€5,300 EPT Main Event
Giorno 5 completo
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€5,300 EPT Main Event
Giorno 5 completo
David Kaufmann already knows what it’s like to capture a prestigious PokerStars title.
In 2013, Kaufmann won the WCOOP Main Event to earn nearly $1.5 million. He then finished in 41st place at EPT Barcelona that year. But then came a long hiatus, when Kaufmann didn’t cash in any poker tournament for more than eight years as he focused on earning a degree in economics.
When Kaufmann finally returned to the live felt just within the last few months, it was like he never left. He cashed in the EPT Cyprus Main Event. He finished in 44th in the FPS Main Event this week at Le Palais des Congres. And, at the final table of the record-breaking 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris Main Event, Kaufmann is the man to beat as six players return tomorrow to chase the trophy and €1,287,800 top prize.
The 33-year-old German native, who now calls Vienna home, ended the fifth and penultimate day of the Main Event with 24,800,000 and a commanding lead over the final six. Latvian high roller Aleksejs Ponakovs is in second place with 10,050,000, followed by British poker legend Barny Boatman with 9,675,000. At the bottom of the leaderboard are Owen Dodd (2,950,000), Eric Afriat (2,525,000), and Peter Jorgne (2,400,000).
Day 5 Chip Counts
Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | David Kaufmann | Germany | 24,800,000 | 124 |
2 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | 10,050,000 | 50 |
3 | Barny Boatman | United Kingdom | 9,675,000 | 48 |
4 | Owen Dodd | United Kingdom | 2,950,000 | 15 |
5 | Eric Afriat | Canada | 2,525,000 | 13 |
6 | Peter Jorgne | Sweden | 2,400,000 | 12 |
Kaufmann may be in a great spot to lift the coveted title, but he admits he hasn’t allowed himself to dream about what that moment would be like. “Actually, not too much. I’ve dreamed to be in a spot like this, to be at a final table like this. But you can’t dream, I have to win this tournament, I have to win this tournament. You just have to keep playing. Try to play well and hopefully someday it happens,” he said at the conclusion of the day.
“It would mean a lot, of course. I would be super happy. Some people care a lot about trophies. Some people don’t care much, they just care about the money. I’m in the middle.”
Kaufmann was helped along the way with two massive hands that propelled him to such a big lead. First, he was involved in a coin flip with Ponakovs for nearly 8,000,000 where his pocket jacks held up against ace-king. Then, in a hand that will live on forever in EPT lore and Ami Barer’s nightmares, Barer flopped top set of jacks against Kaufmann’s set of tens. Kaufmann just called Barer’s bet of 2,675,000 on the turn as the river brought a third diamond. Barer slowed down and checked, and Kaufmann then moved all in. Barer, with 2,780,000 remaining, tanked for several minutes before mucking.
“It’s a crazy tournament,” Kaufmann said. “It’s an insane structure. It takes so long. It takes so many days. To be at the final table is insane. I was running so good at the final table. Some miracles happened, like the tens against jacks. I’m just happy and be back tomorrow to give it my best.”
Kaufmann is looking to go wire-to-wire at the final table and be the last of 1,747 total players, the sixth-largest EPT in history and the largest outside of Barcelona, but he’s not the only one for whom a victory tomorrow would mean a lot. Ponakovs already has $14 million in live earnings and two WSOP bracelets, one of which he won by starring down the legendary Phil Ivey heads-up in 2022, but he’ll be making his first appearance at an EPT final table tomorrow. The 68-year-old Boatman, who has been playing on the EPT since its’ inception two decades ago, has already locked up his best finish since a fourth-place run at EPT San Remo in 2011 as he chases his first title. UK pro Dodd wasn’t going to even play the event until he was persuaded by a group of friends to enter and has made the final table of his first-ever EPT Main Event. Afriat is a legend on the World Poker Tour, where he’s currently tied for second all-time with three titles, but he seldom plays on the European circuit as he tries to bolster his resume with an EPT title.
Then there is Jorgne, the 51-year-old Swedish businessman who now lives in Spain, who has seemingly done the impossible: make it to the final table for the second year in a row. In 2023, when the EPT first came to the French capital, Jorgne finished second to Razvan Belea in a field of 1,606. This year, in an even bigger field, he has defied all odds to get back on this stage. Jorgne is just the eighth player in EPT history to make it to consecutive final tables of the same event. Four came in the EPT's early days, when field sizes were smaller. Just three have done it since 2010: David Boyaciyan (EPT Prague, 2011-12); Steve O’Dwyer (EPT London, 2011-12); and Vladislav Naumov (EPT Sochi, 2020-21). None have done it in such massive fields.
Day 5 Action
Day 5 began with 18 players out of a starting field of 1,747. The day started with a bang, as Francesco Delfoco shoved for 1,175,000 on the first hand with seven-three and Hans Erlandsson woke up with aces in the big blind to bust him in 18th place.
Leo Worthington-Leese, a finalist at EPT Monte Carlo last year, came up short of making it to the final table this time as he fell in 17th place to Sindre Hansen’s full house. Dimitar Danchev was the last remaining EPT champion in the field and was all in with ace-king against Ponakovs’ ace-three. Danchev flopped trip kings to take a seemingly insurmountable lead in the hand, but Ponakovs made a running flush to bust Danchev in 16th and ensure that a new EPT champion would be crowned.
Kaufmann’s ascent to such a commanding lead began when he limped the small blind, Ponakovs raised to 210,000, and Kaufmann three-bet to 650,000. Ponakovs made it 1,090,000 and Kaufmann moved all in for 3,855,000. Ponakovs called with ace-king and was racing against Kaufmann’s jacks for the chip lead. Kaufmann’s pair held up and he took the chip lead, never surrendering it the rest of the day.
Kaufmann added to his lead when Mathias Siljander bluff-shoved the river with a missed straight draw and Kaufmann called with a rivered full house to eliminate him in 15th, moving his stack past 10,000,000. Ponakovs, who was knocked down to under 400,000 after losing that massive pot to Kaufmann, survived on the river when he rivered a flush to double up.
Erlandsson fell in 14th place, while Ponakovs continued his ascent by eliminating David Tous in 13th. Gonzalo Almeida was involved in a three-way all in where he called for his last 2,000,000 with pocket queens, but both Afriat and Jorgne had kings and split the pot to send the Argentine out in 12th.
Eliot Hudon then moved all in for 2,460,000 with ace-jack and Jorgne called with queens. Jorgne got a dream flop, hitting quads to already leave Hudon drawing dead and heading for the exit in 11th place. Ponakovs eliminated Farid Jattin in 10th place to set up the unofficial final table of nine.
After several hours without a bustout at the final table, Hansen lost a race with ace-queen to Afriat’s jacks. Left with just 25,000, less than he started the tournament with five days ago, Hansen picked up queens the next hand but Lorenzo Arduini had kings to bust him in ninth place.
Arduini was comfortably in the middle of the pack before losing a big pot with top pair to Kaufmann’s turned straight. He then doubled up Barer to leave himself with just 350,000 and, with a few minutes left on the clock before players bagged up for the night, he called all in from the button the next hand with two threes. Kaufmann ended up with a straight and Arduini hit the rail in seventh.
But that wasn’t the last knockout of the night. On the last hand, Barer jammed for 4,750,000 with two eights and Kaufmann snapped him off with two aces to bring the field down to the final six.
Final Table payouts
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | €1,287,800 | ||
2 | €804,750 | ||
3 | €574,850 | ||
4 | €442,150 | ||
5 | €340,100 | ||
6 | €261,650 | ||
7 | Ami Barer | Canada | €201,250 |
8 | Lorenzo Arduini | Italy | €154,800 |
The players return tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. to play the last 30 minutes of Level 32 with blinds of 100,000-200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante. They’ve all guaranteed themselves €261,650 for making it this far in such a massive field, but the top prize and gold-laden EPT trophy awaits at the end for one of them.
Eighteen became nine. Nine became six. Now all that’s left is to play down to a winner as PokerNews returns tomorrow to bring you all the coverage of the EPT Paris final table.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
David Kaufmann | 24,800,000 | |
|
||
Aleksejs Ponakovs |
10,050,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
Barny Boatman
|
9,675,000
-1,005,000
|
-1,005,000 |
|
||
Owen Dodd |
2,950,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
Eric Afriat |
2,525,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
Peter Jorgne |
2,400,000
-1,000,000
|
-1,000,000 |
It took until the last hand of the night, but the field has finally reached the final six who will return tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time to play down to a champion.
Stay tuned for chip counts and a recap of the day's action.
On the final hand of the night, David Kaufmann raised to 400,000 under the gun. Ami Barer then jammed for 4,750,000 from the button and Kaufmann snap called once the action folded back to him.
Ami Barer: 8♥8♣
David Kaufmann: A♥A♣
The Q♠4♠10♣6♣Q♥ could not save Barer from his demise and he left the table while the other players bagged up their chips for the final day.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
David Kaufmann |
24,800,000
5,250,000
|
5,250,000 |
|
||
Ami Barer | Eliminato |
David Kaufmann raised to 400,000 in early position and Lorenzo Arduini tanked for 30 seconds before putting in his last 350,000 on the button. Owen Dodd also called in the big blind.
Kaufmann and Dodd checked the 8♣10♥6♥ flop and the 9♥ fell on the turn. Kaufmann then bet 250,000 and Dodd folded, showing only the A♣.
"I guess I'm dead," Arduini said as he showed 3♦3♣. Kaufmann turned over Q♦7♦ for a straight. "Dead to a chop," Arduini added.
The river was the 10♦ and Kaufmann secured the pot to send Arduini to the rail in eighth place.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
David Kaufmann |
19,550,000
1,050,000
|
1,050,000 |
|
||
Owen Dodd |
3,050,000
-700,000
|
-700,000 |
Lorenzo Arduini | Eliminato |
Lorenzo Arduini open-shoved from the small blind barely covering Ami Barer in the big blind. Barer called his 2,325,000 stack off and the cards were flipped over.
Ami Barer: A♠10♥
Lorenzo Arduini: A♦7♣
The Q♥5♥9♣Q♦ runout brought some chop opportunities, but the 4♦ river sealed Arduini's fate as he was left with less than two big blinds.
Barer, meanwhile, doubled up to a stack of almost 25 big blinds.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
Ami Barer |
4,850,000
2,320,000
|
2,320,000 |
Lorenzo Arduini |
350,000
-2,330,000
|
-2,330,000 |
David Kaufmann raised to 400,000 in the hijack with A♥3♥ and Lorenzo Arduini called holding K♠Q♣ in the big blind.
Arduini hit top pair on the Q♠5♥2♣ flop and checked to Kaufmann who continued for 275,000. Arduini called.
The 4♦ fell on the turn and Kaufmann improved to a straight. He bet 1,000,000 and Arduini again called.
The river was the 5♦ and Kaufmann slid forward a tower of red 100,000 chips for a bet totaling 2,000,000. Arduini snap-called, then mucked when Kaufmann turned over his cards to take in the massive pot.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
David Kaufmann |
18,500,000
3,970,000
|
3,970,000 |
|
||
Lorenzo Arduini |
2,680,000
-3,870,000
|
-3,870,000 |
Ami Barer looked down at K♥K♦ in early position and raised to 450,000. David Kaufmann called in the cutoff with A♦Q♣ before the rest of the table got out of the way.
Barer continued for the minimum of 200,000 on the 7♣A♠8♥ flop and Kaufmann made the call. Barer threw in one time bank card before checking on the subsequent 9♥ turn, and Kaufmann followed suit.
The 8♣ then completed the board and Barer checked once more. Kaufmann decided to fire 1,000,000 chips and a quick fold followed by Barer, who left himself with just under 13 big blinds.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
David Kaufmann |
14,530,000
1,150,000
|
1,150,000 |
|
||
Ami Barer |
2,530,000
-470,000
|
-470,000 |
David Kaufmann limped in from the small blind with K♠9♦ and Aleksejs Ponakovs checked his A♦9♣ in the big blind. Both players checked on the 10♦2♥7♦ flop as well as the 6♥ turn.
The 4♥ turn was also knuckled down and Ponakov's ace-high won him the small pot.
Giocatore | Chip | Avanzamento |
---|---|---|
David Kaufmann |
13,380,000
-200,000
|
-200,000 |
|
||
Aleksejs Ponakovs |
10,150,000
200,000
|
200,000 |