Igor Kurganov Wins The EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller
The attention turned to Bonomo and his quest to win back-to-back high roller events after he won the €100,000 Super High Roller last week. That dream was still alive for over two hours before he ran into another Negreanu suck out.
Igor Kurganov has taken down the European Poker Tour Grand Final €25,000 High Roller event netting himself a cool €1,080,000 in the process. Kurganov outlasted a star-studded field and bested one of the toughest final tables in recent times to get his hands on the coveted title and over one million Euros in cash.
Any of the eight final tablists would have made a worthy champion but we all know only one player can call themselves that in tournament poker. We knew quite early on that Max Lykov was not going to be that person because he got his stack into the centre of the felt with KcKd and found a caller in the shape of Daniel Negreanu and his Ad10c. Just as it looked like Lykov was about to double up the board ran out As-7d-3c-9c-2d and with that he headed to the rail in eight place, a finish worth €100,000.
Next to go was Nathan Schoo, again at the hands of Negreanu. Schoo had been left with just 44,000 - less than two big blinds -- chips after losing a flip with 8c8d against the QsJs of Noah Schwartz and he got these into the middle when the action folded to him in the hijack seat. Negreanu called in the small blind and Justin Bonomo called in the big blind. The flop came down Ac-6d-5c, Negreanu bet, Bonomo folded and the cards were flipped over. Negreanu showed As4d for top pair and Schoo held Jc8c that not had a flush draw. The turn and river were void of clubs and with that Schoo was eliminated and Negreanu found himself as the new chip leader.
Gruissem Feeling Flush
Six became five shortly afterwards when Schwartz was sent packing in a huge pot. High stakes specialist Philipp Gruissem opened to 51,000 in early position, Kurganov called to his left, Bonomo called on the button and Schwartz went along for the ride from the big blind. The quartet shared a flop reading 8c-5d-3c and Gruissem checked, Kurganov bet 144,000, Bonomo folded but Schwartz moved all-in for 460,000. Gruissem then instantly went all-in himself. Kurgavin tanked for a few minutes before folding to see he would have been up against the 8h5c (two pair) of Schwartz and the Ac9c of Gruissem (flush draw). The 7s turn was no help to either player and it changed nothing but the Jc on the river gifted Gruissem a flush and sent Schwartz home in sixth place.
Artem Litvinov, who seems to play every single high roller event on the European Poker Tour, was the fifth place finisher. He three-bet all-in with pocket jacks after seeing Bonomo min-raise to 60,000 under the gun only for Bonomo to snap his hand off and turn over a pair of queens. No jack appeared on the 7c-6s-4d-2d-9s board and the tournament was down to just four players.
At this point the attention turned to Bonomo and his quest to win back-to-back high roller events after he won the €100,000 Super High Roller last week. That dream was still alive for over two hours before he ran into another Negreanu suck out. Negreanu opened to 100,000 from the button and Bonomo three-bet shoved for around 500,000 from the small blind with what turned out to be AcKd. Negreanu made the call with Ah10s and was in pretty bad shape in the grand scheme of things. Negreanu's situation worsened on the 9h-8c-5c flop but he took the lead with the arrival of the 10c on the turn. The river was the Qs and with that Bonomo was eliminated in fourth spot and never has a man been so disappointed to win €266,000!
Heads-Up Stages Reached
Just 10 minutes later and the final table was reduced to the last two players when Gruissem lost his remaining chips to Negreanu. Negreanu opened to 100,000 on the button, Gruissem three-bet to 500,000 from the small blind then quickly called when Negreanu moved all-in on him. Gruissem had made the call with Ah3c and would need some help from the board as Negreanu held a pair of black kings. No help arrived on the 8h-6d-6c-9d-4c board and heads-up was set.
Negreanu held a 3,900,000 to 2,750,000 chip lead over Kurganov but the latter clawed his way back into the tournament then started to forge a lead for himself. Had it not been for a counterfeiting king on the river in one hand he would have become the champion much sooner but when he got his chips in with Ah10c against Negreanu's 10s8s on a 10d-10h-9d-Kd flop the poker gods were not ready to end things so put a Kh on the river to see the pot chopped up.
Kurganov opened up another substantial lead for himself before Negreanu closed the gap yet again only for Kurganov to continue to run insanely well and cooler Negreanu like there was no tomorrow. The final hand saw Negreanu open-shoved for six big blinds with AcJc and Kurganov make the call with Kd3s. By the river the board read Kc-5d-4s-5c-10d and a dejected Negreanu shook the new champion's hand before leaving him and his friends to celebrate his huge win.
EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller Final Table Results
1st: Igor Kurganov - €1,080,000
2nd: Daniel Negreanu - €598,600
3rd: Philipp Gruissem - €366,000
4th: Justin Bonomo - €266,000
5th: Artem Litvinov - €216,000
6th: Noah Schwartz - €166,000
7th: Nathan Schoo - €133,000
8th: Max Lykov - €100,000
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
