WSOPE 2019: Vangelis Kaimakamis Champions Mini Main Event, India`s Nitin Jain & Pulkit Goyal Make Deep Run

WSOPE 2019 Oct 21 Cover Image
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  • Arpit Jain October 21, 2019
  • 3 Minutes Read

The third bracelet event at the ongoing World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) series – the €1,350 Mini Main Event – has declared a winner. The Mini Main Event was the first event at the stop with a buy-in over €1,000 and also a new addition to the WSOPE. In all, the Mini Main Event attracted an impressive 766 entries over three starting flights on its debut run. The massive participation numbers helped generate €873,240 in the prize pool that was to be distributed among the top 115 places.

Greece’s Vangelis Kaimakamis collected the top prize worth €167,056 along with a WSOPE Main Event ticket worth €10,350. He claimed the fifth bracelet for his country after defeating Israel’s Shahar Levi heads-up for the title. The event gave away WSOPE Main Event seats to the top five finishers, and apart from Kaimakamis and Levi – Jose Rivas, Markus Jordan, and Didier Rabl all won themselves free entry to the flagship event.

While most of the Indian poker circuit is busy playing at the WPT India stop in Goa, a few Indians have come glory hunting to Europe.

Adding to the handful of scores Team India has already bagged in the first few events at WSOPE were two more in the Mini Main Event. The deep runs came from Nitin Jain and Pulkit Goyal – Jain finished 12th for €9,248 (~₹7.33 Lakhs), while Goyal, who came in as the start of Day 2 chip leader, finished 46th for €2,956 (~₹2.34 Lakhs).

Jain was eliminated in a blind-on-blind war by Didier Rabl. Jain had pocket tens and Didier Rabl tabled . A firm favorite to win the pot, Jain couldn’t dodge the aces on the board and got eliminated in 12th place for €9,248 (~₹7.33 Lakhs).

Nitin Jain
Nitin Jain

As for Goyal’s bustout hand, Aleksandr Merzhvinskii limped with , Rainer Heneka called with , and Goyal shoved holding . Action folded back to Merzhvinskii, who re-shoved, and Heneka called. The board awarded Heneka the pot eliminating Goyal in the process. Goyal scored €2,956 (~₹2.34 Lakhs) for his 46th place finish.

Pulkit Goyal
Pulkit Goyal

The other ITM finishes before the final table featured the likes of Paul Evans (19th for €4,846), Jiri Kocab (25th for €4,039), Vasile Sabou (34th for €3,425), Maria Lampropulos (43rd for €2,956), Bertrand Grospellier (51st for €2,596), Adrian Mateos (54th for €2,596), Ondrej Lon (81st for €1,858), Jeffrey Cormier (96th for €1,858), and Martin Kuba (107th for €1,793).

Apostolos Chatzopoulos became the final table bubble after moving all-in with pocket sixes but lost the flip to Andrew Bak’s who spiked a ten on the board.

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Shahar Levi – 19,690,000
  2. Andrew Bak – 17,545,000
  3. Didier Rabl – 9,220,000
  4. Jose Rivas – 8,560,000
  5. Vangelis Kaimakamis – 7,490,000
  6. Gerardo Giammugnani – 5,895,000
  7. Luigi Macaluso – 5,810,000
  8. Leonid Yanovski – 4,355,000
  9. Markus Jordan – 2,045,000

 

Final Table Recap

First up, Gerardo Giammugnani’s lost out to Shahar Levi’s pocket fours eliminating the former in ninth place.

Within the next hour, Leonid Yanovski walked out in eighth place when his ace-high failed to catch up to Levi’s pocket kings.

Following Yanovski`s elimination, the play was halted for the night. The seven finalists bagged and tagged their stacks one last time before retiring for the day.

Final Day Recap

The first player to fall on Day 3 was Luigi Macaluso. The action saw chip leader Shahar Levi open, and Macaluso 3-bet shoved holding . Levi almost immediately called tabling . An ace appeared on the board, and Macaluso departed in seventh place.

After the first break of the day, Andrew Bak moved all-in with and action folded to Jose Rivas, who quickly called with . The board favored Rivas, who flopped three-of-a-kind to take down the pot while Bak was relegated to the rail in fifth place.

The very next hand, Shahar Levi opened, Didier Rabl shoved, and Levi called.

Shahar Levi

Didier Rabl

The board blanked out for Rabl, who took a massive hit to become short-stacked. Rabl got knocked out in the very next hand when his ace-high failed to connect against Levi’s pocket jacks.

The pace of eliminations was crazy, and soon there was another elimination. In a blind vs. blind confrontation, Vangelis Kaimakamis shoved with pocket fours, and Markus Jordan made the call showing . Kaimakamis went on to turn a set, busting Jordan in fourth place.

Fifteen minutes later, Jose Rivas was sent packing in third place. The hand in question saw Kaimakamis opening the pot before Jose Rivas shoved with . Action folded back to Kaimakamis who tank-called tabling pocket sixes. There was no help for Rivas on the board, and he exited in third place, setting the heads-up match between Vangelis Kaimakamis (39,600,000) and Shahar Levi (37,000,000) in motion.

The heads-up finale lasted only 20 minutes, and on the final hand of the event, Kaimakamis raised, Levi re-raised, Kaimakamis shoved, and Levi called.

Vangelis Kaimakamis

Shahar Levi

The flop brought precisely the cards Kaimakamis was praying for, and he stayed good on the turn and the river to take down the pot and the title!

Vangelis Kaimakamis
Vangelis Kaimakamis

FInal Table Results (EURO)

  1. Vangelis Kaimakamis – €167,056*
  2. Shahar Levi – €103,216*
  3. Jose Rivas – €72,474*
  4. Markus Jordan – €51,628*
  5. Didier Rabl – €37,321*
  6. Andrew Bak – €27,382
  7. Luigi Macaluso – €20,396
  8. Leonid Yanovski – €15,426
  9. Gerardo Giammugnani – €11,850

*excludes WSOPE Main Event seat worth €10,350.

Images and Content Courtesy: WSOP

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