Davidi Kitai Wins EPT Berlin; Andrew Chen Runner-Up

Davidi Kitai of Belgium had the lead to start Saturday's final table at the European Poker Tour Berlin Main Event, and held it for most of the way before knocking out Andrew Chen of Canada heads-up to grab the last of the chips and the title. Following a final-table deal with Chen, Kitai takes away a cool €712,000 for the win.

Kitai enjoyed about a 1 million-chip lead over Bahadir Kilickeser to start the final table, with Chen about another million behind Kilickeser.

The American Pratyush Buddiga started the day as the final table's short stack, and after about an hour of play Buddiga got all of his chips in the middle with an all-in reraise shove with Ac-Qh which Kilickeser called with As-10c.

The flop came nine-high, but the 10h fell on the turn to put Kilickeser in front. An ace on the river was no help to Buddiga who was swiftly out in eighth.

Marc Wright of the U.K. had led the tourney with 24 players left, then started the final day sixth of the final eight. Wright added to his stack in the early going on Saturday, then a big hand developed between him and chip leader Kitai.

After Wright opened with a raise then called a Kitai reraise preflop, the flop came 4d-Ad-8s prompting a continuation bet from Kitai and a call from Wright. The turn was the 10c, and when Kitai bet again Wright raised all in and after a long study Kitai called.

Kitai had Ah-Kc for top pair while Wright had a double-gutter with Qs-Js. The river was the 3c, and Wright was out in seventh.

César Garcia Dominguez was the next to go in sixth after his Ac-Kd failed him versus Mario Puccini's Qd-Qc.

By then Kilickeser had slipped in the counts to fifth of five. Soon Kilickeser found himself all in on a Jc-8s-7d flop with 7c-5c (bottom pair) against Andrew Chen's Ks-Js (top pair). The 3d turn and 2s river didn't help Kilickeser, and they were down to four.

Puccini would be the next to go in fourth in a hand that Kitai open-raised from the small blind, then Puccini shoved from the big blind, getting a quick call from Kitai. Puccini had Js-10h, well behind Kitai's Qd-Qh, and when the board brought no help to Puccini he was out.

With that hand Kitai increased his lead, pushing up over 11.9 million. Chen was next with a little over 6.4 million and André Morath third with 4 million.

Before long it was Morath reraising all in with Ah-3h and getting called by Chen who held Ad-Jc. The board ran out Ks-Jh-10s-6h-9d, and Morath was out in third.

Kitai and Chen were close to start heads-up play, with Kitai at a little over 12 million and Chen just under 10.3 million. The pair took off for an hour for dinner, during which they negotiated a chop of the remaining prize money -- €632,000 for Kitai, €613,000 for Chen, and €80,000 for which to play.

Soon after play resumed, Chen grabbed a few pots to take a commanding lead, but Kitai soon scraped back to even. Then came an interesting hand in which Chen opened with a raise and Kitai called, then Kitai called a bet following a 7h-Jc-5s flop.

Both checked the 9s turn, then Kitai led for 550,000 after a 10c river. Chen raised to 1.565 million, and after a long while in the tank Kitai called, turning over but Ac-3c for ace-high. He was right, as Chen had bluffed with 4h-2h, and Kitai had taken the lead and the momentum.

Kitai grabbed some more chips from Chen to whittle him down to about 3 million, then came the final hand. In that one Kitai open-pushed with Kd-7h and Chen called with Ad-Qh. The flop came Kh-6s-6d to give Kitai the lead, and after the 3s turn and Ks river, Kitai had a full house and all of the chips.

2012 EPT Berlin final table payouts (*reflects two-way deal):
1. Davidi Kitai (Belgium) -- €712,000*
2. Andrew Chen (Canada) -- €613,000*
3. André Morath (Germany) -- €290,000
4. Mario Puccini (Germany)-- €220,000
5. Bahadir Kilickeser (Germany)-- €172,000
6. César Garcia Dominguez (Spain) -- €133,000
7. Marc Wright (United Kingdom) -- €97,000
8. Pratyush Buddiga (United States) -- €72,000

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