Andrey Pateychuk Wins EPT San Remo

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The EPT San Remo has wound down to one winner from the 837 starting players.  And it found one player who has been playing his best poker recently take down the grand prize and the European Poker Tour trophy.  The prize pool was built up to a nice €3,734,694, with the first place player taking home €800,000.  After many ups and downs for many players in the event, Andrey Pateychuk beat out his opponent Dimitar Danchev in heads up play, with one of the craziest runner-runner knockout blows in recent history.  Pateychuk has had quite a bit of success recently, as he is fresh off of a 15th place finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Heads up play was really decided on one hand that came just over 2 hours after the two had gone back and forth, with Pateychuk doing pretty well throughout.  The hand will be talked about for quite a while, and rightfully so.  Danchev kicked off the action with a small raise, which led to a three bet from Pateychuk.  Danchev then just called, and the flop came out with 2-4-9 with two spades, and Pateychuk put out a bet of 1,200,000.  Danchev then raised, and they were off to the races as Pateychuk pushed it all in.  This led to a call from Danchev, who turned over 10-9 for top pair; while his opponent turned over 6-7 to be way, way behind.  The poker Gods were on his side on this day though, as the turn came with an 8 and the river came with a 5 to give Pateychuk runner runner straight cards to leave Danchev nearly out of chips.  Danchev doubled up once, but was then knocked out.

The two decided to make a deal before heads up play began though, and both players took home €600k, with €80k going to the winner of the heads up match.  So that sent Pateychuk home with 680k, and Danchev with €600k.

The €680k payday for Pateychuk is his largest of his career, which is a nice payday for a player who has only played the game for three years in total.  Danchev also had his biggest score of his career in this event, and both of these two may be names to look out for in the poker circuit in the future.

Final Table at EPT San Remo Is Set

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The European Poker Tour San Remo event has been an interesting one, and it is now down to it’s final eight players.  It started off with a solid field of 837 players, and created a prize pool of €3,734,694; with a first place prize of €800,000 going to the eventual winner.  The final table bubble boy was a popular player from Norway, Johnny Lodden; who took home a payday of €45,000.  There were many big names in the event, ranging from Joseph Cheong, 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champ Elio Fox, Vanessa Selbst, David Bach, Tyler Bonkowski, and many more.  Two of the most well-known players currently remaining are Kevin MacPhee and Barny Boatman.

As far as the remaining players go in terms of chip stacks, we see one player who is a bit ahead of the field, as Daniel Neilson is currently holding 6.7 million chips.  Currently in second place is Dimitar Danchev, who is from Bulgaria, and is sitting with 4.43 million chips.  Neilson has had some good results of his own in the past, as he finished in the top 100 of last year’s World Series of Poker Main Event, and has won a total of $700k in live tournaments in his career.

The players who are currently sitting behind Neilson are Danchev of course with 4.43 million chips, followed by Jan Bendick with 3.98 million, Andrey Pateychuk with 3.1 million, Boatman with 2.5 million, Yorane Kerignard with 2.15 million, Rocco Palumbo with 1.16 million, and MacPhee bringing up the rear with 1.11 million.  Each player who made the final table is guaranteed to take home at least €63,000, and the top six finishers will take home more than  €130,000.  One other player who might stand out from this group is Pateychuk, who is coming off of a 15th place finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Chris McClung was the chip leader heading into the day, but was unable to hold onto his chip lead, and ended up finishing in 14th place.  The final day of action will kick off tomorrow until the winner of the 2011 European Poker Tour San Remo event is decided later in the day.

Chris McClung Holds Lead at EPT San Remo

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Day 4 of the European Poker Tour’s San Remo event featured some crazy hands, and had some very good play overall.  One player stood out above the rest though, as Chris McClung ended with the chip lead with 3.14 million chips.  What’s even more impressive about McClung’s chip stack, is the fact that his closest opponent has 2.01 million chips, giving McClung a very favorable lead in terms of chips going into Day 5.  He got quite a few of these chips from a huge hand against Joseph Cheong, and one that probably changed the tournament.

The hand happened late in Day 4, and saw Mustapha Kanit open up to 41k, with McClung three betting to 104k.  The action didn’t stop there though as Cheong then went ahead and four bet, which led to a fold from Kanit, and McClung shoving over the top for right around a million additional chips.  But what’s mind blowing about this hand, is that Cheong called and turned over his pocket King’s, and was a huge favorite against the Queen-Seven of hearts that McClung held.  McClung was able to hit the flush on the turn, and take the massive chip stack.

This leaves the event with 24 players remaining out of the 837 who started the event, with many big names still remaining as well.  A few of the well-known remaining players feature the likes of Elio Fox with 377k, Kanit (mentioned above) with 1.76 million chips, Alessio Isaia with 1.52 million chips, Kevin MacPhee with 1.44 million chips, Barry Boatman with 1.25 million chips, and Johnny Lodden with 1.22 million chips.  Mike McDonald is also currently in the event with 292k, and the same goes for Lex Veldhuis with 877k.

As far as the players who were eliminated on Day 4, big time players like Vanessa Selbst, David Bach, Tyler Bonkowski, and John Duthie were all sent to the rail with Cheong.

The play tomorrow will feature these 24 players playing down until the final table of eight players is decided, and could potentially feature a star-studded final table by the end of the day.  We’ll keep you updated on the action once the final table is set.