The EPT Season 12 was concluded with a bang on Friday, with Jan Bendik from Slovakia emerging victorious over the massive field of the EPT Season 12 Grand Final €5,300 Main Event. Apart from taking home the shiny tournament trophy, the player also collected the amount of €961,800 in prize money. Bendik is actually the first Slovak to become an EPT champion.
As usual, Monaco welcomed the EPT for its season-ending stop. The EPT Grand Final ran from April 26 to May 6 and Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort saw some of the world’s best poker players come to play at the numerous tournaments that took place as part of what has long been known as one of Europe’s most important poker festivals of the year.
This year, the €5,300 Main Event attracted a field of 1,098 players. A prize pool of €5,325,300 was generated and it was distributed to the top 159 players, with lowest payouts worth €8,890. The eight-handed final table was reached on Day 5, the event’s penultimate one. However, play continued until there were only six players left at the table.
They bagged up their chips for the night and returned for Day 6 to play down to a winner. The tournament’s final day started with Frenchman Adrien Allain as the chip leader, holding a total of 11,815,000 in chips. Bendik was third in chips at that time with 2,625,000.
The first elimination occurred on Hand #15 of play. Oren Rosen from Israel was eliminated by Bendik himself. The player scooped a €170,950 share of the prize pool for his 6th place in the tournament. It took 35 hands before another player hit the rail. Pierre Calamusa was eliminated in 5th place, good for €233,800.
Only three hands later, on Hand #53, Asan Umarov from Kazakhstan was busted by Jimmy Guerrero to collect €305,660 for his 4th place in the event. Guerrero himself was the next to go. The French player received €406,850 for his deep run.
Thus, start-of-the-day chip leader Adrien Allain had to face Jan Bendik heads-up. Two-handed play commenced with the Frenchman holding a considerable lead over his opponent. Bendik started building his stack slowly but steadily. Heads-up duel lasted for a little less than 140 hands and Hand #206 turned out to be the last one in play.
Allain raised to 525,000 and his opponent three-bet to 1,650,000. The [Ah][8c][4s] came on the flop. Bendik bet 1,600,000 and Allain simply called. The [10h] appeared on the river and Bendik checked. Allain bet 1,500,000 and Bendik raised to 4,250,000. Allain called. The river ran out [3d] and Bendik moved all in. Allain called, turning [8h][8d]. Bendik showed [10s][10d], thus securing himself with the title and the lion’s share of the prize pool. His French opponent collected €577,800 for his runner-up finish.
