After his opponent started the day as the chip leader at the final table, Bulgaria’s Ognyan Dimov outlasted Romania’s Dany Parlafes to capture the title at the European Poker Tour Deauville Main Event in France this afternoon (evening in France).
Coming to the final table of six players (two players, Massou Cohen and Matas Cimbolas, were eliminated in seventh and eighth places, respectively, on Friday but are officially counted as official EPT final table players), Parlafes had accumulated 7.58 million in chips to hold the lead. His competition – Dimov (3.405 million), Benjamin Buhr (2.575 million), Andrius Bielskis (1.68 million), Benjamin Pollak (1.67 million) and Joseph Carlino (875K) – could barely muster more chips added together than Parlafes had in front of him. Thus, it was going to be a difficult fight for anyone to knock Parlafes off the mountaintop.
On the very first hand of play, the first elimination would occur. After a Dimov raise and a Buhr call, Carlino moved his short stack all in from the button. Bielskis took a look at his cards in the big blind and, almost immediately, went all in over the top of Carlino’s bet. The action between Carlino and Bielskis pushed out both Dimov and Buhr and the cards were turned up. Bielskis’ pocket Jacks had the edge over Carlino’s A♣ K♣, once the board brought no King, Ace or any clubs, Carlino’s stay at the final table was over (quickly) in sixth place.
Although Bielskis was the beneficiary against Carlino, those newfound chips didn’t help him much. He would lose a sizeable number of them to Parlafes after Bielskis hit a Queen on the river with his A-Q. Unfortunately for Bielskis, Parlafes had flopped a Jack and turned one with his J-9 off suit to have trips and the winning hand. Knocked down to under 20 big blinds, Bielskis shoved an A-3 into Buhr’s pocket Aces a few hands later and was eliminated in fifth place.
Only 20 hands into Saturday’s play, Parlafes had been able to crack the 10 million mark while Buhr, Dimov and Pollak scrambled to try to attack him. Pollak would try first, getting a double up through Parlafes, but a scant 13 hands later Parlafes had rebuilt his stack. Then it was Buhr’s turn as he earned a double up through Parlafes, but Parlafes would get those chips back – and more – in issuing a cooler to Pollak when Parlafes flopped Broadway straight bested Pollak’s turned King high straight to send Pollak home in fourth place.
As a break came, Parlafes had both Dimov and Buhr dominated in chips (Parlafes had 11 million; Dimov and Buhr’s stacks combined were barely more than 6.5 million) as he continued to push around his fellow tablemates. Dimov and Buhr would decide who would face Parlafes in a hand that basically played itself.
As the PokerStars live stream showed a worldwide audience, Dimov (in the small blind) opted to limp in with pocket Aces in a hope of getting Buhr to bite. Buhr did more than bite as, with Big Slick, he raised the action back onto Dimov. Dimov slyly put slightly more than a minimum raise in the pot and, after Buhr announced all in, had the remainder of his stack in on the call before Buhr could blink.
An A-K-J flop basically ended the tournament for Buhr. With nothing but the potential for a runner-runner Queen and ten that would only split the pot with Dimov or running Kings that would win it, Buhr instead saw a 5♠ fall on the turn to leave him drawing dead. After the chips were counted, Buhr was found to be the at-risk player and he headed to the cage for his third place money.
Although Parlafes (11.39 million) held a sizeable edge over Dimov (6.375 million), the heads up battle was one for the ages. Over the span of 26 hands, Dimov pulled to almost even with Parlafes through some skillful play, then took over the lead from Parlafes. Parlafes was nothing but game for the fight, however, as it would take another 100 hands before Dimov was able to end the tournament.
On the final hand, Parlafes found A♣ K♣ to his liking and issued a raise. Dimov, sitting on an A♥ J♥ of his own, three-bet Parlafes and Parlafes pushed his stack to the center. Dimov didn’t hesitate at all, making the call only to see that he was behind Parlafes and needed some help. That help came on the Q♥ 3♣ 6♥ flop, giving him new outs to the flush along with his Jack. The 3♥ on the turn ended any drama and, as an ‘insult to injury’ Jack fell on the river, Parlafes had already congratulated the EPT Deauville champion Ognyan Dimov.
1. Ognyan Dimov, 543,700
2. Dany Parlafes, 338,700
3. Benjamin Buhr, 242,390
4. Benjamin Pollak, 187,550
5. Andrius Bielskis, 147,760
6. Joseph Carlino, 115,650
7. Massou Cohen, 85,530*
8. Matas Cimbolas, 58,820*
(* – eliminated on Friday)
