Sunday’s European Poker Tour Paris Main Event was dominated by Razvan Belea of Romania, who displayed a dazzling show of poker. Belea overcame Peter Jorgne of Sweden in heads-up play to win the million-plus Euro prize. Belea held the lead from Day Four onwards. For Belea, it was even more exciting since he qualified for the event via a PokerStars-sponsored online tournament.
Saturday’s Dominance Results in a Short Final Table
During Saturday’s Day Five, Belea had a significant advantage over the other fifteen competitors. Following the Romanian were Johan Schultz-Pedersen and Denzel Spekman, but neither would survive the day’s play. Belea, on the other hand, was able to parlay a power poker approach with his chip stack, which was aided by capturing the cards at the appropriate moment.
Belea eliminated Sven Stok in the opening hand of the day when Stok’s pocket kings ran against Belea’s pocket aces. As soon as the official EPT final table was set, Belea would accomplish the feat again by eliminating Schultz-Pedersen (an eight-handed table). Yet, the action did not end there, nor did Belea.
It was a fortunate circumstance for Belea that she defeated Spekman for seventh place. As Spekman raised the pot with A-J, Belea went a bit risky by three-betting with Q-9. Spekman called and was successful on the A-4-2 flip.
As Spekman checked, Belea placed another large wager, and after Spekman called, a Queen appeared on the turn. Still lagging behind, Belea elected to check his choice this time when Spekman passed the responsibility to him. The thunderbolt on the river was the nine, giving Belea a pair of queens, and Spekman selected the wrong time to get aggressive. He would push his stack to the middle, but Belea carefully assessed his position and decided to eliminate Spekman.
When Fabrice Bigot eliminated Day Three’s chip leader Konstantin Held in sixth place, play was suspended until Sunday’s Final Day:
- Razvan Belea (Romania), 16.125 million
- Peter Jorgne (Sweden), 10.775 million
- Brian Delaney (Great Britain), 10,425 million
- Fabrice Bigot (France), 9.625 million
- Henri Kasper (Estonia), 1.725 million
A Strong Lead Leads to Victory
During the final table of the EPT Paris Main Event, Belea never seemed to be in jeopardy. In a three-way struggle with Bigot and Delaney on Championship Day, he was able to be paid off after flopping a full flush and winning the pot. Jorgne was able to eliminate Kasper in fifth place, but Belea was able to gather more than half of the chips in play with four hands remaining.
Who will challenge Belea for the EPT Paris Main Event title was the deciding factor. Bigot attempted to force his way into the last twosome, but fell short and placed fourth. Delaney would attempt to enter the heads-up match, but Jorgne would prevent him from doing so. When it came down to the fight of Belea and Jorgne, it seemed to be only a matter of time until it occurred.
Since French law prohibits a tournament host from facilitating a trade, Belea went into combat with a stack of 33,3 million versus Jorgne’s stack of 14,875,000. Jorgne was never able to make a significant hole in Belea’s stack despite their almost two-hour-long battle. Jorgne found himself in a scenario like that of Sisyphus whenever he was able to claw his way to the top.
On the last hand, Belea (with 7-6) bet to 800K, and Jorgne (10-6) called to see a 10-5-3 flop. Jorgne check-raised Belea’s open-ended straight draw, who made the call, after striking top pair. In the turn, a four gave Belea an unbeatable straight, and the pyrotechnics began.
On the fourth turn, Jorgne decided to open the betting to 2,6 million, but Belea was not satisfied. After receiving a call from Jorgne, the players watched a second four hit the river after he bet 5.6 million. When Jorgne pushed all-in on the river, all notions of either guy slowing down were immediately discarded.
Even though he informed Jorgne on the live broadcast, “I don’t believe I can fold this one,” Belea seemed unconcerned about the board and finally made the decision. Razvan Belea was declared the winner of the EPT Paris Main Event when the cards were dealt and a straight was shown.
- Razvan Belea (Romania), €1,170,000
- Peter Jorgne (Sweden), €780,100
- Fabrice Bigot (France), €535,850
- Brian Delaney (Great Britain), €412,200
- Henri Kasper (Estonia), €317,050
- Konstantin Held, €244,000*
- Denzel Spekman (Netherlands), €187,650*
- Johan Schultz-Pedersen (Denmark), €144,300*
(* – eliminated on Saturday, official EPT final table participant)
Source: www.pokernewsdaily.com
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