Nicolas Chouity wins EPT Grand Final Main Event
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Nicolas Chouity went into the final table at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo with a huge chip lead and put that stack advantage to excellent use, eliminating a succession of players to take the biggest win of his career.
The 23-year-old from Beirut knocked out six of his seven final table opponents, eventually seeing off Austria's Josef Klinger heads up. The final hand summed up Chouity's amazing few days. Klinger must have though he was in pretty good shape getting all the chips in with his pocket eights. The only problem being that Chouity flipped over Aces. The rockets held up to give the Beirut man a whopping €1.7m payout.
The delighted winner said, “It’s a dream come true. I feel great. I had confidence coming into the final and I had the chip lead but you never know with poker and I was going for first, only first.” Chouity become only the second Lebanese player to win an EPT Main Event, following in the footsteps of Joseph Mouwad who won EPT London in season 4.
Chouity's win could be the first half of an amazing Lebanese double with Dori Yacoub holding the chip lead in the $25k High Roller heading into the final table.
The final table positions and payouts were as follows:
1 - Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon, €1,700,000
2 - Josef Klinger, Austria, €1,000,000
3 - Dominykas Karmazinas, Lithuania, €700,000
4 - Herve Costa. France, €500,000
5 - Andrew Chen, Canada, €400,000
6 - Aleh Plauski, Belarus, €300,000
7 - Roger Hairabedian, France, €200,000
8 - Mesbah Guerfi, France, €140,000