Anthony Apicella Wins FPS Deauville for €197,000

Anthony Apicella has claimed the victory in the biggest ever event of the France Poker Tour in Deauville. Waddling through the field of 1,355 players, 260 more than in 2014, Apicella has found a way to the elusive trophy and the first place money just shy of €200k.

The big turnout converted, naturally, into the biggest payout for the winner and total of 199 places paid the minimum of €1,800. After the initial battles were over, the total number of players to advance to the Day 2 amounted to 658 who continued to soldier through all the bluffs, bad beats and more in their quest for the title.

By the time the tournament clock had ran out of the proverbial sand, only some 150 players were still alive, meaning that everybody who would return for the penultimate day were already in the money and had at least that monkey off their backs.

The penultimate day saw this number further reduced all the way down to 22 players and at this point, Apicella was sitting fifth in chips, with the hopes for the title alive and well.

So the final day started with still quite a few players to hit the rail before the official final table of eight would be formed. When that moment finally came several hours later, Apicella was able to improve his chip position somewhat, as he held the third biggest stack, still quite far behind the chip leader, Felix Lambertz.

Anthony Picault was the first one to leave the company of eight, as he ran into the pocket Aces of Vincent Garat and that was the only exit before the dinner break. The slow pace could not last forever though, as the nature of tournament poker dictates the blinds increase, always leading to a few players becoming short stacked after a while.

It was Ivan Luca who got the things moving after the dinner break. Firs he sent Yohan Figueiras to the rail after winning a flip and then he dispatched Abdelkader Medjahed holding a dominating ace. This propelled Luca from a short stack to a serious pretender for the throne.

Vincent Garat was the next one to go, as he fell victim of Felix Lambertz. Lambertz was able to maintain the chip-lead throughout the final table, but at the same time Anthony Apicella was slowly chipping up, without any unnecessary risks.

The Argentinean Ivan Luca was sent to the rail after Garat. Nicolas Hamouni cracked Luca’s pocket Jacks after turning a set of Sixes and this left Ivan severely short stacked. His elimination followed only a few moments later.

The Frenchman was not afraid to take the risk; he was just waiting for the right moment. That moment came when he ran a very imaginative multi-street bluff against Hamouni and winning the big pot with air saw Apicella propel into a massive chip-lead, crippling Hamouni at the same time.

Soon after, Hamouni was eliminated after losing a flip against Apicella and this initiated the final battle for the trophy between Felix Lambertz of Germany and Anthony Apicella. The Frenchman had about two-to-one chip lead at the start. This chip lead turned into a triumph for Apicella after his pocket Kings held up (not before some drama) against the German’s pocket Deuces and that was it.

After grueling thirteen hours of play, Anthony Apicella seized the victory and €197,000 first place. Felix Lambertz received €125,500 for his runner-up finish, while the third place finisher, Nicolas Hamouni walked away with €88,500.

Photo: PokerStars Blog