Saul Berdugo Takes Down WPTDeepStacks Deauville Main Event For €98,000

The 2018 WPTDeepStacks Deauville €1,200 Main Event was conducted over a period of four days at the Casino Barrière in Deauville, France. The event attracted a total of 474 entrants across three starting flights and besting them all was Frenchman Saul Berdugo (cover image), who came out on top to win the €98,000 first-place prize.

Prior to this win, Berdugo`s poker resume reflected just one score, in the €330 No Limit Hold’em – Pasino Poker Series at the Pasino Poker Series, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux that was held in October this year, where he finished 12^th for €1,045.

Berdugo came into Day 3 with a big chip advantage over his 15 rivals but showed no signs of slowing down. He entered the final tale as the chip leader and continued to steadily build his stack, while also eliminating Romain Hamouche, Mohamed Mamouni and Joris Mahe along the way.

Berdugo squared off against Abdelhamid El Khayati in the heads-up play and defeated the latter to win his maiden live title which also happened to be a coveted WPT title. But that isn’t all. Berdugo also received a €2,000 WPTDS season-ending package for his win.

Speaking after his win, Berdugo said he was a regular in the tournament poker scene in Paris and also spoke of his love for the spirit and competition of tournament poker. Berdugo held the chip lead for all of Day 3 except for one period during five-handed play.

“I only lost the chip lead for five minutes, I never felt in danger.”

Berdugo plans to invest his winnings back into his love of tournament poker while enjoying some time at home in the coming weeks.

Out of the 63 runners who finished in the money were notables like Cedric Cavalier (10^th for €8,800), Bruno Benveniste (20^th for €4,200), Mohamed Mokrani (26^th for €3,075), Anna Moore (37^th for €2,630) and Julien Sitbon (47^th for €2,350).

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Saul Berdugo – 4,510,000

2. Abdelhamid El Khayati – 2,955,000

3. Clément Carreira – 1,740,000

4. Rabah Ait Abdelmalek – 1,485,000

5. Romain Hamouche – 990,000

6. Abdelakim Laidouni – 920,000

7. Jean Albertini – 605,000

8. Mohamed Mamouni – 545,000

9. Joris Mahe – 405,000

Final Table Recap

Even though Romain Hamouche started with the fifth largest stack on the final table, his luck quickly ran out when Joris Mahe doubled up through him, leaving him with only 475,000 behind. Soon thereafter, Hamouche moved all-in from big blind with , after Saul Berdugo opened with a raise from small blind holding . Berdugo called to see the community cards open . Hamouche was eliminated in ninth place, as Berdugo rivered a full house.

Following Hamouche to the rail was Jean Albertini who ended his run in eighth place.

Play continued for another level before Mohamed Mamouni busted out in seventh place. Mamouni’s were cracked by Berdugo , with the board spreading out . While Mamouni flopped a pair of tens, Berdugo took the lead as he picked up a pair of jacks on the turn that knocked the former out of the competition.

Less than 20 minutes later, Abdelakim Laidouni raised to 200,000 from the hijack with and Mahe called from the big blind with . The flop came and Mahe found a pair of aces, and Laidouni had the outs for a straight draw. The turn bettered Mahe’s hand to three-of-a-kind aces, while Laidouni need a king to survive. The on the river spelled doom for Laidouni and he was sent packing in sixth place.

After the remaining five players returned from the dinner break, Abdelhamid El Khayati raised from the cutoff and received calls from Clement Carreira and Joris Mahe who were in the blinds. The flop fell and Carreira shoved all-in, forcing Mahe to fold, while El Khayati called.

Abdelhamid El Khayati

Clement Carreira

The last two streets brought and which were of no help to Carreira who bounced out in fifth place.

Finishing in fourth place was Rabah Ait Abdelmalek when his lost out to El Khayati’s . The latter hit a clubs flush on the runout , resulting in Ait Abdelmalek’s elimination.

During level 30, with the board showing , Joris Mahe put his tournament life on the line after moving all-in with . Berdugo called with . While Mahe had flopped a pair of sixes and had the outs for an up-and-down straight draw, Berdugo picked up three-of-a-kind nines on the board. The river missed both players and Mahe’s run came to an end in third place.

Saul Berdugo (7,300,000) and Abdelhamid El Khayati (7,000,000) were almost evenly matched in stacks at the start of the heads-up play, though the former had a slight edge.

The duo battled and bantered with each other for about an hour before the final hand was played.

On the final hand, with 1,000,000 in the middle and the flop open , Berdugo checked and El Khayati bet 700,000. Berdugo moved all-in tabling and El Khayati called showing . On the turn , Berdugo took the lead with a pair of tens. The river was inconsequential and El Khayati narrowly missed yet another title win, following his runner-up finish in the Opener event for €8,455 just three days ago. Berdugo was ecstatic after winning the title and €98,000 in prize money, and his way of venting out his excitement was by performing acrobatics on the felt!

Final Table Results (EURO)

1. Saul Berdugo – €98,000*

2. Abdelhamid El Khayati – €63,595

3. Joris Mahe – €47,090

4. Rabah Ait Abdelmalek – €35,435

5. Clement Carreira – €26,695

6. Abdelakim Laidouni – €19,355

7. Mohamed Mamouni – €14,504

8. Jean Albertini – €11,800

9. Romain Hamouche – €10,200

*includes €2,000 WPTDeepStacks season-ending event package