Kevin Santi wins inaugural EPT Tallin

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 17 August 2010 / Leave a Comment

The first-ever European Poker Tour event to take place in Estonia was also the largest-ever poker tournament to take place there, attracting 420 entrants. After five days of first class poker it was Kevin Santi who was the last man standing, awarding him the title of EPT Tallin Champion and €400,000 in prize money.

Some of the big names of live and online poker descended on the small town of Tallin including Sorel Mizzi, Shaun Deeb, Annette Obrestad and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier but none of them made it through their respective Day 1's never mind reached the final table of eight. One man who did make the final table was Arnaud Mattern who had a great chance to become the first-ever double EPT winner, after he won the 2007 EPT Prague event.

At the start of the final table the top three chip leaders held over three quarters of the chips in play so it was no surprise that there were a flurry of early eliminations and that these three players would go on to finish in the top three money places.

First to head to the cashier's cage to collect €32,000 was Bassam Elnajjar who moved all-in over the third consecutive preflop raise of Arnaud Mattern holding AhQh but ran straight into the Frenchman's pocket Aces. The Jh5s3h flop gave him some hope but a 6s turn followed by a Qs river saw him become the final table's first casualty.

EPT veteran Nicolo Calia was the next to go. After losing the majority of his chips in a confrontation with the table short-stack Mikko Jaatinen he moved all-in on the very next hand with Kd9d and was automatically called by Konstantin Bilyauer in the big blind holding 7h4c. The final board ran out Jh4d6h2c3c and the final table of eight was down to six.

Two eliminations in the matter of minutes made play short-handed. First, Steven van Zadelhoff decided to open-shove from the small blind trying to pick up chips but he did not count on running into the pocket queens of Arnaud Mattern. Despite picking up a straight-flush draw on the flop, van Zadlehoff received no further help from the board and was eliminated in sixth place, good for €63,000.

Mattern was still stacking his chips when he busted the next player out. After raising on the button for what seemed like the hundredth time, Mattern then called Mikko Jaatinen's all-in bet from the small blind before showing he was not always stealing but sometimes had a legitimate raise hand, this time AcKh, nicely in front of the Ks9h of Jaatinen. The final board 7d4s2dTsKd and 420 starters had been reduced to just four players.

Each of the players was now guaranteed at least €120,000 but they would have all had an eye on the €400,000 top prize. Dmitry Vitkind was the first player to pick up the increased prize money after getting all his chips in with 6h5h against the pocket eights of Kevin Stani on a 7s5c3d flop. Vitkind needed a four, five or six to stay alive in the tournament but the Kh on the turn was not one of them and neither was the 7h on the river.

Then came an ever-so cruel hand to bust out Arnaud Mattern. Stani raised to 200,000 preflop only to see the aggressive Mattern make it 600,000. Before the chips had been placed in the centre of the felt Stani announced he was all-in and Mattern called even quicker still. A massive pot was created which if Mattern won would make him a huge favourite to win his second EPT title. It looked even more likely when he revealed QhQc massively in front of the 3c3s of Stani. The ladies stayed in front on a 2hKd5h flop but a terrible card for Mattern, the 3h arrived on the turn meaning he was drawing to just two outs. Neither came on the river, which was the 9c and Mattern headed out of the casino with an extra €160,000 to his already impressive live tournament wins of $1,564,388.

Going into heads-up Kevin Santi lead Konstantin Bilyauer by 8,600,000 chips to 4,200,000 and he never looked like losing. The final hand saw Stani make a standard raise to 250,000 from the small blind, a bet called by his opponent. Both players checked the 3c9h2s flop but when the 4h fell on the turn there was a flurry of action. Bilyauer lead out with a 375,000 bet and then flat-called the raise to 875,000 from Stani. A rather innocuous 8d showed its face on the river and once again Bilyauer lead out, this time for 1,200,000 which left him with just 1,400,000 behind. After going into the tank for a few moments Stani moved all-in and after another pause Bilyaer called but quickly mucked as Stani showed 5c6s for a straight and the title.

Stani is an online cash game pro who has recently started to play more live poker tournaments. His previous biggest cash was for $57,102 for coming 127/7,319 at this year's World Series of Poker Main Event.