In relation to French poker royalty, names like Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Antoine Saout, David Benyamine, and Julien Martini ring out. However might the torch be handed to a brand new flag bearer for the tricolor? Enter Thomas Santerne, the meteoric expertise who’s taking the poker world by storm.
Lower than two years in the past, Santerne was an unknown entity, with not a single recorded money on The Hendon Mob. At this time, he’s a bona fide sensation, racking up over $4 million in live-tournament earnings and incomes the respect of the high-roller elite.
Santerne’s newest triumph got here within the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague on the Hilton Prague, the place he bested a 15-entry subject to say the €20,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em title. His victory over Morten Klein in a heads-up battle secured him the €175,000 first-place prize from the €285,000 prize pool.
This marks Santerne’s second main victory of the yr, following his Tremendous Excessive Curler win at EPT Paris in February. With outcomes like these, it’s now not a query of whether or not Santerne belongs among the many greats—however how quickly he’ll be part of them.
EPT Prague €20,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Last Desk Outcomes
Event Recap
A muted begin noticed solely a pair gamers register by the point the event was supposed to start, which led to a small delay earlier than the motion acquired underway five-handed.
Niklas Astedt, who positioned third within the WSOP Foremost Occasion earlier this yr, started the day operating scorching and practically doubled his stack by the primary couple ranges of play. Nevertheless, it will be principally downhill for the Swede from that time on.
Not lengthy after, Astedt misplaced a big pot to Teun Mulder after operating pocket tens into pocket kings. Astedt was then among the many early eliminations together with Klein after getting all in preflop towards Enrico Camosci, who caught a pair of kings on the river with Massive Slick. Astedt and Klein each shortly reentered.
The 2022 WSOP Foremost Occasion champion, Espen Jorstad, was additionally among the many early entrants however was unable to realize any momentum from the get-go. Jorstad ended up making a stand with ace-six towards Mulder and busting after chipping down for a number of ranges. In contrast to Astedt, Jorstad declined to reenter.
Poker crusher Steve O’Dwyer joined the fray firstly of Stage 7 and wasted little time placing his chips to work. Shortly after coming into, O’Dwyer managed to double up, holding aces towards the pocket tens of Camosci.
In the meantime, Klein busted and reentered two extra instances, first after getting quick and operating ace-nine into Camosci’s pocket nines preflop, after which after operating pocket kings into Camosci’s pocket aces in a basic cooler. Klein reentered a 3rd a ultimate time simply earlier than late registration closed.
Astedt noticed his event finish after getting all in preflop with ace-king towards Nikita Kuznetsov, who ended up ended up making a flush with ace-ten for the unhealthy beat.
Klein’s fortune would lastly flip round after he eradicated O’Dwyer and Mulder. He first took out O’Dwyer with ace-queen towards king-queen in a preflop collision and later pale a large draw towards Mulder for his second knockout.
The cash bubble arrived after Camosci shoved jack-ten into Santerne’s aces and failed to enhance. With three gamers left and solely two getting paid, Santerne made a transfer on Klein with unlucky timing as Klein awakened with pocket kings to double by Santerne. At that time, the remaining three gamers agreed to present €20,000 again to the third-place finisher.
Kuznetsov, who had been nursing a brief stack for some time, turned the primary “within the cash” elimination after shoving prelfop with queen-six and getting referred to as by Klein, who had ace-trey and held up.
Heads-up play between Klein and Santerne appeared to be a brief affair. Only a few fingers in, Santerne shoved on Klein with queen-trey and was snapped off by Klein, who held ace-six. Santerne caught a trey on the flop, however Klein paired his ace on the flip and was only one card away from clinching victory. Destiny was on Santerne’s facet, nevertheless, as he caught a queen on the tip to drag his stack to even towards Klein.
A number of fingers later, Klein dedicated his stack towards Santerne on the flip after flopping journey nines however was up towards Santerne’s turned flush. The river bricked out for Klein and he was pressured to accept a second-place end for €90,000 whereas Santerne claimed his second EPT title and €175,000 first-place prize.
