King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic was the first stop on the schedule of the Eureka Poker Tour Season 6. The poker festival took place from March 2-8, with the five-day €1,100 Main Event being completed last night. And it was quite a final, as Argentinian poker pro Ivan Luca faced none else but his girlfriend Maria Lampropoulos heads-up. Eventually, he emerged victorious to collect a first-place prize of €106,186.
The Main Event attracted a field of 682 entries. On its final day, there were only eight of them to return to King’s Casino and play down to a champion. Luca started the day as the chip leader and proved to be the best at the final table as he was the only survivor after several hours of play.
Action developed quite quickly as three players left the table within the first hour of play. Hannes Speiser from Austria was eliminated in 8th place for €12,500. Robert Kokoska, the only Czech player at the final table, was the next to leave. His payout from the tournament amounted to €18,330. Mick Heder from Denmark then busted in 6th place, good for €25,340.
A fourth player hit the rail on Hand #7 of play. Bulgarian Stoyan Stefanov was eliminated in 5th place to take home the amount of €33,100. Things slowed down a bit and it took about an hour of play before another player was seen go. Eventually, it was German Peter Siemund who hit the rail in 4th place, scooping €41,500 of the entire prize pool.
Three-handed action then lasted for a little less than five hours, during which David Urban from Slovakia emerged as a chip leader with a massive lead only to be eliminated in 3rd place by Luca, good for €54,800. Thus, the young Argentinian had to face Lampropoulos, who, too, currently lives in Argentina, in a final heads-up match. The two players struck a deal. Lampropoulos agreed to take €95,400, and Luca agreed on €101,186. The remaining €5,000 were to be collected by the champion.
Two-handed action started with Luca holding a slight lead over his girlfriend. However, emerging victorious over Lampropoulos was not an easy task for him. The female poker player, in fact, took the lead twice. It took an hour and a half before the name of the champion was announced.
On what turned out to be the final hand for the day and the tournament as a whole, Luca shoved all in on a [9c][6s][2h][3c][4c] table and Lampropoulos called with [7d][5h]. Tabling [Qc][Jc] for a flush, Luca defeated his girlfriend to collect the first-place prize and the tournament trophy.
