Giuseppe Caridi Takes Down the €330 EPT Cup for €24,641 After Heads-Up Deal
Italy’s Giuseppe Caridi has taken down the €330 EPT Cup at the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo®Casino European Poker Tour (EPT) after a heads-up deal for €24,641. Day 1b chip leader Vasyl Zabrodskyy ended as runner-up taking €20,000. They made the deal without playing a single hand of heads-up poker and the trophy went to Caridi as he had a commanding lead when the deal was made. The bronze and €12,400 went to Samvel Grigoryan.
Results
| Place | Player | County | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giuseppe Caridi | Italy | €24,641 | $27,608 |
| 2 | Vasyl Zabrodskyy | Ukraine | €20,000 | $22,433 |
| 3 | Samvel Grigoryan | Russia | €12,400 | $13,908 |
| 4 | Alexander Orlov | Russia | €10,110 | $11,340 |
| 5 | Vamshi Vandanapu | UKraine | €8,060 | $9,040 |
| 6 | [Removed:391] | France | €6,190 | $6,943 |
| 7 | Vardan Zakaryan | Armenia | €4,510 | $5,059 |
| 8 | Alexandre Moreau | France | €3,270 | $3,668 |
| 9 | Cedric Boussetta | France | €2,700 | $3,028 |
Day 2 Action
The day started with 26 out of 27 players in their seats. Eventual champion Caridi showed up half an hour late to the tournament and that worked out for him by ending as the champion of the event. It then only took an hour and 45 minutes for the tournament to reduce from 27 players to the unofficial final table of nine. A couple of the players that missed out on the final table include Jia Tang (20th - €1,450), Vittorio Ferrigno (17th - €1,630), and Andrea Schettino (14th – €1,810).
Filip Krstic busted out on the unofficial final table bubble when he put his last ten big blinds in the middle with 
and he got called by third-place finisher Grigoryan with 
. The board ran out 
and Krstic was eliminated from the tournament in tenth place despite hitting a king on the turn. He did win €2,290 but he missed out on the (unofficial) final table.
Final Table Action
It only took ten minutes for the official final table to be reached. Cedric Boussetta had the questionable honor of finishing in ninth place after he couldn’t win a flip with ace-nine against the pocket fours of Alexander Orlov. He cashed for €2,700 and the official final table was reached.
It took a while but the field size reduced to six when Day 1a chip leader Alexandre Moreau (8th - €3,270) and Vardan Zakaryan (7th - €4,510) busted right after each other. Moreau lost a huge pot against the eventual champion Caridi. Moreau called of a big river all-in with trips sevens but Caridi hit a full house on the river. Both had exactly the same stack and Caridi didn’t look back from that moment on.
Grigoryan then busted [Removed:391] in sixth for €6,190 and Caridi took down Vamshi Vandanapu in fifth for €8,060. All of the other players were guaranteed €10,110 from that moment forward and it was Orlov who took 4th for that amount. Orlov finished on top in Event #5 €550 Pot-Limit Omaha earlier this week for €10,420 and added another five-figure score to that by finishing fourth in the €330 EPT Cup. Orlov was eliminated by Caridi who extended his chip lead. The Italian chip leader had about 70% of the chips in play when three-handed play started.
The bronze went to Grigoryan after they played three-handed for just ten minutes. Grigoryan lost with ace-seven against the queen-six of Caridi. Grigoryan hit a seven on the flop but the Italian had a gut-shot straight draw and could still hit a queen. He hit his straight on the turn and the river was dealt as a courtesy. Grigoryan had to settle for third place and €12,400.
The remaining two players then went on a small five-minute break and they agreed on a deal when they came back. Zabrodskyy would take €20,000 and Caridi took €24,641 for the victory. They didn’t continue play and Caridi took the trophy.
The Italian was delighted with his victory and immediately started to call family members to tell them the good news. Both players shook hands and took a photo together before they parted ways.
PokerNews will be in Monte-Carlo to report on the EPT until the festival is over. Stay tuned for more live updates from beautiful Monte-Carlo.