, three betting the action to 860K. Levi pushed his stack to the center, Boyaciyan responded in kind and the cards were opened up.
After the players revealed their hands, it was easy to see why the action ramped up. Levi had hit bottom two pair with his 10-7, but Boyaciyan trumped him by flopping a set of Kings. After the turn and river brought no surprises, Boyaciyan surged to the lead and Levi dropped to two million in chips.
After Usero dispatched a short stacked Mads Wissing from the proceedings in eighth place, Finger began to mount an assault to get his lead back. He would knock out Wiese in seventh and Engel in sixth to get his chip lead back, but Boyaciyan was unrelenting. His knockout of Denys Drobyna in fifth gave the lead back to Boyaciyan as the play passed the three hour mark.
Finger and Boyaciyan seemed to be the only players who really could mount any attack on Saturday. Finger actually broke the ten million chip mark by taking some chips from Boyaciyan and, when he knocked out Usero, Finger seemed to be in control of the tournament with over 13 million in chips.
Down to three handed play, Finger held nearly twice the chips as his competitors, Boyaciyan and Levi, held together. Levi – who never recovered from the big hand against Boyaciyan – was eliminated by Finger in third place after the chips went in on preflop. Finger held an A-J against Levi’s suited 8-6 and the flop – 8-4-3, all clubs – smiled on the Frenchman. Just as cruelly as it gave, however, the turn took the hand away from Levi with an Ace. Looking for an eight to pull out the hand, the river jack added insult to injury for Nicolas Levi and added to Martin Finger’s stack.
Although he held a 2.5:1 lead heading into heads up action, the battle between Finger and Boyaciyan proved to be a thrilling one. The Dutchman was able to pull nearly even with the German, but Finger never lost the lead over the three hour heads up fight. In the end, the players got the chips to the center preflop for a good, old fashioned race, with Finger’s A-K running against Boyaciyan’s pocket tens. The K-K-6 flop flipped the lead over to Finger, who dodged a ten on the turn and river to take down the championship of the EPT Prague.
1. Martin Finger (Germany), €720,000
2. David Boyaciyan (Holland), €535,000
3. Nicolas Levi (France), €270,000
4. Guillem Usero (Spain), €205,000
5. Denys Drobyna (Ukraine), €160,000
6. Ari Engel (United States), €125,000
7. Andreas Wiese (Germany), €90,000
8. Mads Wissing (Denmark), €66,700
With the completion of this tournament, the EPT and its minions will take a break for the holidays. The next tournament on the schedule is one of the biggest in the world of poker, however. The 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is back on the EPT schedule and set for action from January 5-15. The EPT will follow that always popular event by heading to Deauville, France, at the end of January and land in Copenhagen, Denmark, in late February.
