EPT10 Vienna: Habib Takes €2,000 Turbo; Hof Wins Ladies Event, & More Side Event News

March 27, 2014

For the third time in its history, the European Poker Tour featured a stop in Vienna. For the past week, the EPT, alongside the Eureka Poker Tour, has been playing out at the stunning Hofburg Palace, which is one of Austria’s premiere tourist attractions.

PokerNews has been on hand to capture all the emerging stories, which incudes Hungary’s Zoltan Gal winning the record-breaking Eureka Poker Tour Vienna Main Event, and Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov taking down the Eureka Poker Tour €2,000 High Roller for €149,400. In addition, we caught up with high-stakes legend Gus Hansen on the latest edition of the PokerNews Podcast.

The EPT10 Vienna is a 40-event festival, and this past weekend some of those tournaments played out. Here’s a look at some of the winners in the various side events.

Walid Bou Habib Wins EPT Vienna €2,000 Turbo for €107,700

On Wednesday night, EPT9 Deauville runner-up Walid Bou Habib won the EPT Vienna €2,000 Turbo event. The 43-year-old Lebanese engineer, who is a serial online qualifier on PokerStars, cut a deal with British pro Tom Hall in heads-up play to take the title and €107,700 first prize.

The tournament attracted 319 runners and created a prize pool of €618,860. That was spread out among the top 47 players with some notables cashing including Steve O’Dwyer (47th - €3,530), Andrew Chen (34th - €3,960), Anton Wigg (19th - €6,370), Todd Terry (14th - €8,230), and Jason Wheeler (12th - €9,160).

Habib, who lives in Beirut and is part of a close-knit group of Lebanese players who compete on the EPT, is the current No. 4 tournament player in his country with more than $1.2 million in live tournament winnings.

As well as his Deauville second place for €475,000, he also went deep at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2011 and the EPT4 Grand Final, and has a further nine cashes on the tour. However, last night’s victory is by far his biggest tournament win.

Here's a look at the final table results:

Friend of PokerStars Natalie Hof Wins EPT10 Vienna Ladies Event

While Day 1a of the Vienna Main Event and the final table of the Eureka High Roller headlined Sunday's action at the Hofburg Palace, another tournament — the EPT10 Vienna €330 Women's Event — was playing out across the room.

The tournament attracted 61 participants, which created a prize pool of €17,751. In the end, Friend of PokerStars Natalie Hof from Germany made it to heads-up play against Hungary's Laszlone Balics. Hof was on the verge of elimination holding JxJx against Balics' AxAx, but a lucky jack on the river extended her tournament life. Not long after, Hof claimed the trophy and €5,325 first-place prize.

Ladies event results:

Saber Captures Event #3 Title

Event #3 €200 NLHE Turbo Deepstack attracted 350 players and created a prize pool of €67,900. Among those to cash were Pavel Chalupka (47th - €390), Darius Wilgos (39th - €435), Imre Lascsik (30th - €495), Roger Heidlmayr (19th - €700), and Josef Mull (9th - €1,360).

Here's a look at the final table results from that event:

“Deuces Wild” Event a Success in Vienna

Another preliminary event that has completed here at the EPT Vienna was Event #6 €120 NLH Deuces Wild Deepstack. The tournament attracted 192 players and created a prize pool of €18,624.

The Eureka Poker Tour Main Event, which was happening the same day, meant the “Deuces Wild” tournament began with just eight tables. There was a long list of alternates, and over the course of the next two hours the field swelled to nearly 200 players. The tournament organizers seemed a bit overwhelmed, but they were no doubt pleased with the turnout.

Now there are two important rules you must understand in the “Deuces Wild” event. The first is that five of a kind is a legitimate hand, and according to their rankings it beats a straight flush, but not a royal flush. The second rule was that a player couldn’t play with pocket deuces. If a player happened to wake up with “ducks” (which happened just once at our table in the first 10 levels), they simply tabled the hand and won the blinds and antes. The reason for this, according to one floor, is that having pocket deuces ensures you the nuts no matter what, thus all skill is removed from the game.

Read more on the "Deuces Wild" Tournament over at Learn.PokerNews.com.

Everyone involved seemed to have a good time, though most would admit the strategy was much different than a normal no-limit hold'em tournament. Here’s a look at the eight players who figured it out best:

_{*Denotes heads-up deal.}

Germany’s Fritz Emerges Victorious in Event #8

Event #8: €250 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed Double Chance attracted 107 players and created a prize pool of €25,948.

Here's a look at the results from that tournament:

Score one for the Czech Republic

Event #9: €330 NLHE Turbo Deepstack attracted 286 players and created a prize pool of €83,226. Here's a look at the results from that tournament:

_{*Denotes three-handed deal.}

Congrats to Dimitry Chop, Winner of the €500 Pot Limit 7-Card Stud Deepstack Turbo

Event #16: €500 Pot-Limit 7-Card Stud Deepstack Turbo attracted 35 players and created a prize pool of €16,975. Russian player Dimitri Chop won the event for €5,770 after defeating Max Pescatori known as “The Italian Pirate," in heads-up play. Pescatori took home €3,990 for his runner-up finish.

Here's a look at the results from that event:

Here are some various other preliminary results:

EPT10 Vienna Event #17 €2,000 NLH Grand Final Hybrid

EPT10 Vienna Event #19 €550 PLO Turbo

EPT10 Vienna Event #20 €100 NLH Always 20 BB Unlimited Rebuy

_{*Denotes three-handed deal}

EPT10 Vienna Event #21 €555 NLHE 1R&A to EPT Grand Final

Remember, you can follow our live updates from both the EPT10 Vienna Main Event and €10,300 High Roller all week long by visiting our live reporting section.

_{*Photos courtesy of PokerStars.}

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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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