Mihai Croitoru was eliminated amid dramatic scenes in Rozvadov
Overnight chip leader Mihai Croitoru has departed the WSOP Circuit Ring Main Event in third place after a dramatic exit to massive chip leader Ivan Banic.
Croitoru moved all-in with for just over three million chips and was called by Banic with . The board of saw the Croatian pair up on the flop and Croitoru couldn’t find a three-outer. Yehuda ‘Chikita’ Cohen high-fived Banic upon completion of the hand as bizarre scenes saw Banic trying to shake Croitoru’s hand.
We are heads-up, with Banic holding an 8:1 chip lead.
Ivan Banic (left) cannot control his laughter as play goes heads-up with Yehuda Cohen (right)
As Heads-Up play was declared by the WSOP Tournament Director, Yehuda 'Chikita' Cohen asked for the dinner break and when it would be.
After asking players to play a couple more hands, the tournament director and Banic were amused by Cohen settling on 'one more hand'. That hand saw him raised on by chip leader Banic with unseen cards, who laughed when Cohen open-folded for 13 big blinds.
It took just one heads-up hand after the break and two in total.
Ivan Banic called Chikita's all-in move in the very first hand and while Banic was light with , Cohen had moved all-in with his ace this time, holding .
Both men stood up as the flop of was fanned, keeping Cohen ahead. The turn maintained the likelihood of a double-up for the enigmatic local businessman, but the river ended the tournament in the style to which the entire final day was accustomed, crazily dramatic to the last.
Congratulations to Yehuda 'Chikita' Cohen, who wins €144,551, but our champion is Ivan Banic, who bags €232,241 and the much-coveted WSOP Circuit Ring. We'll be back with a full recap of the final day's action momentarily, but an amazing day of poker was brought to the explosive climax it deserved.
Ivan Banic wins the 2016 WSOP Circuit Main Event Rozvadov for €232,241 after defeating Yehuda Cohen heads-up
After four days of thrilling poker, Croatian player Ivan Banic has triumphed over a field of 851 entries in the 2016 WSOP Circuit Event Rozvadov. Banic beat Yehuda Cohen heads-up at King's Casino to take the WSOP Circuit Ring along with the €232,241 top prize and entrance to the season-culminating WSOP Global Casino Championship.
Position
Player
Country
Prize
1
Ivan Banic
Croatia
€232,241
2
Yehuda Cohen
Germany
€144,551
3
Mihai Croitoru
Romania
€103,441
4
Georgios Vrakas
Germany
€80,037
5
Michal Kadziela
Poland
€63,059
6
Marco Topic
Germany
€49,356
7
Henning Wendlandt
Austria
€36,502
8
Stefan Drabert
Germany
€25,102
It was an amazing day of action by any standards, and it began like it ended - with drama. Stefan Drabert was not the short stack coming into play, but he was the first man out of the door. That was because Yehuda 'Chikita' Cohen managed to double-up through him very early on, with two-pair beating top pair on the flop. Drabert knew that he needed to improve his stack to run deeper than eighth place. He failed to do that when his all-in move with king-queen was called by the ace-six of eventual winner Banic, who held.
Henning Wendlandt hadn't been able to get going at all in the first two levels of play, and decided to make an all-in move from the button with ten-high but he was called by the Greek player Georgios Vrakas in the small blind with pocket nines, which held. In the next hand, the German's shoved king-ten and was crushed by overnight chip leader Mihai Croitoru's pocket aces.
Next out the door was Marco Topic. He knew he needed to be bold to get back among the big stacks. His attempt to do so with a dominated ace amounted to nothing and the German was sent home with €49,356 for his week's work.
Michal Kadziela ran into a cold deck early in proceedings, meaning that his comfortable stack looked decidedly at risk by the time he was all-in for just 1.3 million with jack-ten. Mihai Croitoru’s call with king-nine in the small blind moved play four-handed, with the Polish player unable to hit.
Busting out in fourth place was Georgios Vrakas when he was all-in. He had only a couple of chips more than Croitoru and both players knew the all-in was crucial. Vrakas had the best of it holding ace-ten against ace-nine, but Croitoru had two spades and the all-spade flop send the Greek player home and gave the overnight chip leader renewed hope. It was to be false hope.
Croitoru departed the WSOP Circuit Ring Main Event in third place after a dramatic exit to massive chip leader Ivan Banic. The Romanian rivered a fortunate straight only to lose almost all of his chips by calling against a raise on the river to Banic's flush. Mihai Croitoru was out just a hand later.
Banic held a better than 9:1 chip lead heads-up, and it took just two hands to finish off his short-stacked opponent, the eponymous Yehuda Cohen. 'Chikita' folded ace-five before the dinner break, but upon his return, he moved all-in with ace-eight, and Ivan Banic called it off with nine-seven. A seven on the river ended the tournament just when Cohen thought he was going to be back into it, and in doing so, gave the Croatian the biggest win of his live career so far. Banic took home €232,241 along with the prized WSOP Circuit Ring and an entry into the €1,000,000 added season-culminating WSOP Global Casino Championship.
A seven on the river gifted Ivan Banic the WSOPC Rozvadov title
for just over three million chips and was called by Banic with 
. The board of 
saw the Croatian pair up on the flop and Croitoru couldn’t find a three-outer. Yehuda ‘Chikita’ Cohen high-fived Banic upon completion of the hand as bizarre scenes saw Banic trying to shake Croitoru’s hand. 
for 13 big blinds. 
, Cohen had moved all-in with his ace this time, holding 
was fanned, keeping Cohen ahead. The turn 
maintained the likelihood of a double-up for the enigmatic local businessman, but the 
