Razvan Belea Leads the Final Five Players into Day 6 of the EPT Paris Main Event
Day 5 of the €5,300 Main Event at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris has come to an end and Razvan Belea leads the final five players into the Day 6 finale. Action will resume on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. to play down to a winner.
The final five battled through a field of 1,606 and Belea leads the way with 16,125,000, while Peter Jorgne finished in second on the leaderboard with 10,775,000. This is Jorgne's biggest poker score and it will add substantially to his previous career total of just over $16,000. Brian Delaney bagged up in third with 10,425,000, while Fabrice Bigot and Henri Kasper rounded out the surviving players with 9,625,000 and 1,725,000, respectively.
2023 EPT Paris Main Event Final Table Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 6 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabrice Bigot | France | 9,625,000 | 64 |
| 2 | Henri Kasper | Estonia | 1,725,000 | 12 |
| 3 | Brian Delaney | United Kingdom | 10,425,000 | 70 |
| 4 | Peter Jorgne | Sweden | 10,775,000 | 72 |
| 5 | Razvan Belea | Romania | 16,125,000 | 108 |
Day 5 Highlights
The final 15 players returned on Saturday and Belea had the lead with Johan Schultz-Pedersen and Denzel Spekman trailing in second and third.
Just a few moments into Day 5, Sven Stok became the first elimination when his pocket kings ran into the aces of Belea.
“Nothing you can do there,” said Stok as he left the table.
This was Stok’s third EPT cash and the largest of his poker scores on record. He previously ran to 82nd at the March 2022 edition of the Eureka Poker Tour Main Event in Prague and to 401st in the Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event at EPT Barcelona.
Following Stok out the door was Arthur Conan in 14th place. Conan got it in with ace-jack and was well ahead of Mathieu Di Meglio’s suited ace-seven, but a seven on the river sent Conan to the rail. It was yet another big score on tour for Conan, who cashed over 10 times in 2022, including a win in the Hyper Turbo Freezeout at EPT Prague last March.
Harry Lodge had a promising run in this year’s Main Event, but Mehdi Chaoui left him short when his ace-queen beat Lodge’s pocket sevens for a big double. A short time later, Lodge was out in 13th place when his king-queen could not improve against Saar Wilf's Big Slick. It was another deep run in an EPT Main Event for Lodge, who finished in eighth place in the flagship event at EPT London.
Next to go was Niklas Astedt, who was left on fumes after his pocket kings were cracked by the pocket jacks of Denzel Spekman. Spekman finished the job moments later and the online crusher was out in 12th place. Astedt has been steadily adding big finishes to his live credentials, including five EPT cashes in 2022—three of which were second-place finishes in €10,000 events in Prague and Barcelona.
Wilf was soon out in 11th place when Fabrice Bigot’s king-ten caught up and beat his ace-queen. Wilf is a regular on the EPT, and his most recent Main Event cashing finish came at Monte Carlo in 2018. Di Meglio followed in tenth place when Schultz-Pedersen turned a pair of tens to send him to the rail and bring the tournament to an unofficial final table. Di Meglio recently won the €2,000 Mystery Bounty event in the December 2022 edition of EPT Prague.
Final Table Action
The unofficial final table got underway with the top three players separated by less than two big blinds. Chaoui was the first to go in ninth place when he got it in with kings but ran into the pocket aces of Schultz-Pedersen. The deep run continues a successful stretch for Chaoui on the European Poker Tour, which includes two top-ten finishes in Prague and a run to 20th in this year’s €2,000 France Poker Series High Roller here at EPT Paris.
Next to go was Schultz-Pedersen after an unfortunate series of events in which Delaney went runner-runner to beat his flopped flush and leave him short. The Danish player was knocked out a short time later when Belea beat his pocket nines with a suited ace-king. This was the largest win for Schultz-Pedersen, who picked up two smaller cashes at EPT Prague in March 2022.
Shortly after the elimination of Schultz-Pedersen, Jorgne jumped into the chip lead when he made a set of kings on the river to beat Delaney’s two pair.
Jorgne led a final seven that included Bigot, who qualified for the Main Event with just €250. Bigot is relatively new to the French poker scene, but he has accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. His first cash was a win in a tournament right here in Paris and he has cashed six times on the EPT since, including a run to 11th at the Main Event at EPT Prague in December. Bigot also finished 2022 with a win at the WPT Prime Main Event, also here in Paris, where he took home €177,240.
Play came to a halt at the end of Level 30 with five players remaining after Spekman hit the rail in seventh place and Konstantin Held was knocked out in sixth. Spekman was out after he shoved the river with top pair and lost to Belea’s two pair. The finish was Spekman’s biggest score and his second cash on tour. Held hit the ex when he shoved with ace-nine and Bigot was waiting to knock him out with ace-queen.
The final five players will return on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and resume play at Level 31 with blinds at 100,000/150,000 with a 150,000 big blind ante.
2023 EPT Paris Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €1,170,000 | ||
| 2 | €780,100 | ||
| 3 | €535,850 | ||
| 4 | €412,200 | ||
| 5 | €317,050 | ||
| 6 | Konstantin Held | Germany | €244,000 |
| 7 | Denzel Spekman | Netherlands | €187,650 |
| 8 | Johan Schultz-Pedersen | Denmark | €144,300 |
| 9 | Mehdi Chaoui | Morocco | €111,000 |
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team on Sunday for live updates from the floor of the final day of the EPT Main Event and tune into PokerStars for a live stream of all of the action on YouTube and Twitch. For more information, including seat draws, schedules, and structures, download the PokerStars Live app.