A staggering 456 excessive rollers got here out to compete within the $10,300 EPT Excessive Curler on the 2024 PokerStars European Poker Tour Cyprus, however in the long run, one man stood head and shoulders above the remaining. Ryan Mandara dominated the ultimate desk, clinching the $709,285 high prize after making a heads-up cope with Poland’s Sebastian Malec.
Contained in the luxurious Benefit Royal Diamond Lodge On line casino & Spa, Mandara added the gorgeous PokerStars trophy to his assortment in dazzling vogue. Mandara cruised by way of the ultimate desk, dispatching six of his eight opponents with ruthless effectivity. He sealed the deal in fast model, taking simply three swift fingers to dispatch Malec heads up, cementing his victory in document time.
Last Desk Outcomes
*denotes heads-up deal
Winner’s Response
“I am good, a bit in shock nonetheless,” stated Mandara in an unique interview with PokerNews.
When requested concerning the early phases of the event, he shared, “Day 1, I went down to twenty,000 right away, however managed to bag 75,000. Then, Day 2, I used to be simply groveling and grinding and managed to bag 375,000. At the moment, I simply ran tremendous good.”
Requested whether or not the cash at stake influenced his choices, Mandara replied, “I attempt to not make it have an effect on choices, however generally it does. I attempt my greatest to not let it have an effect on me.” With a career-best rating already locked up, Mandara ended up greater than doubling his earlier greatest rating from six years in the past in Dublin.
Mandara had additionally completed twelfth within the EPT Excessive Curler in Barcelona earlier this yr, and he loves the event construction. “So off to Prague to defend my crown, possibly,” he stated.
PokerNews knowledgeable Mandara that he had damaged into the highest 100 on the UK’s all-time cash record.
“My goal was to make $1,000,000, which I did in Barcelona, and now it is nearly doubled!” Whereas he’s hit his aim, Mandara will seemingly have his sights set on much more trophies.
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Last Day’s Motion
Initially of Day 3, solely 24 hopefuls remained within the hunt for the title, led by Steve O’Dwyer. Diogo Coelho, Shankui Li, and Andras Nemeth held second, third, and fourth in chips, respectively, however none of them managed to achieve the ultimate desk.
Coelho’s downfall started when his kings clashed with Malec’s aces for many of his stack, adopted by his queen-jack failing to enhance towards Manuel Fritz‘s ace-deuce. Nemeth’s journey led to 18th after working into Niklas Astedt‘s slow-played aces throughout Stage 25. Li, in the meantime, was eradicated in twelfth after his ace-king did not outrun Malec’s pocket kings.
Additionally falling in need of the ultimate desk was Juan Pardo, whose pocket sixes did not maintain towards Daniel Myers’ pocket aces, sending him out in eleventh. The dreaded bubble spot went to Fritz, whose ace-nine was outdrawn by Jelle Moene’s king-queen, with Moene finishing a flush to seal Fritz’s destiny in tenth place.
When the ultimate desk started, Malec sat atop the leaderboard with 5,200,000 chips—practically 1 / 4 of all chips in play. Nevertheless, his dominance was rapidly challenged when he discovered himself in a traditional coin flip towards Stoyan Madanzhiev. The chips went in preflop, with Madanzhiev’s pocket eights holding agency towards Malec’s ace-queen, bringing the 2 a lot nearer relating to stack measurement.
O’Dwyer’s stack started to dwindle, and with round eight massive blinds left, he pushed all in with pocket sixes. Sadly, he bumped into Mandara’s pocket eights, sending the Irishman to the rail as the ultimate desk’s first casualty.
Mandara’s momentum continued when he picked up pocket aces and referred to as a four-bet shove from Astedt, who held pocket jacks. A clear runout despatched Astedt packing whereas Mandara was contesting for the chip lead.
Myers was the subsequent to fall after shedding a three-way all-in with pocket deuces towards Moene’s ace-queen and Madanzhiev’s ace-jack. A jack on the flop appeared poised to offer Madanzhiev the double knockout, however a queen on the river saved Moene and stored him within the sport, leaving Myers on the rail.
Adrian Cazacu, who had been nursing a brief stack all through the ultimate desk, managed to ladder up the payouts earlier than finally falling to Mandara. Cazacu three-bet shoved with ace-king, solely to be rapidly referred to as by Mandara’s pocket eights. An eight on the flop all however sealed Cazacu’s destiny, sending him house in sixth place.
Lev Margolin stayed underneath the radar whereas the others clashed, however finally, with simply 5 massive blinds remaining, he moved all in with ace-ten, and was referred to as by Malec’s ten-nine. Though Margolin was an enormous favourite, Malec hit a straight on the flip, which decreased the sector to 4 gamers.
Madanzhiev by no means actually recovered from the hand he misplaced earlier towards Moene, and with round eight massive blinds, he three-bet shoved ace-seven and ran straight into the ace-king of Mandara. No assist arrived on the board and similar to that, they have been down to a few.
When three-handed play began, the typical stack was greater than sixty massive blinds, and Malec held over half the chips in play. Moene was the brief stack however nonetheless had round thirty massive blinds.
Nevertheless, these thirty massive blinds quickly evaporated from Moene’s stack when he referred to as a four-bet shove with ace-jack, and located himself up towards the pocket kings of Mandara. No assist from the board meant Moene took the primary of the rostrum positions.
Earlier than heads-up play commenced, Malec and Mandara swiftly agreed to an ICM deal, securing a assured payout for every whereas leaving $32,500 and the coveted PokerStars Spadie trophy on the desk to play for.
Simply because the gamers and spectators have been ready for a prolonged heads-up battle, it was over earlier than anyone may blink. Within the second hand after the restart, Malec check-jammed the river with second pair and was referred to as by Mandara, who had high pair. With just some massive blinds remaining, it was throughout within the third hand as Mandara’s pocket tens held towards Malec’s king-nine, which noticed him clinch the title.
The following EPT occasion will happen in Prague, December 4 – 15. See you there!
