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Elnajjar has been playing poker for years but only took up Texas Hold’em about three years ago. Online he has had a few small cashes but he often competes in – and wins – the twice-weekly tournaments held at Lebanon’s only casino, the Casino du Liban. The Lebanese poker community is very close and and Elnajjar is being cheered on here in Tallin by his friend and countryman Nicolas Chouity, the EPT6 Grand Final winner. This is Elnajjar’s first EPT.
Retired software developer and nuclear engineer Calia first took up poker three years ago when his nephew opened a card room in Rome and invited him along. It was there that he won a seat to EPT4 San Remo in 2008 and he hasn’t looked back since. He cashed in both the San Remo main event and a side event and is now a familiar face on the EPT circuit. His biggest cash so far was when he was runner-up in the £1,500 EPT London NLHE side event for $96,275 and he also cashed in two WPT Championships (Venice and Barcelona) as well as this year ‘s WSOP Main Event, finishing 170th for $57,102. The married father-of-two has a total of seven EPT cashes to his name but this is his first EPT Main Event final table. He said: “Poker has been my big passion for two years. I have often made it to the last three tables, but never the final. I am very proud and excited to play my first EPT final table”.
Stani has been playing poker for seven years after taking up the game while studying Business Management in Dakota. Once he graduated in 2003, he turned pro and has been playing fulltime ever since. He started off only playing tournaments but now splits his time 50/50 between tournaments and cash games. He has enjoyed good online results: fifth in last year’s $10,000 High Roller WCOOP for around $130,000 and he also won the PokerStars Sunday 500 about a year ago for approx. $100,000. His best live result to date was 127th place in the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas last month for $57,102. He also came 127th in a WSOP $2,000 side event.. but he has gone well past 127th at EPT Tallinn and could well be heading for a career-best live cash. Stani was one of the last players to qualifier for EPT Tallinn, winning his seat in a $530 qualifier on PokerStars just a few days before the event began. This is his third EPT – he cashed in San Remo and was close to the money at last season’s Grand Final.
Dutch pro van Zadelhoff first gained headlines when he won the PokerStars Sunday Million in April 2007 for over $160,000. Originally from Holland, van Zadelhoff and his girlfriend moved to Malta at the beginning of 2010 to avoid Holland’s punitive taxes on poker winnings. The change has already reaped rich rewards. Van Zadelhoff said: “I stopped smoking two years ago and now I’ve lost 30 kg. I’m physically fit and also I have mental stability. I don’t have the IRS taxing half my winnings. It’s definitely helped my game. I feel free now. It’s been a very good half year.” Van Zadelhoff, who has already earned more than a million dollars in live tournaments and is currently 10th in the Netherlands All Time Money list, has min-cashed three times at EPTs but this is by far his best EPT result to date. He started Day 4 as a short stack but has steadily built up and now has 805,000.
Student Bilyauer is here in Tallinn playing only his second major live tournament. His first was in Egypt at the Red Sea Poker Cup in March where he bubbled the Main Event. He said he is feeling nervous about the final but has held his own so far. He busted Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier on the first day and eliminated fellow Russian Team PokerStars Pro Ivan Demidov early on Day 4. Bilyauer, who is currently studying for his Masters in International Relations at Moscow State University, is being cheered on in Tallinn by his friends Leo Khinchuk and Andrey Osipov.
It's that time. The first final table of EPT Season 7 is upon us and it has all the makings of a cracker. The potentially huge story is that the current chip leader, Arnaud Mattern may become the first ever double-winning EPT champion but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
Eight players remain but the top three, Konstantin Bilyauer, Kevin Stani and Mattern have almost 75% of the chips between them, this leaves the rest of the table with very little of the pie and four of them will start the final table with about twenty big blinds or less.
No-one will be discounted though, for example, for the Russian Bilyauer this would be a fairly tale since this is only his second ever live tournament, while Norwegian Stani is seeking to improve on an excellent WSOP main event cash.
Here once again is the final table line-up:
Seat 1: Konstantin Bilyauer - 2,498,000
Seat 2: Steven van Zadelhoff - 805,000
Seat 3: Kevin Stani - 2,586,000
Seat 4: Nicolo Calia - 637,000
Seat 5: Bassam Elnajjar - 744,000
Seat 6: Dmitry Vitkind - 502,000
Seat 7: Arnaud Mattern - 3,720,000
Seat 8: Mikko Jaatinen - 1,166,000
Although this event is not being televised, the Pokernews Live Reporting team will be covering this final table from the first dealer's riffle to the final fist-pump in celebration.
Who is going to take home the trophy? Stick with us to find out...
ALL PLAYER BIOS BY AND COURTESY OF POKERSTARS.
Main Event
Day 5 Started
