Christopher Puetz Crowned WPT Germany Main Event Champion at King's Resort
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After topping a field of 510 entries, Germany's Christopher Puetz has won the World Poker Tour Germany Main Event for €270,000, becoming the latest WPT Champions Club member.
According to the updates Puetz started playing poker two years ago whilst a student, and is now the 23-year-old is set to compete in the WPT Tournament of Champions later this year, after winning a $15,000 seat to the tournament.
Puetz defeated Hungary's Laszlo Papai heads-up at King's Resort, Rozvadov, with his opponent having to settle for €174,500
WPT Germany Main Event Results
| Place | Name | Country | Payout (EUR) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Puetz | Germany | € 270,000* | $288,900* |
| 2 | Laszlo Papai | Hungary | € 174,500 | $186,715 |
| 3 | Joep van den Bijgaart | Netherlands | € 125,000 | $133,750 |
| 4 | Josef Gulas | Czech Republic | € 91,000 | $97,370 |
| 5 | Gianluca Speranza | Italy | € 68,000 | $72,760 |
| 6 | Farukh Tach | Netherlands | € 52,000 | $55,640 |
| 7 | Hossein Ensan | Germany | € 40,000 | $42,800 |
| 8 | Renato Nowak | Germany | € 31,000 | $33,170 |
| 9 | Rifat Gegic | Germany | € 24,000 | $25,680 |
*includes $15,000 seat to the season-ending World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions
Final Day's Action
The day began with all eyes on reigning World Series of Poker Main Event champion Hossein Ensan, who was looking to become the tenth player in history to win a Triple Crown, by winning a WSOP bracelet, European Poker Tour and WPT title. He sat second in chips behind start-of-day chip leader Gianluca Speranza.
WPT Germany Main Event Final Table Chip Counts
| Seat | Name | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laszlo Papai | 1,765,000 | 35 |
| 2 | Joep van den Bijgaart | 3,095,000 | 62 |
| 3 | Christopher Puetz | 2,230,000 | 45 |
| 4 | Gianluca Speranza | 4,415,000 | 88 |
| 5 | Renato Nowak | 2,335,000 | 47 |
| 6 | Hossein Ensan | 3,900,000 | 78 |
| 7 | Josef Gulas | 1,270,000 | 25 |
| 8 | Farukh Tach | 460,000 | 9 |
| 9 | Rifat Gegic | 895,000 | 18 |
Speranza was looking for a second deep run in a major event at King's Resort, after he finished second in the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event for €689,246.
However, Speranza kept quiet as Rifat Gegic and Renato Nowak were the first two eliminations of the final day, the latter adding €31,000 to the €45,500 he won for finishing as runner-up in the WPT Germany High Roller earlier in the week.
There was just one elimination remaining from the official six-handed WPT final table, and it was Hossein Ensan who departed in a shock elimination. After Puetz doubled through him, Ensan was left short and was eliminated in seventh place.
Farukh Tach had been the short stack when play began, but had doubled up several times to stay alive. The Dutchman finished tenth in the WPT Germany Opener for €8,500, and a sixth-place finish here for €52,000 constituted the biggest cash of his career so far.
Speranza had never got anything going at the final table, and was eliminated in fifth place after shoving with pocket fives into the sevens of Laszlo Papai. Josef Gulas was eliminated next, taking home €91,000, bringing the tournament to three-handed play.
At this stage Joep van den Bijgaart sat with half the chips in play, but another timely double from Puetz saw the German retake the lead, but with Papai eliminating Van den Bijgaart in third place, the chip stacks were al but level entering heads-up.
Laszlo Papai: 10,775,000
Christopher Puetz: 9,625,000
However, any chance of a long heads-up battle disappeared when Papai four-bet shove ace-ten into the ace-jack of Puetz. Puetz held to leave Papai short, and the German closed out the tournament on the very next hand after just seven hands of heads-up play.
That concludes our coverage of the WPT Germany festival from King's Resort, but keep your eyes peeled for upcoming tournaments at Europe's largest card room!
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
