Weekly Tournament Recap - Deauville and Melbourne Steal the Headlines

A number of major poker events either came to a close or got underway over the last week.

Some different corners of the world, including Australia and France, played a host to professional poker tournaments, which attracted some notable participants.

Here is a review of three such events that have gone on over the past seven days.

Plenty of Winners at the Aussie Millions

The top place in the 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event went to a hometown player as Melbourne’s Manny Stavropoulos became one of Australia’s newest millionaires.

It came as Stavropoulos took out the event last week as he outlasted players like Brian Rast, Phil Ivey and Tony Hachem to win AU$1,385,500 (around US$1,080,000). The cash prize was by far the largest of the Australian’s live tournament poker career, whose previous largest cash prize was five figures.

Phil Ivey may not have ended the Main Event in the winner’s seat or even the final table, but his time in Melbourne was still highly successful as he took out the Aussie Millions LK Boutique $250k Challenge.

The Tiger Woods of Poker beat 24 other entrants who paid the hefty $250,000 buy-in to take home the AU$2,205,000 (around US$1,719,000). It was the third time that Ivey has won the event, which has created quite a legacy for the big name player.

France Poker Tour Deauville goes to Anthony Apicella

February is a huge month for the French town of Deauville, and the last week was arguably the biggest week as one major poker events came to a close while another started.

The first event, the France Poker Tour (FPT) Deauville finished up earlier in the week after a spectacular turnout of 1,355 players.

At the end of it all, it was hometown hero Anthony Apicella who won the event. The Frenchman took the title after a long 13 hours of play to take the top spot and its €197,000 first place prize. (around $US286,000).

Felix Lambertz put forward his best efforts during the heads-up play, but ultimately had to settle for second place and a €125,500 (around US$182,100) cash prize.

EPT Deauville Main Event Gets Off to Solid Start

The FPT Deauville was not the end for live tournament poker in the coastal town. The European Poker Tour (EPT) Deauville also got underway, with its Main Event having gotten off to a start over the last week.

A total of 390 entrants took part in the Main Event, but that was quickly cut down to 227 after the first two starting flights.

Five days later, the names of the final six players were revealed and it would be an all European affair.

Dany Parlafes entered the final day of play with more than double the chip lead of Ognyan Dimov, who had the second highest stack going into the Day 6.

Joseph Carlino, who had the shortest stack of the final six, was eliminated from the event on the very first hand of the final day. The tournament is now down to final two players fighting it out for the title.