€25,750 High Roller Day 1 | 2016 PokerStars.com EPT Season 13 Malta

He was chip leader after Day 1, his name was on top of the list after Day 2, he predicted it before the final table began, and last night he lifted the trophy and posed for winner photos. German bracelet winner Dietrich Fast has won the 3-day opening High Roller event in the last ever PokerStars EPT Malta, banking €174,600 and taking home his seventh career trophy.

Position	Player	Country	Prize
1	Dietrich Fast	Germany	€174,600
2	Viacheslav Buldygin	Russia	€126,300
3	Dario Sammartino	Italy	€81,480
4	Pratyush Buddiga	United States	€61,690
5	Ramin Hajiyev	Azerbaijan	€47,720
6	Davidi Kitai	Belgium	€37,250
7	Vladimir Troyanovskiy	Russia	€29,680
8	Orpen Kisacikoglu	Turkey	€23,280

The final day of play started with just 6 players remaining from the field of 60 entries, including 12 re-entries. With Orpen Kisacikoglu and Vladimir Troyanovskiy already gone on the penultimate day and probably registered in other tournaments, the remaining 6 players were guaranteed €37,250. All of them, of course, were gunning for that first place prize of €174,600.

i feel like today could be a good day
— Dietrich Fast (@2pacnrw16)

Things got off to a good start for Viacheslav Buldygin as he busted Davidi Kitai and Ramin Hajiyev. Kitai ran ace-jack into Buldygin's queens and the Belgian Triple Crown champion made his way to the exit in 6th place (€37,250). Buldygin found queens again and once more a player pushed all-in. This time it was Ramin Hajiyev with ace-queen. Hajiyev did not improve and a 5th-place finish was what he had to settle for (€47,720).

While the two knockouts had propelled Buldygin to the role of big stack, he still had Fast in front of him at this point. That would change soon as the German bracelet winner lost lots of chips to Italian high roller Dario Sammartino.

Pratyush Buddiga was next to go, hitting the rail in 4th place (€61,690). Again it was Buldygin doing the dirty work, eliminating the American high roller with king-queen suited against pocket sevens.

With just 3 players remaining, Fast battled back and now Buldygin was slipping while Dario Sammartino had plenty. The Italian, however, was the next one to go. A set up of kings versus the aces of Fast set Sammartino back tremendously and he departed soon after losing the flip with pocket fours to Fast's ace-seven suited (€81,480).

Fast started with a 7-to-1 chip lead but found a tough opponent in online heads-up specialist Viacheslav Buldygin. The latter doubled to get a shot at the title, but would eventually have to leave the honors to his German opponent. In the last hand, Fast moved in to put Buldygin to the test for his last 12 big blinds. Buldygin had an easy decision with pocket sixes and was well in front against the ace-three suited of Fast. The ace on the flop, however, favored Fast and the tournament ended with a bad beat for Buldygin.

Dietrich Fast didn't go out partying, he had been multi-tabling the High Roller final table with the IPT Main Event, which he eventually busted just before play wrapped up. With now over $2 million in earnings, we imagine the disappointment was soon forgotten. Fast has the option to enter the €25,750 High Roller that kicks off at 12:30pm local time. PokerNews will be on site to cover that event, and all the other big buy-ins from Malta this week.