Ulrich Pauls Keeps Trophy and Title at Home; Wins 2017 PokerStars Festival Hamburg €1,100 Main Event (€105,850)
The 2017 PokerStars Festival Hamburg €1,100 Main Event has crowned a champion and it was local Hamburg resident Ulrich Pauls who emerged victorious to lift the trophy at Casino Schenefeld after a brief and intense heads-up encouter with Michal Lubas.
For Lubas, it was once again another impressive performance and runner-up finish, as he ended up second to Petr Svoboda out of a 1,126 entry field at the King's Casino in Rozvadov back in March 2017. Back then he collected €91,000 for his efforts and now Lubas added another €66,220 to his bankroll.
Pauls certainly put his stamp on the on Day 2 and Day 3. “I like to play following my feeling. If I feel something I pay and today this strategy worked really well,” Pauls said in the interview after bagging up the most chips at the end of Day 2 and he stayed true to his words for the final as well. Pauls showed plenty of emotions and was willing to risk the chips at any time, putting sheer pressure on anyone that got involved in a pot with him and flashing bluffs left and right.
The 36-year-old business owner also mentioned that he was running rather bad in the Side Events at the start of the festival, and likely wasn't willing to take another shot. “I busted at the Hamburg Cup, at PokerStars Open, at Main Event Day 1B and I lost at the cash game tables. I didn’t want to play anymore these days, I had a bad feeling. Then a friend of mine began to call me frequently trying to convince me to play Day 1D. At the end he did, and he was right!”
Pauls added “Yesterday, someone asked me if I would go to the HSV (Hamburg football team) match but I aswered I had to win the tournament and HSV would win 3-0. Both thing happened!” The Hamburg resident entered the day as the chip leader and was always in first or second place, taking home the elusive golden PokerStars Festival Main Event trophy and a payday of €105,850.
Final Result €1,100 Main Event
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ulrich Pauls | Germany | €105,850 |
| 2 | Michal Lubas | Poland | €66,220 |
| 3 | Jan Sigel | Germany | €47,410 |
| 4 | Behzad Zarnegar | Germany | €36,960 |
| 5 | Bo Rundström | Sweden | €28,980 |
| 6 | Andrei Nodea | Romania | €22,770 |
| 7 | Karolis Domarkas | Lithuania | €16,990 |
| 8 | Marcin Horecki | Poland | €11,770 |
The event drew a total of 567 entries throughout four starting days and generated a prize pool of €549,990, comfortably surpassing the initial guarantee. Only the top 79 spots were guaranteed at least €1,870 for their efforts and the money bubble burst mid-way through Day 2.
PokerStars Team Online's Felix Schneiders was among those to miss out on the money, while other notables that cashed include Eric Theissen (68th for €2,030), Jesper Hansen (67th for €2,030), Jules Ayoub (61st for €2,030), Day 1B chipleader Matthias Rauscher (58th for €2,030), Walid Abdi Ali (47th for €2,250), Erik Scheidt (20th for €4,450), Peter Jaksland (13th for €6,490), Daniel Stacey (12th for €6,490), €2,200 High Roller runner-up De-Han Kim (11th for €7,640) and Day 1a chip leader Rudolf Köster (9th for €9,290)
Action of the Final Day
The last Main Event of the PokerStars regional tour in 2017 resumed on Day 3 with the last 15 players returned to the tables at 1 p.m. local time. The first level almost ran down without any elimination before Igor Rybak was sent to the rail. Rbyak had doubled his short stack twice, but his king-ten suited eventually ended up second-best to the ace-queen suited of PokerStars Team Pro Marcin Horecki.
Half an hour later, there were just 10 still in the mix. [Removed:431] built his stack early on before doubling Andrei Nodea. When flopping a flush draw in a three-bet pot with king-queen suited, Steinfeuer got it in against the pocket aces of Michal Lubas and both the turn and river bricked.
At almost the same time over on the other table, Peter Jaksland and Daniel Stacey (pictured below) bowed out in the same hand. Stacey built his stack nicely in the very first hand of the day before losing several all in showdowns against shorter stacks. The UKIPT5 Isle Of Man Main Event champion shoved king-jack suited and Jaksland called for less on the button with ace-king, while Ulrich Pauls looked them both up out of the small blind with pocket eights. The board ran out nine-high and Pauls increased his commanding lead.
De-Han Kim, who finished runner-up to Andre Haneberg in the €2,200 High Roller here at Casino Schenefeld a few days ago, had to settle for 11th place. Down to fewer than five big blinds, Kim moved in from the small blind with ten-four and Alaettin Keles called in the big blind with king-eight. Kim spiked a four on the turn, but an eight on the river restored the preflop order.
The remaining 10 players were in action for more than two hours on two five-handed tables until the unofficial final table was set. Several hopefuls were left short while Michal Lubas won a big pot with a set of tens against the pocket aces of Jan Sigel. Ultimately, Alaettin Keles was gone in 10th place when his king-jack failed to get there against the ace-jack of Karolis Domarkas. Down to just one table, it was Day 1a chip leader Rudolf Köster that missed out on the official final table group shot. He pushed for just over three big blinds with ace-queen suited and Lubas called with pocket tens to leave Köster drawing dead on the turn.
PokerStars Team Pro Marcin Horecki made it to the final table but never failed to run up his short stack anymore. His push for 10 big blinds with ace-eight suited came at the worst possible time as Ulrich Pauls looked him up out of the small blind. The board ran out king-high and Horecki had to settle for 7th place and €11,770.
The next player to bust was Karolis Domarkas, who entered the final day as second-biggest stack. After an early setback the Lithuanian eventually moved all in for 11 big blinds with king-queen suited. Ulrich Pauls called with ace-ten suited and a six-high board failed to improve Domarkas.
Andrei Nodea was eliminated in 6th place. The Romanian faced three limps and committed almost all of his chips with a raise out of the small blind before calling the shove of Behzad Zarnegar with ace-jack. Zarnegar turned over pocket aces and Nodea couldn't hit a miracle.
The last Scandinavian in the field, Bo Rundström, fell in 5th place. After scoring several double ups with a short stack throughout the day, his last shove for four big blinds was called by Ulrich Pauls and Behzad Zarnegar. The two remaining players checked down the board and Zarnegar showed king-jack. Rundström flipped over pocket nines and Pauls had the winning ace-ten suited for top pair with the final community card.
Behzad Zarnegar, who has recorded most of his cashes at Casino Schenefeld thus far, eventually finished in 4th place. Zarnegar defended his big blind against a raise by Michal Lubas and a call by Ulrich Pauls. On an ace-high flop with two hearts, Zarnegar check-raised all in with eight-six suited only to see Pauls call with king-three suited for the superior flush draw. Both turn and river bricked and the field was down to the last three.
Only minutes later the other short stack, Jan Sigel, was sent to the rail. He three-bet all in with ace-ten suited and Michal Lubas moved all in over the top with ace-ten. A queen on the flop left Sigel on thin ice and the runner runner miracle never happened.
Ulrich Pauls started the heads-up with a comfortable lead over Michal Lubas and quickly established a commanding chip advantage after flopping a set of sixes and winning another big pot without showdown. In the final hand, a seven-high flop escalated and Lubas was at risk with pocket sevens for bottom set. Pauls turned over four-three for bottom pair and a gutshot. Instead of the six for the straight, a deuce and ace brought the running wheel instead and the rail of Pauls went wild.
This marks the end of the PokerNews live reporting team here in Hamburg, and the next PokerStars live event is around the corner with the highly-anticipated PokerStars Championship in Prague in December 2017.