Chauskin entered the day as clear chip leader and, taking that stat (alone) into account, was expected to win. Metaal came in to the final table as the short stack so was never expected to get as far as he did, so can be very proud of his achievement.
Asked if he was happy and expected to win, he responded with, “Yes, very, and I came to win, and I was sure I would. When back in Belorussia, we were in a bar with our team and my coach, Jenya Gavrilovich, winner of EPT12 Barcelona €2k, asked me, when shooting a video, “What about this IPT Malta?” and I said: “I’m going to win it! Go there and win it for sure!” This is what happened, so I can say I was just looking forward to it.”
The final hand saw Metaal three-bet all in with pocket fives and Chauskin call after he had raised with king-queen. The Belorussian took the lead when he turned top pair and victory was confirmed when he improved to a flush on the river.
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Updates provided by Marc Convey, with photos coming from René Velli and Tomáš Stacha.
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