Dzmitry Urbanovich Leads Final 6 in EPT Dublin Main Event
After an exciting Day 5, rising star Dzmitry Urbanovich leads the final six players in the 2016 European Poker Tour Dublin Main Event with a first prize of €561,900 awaiting the winner.
The penultimate day of the tournament started with a bang. The returning field of 16 was cut down to 15 after the first hand, as the last Canadian player, Christopher Kruk, made his exit. He ran ace-seven into ace-queen. Table mate Jiachen Gong departed just minutes later, running sixes into Gilles Bernies' aces, then over on the feature table, Frank Williams ran tens into aces and went broke. Before anyone knew it, the tournament was down to 13.
Play settled down a little, but it didn't take long for the next all-in-and-call situation. Matias Ruzzi and Adrian Mateos got their chips in the middle before the flop and for a second it looked like another bust out was upon us. Mateos had aces and Ruzzi had kings, but the king-high flop kept Ruzzi alive and doubled him up.
Mateos was short after that, but he wasn't the next to depart. Tomas MacNamara was also short and in desperate need of a double up. He was down to 17 big blinds and wagered it all with queen-jack suited. Kuljinder Sidhu called with ace-jack and sent his countryman packing.
While Mateos doubled with queens through Rhys Jones' fives, Ruzzi seemed to have used up all of his run good. Action folded to him in the small blind, and he pushed with queen-seven suited. Ivan Banic called with ace-eight and had Ruzzi drawing dead on the turn.
One-time chip leader Alex Goulder was the next player to be eliminated. He pushed all in with ace-king after a raise from Sidhu. Sidhu called with jacks and flopped top set to eliminate Goulder in 11th place, the second 11th-place EPT finish for the British pro after the same result at EPT Deauville in 2014.
Despite his earlier double up, Mateos would not make the final table, but instead fall in 10th place. Mateos flopped a set of sevens and got it in against the top pair and open-ended straight draw of Rhys Jones. The turn was a blank, but the river brought Rhys his straight and the dream of becoming the second two-time EPT champion was gone for Mateos.
Now down to nine, the two tables merged to the unofficial final table with Bernies in the lead. Mikhail Petrov would be the last player to get eliminated without having the honor of calling himself an official EPT final tablist when he pushed all in with ace-six and was looked up by ace-jack. A jack on the flop pushed Petrov out the door by the time the river hit.
With the final table set, there was no break, no photo moment, and certainly not a final bag-and-tag procedure. Play continued right away and it didn't take long before Ivan Banic made his exit in eighth place. He ran ace-eight into kings and collected €60,750 for his deep run.
Slowly but steadily, Urbanovich grew his stack. He got a couple of three-bets through, took a mid-sized post-flop pot down, and then struck gold against Bernies in a battle of the blinds. He flopped trips and rivered a full house in a pot where Bernies led out on both the turn and river. Urbanovich raised the turn and river and got called both times.
It took quite some time for the next player to get eliminated. Eventually, it was Swiss player Alexandre Meylan who was the unlucky one. He doubled up with kings through fives, but lost it all again in a big pot where he flopped a gutshot royal flush draw. Patrick Clarke called with top pair and saw his hand hold up.
EPT Dublin Event Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gilles Bernies | Germany | 2,735,000 | 55 |
| 2 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | Poland | 5,125,000 | 103 |
| 3 | Patrick Clarke | Ireland | 4,300,000 | 86 |
| 4 | Kuljinder Sidhu | United Kingdom | 3,260,000 | 65 |
| 5 | Iliodoros Kamatakis | Greece | 1,965,000 | 39 |
| 6 | Rhys Jones | United Kingdom | 740,000 | 15 |
Play will get back underway Saturday, Feb. 20, at 1 p.m. local time. The final table will be broadcast with hole cards face up on a one-hour delay, and so will the PokerNews coverage.
In the meantime, keep your eyes on PokerNews.com as we'll bring you updates from the €10,300 High Roller all night long.
Also, don't forget to check out the following interview with the last Irishman standing, Patrick Clarke.