Sotirios Koutoupas Wins EPT Deauville 2014 for €614,000
Sotirios Koutoupas has won EPT Deauville for €614,000 and become the first ever Greek EPT champion.
Koutoupas, who was runner-up to Ramzi Jelassi at EPT9 Prague, beat Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov heads-up today thus thwarting the Ukrainian’s bid to secure poker’s Triple Crown. Katchalov, 32, already has a WSOP and WPT title and came close to an EPT title when he finished third in Barcelona in Season 8. He got €379,500 for second place.
Koutoupas, 31, came in to today’s final as a massive chip leader and never surrendered that lead on his way to the title. Koutoupas, whose best friend and younger brother decided to come to Deauville at midnight last night and made it here by 2pm, said: “It was my time now, it was my time to win. I was very lucky today in some situations but that’s poker. Everything went well for me. After Prague, I had some more to do.”
Even before today’s life-changing cash prize, Koutoupas had racked up more than $750,000 in lifetime tournament winnings and has now jumped straight from third to first in the Greek all time money list, ahead of this season’s EPT Prague runner-up George Manousos and the EPT London runner-up Georgios Karakousis. However Koutoupas is not a professional player and still helps run his family’s wholesale business.
Eugene Katchalov said: “At this point in my career I'm obviously looking for first places and the Triple Crown is always in the back of mind, but at the same time I realise how hard it is to win a tournament. I think I was a lot more upset in Barcelona. I think I've grown up and don't put so much pressure on myself to win. I'm satisfied with second place. I've got a lot of money to soothe my wounds!”
1, Sotirios Koutoupas, Greece, €614,000 2, Eugene Katchalov, Ukraine, Team PokerStars Pro, €379,500 3, Oliver Price, UK, €271,200 4, Eli Heath, UK, €207,800 5, Harry Law, UK, €164,600 6, Rustem Muratov, Russia, PokerStars qualifier, €128,200 7, Carlo De Benedittis, Italy, PokerStars qualifier, €93,000 8, Anthony Lerust, France, €63,900
There were 671 players from 48 countries in the event, generating a €3,220,800 prize pool. As always, French players dominated - 269 entrants accounting for more than 40% of the field but only one French player made the final – Anthony Lerust who finished in eighth place for €63,900.
In addition to his EPT champion’s title and cash prize, Koutoupas also receives a stunning watch worth more than €5,000 from luxury Swiss brand SLYDE, the Official Watch Sponsor for EPT Season 10 Main Events, as well as a €2,000 gift voucher box of shirts from the French poker clothing brand JAQK.
There were 178 players in the EPT Main Event who won their seats online, including some 30 players who won seats for both the EPT & FPS Main Event. Italian player Carlo De Benedittis, who finished seventh for €93,000, won his package on PokerStars for just €20 while seventh-placed Rustem Muratov won his seat for just €82 on PokerStars and took €128,200 back home to Russia.
Among the 95 players who cashed were Team PokerStars Pros Julien Brecard and Alex Kravchenko.
The EPT joined forces with the national France Poker Series to create this season's mega ten-day, 45-event EPT Deauville Poker Festival, running January 22 - February 1, 2014 at Casino Barriere.
One of the most sensational moments of this season’s Deauville Poker Festival was 22-year-old PCA champion Dominik Panka taking down the record-breaking €10k High Roller event for €272,000 only 18 days after his $1.4m win in the Bahamas. Panka’s lifetime tournament winnings now total nearly $1.8 million and he also becomes the first player to win TWO watches from SLYDE, the Offical Watch Sponsor for EPT 10 Season 10 Main and High Roller Events. There were 96 players in the High Roller which, with 19 re-entries, made a record 115 entries, generating a €1,104,000 prize pool. Runner-up Albert Daher takes €189,000 back to Lebanon while Swedish EPT7 Barcelona champion Kent Lundmark was third for €122,000. Others who cashed included EPT8 Player of the year Ondrej Vinklarek, EPT8 Barcelona champion Martin Schleich, EPT Berlin winner Davidi Kitai, WSOPE Main Event winner, Estrellas Madrid champion and double European Poker Awards winner Adrian Mateos Diaz, 2011 WSOP runner-up Martin Staszko, Team PokerStars Pro Alex Kravchenko and EPT Copenhagen winner Michael Tureniec.
Other notable side event results included German player Jamila von Perger winning the EPT Women’s Event for €4,200, EPT Copenhagen champion Anton Wigg taking down the €2k NL Deepstack for €37,000 and Frenchman Guillaume Diaz winning the €2k NL for €91,000. Dutch player Niels van Leeuwen won the record-breaking €1,100 FPS Main Event for €175,000 while French player Kamel Tir quadrupled his total lifetime tournament winnings when he took down the €2k FPS High Roller for €131,000 after beating a record 303-strong field.
