Davidi Kitai wins the EPT Berlin 2012

Posted by cover_en
11:45 PM
21
Apr 12
20

It was a roller coaster ride in a very entertaining Heads-Up battle between Andrew Chen and Davidi Kitai. As the Blinds reached 100,000-200,000 / Ante 30,000 the Canadian was under pressure when he had less than 10 Big Blinds and his Belgian opponent shoved all-in from the Small Blind with Chen calling in lightspeed:

Kitai: K♦ 7♥

Chen: A♦ Q♥

The Flop K♥ 6♠ 6♦ brought the lead for the Belgian and after the 3♠ fell on the Turn, only an Ace could save the Canadian to stay alive. The K♠ on the River was no help anymore and the new winner was found. Not only has Davidi Kitai now won a Main Event of the European Poker Tour, but he also has a WSOP Bracelet and took down the 2011 WPT LA Poker Classic Invitational to become the next member of the elusive “Triple Crown” club.

He is also the first Belgian to overcome the last obstacle and ensure a victory on the European Poker Tour, after the recent win of Kevin Vandersmissen at the Irish Open 2012 can very well be described as Year of the Belgians thus far. Below you can find the official results of the Final Table here at the Grand Hyatt in Berlin:

PositionPlayerNationalityPrize (EUR)
1Davidi KitaiBelgium712,000
2Andrew ChenCanada613,000
3André MorathGermany290,000
4Mario PucciniGermany220,000
5Bahadir KilickeserGermany172,000
6César GarcíaSpain133,000
7Marc WrightUK97,000
8Pratyush BuddigaUSA72,000

Andrew Chen Eliminated in 2nd Place (€613,000)

Posted by cover_en
11:30 PM
21
Apr 12
20

It was a roller coaster ride in Heads-Up with both players up and down several times, ultimately Andrew Chen had to bow down as underdog when the Blinds reached 100,000-200,000 / Ante 30,000 and he had less than 10 Big Blinds left. Preflop, Davidi Kitai shoved all-in from the Small Blind and Chen made the call:

Kitai: K♦ 7♥

Chen: A♦ Q♥

On the Flop K♥ 6♠ 6♦ the Belgian took the lead and once the 3♠ fell on the Turn, only an Ace could save the Canadian to stay alive and double up. The K♠ on the River brought an end to a long tournament and Heads-Up battle, that was quite entertaining with a lot of moves and action filled intensity. After a deal prior to the start of the Heads-Up, Andrew Chen takes home 613,000€ for his efforts.

André Morath eliminated in 3rd place

Posted by cover_en
7:50 PM
21
Apr 12
20

Andrew Chen raised to 240,000 from the Button with Blinds at 60,000-120,000 / ante 20,000 and A♦ J♣, quite a premium hand with 3 left. André Morath reraised all in for 2.445 Million out of the Big Blind with A♥ 3♥ and the Canadian made the call with the dominating hand and stack preflop.

The flop K♠ J♥ 10♠ gave away some chop outs, the 6♥ brought an additional flushdraw but the 9♦ on the River ended the tournament for the Online Qualifier in 3rd place for a grand payday of 290,000€.

Davidi   Kitai12,035,000
Andrew   Chen10,285,000

Soon after, both contenders for the title here at the Grand Hyatt Berlin were off to a one hour dinner break to get something to eat.

Mario Puccini eliminated in 4th place

Posted by cover_en
7:03 PM
21
Apr 12
20

The action is folded to Mario Puccini in the Small Blind and he raised to 225,000 at Blinds 50,000-100,000 / Ante 10,000, which gets called by his fellow countryman André Morath in the Big Blind. On the Flop 4♥ A♠ 2♠ Morath check-raises all-in for 1,880,000 with 4♠ 5♠ and after some hesitation, Puccini made the call with A♣ Q♣. The Turn 9♠ instantly completed the Flush and “pokerccini” was drawing dead, the River was just a formality.

Down to 2.3 Mi0 in Chips, the German pushed all-in with J♠ 10♥ and was called by Davidi Kitai with Q♦ Q♥. The Flop 9♥ 2♣ K♥ brought a gutshot and now the Belgian didn’t want to hit a set, but Turn 7♥ and River 2♠ were no threat anymore and Mario Puccini was sent to the rail in 4th place for 220,000€.

Three handed Chip Counts:

Davidi   Kitai11,745,000
Andrew   Chen6,405,000
André Morath4,170,000

5th place for Bahadir Kilickeser (172,000€)

Posted by cover_en
5:07 PM
21
Apr 12
20

Bahadir Kilickeser has been playing very aggressive and creative, but it did not help much to keep his stack up and instead he fell to the bottom of the ranking and needed a double-up. Andrew Chen raised from the Button and after Davidi Kitai got out of the way, Bahadir Kilickeser defended his Big Blind with 7♣ 5♣. On the flop 8♠ J♣ 7♦ the German check-raised all-in to create a pot of 4,660,000 Chips and after some consideration, the Canadian made the call with K♠ J♠.

Chen very much liked his call after Kilickeser flipped over bottom pair and the 3♦ as well as the 2♠ did not change anything towards the outcome of the hand. Bahadir Kilickeser has been eliminated in 5th place for 172,000€ and all remaining 4 players are already guaranteed smooth 220,000€!

César García out in 6th place (133,000€)

Posted by cover_en
4:20 PM
21
Apr 12
20

The number one ranked Spanish Online MTT player according to Pocket Fives, César García, has been eliminated in 6th place for 133,000€. Mario Puccini opened to 120,000 from under the gun and Andrew Chen three-bet to 310,000 with a rather speculative 10♣ 8♣. César García picked up A♣ K♦ in the Big Blind and moved all in for 1,580,000, Puccini reshoved all-in (after he had folded twice K-Q against Queens) with Q♦ Q♠ and Toronto based Chen mucked his cards almost instantly.

The Board ran out 5♣ 7♥ 5♥ 2♦ 3♥ and we are down to 5 players, César García has been sent to the rail and he picks up 133,000€ for his performance at the EPT Berlin Main Event 2012.

Marc Wright caught bluffing – out in 7th

Posted by cover_en
3:50 PM
21
Apr 12
20

Marc Wright opened to 125,000 from Early Position and called the three-bet of Davidi Kitai to 285,000. On the flop 4♦ A♦ 8♠ the Belgian continued for another 235,000 and was called before the 10♣ appeared on the Turn. The second barrel for 550,000 was fired by Kitai and this time Wright went over the top for 2,890,000.

It took more than five minutes, but the Belgian made the call and it was a great one:

Kitai: A♥ K♣
Wright: Q♠ J♠

The double gutshot straight draw of the Brit did not arrive when the 3♣ hit the river and he has been eliminated in 7th place for 97,000€, whereas Kitai takes a huge step foward to the potential triple crown and bumped his stack to 9 Mio in Chips.

Pratyush Buddiga eliminated in 8th Place (€72,000)

Posted by cover_en
2:15 PM
21
Apr 12
20

We have lost our first player! Preflop, Pratyush Buddiga  opened to 100,000 from under the gun and the action folded around to Bahadir Kilickeser on the Button, who three-bet to 260,000. Everyone else got out of the way and Buddiga moved all in for 1,165,000 in total … Kilickeser took a long time before announcing “call” and he was behind:

Kilickeser: A♠ 10♣
Buddiga: A♣ Q♥

The shortstack at the start of the Final Table was looking forward to a double up and the Flop 9♦ 2♠ 6♠ was a good one, but the 10♥ on the Turn changed the situation for him dramatically. Only a Queen could help him to stay alive, the A♥ on the river though was no help and he is the first player to hit the rail in 8th place for 72,000€.

Welcome to the Final Table of EPT Berlin

Posted by cover_en
12:55 PM
21
Apr 12
20

There are 31:11 left in Level 26 at Blinds 20,000-40,000 / Ante 5,000 and the average is at 2,793,750 Chips, all remaining 8 players have gathered around the TV table and the friends are also on the rail. The winner will take home a smooth 825,000€ and they start into the Final Day of the EPT Berlin Main Event 2012 with the following stacks:

SeatPlayerChips
1César García1,485,000
2Pratyush Buddiga1,280,000
3Mario Puccini2,065,000
4André Morath1,940,000
5Andrew Chen3,600,000
6Davidi Kitai5,695,000
7Bahadir Kilickeser4,640,000
8Marc Wright1,540,000

The payouts for the top 8 can be found below:

Place Prize (EUR)
1825,000
2500,000
3290,000
4220,000
5172,000
6133,000
797,000
872,000

Davidi Kitai leads after Day 4 is completed

Posted by cover_en
8:20 PM
20
Apr 12
20

Day 4 of the Main Event here at the Grand Hyatt is done and we have 8 players left for tomorrow’s Final Table of the European Poker Tour in Berlin. Belgian Davidi Kitai is looking to become the first player to take down a Main Event of the EPT after 4 runner up finishes for his home country to far. The Russian Roulette for Vladimir Geshkenbein ended in position 10 after a roller coaster ride throughout the day and none of the other two former EPT Champions made it to the Final 8 either.

The Chip Counts for the Final Table, that kicks off at 12:00 local time and will be broadcasted live in German TV with a 1h delay, can be found below:

SeatPlayerChips
1Cesar Garcia Domínguez1,485,000
2Pratyush Buddiga1,280,000
3Mario Puccini2,065,000
4André Morath1,940,000
5Andrew Chen3,600,000
6Davidi Kitai5,695,000
7Bahadir Kilickeser4,640,000
8Marc Wright1,540,000

Another indication of the good run for Belgium at the EPT Berlin is the victory of Charlotte van Brabander in the 330€ Ladies Event. She cashed in her first ever EPT Main Event and proceeded to beat 26 opponents to bring home the next Ladies title to Belgium after the recent victory of Magia Keshia Vandamme at Madrid.