Friday, 29th March 2024 10:34
Home / Uncategorized / Eureka6 Bucharest: Israel’s Avishai Shitrit takes down inaugural Romanian event for €107,350

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This final table of six started with three Romanians, two Israelis, and one Bulgarian. A local winner getting victory on their home soil seemed likely right from the start of the tournament, as Romanians truly love their poker and came out in force for this festival.

But it wasn’t to be. In the end, it was the two players from Israel – Avishai Shitrit and Moshe Eliyahu (who was celebrating his 28th birthday today) – who would find themselves heads-up. The two are friends, and have been chatting and routing for one another for the past two days.

In the duel it didn’t take long for Shitrit to grind down Eliyahu as he came into the one-on-one match with more than a five-to-one chip lead. But it still took a super sick hand to end it – we’ll get to that later.

First, meet your winner of the first ever Eureka tournament in Bucharest, or Romania for that matter: 30-year-old poker pro Avishai Shitrit. Here’s how the day played out.

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Avishai Shitrit (left) with runner-up Moshe Eliyahu
Final table time

Six players returned today, and here’s how they stacked up at the beginning:

PLAYER COUNTRY STATUS CHIP COUNTS
Yasen Dichev Bulgaria 3900000
Jozsef Liszkovics Romania PokerStars Player 2750000
Moshe Eliyahu Israel 2690000
Razvan Costinel Belea Romania PokerStars Player 2450000
Avishai Shitrit Israel 1730000
Carmen Zainescu Romania 690000

Popular local pro Carmen Zainescu came in as the short stack, and she’d be the first player to leave us. She jammed over an open from Romania’s Jozsef Liszkovics with Ace-eight and was called by his Ace-Queen. The kicker held up and she hit the rail in sixth for €22,860.

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Zainescu says goodbye
Shitrit started to gain momentum during five-handed play, climbing the chip counts after doubling through Liszkovics. However, the actual chip lead flipped a lot today – mainly between Dichev, Eliyahu, and Liszkovics.

Romania’s Razvan Belea never really got a hold on this final. In fact, in one hand he even called the clock on himself! He was eliminated by Liszkovics after his Ace-nine was out-flopped by his countrymen’s King-Queen. For fifth, he pocketed €29,200.

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Razvan Belea
Yasen Dichev would be the next to fall, although you really couldn’t see it coming. Dichev proved himself a quality player time and time again; from leading at the start and end of Day 3 to making some fantastic calls and plays here today. However, he got a little frisky when he four-bet jammed pocket nines for 2.95 million over an open from Eliyahu and raise from Liszkovics, the latter of which called with pocket Queens. The ladies held up and Dichev collected €37,070 for fourth.

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Dichev played well but fell in fourth
Liszkovics led the way at this point, but Shitrit got stronger by taking chips from Eliyahu. He eventually took the chip lead, and right before Jozsef Liszkovics was eliminated in third here’s how the chip counts looked:

Avishai Shitrit – 7.85 million
Jozsef Liszkovics – 4.5 million
Moshe Eliyahu – 1.8 million

The biggest pot of the tournament took place three-handed, and it was also the one that would get us heads-up. Liszkovics started the hand with a button open to 200,000 and Avishai Shitrit called from the big blind. The flop came the J4A and Shitrit check-called a c-bet of 150,000, before also check-calling a bet of 500,000 on the 3 turn.

Finally the 2 landed on the river, bringing four spades to the flush. Shitrit took his time and led out for 2 million, and after getting an exact count Liszkovics moved all-in. Shitrit snap-called with the A6 for the nut flush, while Liszkovics had the K7 for second best. He won €47,910 for third, and we were then heads-up.

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Romania’s Jozsef Liszkovics

PLAYER COUNTRY STATUS CHIP COUNTS
Avishai Shitrit Israel 12,560,000
Moshe Eliyahu Israel 1,765,000

As you can see, Shitrit had a huge chip lead, and shortly after heads-up play began he’d whittled Eliyahu’s stack down to less than a million.

In the final hand – that sick hand I told you about earlier – Shitrit made it 200,000 on the button and Eliyahu called. The flop came the 536 and Eliyahu checked, allowing Shitrit to continue for 150,000, which was called. The turn was the K and Eliyahu checked again only to see Shitrit bet 300,000.

At this point Eliyahu moved all-in for around 700,000 total and Shitrit snap-called, turning over the 47 for the nut straight. Eliyahu had also flopped a straight with his 24, but he had the low end and like that it was over.

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Shitrit and his rail
The birthday boy Moshe Eliyahu might not have got the present he really wanted, however €66,950 is not bad by any means.

But how did our champion feel? “It’s a wonderful achievement,” Shitrit told the PokerStars Blog. “When I made the final table, I didn’t expect to win it. It was very quick from yesterday. We went down to six players in the blink of an eye and it feels incredible that I won it now!”

For winning the first Eureka6 Bucharest, Avishai Shitrit takes home €107,350. Congratulations to him, and thanks for reading over the past week.

YEAR OF ROMANIA.

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Eureka6 Bucharest results 
Entrants: 579
Total prize pool: €561,630
Places paid: 87

1. Avishai Shitrit (Israel) €107,350
2. Moshe Eliyahu (Israel) €66,950
3. Jozsef Liszkovics (Romania) €47,910
4. Yasen Dichev (Bulgaria) €37,070
5. Razvan Belea (Romania) €29,200
6. Carmen Zainescu (Romania) €22,860

All photos by Tomáš Stacha. Many thanks to Jan Kores.


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Jack Stanton is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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