PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw Championship Main Event
Day 5 Completed
2009 PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw
PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw Championship Main Event
Day: 5
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2009 PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw
Buy-in
23,500 PLN
Entries
203
Level
25
Blinds
20,000 / 40,000
Ante
4,000
Christophe Benzimra of France stands alone as champion tonight after outlasting a tough field and collecting every chip on the table. The man who says "To me, poker is more about having fun than making money," is the man walking away with all the cash -- 1,493,170 PLN in all.
After coming into the final table sitting in sixth in chips, Benzimra won the largest and most important pot of the day when he got it all in with pocket jacks against Rusland Prydryk's queens and Oleksandr Vaserfirer's aces. If it wasn't for a jack on the flop, Benzimra would have been out of here a long time ago. Instead, he stormed up the leader board, nearly overtaking Vaserfirer for the chip lead.
From there, he picked his spots well and was able to picks up chips here and there to work his way to the top. Benzimra almost eliminated his eventual heads-up opponent, Alfio "aLFioSn0b" Battisti, when four handed, but a lucky river card saved Battisti from the rail. After that, Benzimra went on to bust a crippled Luca Pagano in fourth place. Battisti busted Vaserfirer in third.
After a break in the action for dinner, Benzimra and Battisti returned to do battle and it wouldn't take long for the two to clash. They were involved in a lot of action and saw a lot of flops together. Battisti took his last shot on a flush draw, but failed to get there against Benzimra's two pair, eliminating him in second place.
Benzimra's played plenty of EPT's and his perseverance has finally paid off with a win here in Poland. He'll take home the prize money, the trophy, and an entry into the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.
Congratulations to all the winners and especially to Christophe Benzimra, the 2009 PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw champion!
So long from Poland and thanks once again for following PokerNews.com! We'll see you on the next stop.
The flop came down a very monotone
. Battisti was first out of the gate with a bet of 300,000. Benzimra looked at his cards, then at his opponent, and then looked at the dealer and tournament staff to verify how much the bet was for."Three-hundred thousand." it was confirmed.
"I raise." replied Benzimra, sliding out two uneven stacks of chips for a raise to 900,000.
Battisti put his head down and eyed his own stack. When he brought his head back upright he announced, "all in".
"I call!" was the response from Benzimra, standing and tabling
. He had flopped two pair and was up against Battisti's 
for a flush draw.The cards were aligned on the table for all of the cameras and spectators to see before the hand continued. The turn was then dealt the
, keeping Benzimra in the lead and another pause ensued before the river card was dealt."Three of clubs one time!" yelled onlooker Dario Minieri, rooting for the flush to give his friend the most crucial double up of the tournament. "Black card!" he pleaded on.
The river was neither a club nor was it black as the
rolled off. Benzimra and Battisti shook hands and congratulated each other on a job well done. Battisti would take second place for 834,840 PLN, while Benzimra was crowned the champion of the 2009 PokerStars.com EPT Warsaw.
.Benzimra made things easy for Battisti when he check-folded to one single bet of 220,000.
On the next hand, Benzimra raised the button to 120,000. Battisti called and we were off to another flop. It came down
. Battisti led right into Benzimra for 150,000. Again, Benzimra let Battisti take down the pot and he climbed back over two million.Battisti now has 2.05 million and Benzimra has 4.040 million.
.Battisti was the preflop aggressor and first to act. He fired 210,000. Benzimra began counting out a bunch of chips. He then put in a raise to 645,000. Battisti folded almost instantly, dropping below two million.
and Benzimra checked. Battista fired 120,000 and got called.The turn brought the
and both players checked.The river was the
and Benzimra checked. Battista didn't attempt to fire at the pot, but he didn't check behind either. He simply flung his hand into the muck.Benzimra was pushed the pot, moving over four million.
Battisti tabled
and Vaserfirer tabled .The board ran out
and that was the end of the line for Vaserfirer. He took home 500,900 PLN.
Battista checked dark and the flop came down
. Benzimra checked behind. The turn brought the 
and Benzimra folded to a bet of 120,000 from Battisti.