Brits Riding High at EPT Deauville
Friday, 31 January 2014
Day 4 of the EPT Deauville Main Event started with 41 players hopeful of glory and by the close an illustrious band of 16 were left chasing the €614k first prize.
Last season't EPT Prague runner up Sotirios Koutoupas (2,695,000) sits in pole position heading into the penultimate day's action but there's plenty of class in a chasing pack that contains no fewer than five British players.
Chun Ho Law (2,579,000) heads the challenge from across La Manche followed by double WSOP bracelet winner JP Kelly (1,801,000), Dusk Till Dawn regular Alex Goulder (1,365,000), Oliver Price (1,275,000) and EPT Deauville side event winner Eli Heath (1,191,000).
The most familiar face amongst the last 16 is Eugene Katchalov who returns with just over 1m chips. The Kiev-born New Yorker already has WSOP and WPT titles to his name and is handily placed to complete poker's triple crown.
We'll have to wait a little longer for the first ever double EPT winner after Zimnan Ziyard's challenge stalled in 22nd. Other notables to hit the rail yesterday included IPT winner Alessio Isaia in 36th and UKIPT Marbella winner Ludovic Geilich whi busted in 34th.
The chip counts and seat draw are as follows:
1 Tatu Maenpaa Finland 1,921,000
2 Eli Heath UK 1,191,000
3 Eugene Katchalov Ukraine 1,002,000
4 Bahram Chobineh Iran 327,000
5 Anthony Lerust France 839,000
6 JP Kelly UK 1,807,000
7 Rustem Muratov Russia 548,000
8 Chun Ho Law UK 2,679,000
Table 2
1 Alexandre Amiel France 1,174,000
2 Sotirios Koutoupas Greece 2,695,000
3 Carlo De Benedittis Italy 417,000
4 Dimitri Holdeew Germany 637,000
5 Jean-Yves Malherbe Belgium 476,000
6 Florian Ribouchon France 1,719,000
7 Alex Goulder UK 1,365,000
8 Oliver Price UK 1,275,000
Blinds are at 12,000/24,000 with an ante of 3,000. The average stack is 1,258,000.