Konstantinos Nanos Wins 2015 World Poker Tour Vienna Main Event
It took just 81 hands to get from six to a winner in the 2015 partypoker World Poker Tour Vienna Main Event. After five hours of play, Konstantinos Nanos came out on top, deafeating Vladimir Krastev to win the €150,000 first-place prize and a ticket for the WPT World Championship worth $15,400.
Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konstantinos Nanos | Germany | €150,000 |
| 2 | Vladimir Krastev | Austria | €103,000 |
| 3 | Thomas Bichon | France | €65,000 |
| 4 | Andreas Freund | Austria | €49,000 |
| 5 | Gaelle Baumann | France | €35,500 |
| 6 | Sotirios Koutoupas | Greece | €29,500 |
The tournament started at the Montesino Vienna Card Casino at 1 p.m. local time with Krastev in the lead of a tough final table.
It wouldn't be a good day for Sotirios Koutoupas. In the third hand of the day, he doubled up Thomas Bichon. Bichon flopped top two and turned a full house, and Koutoupas turned a flush. The two got it in on the river, and Koutoupas was crippled. Two hands later Koutoupas hit the rail.
Gaëlle Baumann, presumably the first pregnant lady on a WPT final table in its long history, was to go next. She first doubled with ace-queen to ace-eight, but two hands later she found ace-ten suited in the small blind and four-bet shoved against Krastev. Krastev, who was the one who doubled Baumann moments ago, got his chips back when he called with ace-queen and flopped a queen. Baumann took home €35,500 for her fifth-place finish.
Andreas Freund was eliminated on Hand #24 of the day, and again it was Krastev ending someone's tournament. Freund had first doubled up Bichon to find himself short stacked with king-nine in the small blind. He pushed and Krastev made the call with king-jack from the big blind. Both players hit their kicker on the fop, and the turn and river were blanks. Freund got €49,000 for fourth place.
The biggest hand of the tournament happened not much later.
Everything was going smoothly for Krastev, but a big misstep cost him a lot of chips. He raised from the button to 65,000, and Nanos three-bet to 175,000 from the big blind. Krastev almost instantly four-bet to 390,000. Nanos tanked for quite a bit before five-betting to 875,000 with about 1.6 million behind. Krastev took his time and eventually he announced, "All in."
"Call," Nanos snapped, as he tabled the A♣A♦.
Krastev showed the K♦Q♦, but he was in a lot of trouble in the pot that was worth over 75% of the chips in play. The board ran out 8♣9♦5♣4♦Q♥, and Nanos' pair of aces held up. He celebrated loudly, kissed the WPT Champions trophy, and sat back down to receive 2.48 million chips from his opponent.
Krastev was short from that moment on, but so was Bichon. Krastev doubled up and Bichon was looking to do the same, but the former WPT champion wouldn't succeed. He pushed with king-nine and got called by Krastev holding ace-eight. The board blanked out and Bichon left in third place, good for €65,000.
When heads-up play began, Nanos had exactly twice the chips Krastev did.
Krastev's momentum was gone ever since the big pot with king-queen against Nanos' aces, and he never got it back. During heads-up play, it was Nanos running the show and winning most of the pots. He worked Krastev down multiple times, but Krastev did manage to stay alive for a bit — sometimes going in with the best hand, other times with a small miracle on the river.
In the end, Nanos got lucky to end it. In a single-raised pot, Nanos check-raised all in on the 7♠9♦Q♠ flop, and Krastev made the call. Nanos had the J♥10♥ for a straight straight, and Krastev top pair, top kicker with the A♦Q♦. The 8♠ on the turn sealed it, and WPT Vienna had its champion. The 8♣ on the river made things official, and Krastev finished runner-up for €103,000.
Next up for the PokerNews Live Reporting team is Malta for the European Poker Tour and Global Poker Masters. Coverage from the small country in the Mediterranean Sea starts Wednesday, so stay tuned.
*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
