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Alexander Klimashin - 7th Place
Alexander Klimashin open-shoved from middle position for slightly under 300,000 chips. Christophe Benzimra was the last obstacle Klimashin needed to pass as he sat in the big blind. Benzimra wasn't going to let Klimashin off the hook as easily as the others did and made the call.
Klimashin held against the of Benzimra and another flip would determine a tournament life.
The flop came down . With Benzimra spiking the ace, Klimashin now stood from his seat knowing his chances grew slim.
The turn was the and did add some chop outs for Klimashin.
The river paired the board with the and that would be all she wrote for the former Renju champion, Klimashin. He finished in 7th place, earning 186,050 PLN.
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Clayton Mozdzen called a raise from Alfio "aLFioSn0b" Battisti out of the big blind and the flop came . Mozdzen led into his opponent for a bet of 40,000. Battisti raised to 88,000 and Mozdzen called.
The turn was the and Mozdzen checked. Battisti studied and then checked behind.
The river was the and Mozdzen fired a healthy 160,000 into the middle. Battisti made the call after about half a minute holding . Mozdzen held and lost the hand.
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Anatoly Gurtovoy - 8th Place
Clayton Mozdzen had the button for the second hand of the final table when action folded over to Anatoly Gurtovoy in middle position. Gurtovoy moved all in for 324,000. Next to act was chip leader Oleksanr Vaserfirer. Vaserfier took a moment to himself and then made the call. Everyone after that folded and the two hands were revealed.
Gurtovoy held against the of Vaserfirer. Gurtovoy would need the coin to land right side up in this flip for him to stay alive.
First the flop was dealt . There wasn't much there to give aid to Gurtovoy and he began removing the earbud headphones from his ears.
The turn landed with the , still no help. Now he was wrapping the wire to his headphones around his iPod and beginning to get out of his seat.
The river was the , completing the board and sending Gurtovoy to the rail in 8th place. He earned 133,570 PLN for his finish.
Vaserfirer increased his lead and now has nearly 2.2 million chips!
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The players are busy removing their chips from the bags and stacking them while the tournament staff runs through some quick announcements. We'll be underway in a few minutes.
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Christophe Benzimra is relatively new to the poker scene, but understands the type of persistence it takes to succeed thanks to his business ventures. Benzrima moved from France to Romania after he became dissatisfied with business in his native country. With a tiny sum of money and a lot of hard work, Benzimra was able to turn a start-up Plexiglas company into a large business employing 150 people. It was this type of hard work that has helped to land Benzimra at this EPT final table.
He began playing EPT events back in Season 4 where he played Barcelona. Since then, Benzimra’s rarely missed an event, playing each that he could. He’s cashed in events at EPT Budapest and IPT San Remo, along with a couple of cashes in tournaments in his home country of France: Grand Prix de Paris and Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, both in 2009. In all, Benzimra has nearly €60,000 in live tournament earnings.
When asked about his play in this event, Benzrimra said, "I've been playing quite tight here, especially when we reached the last few tables because I really wanted to make the final table. But to me, poker is more about having fun than making money."
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Alfio Battisti has been playing professional poker for two years where he can better be known online as "aLFioSn0b". Battisti earned SuperNova Elite status on PokerStars and has proudly displayed it throughout the tournament with his branded sweatshirt and other apparel. It’s nothing to bat an eye at, as only a handful of players reach this pinnacle each year, but we’ve got two at this EPT final table. Battisti will join fellow SuperNova Elite Clayton Mozdzen in the final eight.
An ex-bartender, the Italian Battisti used to be an avid sports bettor before turning to poker. He specializes in heads-up sit-n-gos online, playing for high stakes. Prior to Warsaw, Battisti has only played two EPT events, Dortmund and Barcelona, but plans to play a lot more. He’s even earned the respect of star player Luca Pagano, who mentioned, “I expect Alfio to get a good result here. He is running good and playing really well. He's definitely one of the strongest players at the final.”
Checking the live results for Battisti, it was found that he placed in the money at the WSOP Main Event this summer, earning over $36,000.
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Hailing from Ukraine, Ruslan Prydryk is a part-time poker player who works as a lawyer. Prydryk enjoys traveling to Las Vegas from time to time and have two cashes recorded from 2009 Bellagio Cup V events. He final tabled the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, taking fifth, and came close to make another in the $5,000 event, but came up short in eleventh. Those two cashes earned him just about $25,000.
This EPT Warsaw final table marks the first time Prydryk has cashed in an EPT event having played four of them in all. Other accomplishments include becoming the poker champion of Ukraine in 2009 when he won the Gary Bowman Cup. Prydryk has stated that he prefers to play live cash games.
Prydryk is married and has an 11-year-old son who is following him back home. His wife can be seen supporting his from the rail as she hopes her husband can work his way to victory. When he’s not playing poker, Prydryk enjoys watching and playing football along with spending time with his family.
One of the 33 PokerStars qualifiers, Clayton Mozdzen came out of Day 2 as the chip leader and with the help of that big stack, been able to grind his way to the final table. He won his seat online in a $20 rebuy satellite.
Mozdzen isn’t new to big live tournaments. He has cashes on record that date back to 2006, where he finished in the money in the WSOP Main Event for nearly $40,000. In early 2007, he won Heat 36 of the Poker Dome Challenge in Las Vegas for $25,000. He has over $75,000 in live winnings to date and this final table will be his biggest to date.
Mozdzen is one of the few players to achieve SuperNova Elite status on PokerStars, but not the only one at this final table, joining Alfio Battisti in the accomplishment. He currently plays poker full time and enters the final table in third place in chips.
against the 
of Benzimra and another flip would determine a tournament life.
. With Benzimra spiking the ace, Klimashin now stood from his seat knowing his chances grew slim.
and did add some chop outs for Klimashin.
and that would be all she wrote for the former Renju champion, Klimashin. He finished in 7th place, earning 186,050 PLN.
. Mozdzen led into his opponent for a bet of 40,000. Battisti raised to 88,000 and Mozdzen called.
and Mozdzen checked. Battisti studied and then checked behind.
and Mozdzen fired a healthy 160,000 into the middle. Battisti made the call after about half a minute holding 
. Mozdzen held 
and lost the hand.
of Vaserfirer. Gurtovoy would need the coin to land right side up in this flip for him to stay alive.
. There wasn't much there to give aid to Gurtovoy and he began removing the earbud headphones from his ears.
, still no help. Now he was wrapping the wire to his headphones around his iPod and beginning to get out of his seat.
