Kevin Stani wins PokerStars EPT Tallinn for €400,000
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Arnaud Mattern, Parisian resident and Team PokerStars Pro, was looking for his record-breaking second EPT title after his victory in Prague in 2007 – he came close to the first prize which would have made him an EPT legend and taken his tournament earnings to over $2,000,000 but couldn’t do better than a third place finish for €160,000.
This left Norwegian online qualifier Kevin Stani to battle it out heads-up with Moscow student Konstantin Bilyauer, who eliminated fellow Russian player Ivan Demidov and PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier on the way to his final table.
Bilyauer started heads-up with an overwhelming chip deficit that would take a miracle to overcome. He held on valiantly but eventually was eliminated for €250,000 making Stani the third Norwegian EPT winner.
“I was playing cash games online and just randomly saw the satellite advertised in the PokerStars lobby,” said Stani on his $50 qualification to a $520,000 payday. “I wanted to come here anyway so I thought I’d play it. It feels awesome to win. I’ve been through some tough times which have made it hard to focus... made it hard to play... but I stayed with poker and told myself things are going to get better. I’m glad I did.”
It wasn’t all bad news for the PokerStars Pros – Italian Luca Pagano broke his own record with his fifteenth EPT cash when he busted in 26th place for €8,000.
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TAGS: Poker News, Kevin, Stani, wins, PokerStars, EPT, Tallinn, for, €400, 000