29-year-old mortgage broker wins his first major event in style after dominating the final table from start to finish
Congratulations to Frenchman, Remi Castaignon on taking down the PokerStars.fr EPT Deauville Main Event. The 29-year-old from Saint Aunix Lengros, a small village in the Pyrenées, outlasted a bumper field of 782 to become only the second player from France to win the popular event. The win, which is Castaignon’s first major victory, was worth a life-changing €770k.
Taking place at the the Casino Barriere in the glamorous seaside resort of Deauville in Normandy, many of the games top pros were in town including the likes of Jake Cody, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree, Vicky Coren and Eugene Katchalov to name but a few.
But it was Castaignon, who works as an insurance broker away from the felt who would make all the headlines. Heading into the final table in a commanding position with more than three times the chips of his nearest rival, the Frenchman wasn’t afraid to bully the rest of the players, making the most of his monster stack.
After eliminating the 5th, 4th and 3rd place finishers, Castaignon found himself heads-up against Lebanese player Bou Habib and with a 14.765 million to 8,620 million chip advantage.
The Frenchman continued the aggressive and relentless style of play that had served him so well throughout the tournament and frustrated his opponent into making some costly mistakes. The final one would be Habib’s biggest. After just over an hour of one-on-one play, Habib four-bet shoved his big stack with only K-8 and Castaignon, smelling weakness eventually made the loose call with his pocket threes. Luckily for the Frenchman the board came 6-4-5-10-A and he won his coinflip and with it the title, while Habib had to settle for second place and a mere €475k.
“I felt like I had it the whole time,” commented Castaignon, reflecting on his win, “even after I lost a lot calling with 5-5, I still believed that I would win it – and I just kept on believing it.”
The event wrapped up the ten-day festival of poker which saw the EPT join forces with the national France Poker Series for the first time to create a bumper 48-event festival in Deauville, making it one of the biggest events ever held in France. The €1,100 French Poker Series Main Event attracted a record 828 players and was won by Canadian Patrick Braga for €165k.
Here is how the final table of the EPT Main Event finished up:
1. Remi Castaignon, France – €770,000
2. Walid Bou Habib, Lebanon – €475,000
3. Robert Romeo, Belgium – €275,000
4. Enrico Rudelitz, Germany – €215,000
5. Franck Kalfon, France – €165,000
6. Joseph El Khoury, Lebanon – €125,000
7. Noel Gaens, Belgium – €87,800
8. Jeffrey Hakim, Lebanon – €60,000
