February 23-March 1
Live victories for Jorge Abreu before his win in the EPT Paris Main Event.
- 1STJorge Abreu€1,148,600
- 2NDFelix Schneiders€717,350
- 3RD
Enrico Coppola€512,400 - 4TH
Casimir Seire€394,150 - 5TH
Nazar Buhaiov€303,150 - 6TH
Tomas Jozonis€233,200 - 7TH
Thierry Gogniat€179,350 - 8TH
Sami Bechahed€137,950
Jorge Abreu didn't have much trouble closing out the EPT Paris Main Event final table after he started the day with nearly half the chips, but it was the short-stacked Felix Schneiders who laddered his way to the spotlight on Sunday afternoon in France.
Schneiders and Abreu started at opposite ends of the leaderboard on the final day of EPT Paris, but they'd end up finishing one-two after a wild day that spewed fireworks from the very first hand.
First hand fireworks
It started when Schneiders shoved it all in with 
for his first move of the day before Theirry Gogniat looked down at 
and went for it all right behind him. A king showed up on the flop and Schneiders was off the ropes to start the final table.
Felix Schneiders laddered his way to glory on Sunday. A few moments later, Enrico Coppola cracked the chip leader's aces for a double of his own and the tone of the final table was off to a saucy start.
Abreu went right to work with the big stack and fortune favored the bold. When Gogniat (
) and Tomaz Jozonis (
) took their shot on the same hand, the champ flipped over 
and busted them both with the flushy runout of 
.
The rest of the field went into fight mode for second position as Abreu held most of the chips and all of the leverage. Buhaiov left in fifth and play flattened out before the next elimination of Casimir Seire in fourth. It was a quietly savvy fourth place finish for the Finnish high roller, who folded away jacks in that explosive first hand and queens in Abreu's double knockout.
Felix finds a way
It appeared to be the end of the road for Schneiders, who looked up from the short stack as Coppola carved out a solid second place spot on the leaderboard. The road, however, would clear up in a crucial clash against Coppola.
Time ran out for Enrico Coppola.Schneiders had 
and Coppola snap-called his shove with 
. The board was clean and the "hold" prayer from the German rail was answered, doubling up Schneiders and sending Coppola on the downward trend. The Italian's day would end a short time later when his jacks were out-flopped by Abreu's 
.
Heads-up play began and Abreu had 40 million to the 4.2 million of Schneiders. The German found pocket aces on the first hand of the duel, but not much action, and it foreshadowed his demise. Schneiders would try a few spots but could not convert, eventually getting it in great with pocket queens against an off-suit jack-eight. The heartbreaker board of handed Abreu the win when a second pair fell on the river.
Never a doubt. Images courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Eloy Cabacas/Rational Intellectual Holdings, Ltd.
