Remi Castaignon - 2013 EPT Deauville Main Event Champion
Insurance broker Remi Castaignon entered the final table as a huge chip leader but early on it looked as though things were going to fall apart after a huge hero call went wrong. However, the Frenchman hunkered down and redoubled his efforts, managing to arrest his slide down the chip counts and become only the second Frenchman to win an EPT in Deauville after Lucien Cohen completed the same feat in season 7.
After a grueling penultimate day, the players returned to the final table with relatively short stacks leading to setups that no amount of skill would be able to stop. Jeffrey Hakim, one of three Lebanese players to make the final, was eliminated in just the second hand - a victim of a cooler against [Removed:4].
Hakim's exit wasn't the early talking point surprisingly, instead all the attention was on a hand between Castaignon and Rudelitz where the two tangled in an 8 million-chip pot which saw the chip lead change hands after the Frenchman made a huge call on the river.
By this point, Castaignon had recovered his stack from a low point of 3 million and, alongside Rudelitz and Bou Habib, was once again well stacked. Robert Romeo was the lone short stack and fought on manfully, managing to double up several times.
Meanwhile Rudelitz lost several critical pots to both Castaignon and Bou Habib, eventually exiting in fourth position. After this Romeo suffered the same fate as Jeff Hakim at the start of the day running ace-king into aces to bust out in third.
Castaignon started the heads up battle with a decent chip lead and gradually began to grind away at Bou Habib, managing to take a 3:1 chip advantage before the crucial hand that decided the fate of the title.
The next EPT for the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be in London next month. Always one of the biggest events of the year, it'll no doubt be another cracker from the capital of the United Kingdom.
Walid Bou Habib opened to 325,000, a standard raise but Remi Castaignon made it 1,025,000 in the big blind in a larger than expected three-bet.
"He's wanting to play for stacks here," said the commentary team.
Bou Habib thought for a couple of minutes, the Lebanese player hasn't ever really tank-folded many hands, if he's thinking about the hand then he's more likely to push his chips in the middle than the cards. Bou Habib then moved all in for 6,285,000 and immediately Castaignon asked for a count.
It was about a third of the Frenchman's remaining stack meaning that if he called and lost then the two would be almost exactly level. After a minute more, he quietly said, "Call."
Habib:
Castaignon:
A fair few people were surprized to see these two hands but it was still a coin flip. The flop came giving both players a straight draw and now Bou Habib's salvation lied with either a king, eight or seven.
The turn was the - a swing and a miss for the short stack and he had just one card left to save his tournament life. The river came down and was flicked over by the dealer, it was the , close but not enough for Bou Habib who'll have to make do with a second place finish worth €475,000.
Remi Castaignon raised to 325,000 from the button/small blind but Walid Bou Habib made it 825,000 from the big blind. Castaignon made the call to see a flop of which both players checked.
The came on the turn and Bou Habib checked a second time, it was like a red flag to a bull for the Frenchman who bet an interestingly small 400,000. Bou Habib called to see the pair the board on the river before checking a third time.
Castaignon reached deep and pulled out several stacks before making a substantial bet of 1.5 million, but this was too much for the Lebanese player who folded again.
Walid Bou Habib limped on the button for 160,000 before Remi Castaignon bumped the price up to 450,000. Habib gave it a minute before making the call to see a flop.
Both players checked to see the on the turn and Castaignon led out for 850,000 this time. Bou Habib made the call and the dealer pushed out the on the river.
This time Castaignon bet a substantial 1.5 million, but Bou Habib had no intent of folding and made the call. The Frenchman turned over for two pair and Bou Habib mucked - Castaignon has over a 2:1 chip lead now.
Remi Castaignon raised to 250,000 preflop from the button, Robert Romeo then three-bet to 550,000 in the small blind. Walid Bou Habib got out of the way and Castaignon brought out the plaques, four-betting to an amount we weren't able to ascertain. The reason for that was that Romeo announced all in and Castaignon instantly called.
Romeo:
Castaignon:
The flop came and Romeo needed running cards to survive. The gave him some split outs but the river wasn't one of them and instead the man who qualified for just $4 has made a decent return on his investment.
Remi Castaignon opened for 250,000 from the button, and [Removed:4] rapidly reraised all in for 3,245,000. It folded back to Castaignon who snap-called, and the pair both turned over their hands.
Rudelitz:
Castaignon:
The flop came , then the fell on the turn and Rudelitz was down to needing one of the remaining aces to survive. The dealer then put turned over the river card — the — and after leading early on today the young German has been knocked out in fourth
[Removed:4] raised preflop to 240,000 from UTG/CO and Walid Bou Habib made the call to see a flop of . Bou Habib check-called a bet of 250,000 from Rudelitz before both players checked the turn.
So when the came on the river, no-one was expecting a explosion of action to occur. Bou Habib led out for a chunky looking 725,000 but Rudelitz brought out two stacks of the new 100,000 chip plaques and pushed them into the middle to make it 2 million to go.
Bou Habib took about two minutes before announcing all in for 7.7million as the two biggest stack were now seemingly going to war. Rudelitz looked distinctly pained as if not expecting this to have happened but after a couple more minutes the German made the fold.
Remi Castaignon raised to 200,000 from under the gun and got a single caller in Franck Kalfon on the button who left himself but 1,220,000 behind. The blinds stepped aside, and the flop came .
Castaignon led at the flop for 275,000. Kalfon sat upright and put on his sunglasses, then began counting out his remaining chips, first putting them in many small stacks before him, then reassembling them all into a couple of columns before pushing all in. Castaignon called right away.
Kalfon:
Castaignon:
Kalfon had flopped top pair with a spade flush draw, while Castaignon had the overpair of aces. The turn then came the , the crowd yelling out at the sight of the card. Kalfon had taken the lead with two pair, but his advantage was short-lived as the river then brought the , putting a pair on board and thus giving Castaignon the best hand.
Joseph El Khoury - 6th place (shaking hands with [Removed:4])
[Removed:4] raised to 200,000 from UTG and it was passed around to Joseph El Khoury in the big blind, who opted to just call the raise with about 750,000 behind.
Both players checked the flop before El Khoury checked the turn, now Rudelitz bet 250,000 and El Khoury check-raised all in. A slight dwell from the German but he made the call for the extra half million.
Rudelitz:
El Khoury:
The short stack was in massive trouble and needed an ace or seven to survive but the came on the river instead. Rudelitz moved back over the eight million mark while El Khoury goes out in sixth place.
Noel Gaens raised to 300,000 from UTG with a short-stack and it was passed around to Walid Bou Habib in the big blind. The Lebanese player thought for a moment and set Gaens all in, the latter didn't look too happy but felt himself priced in to call off his chips.
Gaens:
Bou Habib:
The flop didn't improve either player and the on the turn left the Belgian drawing to one of just two remaining tens in the deck but the river was another and with that, Bou Habib has solidified his position in second place.
![[user76023]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
giving both players a straight draw and now Bou Habib's salvation lied with either a king, eight or seven.
- a swing and a miss for the short stack and he had just one card left to save his tournament life. The river came down and was flicked over by the dealer, it was the 
, close but not enough for Bou Habib who'll have to make do with a second place finish worth €475,000.
which both players checked.
came on the turn and Bou Habib checked a second time, it was like a red flag to a bull for the Frenchman who bet an interestingly small 400,000. Bou Habib called to see the 
pair the board on the river before checking a third time.
flop.
on the turn and Castaignon led out for 850,000 this time. Bou Habib made the call and the dealer pushed out the 
for two pair and Bou Habib mucked - Castaignon has over a 2:1 chip lead now.
![[Removed:4] - 4th place](https://s.pnimg.net/XKsuUkHqzfX12febLtCkNAS3oRH9Ep_7l0ORjp__cI8/pr:reporting-leading-desktop/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbmlt/Zy5uZXQvbHJlcC8x/ODMwLzcxL3g5OTM4/ZDZmY2JmLmpwZw.webp)
fell on the turn and Rudelitz was down to needing one of the remaining aces to survive. The dealer then put turned over the river card — the 
. Bou Habib check-called a bet of 250,000 from Rudelitz before both players checked the 
came on the river, no-one was expecting a explosion of action to occur. Bou Habib led out for a chunky looking 725,000 but Rudelitz brought out two stacks of the new 100,000 chip plaques and pushed them into the middle to make it 2 million to go.
![Joseph El Khoury - 6th place (shaking hands with [Removed:4])](https://s.pnimg.net/K5_qOJW1i99V8mjEnGj8SG9jGuX9IZNWzoFMk_1tjks/pr:reporting-leading-desktop/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbmlt/Zy5uZXQvbHJlcC8x/ODMwLzcxL3hhZTE3/OWI2MWVhLmpwZw.webp)
turn, now Rudelitz bet 250,000 and El Khoury check-raised all in. A slight dwell from the German but he made the call for the extra half million.
