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The 2018 Master Classics of Poker has taken center stage atHolland Casino in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and taking the spotlight was the €1,500 Progressive Bounty event that saw 181 runners. After two days of poker action, local player Dang Toan Nguyen (cover image) won the event for his career-best score of €41,452, in addition to the €26,200 he collected in bounties.
The Dutchman has been on a strong winning streak this year. In August he captured the €275 WSOPC Cup at the WSOPC Holland Casino Rotterdam stop for €27,012.
The field narrowed down considerably as play resumed on the second day with only 17 hopefuls returning to the felts. Joris Ruijs (17th for €2,370), who was very short on stacks at the start of the day, made his way out first.
Kimmo Kurko (11th for €3,406), Danny van Zijp (12th for €2,844), and Paul Berende (15th for €2,370) were the other notable scorers. Boubekeur Benhalima (10th for €3,406) busted out one place short of the final table.
The first player to leave the final table was Daniyar Aubakirov from Kazakhstan who found himself short stacked after losing a big pot against Eyal Eshkar. Aubakirov found himself moving all in with pocket sevens on the king-eight-seven-queen board. Eshkar who held king-queen of clubs paired both his hole cards and added a flush draw. Another queen on the river improved his hand to a three-of-a-kind and Aubakirov was eliminated in ninth place.
Frank de Wolf from Netherlands hit the rail next, in eighth place after his pocket aces ran into Remy van der Nagel’s ten-eight of clubs. With the flop bringing jack-ten-queen with two clubs, Nagel was looking to improve. The turn was a blank for Nagel but he hit trips when a ten appeared on the river.
Finland’s Matias Knaapinen then found his pocket treys dominating Nguyen’s ace-king suited through the flop, but the equation changed when a king appeared on the turn. The changed nothing and Knaapien was eliminated in seventh place.
Nguyen also knocked out the start-of-the-day chip leader Daan van Hoogmoed when the latter raised all-in with and Nguyen called with . The turn was the , that offered some hope to Hoogmoed, but he was out in sixth place after the on the river blanked out for him.
Olvedo Heinze ended his run in fifth place and at Nguyen’s hands as well. Heinze’s were trailing Nguyen’s . The board ran out and Heinze exited the final table.
The play resumed after a short break and right as the action kicked off, Remy van der Nagel found his ] improve to a top pair on the flop , however, Nguyen who was holding had hit one pair on the flop and another on the turn and the verdict was clear when the appeared on the river. Nagel joined the rail in fourth place.
Cem Degirmenci was the next casualty as he moved all-in with and was called by Nguyen who held . The dealer fanned out the on the flop that got Degirmenci one extra out. But the turn and the river saw Nguyen staying ahead and Degirmenci was eliminated in third place.
The heads-up match between Israel’s Eyal Eshkar and Nguyen was short. On the final hand, Eshkar opened the action with a raise of 80,000 and Nguyen defended his big blind with a call. The flop brought and Nguyen checked to Eshkar, who then led out for 170,000 prompting Nguyen to make a raise of 405,000. Eshkar moved all in and Nguyen made a quick call.
Nguyen:
Eshkar:
The on the turn and the on the river kept Nguyen in the lead with two pairs!
1.Dang Toan Nguyen – €67,652
2. Eyal Eshkar -€30,547
3. Cem Degirmenci – €21,857
4. Remy van der Nagel – €16,815
5. Olvedo Heinze – €11,878
6. Daan van Hoogmoed – €10,291
7. Matias Knaapinen – €7,843
8. Frank de Wolf – €6,511
9. Daniyar Aubakirov -€9,338
(Includes Bounties)
The action at the 2018 Master Classics of Poker will continue all the way till December 1, with the €4,300 Main Event already playing out its first starting flight.