Sam Grafton Takes Down PSF Bucharest For €117k

6 years ago
Sam Grafton Takes Down PSF Bucharest For €117k
11:26
07 Aug

(Photo: Pokerstarsblog.com)

Bucharest in Romania was the latest stop for the PokerStars Festival series, the smaller brother to their Championship events following the decision to do away with the EPT, Eureka and various other well-established tours, and it was England’s Sam Grafton who emerged victorious, scooping €117,707 for his efforts.

The smaller buy-in events, billed as ‘Regional Poker Events’ by the newly-named Stars Group poker site, saw a High Roller, a Megastack and a local Bucharest Cup during the week-long festival – but it was of course the Main Event which attracted the big numbers, 736 players ponying up the €1100 buy-in to compete for the guaranteed €500,000 prize fund.

In the end it saw a grand total of €706,560 up for grabs (don’t ask me about the maths, someone somewhere has taken an extra cut!) and 111 players were destined to cash, although remarkably only one player from the USA, Michal Nahum, would be among them securing a just above min cash of €1950.



It was still an international field who took to the felt, a strong Israeli presence mixed in with all the European regulars and a spattering from the likes of Lebanon, United Arab Emirates and Turkey among other smaller poker nations.

Day 3 and the final table was an exciting affair, with a local favourite involved in the shape of Traian Bostan – who almost doubled his lifetime earnings last December when he took down the Unibet Main Event also in Bucharest for a sweet €100,000. There was to be no repeat of that glorious moment however, Bostan busting out in 7th spot for €18,720 when he tangled blind-on-blind with eventual victor Grafton.

Grafton had always dreamed of a big PokerStars live victory, and when the table suddenly went from 4 players down to 2 in one hand, his dream was on. As PokerNews reported it, ‘You could have been forgiven to have thought that following the frantic start to the day, that the action would have stopped, but the poker Gods delivered another exciting hand in blockbuster fashion…’

(Photo: Flickr.com)


What followed was one of those shocking poker hands which has everything: Bulgarian Mustafov shoved his short-stack and was less-than-thrilled to see both Ozdemir and Nietrzebka follow suit, the three hands turned over revealing…

Mustafov: A♥ 10♠

Ozdemir: Jd J♣

Nietrzebka: Kâ™   Kd

When there is talk of an ‘action’ flop, they don’t come much better than this…

Flop: Qâ™   Jâ™   2â™ 

Turkey’s Anil Ozdemir flopping the set, his Polish opponent the king-high flush draw and even Mustafov with hopes of an inside straight draw.

Turn: 5â™ 

This completed Nietrzebka’s flush, but the suspense was far from over, and when the final card appeared…

River: 2♥

…it was Ozdemir who had survived to challenge Grafton, a disbelieving spectator to the all-in action, for the title and the lion’s share of the prize money.

(Photo: Pokerstars.com)


Grafton, nicknamed ‘SamSquid’ online, had won a big event before – the GUKPT Main Event back in 2012 for £102,700 ($163,953) but for Ozdemir it was new territory, his previous best cash being a modest €7,370 at this year’s PokerStars Festival in Rozvadov.

Ozdemir’s massive double knock-out had given him a 3:1 chip lead, but the experienced Englishman from Leamington Spa soon used his wiles to turn that around, and when a deal was struck it was Grafton who had the bigger say in matters.

When they finally agreed the deal, Grafton was guaranteed €117,707 and Ozdemir €97,993, with an additional €7,700 and the champion’s trophy to play for. And a short time later it was all over – Grafton’s runner-runner straight finishing off the short-stacked Turk.

Afterwards Grafton told reporters:

"Back when I started I didn’t realize what it took to win a live tournament. I didn’t value the runs I made. When I got this opportunity, and from 40 players out I felt really determined and it felt like a really good shot at a title."

With events in Korea, Lille, Manila, Uruguay, Dublin and others on the PS festival calendar it will be interesting to see if they can follow Bucharest’s record-breaking attendance.

(Photo: Unibet.com)


PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event Results

1Sam Grafton
United Kingdom
€117,707*
2Anil Ozdemir
Turkey
€96,933*
3Daniel Nietrzebka
Poland
€57,600
4Fahredin Mustafov
Bulgaria
€43,500
5Patrick Bueno
France
€34,400
6Johann Eclapier
France
€26,091
7Traian Bostan
Romania
€18,720
8Yuriy Kudrynskyy
Ukraine
€12,790

*Reflects heads-up deal


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Andrew from Edinburgh, Scotland, is a professional journalist, international-titled chess master, and avid poker player.Read more

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