Belarusian tops star-studded field
EPT Deauville ended in dramatic fashion this week when Vadzim Kursevich came out on top of a mammoth 12 hour final table in France to bank almost €900k.
The 24-year-old from Belarus battled through six days and nearly 1,000 runners before eventually seeing off Frenchman Paul Guichard heads-up for his biggest ever live tournament haul.
With ElkY, Liv Boeree and a resurgent Jonathan Duhamel among the Day 1 hopefuls, Deauville added to its already bulging reputation as one the EPT’s most sought-after events. And with Team PokerStars pro Luca Pagano among the final tablists, there was plenty of interest in who would pocket the €875k winner’s cheque.
Unfortunately for Pagano he couldn’t add a first EPT title to over $2m in career earnings, eventually busting in seventh, leaving room for a relative newcomer to enter poker’s big time, with the remaining seven players yet to bag a major title between them.
In the final hand, Kursevich min-raised to 500,000 on the button with 6h-3 before Guichard three-bet to 1,250,000 and bet out on the Js-7h-5d board with trip fives. Kursevich hung around with his gut-shot and improved to a flush draw thanks to a 9h on the turn, shoving over the top of Guichard’s small raise before spiking an 8c on the river to complete his nine-high straight.
‘I can’t really believe it,’ said Kursevich after being presented with his fortune. ‘It’s like a dream. A lot of times, you finish 28th, fifth, even second – and you think “What do I have to do to be the champion” but when you are, it’s the best feeling in the world.’
Here’s how the final table finished up:
1. Vadzim Kursevich €875,000
2. Paul Guichard €557,000
3. Vuong Than Trong €328,000
4. Yorane Kerignard €260,000
5. Bruno Jais €200,000
6. Olivier Rogez €155,000
7. Luca Pagano €110,000
8. Mick Graydon €67,200
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