At the age of 24, Mustapha Kanit currently is Italy’s most profitable player. It was only a few hours ago when the young poker pro, who already has quite an impressive portfolio of poker victories, added another six-figure sum to his bankroll.
Kanit topped the field of the EPT Season 12 Dublin €25,750 High Roller, which turned out to be the highest buy-in event ever held in Ireland, to collect the amount of €501,640 and the tournament trophy. Kanit is not a stranger to high roller tournaments and has actually won some. Last year, he emerged victorious in the EPT Season 11 Grand Final €50,000 Super High Roller 8-Handed for €936,500, his best live cash so far. A few months later, the young player took down yet another high roller event – the EPT Season 12 Barcelona €10,300 High Roller 8-Max one for €738,759.
The EPT Dublin High Roller attracted a field of 70 entries, with some of the world’s best high rollers being among those. They all generated a prize pool of €1,715,000 and the top 9 finishers got a share of the money, payouts starting from €49,730.
The tournament was a three-day one and ran from February 12. Day 3 saw 8 players return to play down to the eventual champion. And it was Kanit who led the final 8 into the tournament’s final day with a stack of 5,460,000 in chips.
Argentinian Ivan Luca was the first to leave the final table. He was eliminated on Hand #2 after he could not make it against Chance Kornuth. Luca took home €65,170 for his efforts. On the very next hand, another player hit the rail. Nick Petrangelo busted out in 7th place, good for €84,040.
Action slowed down a bit and it took 33 hands before another player left the table. Eventually, Keith Johnson was eliminated by Anton Bertilsson. The Englishman scooped €106,330 of the prize pool.
On Hand #60, Kanit eliminated Jeff Rossiter in 5th place. The Australian took home a payout of €137,200. As for the young Italian, he further established himself as the chip leader, holding two times more chips than the player who had the second largest stack at that time.
It took 44 more hands for another finalist to be eliminated. And Swede Anton Bertilsson was the one to go. His 4th place in the tournament secured him with a payout of €176,640. Then, on Hand #123, Kanit eliminated Charlie Carrel to set the heads-up match between him and Kornuth. As for Carrel, he took €234,100 for finishing 3rd in the prestigious tournament.
Heads-up play continued a total of 20 hands, during which Kornuth managed to collect some chips but never took the lead. On the very last hand in play, Kanit tabled [3s][3h] against his opponent’s [Ac][10h]. The board ran out [2s][8c][7d][Qs][Jd], securing the Italian with the best hand and the title. Kornuth was paid €360,150 for his runner-up finish.
