EPT Deauville Main Event - Bubble Bursts: Watch Live Coverage Here
Alex Tikhoniouk – who is playing his first ever EPT - is chip leader going in to Day 3 of the €5,300 EPT Deauville Main Event. Tikhoniouk, who turns 25 next Sunday, has 312,500 – ahead of EPT Berlin champion Kevin MacPhee on 308,300. Tikhoniouk had a rocky Day 2 and, at one point, was down to just four big blinds. Hailing from Portarlington, Laois, he mainly competes in his native Ireland, including a couple of times at the Irish Open. All his cashes to date, which total nearly $56k, have been gained in the Emerald Isle.
There are 138 players left in the running for the €543,700 first prize in Deauville including Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Jan Heitmann, and Eugene Katchalov and Marcin Horecki as well as PokerStars sponsored PCA champ Dominik Panka and Team PokerStars Pro Online’s Ronan Monfort. In all, there were 592 entrants from 43 countries creating a €2,841,600 prize pool. 87 players will get paid with a min-cash worth €8,810. More than 40% of the starting field came from France, way ahead of any other country. As well as the title and cash prize, the new champion will also receive an exclusive watch worth from luxury Swiss brand SLYDE, the Official Watch Sponsor for EPT Season 11 Main Events and High Rollers.
EPTLive is covering the event every day until the cards-up final on February 7 (which will start at 1pm subject to a one-hour security delay). Pokerstarslive.fr/live - in French - will also cover the EPT Main Event.
SIDE EVENT NEWS Click for all side event info
ANOTHER ONE IN THE BAG FOR KITAI Belgium’s #1 player Davidi Kitai has snagged yet another tournament trophy, taking down last night’s €2k NL Turbo at EPT Deauville. The Triple Crown winner carved his way rapidly through the 87-strong field to secure his tenth outright tournament victory. The €45,930 prize here in France leaves the 35-year_old just $13k or so short of a landmark $6 million in live tournament winnings. It also brings his earnings this year alone to nearly $120k following his 25th place in the PCA High Roller last month for $56,820 and eighth in the PCA €5k NL Turbo for $16,320. Since he first starting competing in live tournaments in 2006, he has accrued more than 70 cashes, including 32 in the last two years alone. Kitai, currently #4 in the GPI rankings, is one of just a handful of players who have EPT WSOP and WPT titles to their name, but his biggest score to date remains the €712,000 he pocketed for taking down EPT Berlin in Season 8. Other monster cashes include third in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino EPT Grand Final High Roller last season for €526,400, third at EPT5 Barcelona (€455,000), winning the €3k NL at the 2014 World Series (he now has three WSOP titles in all) plus eighth in the APPT Macau High Roller last year for c $312k. Kitai perfected his poker skills during a trip to Los Angeles in 2003. He had gone to the States to learn English, but it was Texas Hold’em that he mastered.
Others on last night’s final table included Portuguese pro Diogo Cardoso and EPT Vienna champ Oleksii Khoroshenin.
1. Davidi Kitai, Belgium, €45,930
2. Emil Ekvardt, Sweden, €32,660
3. Diogo Cardoso, Portugal, €21,380
4. Oleksii Khoroshenin, Ukraine, €16,450
5. Anton Astapau, Belarus, €13,030
6. Hani El Assaad, Lebanon, €10,190
7. Giuliano Bendinelli, Italy, €8,020
8. Fady Kamar, Lebanon, €6,260
9. Mindaugas Jonuskis, Lithuania, €4,760
10. Jan-Eric Schwippert, Germany, €4,180
11. Nikolay Komcharokov, Russia, €4,180
