A 34-year-old entrepreneur from Hungary has beaten 254 other hopefuls to win Eureka Croatia and the €47,298 first prize. After a quick fire final table that lasted exactly four levels Richard Bodis was the last man standing and his feet are still firmly attached to the ground: “The trophy and the win means far more than the money,” he said in the aftermath of his victory.
When the 11 remaining players returned today Bodis was second in chips but by the time the final table had started he had slipped to fourth place and had chip leader Vasileios Chantzaras on his immediate left.
Some might have panicked, but not Bodis, in fact within 45 minutes of the final table starting it was he who had the chip lead. Despite his stack shrinking again he kept calm and in a pivotal hand during four handed play he doubled through Chantzaras when both had made a straight.
These two and runner-up Carsten Luxig would then trade the chip lead for much of the final table. Despite getting the better of Chantzaras, Bodis said: “He definitely played the best at the final table, he was my toughest opponent.”
The key hand for Bodis came during four handed play when he and Jose Carlos Fibla Lopez got it all-in pre-flop in a 1,600,000 chip pot with Bodis’ pocket tens holding against Lopez’s pocket fours. That was the first player Bodis had eliminated at the final table and it gave him about two thirds of the chips in play.
He would take those chips into heads up play against Carsten Luxig, the German had done a bit more of the dirty work eliminating Marko Milkovic (8th), Zvonko Petrovic (6th) and Vasileios Chantzaras (3rd).
Heads up would last just a few hands with Luxig three-betting all-in on the turn of a 10♠ K♣ 2♦ 5♠ board with 6♥ 5♣ and getting a tank call from Bodis who held Q♥ 10♥ .
A thought should be spared for third place finisher Vasileios Chantzaras from Greece. He started today with a monster chip lead and eliminated two players at the final table (Matej Marinovic in 7th and Michael Lundquist in 5th). It’s the elimination of Lundquist that will live long in the memory, Chantzaras making a great call on the river to send the Dane packing.
It wasn’t all about the final table though as we had to lose three players before the final table was set. The unlucky triumvirate were: Andreas Leledakis (9th), Pavao Vujnovac (10th) and Marko Gasparovic (11th). Below is a full list of who won what today.
1. Richard Bodis, Hungary, €47,298
2. Carsten Luxig, Denmark, €30,150
3. Vasileios Chantzaras, Greece, PokerStars Qualifier, €16,950
4. Jose Carlos Fibla Lopez, Spain, €13,300
5. Michael Lundquist, Denmark, €11,000
6.Zvonko Petrovic, Croatia, €9,150
7. Matej Marinovic, Croatia, €7,350
8. Marko Milkovic, Croatia, €5,850
9. Andreas Leledakis, Greece, PokerStars Qualifier, €4,400
10. Pavao Vujnovac Croatia, €2,950
11. Marko Gasparovic, Croatia, €2,950
That’s all she wrote for Eureka Croatia and the tour now moves on to Bucharest, Romania in November with the exact dates still to be confirmed. To catch up on all today’s play and to see a full list of the 27 players who made the money click on the links below. Until next time zbogom.
Levels 20-23
Level 24
Prizewinners
PokerStars Blog reporting team at Eureka Poker Tour Croatia: Nick Wright. Photos courtesy of Manuel Kovsca
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