Nicolai Cravciuc is the 2024 APAT European Champion of Amateur Poker

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Feb 29, 2024 4 min read

The poker room at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City was awash with amateur poker players last week because the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) was in town. Aspers hosted the 2024 edition of the ever-popular European Championship Of Amateur Poker (ECOAP), and what a festival it was.

Twelve events took place, each awarding the top three finishers a coveted gold, silver, and bronze medal, but it was the £120 Main Event that every APAT member had their eye on. Its title belongs to Nicolai Cravciuc, at least for the next 12 months.

2024 APAT ECOAP Main Event Final Table Results

Cravciuc started his quest for ECOAP Main Event glory on Day 1C, the largest of the three flights. Some 279 players bought in, but only 40 made it through to Day 2. The eventual champion bagged up 305,000 chips, placing him 33rd from Day 1C and 80th from the 98 total surviving players.

Despite his lowly Day 2 starting position, Cravciuc navigated his way to the nine-handed final table and locked in at least £1,100 for his efforts. However, Cravciuc was not content with getting his hands on one of the smaller payouts; he had dreams of capturing the £10,000 top prize and a gold APAT medal.

Ninth place went to Colin Gray after he committed the last of his chips with ace-ten of clubs and failed to crack the pocket kings of Sajeev Kanagarajah.

Kanagarajah then sent Thales Filho to the rail in eighth, a finish worth £1,300, before a huge hand resulted in Keith Howard bowing out in seventh for £1,600. Ramazan Akyel was all-in with ace-queen, Howard's shorter stack went into the middle with pocket jacks, and an even shorter James Yeatman got in on the action with ace-king. An ace on the flop tripled Yeatman's stack, and busted Howard.

You need to win coinflip to take down poker tournaments, but it appears Kanagarajah didn't get that memo. He found himself with all of his chips in the middle of the table with ace-king, facing the pocket queens of Grant Monaghan. The board didn't even flirt with coming to Kanagarajah's rescue, and his deep run ended in a sixth-place finish worth £2,000.

Yeatman must have used up his luck in the hand where he trebled his stack because he could seemingly do no right afterward. After losing a few flips, Yeatman put his tournament life on the line with ace-five, and Johnnie Collard took that life with pocket queens. A £2,500 score was Yeatman's reward for a fifth-place finish.

That elimination left the final four players on the medal bubble. Akyel was the unfortunate soul who popped it.

Akyel was all-in with ace-king of hearts, and both Cravciuc and Collard called. Cravciuc held the dominated ace-ten while Collard had pocket sevens. Both active players checked down the queen-high board, Collard's sevens won the pot, and Akyel headed to the cashier's desk to collect the £3,450 fourth-place money.

The bronze medal and £5,000 went to Monaghan, who went all the way preflop with queen-ten only for Cravcius to wake up with the dominating ace-ten. Cravcius's ace-kicker played, and Monaghan was gone.

Cravcius went into the heads-up clash with Collard trailing two-to-one in chips, but was five-to-one to the good after the hour mark. The final hand saw Collard move all-in with ten-deuce of diamonds, a hand the late Doyle Brunson would be proud of, and Cravcius called with ten-eight. Both players flopped a ten, and a nine on the turn meant Collard could still win and double-up. The river was an eight, gifting Cravcius two pair, the victory, an APAT gold medal, and £10,000.

Collard was left to reflect on what could have been, although the £7,000 consolation prize and APAT silver medal he banked will go some way to numbing the pain of defeat.

2024 APAT European Championship Of Amateur Poker Results

Cravcius aside, 11 APAT players became champions during the European Championship Of Amateur Poker in London.

Chris Bean, who has covered live events for PokerNews, took down the £120 PLO8 Championship for £2,210. Matteo Crapanzano (£2,140) and Howard Smith (£2,000) both turned their £120 investment into at least £2,000. Crapanzano binked the PLO Championship while Smith secured the 8-Game Championship title.

What is Next For APAT Grinders?

Player do not have long to wait to get back into the APAT action, with the next series scheduled for March 22. The Man235 Casino in Manchester, United Kingdom, hosts the APAT Open Championship over the weekend of March 22-24.

From there, APAT heads across the Mediterranean Sea from April 27-29 for the Mediterranean Amateur Poker Championship in Malta before returning closer to home on May 1-2 for the Irish Amateur Poker Championship in Dublin.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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• Tags Anis Salomao Chris Bean Colin Gray Doyle Brunson Grant Monaghan Howard Smith James Yeatman Johnnie Collard Keith Howard Matteo Crapanzano Nicolai Cravciuc Poker Players Poker Tournaments Thales Filho
• Related Players Doyle BrunsonHoward SmithThales FilhoColin Gray