2018 has been a fine vintage for Andras Nemeth. The Hungarian pro has been grinding for as long as I have been out of nappies, but something has clicked this year.
Four months after winning the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller in the PokerStars World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) for a career-best score of $576,087, he has just gone one better.
Nemeth topped a field of 95 entrants to win the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona for a career-high €605,600, after beating the in-form Wai Leong Chan in a short heads-up match.
You have to go way back to 2009 for Nemeth’s previous best score, when he finished fourth in a €6,200 buy-in event at the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam, although he did secure a €108,250 payday for finishing 2/737 in a €1k event in this casino back in 2013.
Chan came into EPT Barcelona in fine fettle.
He cashed in four Triton Poker Series events in Montenegro and Jeju including placing runner-up to Mikita Badziakouski in the Jeju Main Event earning $3.5m. A few days later he finished third in the Triton Poker Series High Roller as part of partypoker MILLIONS Russia for another $472,315. Chan might not be filling up his trophy cabinet, but his bank balance is swelling.
Let’s see how these two got to the end zone.
Level 3: 1000/1500/1500
The Finnish star, Juha Helppi, was the first player to bust.
No details.
Just a name, and an empty chair.
Michael Dyer, James Chen, Moam Makavy, and Dario Sammartino joined Helppi in the ‘should I buy back in’ club.
Helppi did buy back in.
Level 4: 1000/2000/2000
Romain Lewis, Igor Yarovshevskyy, Dominykas Karmazinas, and Byron Kaverman lost every single one of their chips.
Level 5: 1000/2500/2500
Bryn Kenney, Oleh Olekotskyi and Kazuhiko Yotsushika left a table without anything in their rack.
The Barcelona and Spain star Gerard Pique bought-in.
Kenney lost his second and final bullet. Sylvain Loosli, Pavlo Kolinkovskyi, Behzad Ahadpour, Sergio Aido, and Nick Petrangelo lost their first.
Level 6: 1500/3000/3000
Pique lost a life in a hand against Louis Nyberg AJ<AK.
Jean-Noel Thorel took the chip lead after eliminating Luc Greenwood. The pair got it in on the turn with both holding top pair; only Thorel’s had the mightiest kick. Greenwood rebought.
Level 7: 2000/4000/4000
Alex Komaromi, Ramin Hajiyev, Jean Ferreira and Jacob Reffeldt Rasmussen all busted. Sergio Aido lost his second bullet.
Mikita Badziakouski sent Chan Wei Leong to the rail when the pair got it in 33>AK. Badziakouski beat Leong heads-up to win the $5.2m first prize in the Triton Poker Series Main Event Jeju recently.
Stephen Chidwick and Luc Greenwood left the tournament area after losing their second bullets.
Level 8: 2500/5000/5000
Kristina Holst, Sam Greenwood and Matt Moss all left. Aaron Been doubled through Dan Smith KK>AQ. Badziakouski ate every single one of Pauli Ayras’ chips QQ>86o.
Ivan Luca, Juha Helppi, Nick Petrangelo and Henrik Hecklen all busted in this level.
Level 9: 3000/6000/6000
Igor Yaroshevskyy eliminated Mark Teltscher when his AQ rivered an ace against pocket fives, all-in, pre-flop.
Level 10: 4000/8000/8000
The souls of Timothy Adams, Patrik Antonius, Pauli Ayras, Tsugunari Toma, Dan Shak and Jan-Mikael Kesänen extinguished in this level.
Been took care of Daniel Negreanu when his AK beat the crap out of A3 all-in, pre-flop for all the marbles.
Chin Wei Lim’s AK beat the QQ of Nyberg to send the Swede back whence he came.
Level 11: 5000/10000/10000
Taylor Black, Ryan Riess, Linus Loeliger, Ivan Leow, Michael Soyza, Fabrice Maltez, Alberto Lapena, and Shyngis Satubayev were left twiddling their thumbs in this level.
The prize pool is confirmed:
13 players receive a minimum €45,620.
Here are the top five positions:
- €605,600
- €420,800
- €278,280
- €217,820
- €175,600
Neither Jack Salter, Farid Jattin, Yaroshevskyy or Loosli would get a sniff.
Level 12: 6000/12000/12000
23 players remained.
Orpen Kisacikoglu is the first to go.
Andras Nemeth leads.
Level 13: 8000/16000/16000
Dan Smith eliminated Lucas Reeves when his AQ beat A8 all-in, pre-flop. Joao Vieira also busted in this level. Vladimir Troyanovskiy eliminated the in-form Alex Foxen QQ>QJo. And Seth Davies took out the €100k Super High Roller winner, Badziakouski A9>QJ to take the chip lead.
Pascal LeFrancois sent Fan Zhang to the rail when his pocket sixes won a race against AK. The outstanding Matthias Eibinger found aces to crush Sam Greenwood’s 97ss on a Ks7c6s flop. The turn and river bricked, and Greenwood was out.
Kaverman doubled through Been AT>A7.
Thorel moved into the chip lead after eliminating Murad Akhunov AK>QQ, after flopping a king.
Level 15: 10000/25000/25000
Hand for hand action on the bubble.
Eibinger busted Been 99>ATo, and we were on the stone cold bubble.
Level 16: 15000/30000/30000
Eibinger put a smile on everyone’s face when he took out Juan Pardo Dominguez in a brutal beat A8cc>AA. The Austrian hitting runner-runner clubs to break the Spaniard’s heart, and send everyone into the money.
Level 17: 20000/40000/40000
Nemeth took out Davies AK>KQ. Salman Behbehani and his A7o couldn’t beat the pocket fives of Eibinger or the KTcc of Chan, all-in, pre-flop. And Nemeth took another scalp when his pocket fives bested the KQs of LeFrancois.
Michel Dattani doubled through Nemeth AQ>AJ.
Nemeth got some of those back after busting Dan Smith Q6>A2 after Troyanovskiy had taken most of his chips AA>22.
We had our final table.
Level 18: 250000/50000/50000
The Final Table
- Matthias Eibinger – 2,150,000
- Andras Nemeth – 1,950,000
- Chin Wei Lim – 1,050,000
- Wai Leong Chan – 825,000
- Jean-Noel Thorel – 825,000
- Vladimir Troyanovskiy – 820,000
- Michel Dattani – 800,000
- Sean Winter – 650,000
- Byron Kaverman – 470,000
Kaverman hit runner-runner straight cards for his KT to beat the AK of Lim. Thorel ousted Winter 88>KQs. And Lim’s pocket fours were far better than Troyanovskiy’s pocket threes.
Level 19: 30000/60000/60000
Eibinger eliminated Dattani in seventh place when his 86h beat A9o, after turning a straight. Kaverman sent Thorel to the cash desk in sixth when his A7 beat K5 and the American grabbed more chips when he doubled through Chan AJ>K5s.
Level 20: 40000/80000/80000
Nemeth doubled through Chan KJs>22 after rivering a king.
Level 21: 50000/100000/100000
Nemeth’s pocket kings were too strong for the A6dd of Lim.
Kaverman did it again, this time doubling through Eibinger K5s>JTs, but Chan left him crippled when 88 beat AQ, leaving Kaverman with 105,000.
Level 22 60000/120000/120000
Kaverman was all-in whether he liked it or not and his QT couldn’t beat Chan’s A8hh. Kaverman left with €217,820, and a fourth-place finish on his resume.
And then Chan picked up some much-needed chips for his heads-up battle with Nemeth after eliminating Eibinger AQ>JT. The Austrian has had a sterling series making the final table in the four most significant events.
Heads-Up Chip Counts
Nemeth: 6,100,000
Chan: 3,400,000
Chan pulled level through a series of pots before Nemeth ended his revival in brutal circumstances. The pair got it in with Nemeth holding A2o, and Chan holding the rockets, only for the Hungarian to river a wheel to cement his victory.
Final Table Results
- Andras Nemeth – €605,600
- Wai Leong Chan – €420,800
- Matthias Eibinger – €278,280
- Byron Kaverman – €217,820
- Chin Wei Lim – €175,600
- Jean-Noel Thorel – €136,860
- Michel Dattani – €108,350
- Vladimir Troyanovskiy – €84,400
- Sean Winter – €63,900