Quan Zhou Survives the Marathon to Win the €10,000 Diamond High Roller
Quan Zhou lived on the river during the €10,000 Diamond High Roller at the Grand Big Wrap festival in Rozvadov. On Day 2, he was all in and down to his last card before spiking a set to triple up. He then busted Jan-Peter Jachtmann with a lucky river to end play yesterday and take the chip lead over the remaining six players into an extra, third day of the tournament. So it was only fitting he ended the tournament on yet another fortunate river.
Zhou and Eelis Parssinen battled back and forth in a heads-up match that capped off an already-marathon final table when Parssinen got his last chips in with trip deuces. Zhou also had trips but a worse kicker as the Finnish online crusher was poised for a double-up that would give him a massive lead. But Zhou once again didn’t miss, hitting a flush to bring the event to a close.
Zhou stood atop a field of 221 total entries filled with elite players to earn the €500,000 first prize and trophy here at King’s Resort. His win pushes his total live winnings past $4,000,000 and is the second-biggest score of his career. It was also his first live tournament win outside Asia. The title clearly meant a lot to the Chinese native: Zhou even donned a new, white jacket to take the winner’s photo.
Final Table results
| Place | Player | Country | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quan Zhou | China | €500,000 |
| 2 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | €327,000 |
| 3 | Anton Suarez | Sweden | €211,000 |
| 4 | Alex Livingston | Canada | €170,000 |
| 5 | Cailin Jin | Austria | €135,500 |
| 6 | Vasil Medarov | Bulgaria | €105,000 |
| 7 | Jan-Peter Jachtmann | Germany | €77,500 |
| 8 | Sebahattin Degermenci | Germany | €57,500 |
Day 3 Action
Nearly 14 hours of play on Day 2 weren’t enough to settle on a champion as six players returned today at 1:30 p.m. local time. Zhou, aided by his bustout of Jachtmann last night, led with 8,120,000 at the start of the day.
The theme of the early stages of the six-handed final table was double ups. Cailin Jin doubled up on the first hand against Alex Livingston with trip fours and climbed up past 1,500,000 early in the day after starting with just 370,000. Anton Suarez doubled up off Zhou with two pair on the river, then doubled again versus the chip leader when Zhou missed straight and flush draws on the river.
Jin then nearly quadrupled up off Livingston, Vasil Medarov, and Zhou. Medarov wouldn’t be so lucky, calling off his last 1,080,000 against Parssinen who made a full house to send Medarov out in sixth place.
The charismatic and fun-going Jin, who nursed a short stack for much of the later stages of the tournament, finally had his magical run end when Parssinen picked up kings to bust the Austrian in fifth place.
Livingston was the chip leader at the start of the final table yesterday and began today in second place, but a hand against Suarez proved pivotal in knocking down the Canadian to a short stack. Suarez was all in for 2,945,000 with two pair, while Livingston had straight and flush draws. Livingston bricked the river and Suarez doubled up yet again.
Livingston was then all in against Parssinen, who rivered a flush to eliminate Livingston in fourth place and move into the chip lead. Parssinen became the first player to crack 10,000,000 and opened a significant advantage over Suarez and Zhou during three-handed play, at one point holding more than double the number of chips as his closest challenger.
It was the two shorter stacks who finally tangled in an all-in pot. Suarez moved all in for 3,325,000 with two kings while Zhou had two queens. Zhou didn’t wait for the river this time. He hit a flush on the turn and smacked the table in celebration as Suarez finished in third place.
Parssinen led 12,700,000 to 9,400,000 at the start of heads-up play and dominated the early stages of the match, including flopping quads and having Zhou pay off a raise of 2,600,000 on the river when Parssinen made a full house.
Zhou fell below 4,000,000 at one point but pulled back to even when he bluffed the river for 3,600,000 and blew Parssinen off two pair. Zhou ramped up the aggression from there, picking up a number of small pots and taking over the chip lead until what proved to be the final hand of the tournament when Zhou rivered a flush to win the title.
Zhou was already having a successful trip to Rozvadov. He finished in fifth place in the 5K PLO Masters event right before this tournament, earning €44,950. And he wasn’t done with the title. Zhou went straight from taking his winner’s photos to jumping into the €10,000 Platinum High Roller taking place at the same time.
It was a tournament of comebacks for Zhou. From down to one card on Day 2, to facing a significant disadvantage against Parssinen, Zhou consistently found what he needed to survive and thrive, all the way to the title.
That concludes PokerNews’ coverage of the €10,000 Diamond High Roller. Stay tuned for more coverage of events here at the luxurious King’s Resort in Rozvadov.
