Weekly Tournament Recap - Botond Takes Down Eureka, EPT Main Down to Final Table

There were few major live poker tournaments played around the world over the last week, which saw some winners walk away with big cashes and some big names taking it to the felt.

Here is a review of the three major poker events that took place throughout the last seven days.

2014 PMU.fr World Poker Tour (WPT) National Paris Goes to Laurent Polito

This year’s PMU.fr WPT National Paris had a large field of 682 entrants, and Polito topped them all as he took out the event and its €140,000 first place cash prize.

What made the win even sweeter for Polito was that it was the second time he took out the event, having also taken top spot in January 2013.

Polito won last week’s event after he beat Carlo Savinelli in what was a relatively short heads-up session. The two entered the heads-up stage with Polito holding the chip advantage.

After half an hour of play, Savinelli went all in pre flop with Ace Nine and was called by the eventual winner, who had him in really bad shape with Pocket Aces. Polito’s hand held through the river, avoiding any miracles, giving him the hand and the event.

Balaz Botond Wins Eureka Prague Main Event

A huge field of 1,738 players descended on the Czech capital to take part in the Eureka Prague main Event last week.

It consisted of players throughout Europe and the world and while the event was held in the Czech Republic, it was a Hungarian, Balazs Botond, who took out the Main Event.

Botond topped the record field in what was a few days of stellar play and took home a highly respectable €206,948 for his the first place finish.

It came very close to not going that way for the winner, however, as he entered the final table with the second smallest chip stack.

That did not deter him, though, as he won a few big hands to take the chip lead and eventually the tournament after he finished off his last obstacle, Athanasios Xenodochidis, in the heads-up play.

EPT11 Prague Main Event at the Business End

It was especially a big week for professional tournament poker in Prague, with the EPT Prague Main Event getting underway shortly after the Eureka one took place.

A total of 1,107 players took it to the felt in the EPT Main, which went down to 22 after the fourth day of play and is now down to final eight who will battle it out for the title today.

Fabio Sperling, who entered yesterday the chip leader, still has a very respectable stack, while it is Remi Castaignon who is looking to match Vicky Coren – Mitchell’s success by becoming a two-time EPT winner.

Man to beat at the start of play is Stephen Garner with the stack of nearly 9 million, about a million more than the second place Swede Anton Bertilsson.