Paris came to a close with Humberto Lopes Galindo being crowned champion after 13 levels of play. In advance play, Galindo dispatched Fouad Baali to win the trophy, the title, and the €243,656 allotted to the winner. Galindo claimed an additional €15,000 in mystery bounty prizes in addition to receiving the majority of the regular prize pool, resulting in a total score of €258,656.
There were 787 entries to the tournament, which saw a large turnout. The prizes won by these players totaled €2,115,456 and were divided into two prize pools. The remaining €1,328,456 was contained within the mystery bounty envelopes, while the regular prize pool contained €1,328,456.
There were two of the largest mystery bounty prizes, valued at €75,000 and €35,000, respectively. On Day 2, Danut Chisu pulled the big one as the first player to do so. The €35,000 prize was won by Aleksandar Tomovic and Conor Bergin, respectively. Joachim Haraldstad received the final substantial reward, and he claimed the delightful payday on Day 3.
Recap of Day 3
Twenty-two players returned for Day 3, and the action began quickly and furiously, with nine players eliminated in the first three levels. Poker Stars Minister Lex Veldhuis was only one player to stir things up around town in the beginning phases. Sunho Yoo, Pascal Heinrichs, and Veldhuis all had Broadway, whereas Veldhuis had two aces. Yoo and Heinrichs divided Yoo’s bounty chip and the €1,000 reward that Vedhuis’ bounty brought in.
Along with Georgi Sandev and Martin Stausholm, the day’s chip leader, his two eliminators would soon follow him out the door. The final table was then formed when additional players moved to the wrong side of the rail.
After winning the €1,100 FPS Main Event and a Pot-Limit Omaha side event, Christopher Dowling of Ireland appeared to be headed for his third EPT Paris final table. However, the king-queen of Natan Chauskin defeated his pocket sevens, leaving him short. The following hand, Gerard Rubiralta flushed him out even though he was all-in.
After that, a double bust-out marked the start of the final table. Galindo’s pocket queens prevailed over Fabian Niederreiter’s pair of nines and Jan Bednar’s ace-king, who placed ninth and eighth, respectively.
When the players returned from the second break of the day, Rubiralta, who had the lead in chips for much of the day, doubled up players like Jonathan Proudfoot and Galindo to reduce his lead.
Shortly thereafter, Chauskin was eliminated in seventh place after Haraldstad won the chip lead with a huge flip. Until a king appeared on the river, the Norwegian’s ace-king was ahead of Chauskin’s pocket tens.
After thirty minutes, Proudfoot and Galindo were all in from the blinds, with Proudfoot facing elimination. Galindo’s ace-jack outperformed proud feet dominated ace. His sixth-place finish earned him €49,300, and his biggest-ever live tournament cash was €17,000 in bounties.
Or, after he felled Haraldstad, Suliman became the big stack
The former was up against ace-queen and had pocket kings. On the run out, the pocket pair remained superior. However, Rubiralta flopped two pair against Suliman’s ace-king, ending Suliman’s reign as chip leader.
Haraldstad returned to the room to redeem the six bounty tokens he was holding while Martin Kabrhel was seated on the sidelines holding eight bounty chips. The first four envelopes all had a value of €1,000, but the big prize, worth €75,000, was in the fifth envelope. While Kabrhel pondered whether he had made the right decision by delaying drawing, Haraldstad and his friend exuberated.
Before Suliman was eliminated, the chip lead would then switch between Galindo and Rubiralta. Rubiralta once arrived at the pinnacle of the chip forgets about after his lord sovereign slumped the Israeli’s pro seven. However, after losing a 17.1 million chip pot to Galindo, the Spaniard was the next one out the door. He was then destroyed by Baali.
The Frenchman was passive for much of the day and was able to climb without much effort. He discovered high-quality hands at the right time. He doubled up with king-jack to take the lead in heads-up play.
However, after grinding Baali down, Galindo quickly regained the chip lead, and on the final hand of the night, Baali was called by king-ten after jamming with deuces. On the flop, Galindo paired up and held on to win.