Stani wins EPT Tallinn
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Kevin Stani fought through a field of 420 players to win the PokerStars European Poker Tour: Tallinn. Stani won €400,000 and a seat in the EPT Grand Final for the win.
The 27-year-old Norwegian took over the chip lead with three players remaining, and never looked back. Next, he took out Frenchman Arnaud Mattern, who was attempting to become the first player ever to win two EPT titles. Mattern had previously won the 2007 edition of EPT Prague, for which he earned €708,400 (or just over $1 million).
But it was not to be Mattern’s day in Tallinn. After losing much of his stack to an audacious bluff by Stani, the eventual winner finished the job when Mattern called a preflop reraise for all his chips with QQ. Stani merely held 33, but hit a 3 on the turn to knock Mattern out of the event. For 3rd place, Mattern took home €160,000.
That left Stani with a 2-1 chip lead over his heads-up opponent, Konstantin Bilyauer. Stani managed to steadily build a bigger chip lead, until he held nearly a 10-1 lead by the time the final hand was dealt.
On the final hand, Stani raised to 250,000 and was called by Bilyauer. The flop came 932, and both players checked through. The turn was a 4, which prompted Bilyauer to bet out 375,000. Stani raised to 875,000, and Bilyauer called. The river came with an 8, and Bilyauer again bet at the pot – this time for 1.2 million. Stani moved all in, and after some thought, Bilyauer called. However, the crowd never found out what Bilyauer held; Stani showed his 65 for the nut straight, and Bilyauer mucked, having won €250,000.
For Stani, this victory marked his first major live tournament win. Earlier in the summer, he made a fairly deep run in the World Series of Poker’s main event, finishing 127th and taking home over $57,000.
This event marked the first time that Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, had hosted a European Poker Tour event. This was the opening event of the 7th season for the EPT, which has 13 scheduled events, including stops in London, Barcelona, Prague, and Berlin. The tour is sponsored by PokerStars.