Philipp Hartmann Wins 2014 PokerStars King's Cup Rozvadov
Philipp Hartmann started as the dominant chip leader with just 12 players remaining on the final day of the 2014 PokerStars King's Cup Rozvadov event, and it was a position he never relinquished. The German led from start to finish and only during a brief period of three-handed and heads-up play did it ever look as though he was in danger of losing his chip lead.
Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philipp Hartmann | €45,000* |
| 2 | Daniel Effendy | €29,856* |
| 3 | Pavel Novotny | €29,856* |
| 4 | Lena Remenschneider | €17,958 |
| 5 | Petr Targa | €14,083 |
| 6 | Jens Steuber | €11,064 |
| 7 | Damir Vasiljevic | €8,258 |
| 8 | Radek Stockner | €5,719 |
*Denotes a three-handed deal
Having already secured €40,000 as part of a three-way deal with Daniel Effendy and Pavel Novotny, Hartmann outlasted both other players to win the remaining €5,000 that was left to play for, increasing his total winnings in this tournament to €45,000 after the €200,000 guarantee had been completely smashed.
In a tournament where you could fire a maximum of five bullets (two on Day 1a and 1b, and one on the turbo Day 1c), Hartmann needed just one. From the field of 551, Hartmann finished Day 1a with 82,300 and started Day 2 33rd out of the remaining 198 players. From there, he took the chip lead late on Day 2 and would never lose it again.
Hartmann started the Day 3 well, eliminating former European Poker Tour Prague runner-up Georgios Sotiropoulos in 12th place with the 10♣10♦ against the 9♠9♣. Hartmann then knocked out Uwe Mauerhoff with the A♥K♠ against the short-stack's A♠J♥ all in preflop with the board coming K♣3♣J♣Q♥5♥. Meanwhile on the other table, Effendy knocked out Nikolay Karman in a coin flip to leave nine players and one table. Effendy then dispatched the short stack Zdenek Motan in ninth and the official final table was set.
The biggest surprise early on was that it was one of the biggest stacks who was eliminated first at the final table. Effendy had opened to 65,000 with the blinds at 15,000/30,000/4,000, and Radek Stockner three-bet to 185,000. Effendy moved all in for what was around a million in chips, and Stockner quickly called off his stack with the A♠K♥, Effendy tabled the Q♣Q♥ and won the classic race on a 9♥3♦J♦2♣4♠ board. A count of the chips followed, and a shell-shocked Stockner was out.
Damir Vasiljevic was next to fall. He had barely two big blinds left when he moved in with the A♥8♥, but Jens Steuber's Q♥5♥ hit a queen on the river of a to knock out the Croatian, leaving a table composed entirely of Germans and Czechs. Steuber's victory didn't last long, though, as his chips went immediately across to Petr Targa. Steuber had the 10♥9♥ on a K♥J♣8♥ flop and made a big shove that was picked off by Targa's K♣10♣. The 10♠ turn and J♣ river changed nothing, and Steuber was eliminated in sixth place for €11,064.
Then, on a board reading 7♦6♥7♥3♦, Targa found himself being check-raised all in by chip leader Hartmann. Targa called with the A♠7♣ and was streets ahead of Hartmann's A♣5♦. The German had the last laugh, however, when the 4♥ completed a most unlikely straight to give him yet another big pot.
Lena Riemenschneider was knocked out in fourth place, after she'd managed a remarkable comeback on Day 2. She had been very comfortable on the final table until she lost with with the A♣Q♥ to Pavel Novotny's A♥K♦, doubling him up in the process. Her remaining chips went in with the A♠6♣ against Hartmann's 6♦6♥, but she was unable to spike an ace to survive.
The remaining three players — Hartmann, Effendy, and Novotny — agreed on a deal that saw Hartmann get €40,000 and the other two €29,856 each with €5,000 being played for. Effendy began to gain ground on Hartmann and looked like he might overtake his counterpart, but then Hartmann eliminated Novotny to once again increase his lead. Novotny's demise came when he fired all three streets of a Q♥Q♠7♦9♠2♣ board with the 5♦3♠ only for Hartmann to make a hero call with the 6♦6♠ and win the pot.
The heads-up battle lasted around 45 minutes, Effendy gained some early momentum before Hartmann won several crucial pots in a row, including cracking aces with the Q♠7♣ and gradually putting a squeeze on Effendy's stack. Eventually, Hartmann's "nice induce," as Effendy called it, with a made straight was enough to make Effendy go broke.
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