POKERSTARS QUALIFIER MORITZ KRANICH WINS EPT DEAUVILLE
POKERSTARS QUALIFIER MORITZ KRANICH WINS EPT DEAUVILLE
DEAUVILLE, France, January 26, 2009: The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour celebrated a spectacular return to France this week with PokerStars qualifier Moritz Kranich winning €851,400 against a record field in the first EPT to be held here for three years.
Moritz Kranich, who was in contention for the title for most of the final days of the tournament, eventually triumphed after knocking out French business student Arnaud Esquevin.
Moritz, a 28-year-old online pro from Hamburg, took up poker four years ago and has already enjoyed considerable success, including third place in the PokerStars WCOOP Second Chance tournament. As part of his EPT Deauvile prize, he also wins a seat in the €10,000 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. He said: “It’s amazing to win this event. I never imagined when I got here on Tuesday that this would happen. I’m very, very happy.”
Moritz, who only married six months ago, now plans to buy an apartment with his wife Jessica - as well as play more EPT tournaments and the World Series next summer.
Italian Andrea Benelli continued his phenomenal EPT run by making the Deauville final – his second final table this season, and his third cash. He won €219,800 for fourth place.
Team PokerStars Pro Isabelle Mercier, who made the final table here in Season 2, cashed again – coming 61st for €6,225. The tournament also featured a wealth of other international stars, including PokerStars-sponsored WSOP champion Peter Eastgate as well as Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano, Alex Kravchenko and German ShootingStars Sebastian Ruthenberg and Sandra Naujoks. Former French international footballer Vikash Dhorasoo and French rap star Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes also competed alongside poker pros Andy Black, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Freddy Deeb, Fabrice Soulier and Bruno Fittoussi.
The €5,350 buy-in tournament, hosted by Barrière Poker at the beautiful Casino de Deauville, attracted a record field of 645 players from 50 countries, including 120 players who won their seats online with PokerStars. The total prize pool was €3,096,000.
The final table was filmed for broadcast by French national TV channel NRJ12. Extended highlights of the final table, featuring cards up action, were broadcast directly after the conclusion of the tournament. The extended highlights were also shown, with commentary in English and French, via EPT.com.
The EPT founder John Duthie said: “Two years in exile seems to have strengthened the resolve of French poker players to support and celebrate this popular event. The EPT’s return to Deauville – with record field and prize pool – has been an extraordinary success.”
Final Table / Payouts
| Name | Country | PokerStars status | € | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moritz Kranich | Germany | PokerStars qualifier | 851,400 |
| 2 | Arnaud Esquevin | France | 495,400 | |
| 3 | Tristan Clemoncon | France | 284,800 | |
| 4 | Andrea Benelli | Italy | 219,800 | |
| 5 | Jonathan Azoulay | France | 182,700 | |
| 6 | Jorn Walthaus | Holland | PokerStars player | 142,400 |
| 7 | Bruno Launais | France | 108,300 | |
| 8 | Thomas Delattre | France | 77,400 |
The next stop on the PokerStars European Poker Tour is EPT Copenhagen in Denmark. The €5,300 event takes place February 17-21, 2009 at Casino Copenhagen in the Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel. For more information on the European Poker Tour, please visit www.ept.com.
Notes to editors:
PokerStars is the world’s largest poker room with over 16 million members worldwide, and more free-to-play tables than any other site. At PokerStars.net players learn how to play, and practice poker skills for free. As the premier destination for the top players, with numerous tournaments running every day, PokerStars is renowned for offering the best software and security in the online poker world.
PokerStars;
- Has dealt over 23 billion hands
- Has run more than 100 million poker tournaments
- Has had over 213,000 simultaneous players and entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the first and only poker website to reach the 160,000 simultaneous players mark
PokerStars is the official sponsor of the: European Poker Tour (www.ept.com), Latin American Poker Tour (www.lapt.com), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (www.appt.com) and The World Cup of Poker.
PokerStars is the home of Team PokerStars Pro, a group of 28 veteran and up-and-coming players from around the world who play online at PokerStars and are sponsored by the site in international tournaments around the world. For more information please visit www.pokerstars.com/team-pokerstars/.
