Paul-Francois Tedeschi Wins Platinum Pass After Day 2 Flipout
In all honesty, there have been quieter EPT final tables than the scene that played out in the Salle des Etoiles shortly before the start of play in the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT Main Event.
The whole Day 2 field was in with a chance of winning a coveted Platinum Pass to the 2019 PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC), and all they had to do was win a flip. Well, three of them, actually.
If you don't know how it works, each table plays one hand out, with the winner advancing to another hand. Then you repeat until you have one lucky winner!
Among the players fortunate enough to make it into the second round were PokerStars Team Pros Andre Akkari and Celina Lin, EPT Grand Final winners Adrian Mateos and Steve O'Dwyer and French pro Gaelle Baumann.
Unfortunately for these players, none of them would make it through to the final four, with those players relocating to a single table for the final hand to decide who walked away with the all-important Platinum Pass.
The final four players were Paul-Francois Tedeschi, Jean Koja, Michael Mamou and Mazin Khoury; three Frenchman and an American for those counting. They were each dealt two cards and each picked one to turn face up
Seat 1: Paul-Francois Tedeschi - 
Seat 2: Jean Koja - 
Seat 3: Michael Mamou - 
Seat 4: Mazin Khoury - 
The full board was then dealt in front of a huge crowd of spectators. It came 
, with Koja taking the lead with his pair of eights. He was first to show his second card, but the 
didn't improve him.
Next, with his rail calling for a seven, Tedeschi peeled his next card and revealed the 
, giving the Frenchman trips and taking the lead. Mamou and Khoury revealed the 
and 
respectively, meaning Tedeschi's rail exploded with delight.
He was quickly mobbed by his excited friends after becoming the second Frenchman in three days to win a Platinum Pass, after Guillaume Diaz won one for taking down the National.
Tedeschi's largest score of his career to date came in the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event, where he finished sixth for €149,184, but he must now be setting his sights on an even bigger payday at the PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) in January 2019.His Platinum Pass gives him $25,000 entry to the PSPC event, along with six nights' accommodation at Atlantis Resort and $2,000 for expenses.