€10,200 Championship Event
Day 1 Completed
€10,200 Championship Event
Day 1 Completed
The Patrik Antonius Poker Challenge (PAPC) at the Olympic Park Casino and the Hilton Tallinn Park has been a huge success with Estonian records broken for both cash games and tournaments.
The festival's namesake Patrik Antonius won his first trophy of the festival after finishing on top of a field of 20 entrants to win the PAPC €10,200 Championship Event for €78,100. The Finn's dominating performance was punctuated by the fact that he single-handedly eliminated every opponent at the final table.
Antonius was already Finland's most successful tournament player of all time and inched closer to $12 million in career tournament cashes with the victory.
The Finnish poker legend was thrilled about winning the trophy.
"It's always a very good feeling to win a tournament," shared Antonius in the wee hours of the morning after his win.
Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | €78,100 | $87,645 |
2 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | €51,550 | $65,706 |
3 | Joris Ruijs | Netherlands | €38,800 | $43,542 |
4 | Rahul Byrraju | India | €20,102 | $22,518 |
The tournament began at a fast and furious pace with nine players battling it out. There were a total of 10 re-entries during the seven 20-minute levels during which registration was open. Antonius accounted for three of the entries, the third being the charm. Jussi Mattila joined right before the late-registration period closed to make it ten unique players plus ten reentries for a €195,552 prize pool.
American James Romero was the first player eliminated after late registration was closed. Netherlands' Teun Mulder and Canada's Timothy Adams were next on the rail and the tournament consolidated to a seven-handed final table.
Netherlands' Joris Ruijs, who is also the chip leader heading into the final table of the PAPC €1,500 Main Event on Sunday, April 7, was by far the chip leader to kick off the final table with more than double the chips of his nearest competitor. India's Rahul Byrraju, Finland's Joni Jouhkimainen, and Antonius were in the middle of the pack with Robert Mizrachi, Koray Aldemir, and Mattila all bringing short stacks to the table.
Antonius first eliminated Aldemir when he made two pair on the turn with seven-deuce to best the German's pocket eights. He then took out Mattila when his ace-eight suited outflopped his opponent's pocket sixes.
Earlier this festival, Antonius was eliminated three times in the PAPC €25,000 High Roller either when he had or was against queens but the ladies were kinder to him in the PAPC Championship Event. The first big spot where queens worked out was when they held after he called a jam from Mizrachi, who held eight-six, to send his opponent to the rail on the bubble.
Byrraju was the first player out in the money in fourth place for €20,102 after he unsuccessfully jammed ace-trey into Antonius' pocket tens. Shortly after, Antonius eliminated Ruijs in third place for €38,800 after his king-eight held versus queen-six.
Antonius and Jouhkimainen agreed to take a 30-minute break before embarking on an epic heads-up match lasting more than 2 1/2 hours. PokerNews streamed the first 30 minutes of the match live on Facebook after the action resumed.
Antonius entered heads-up play with a 2:1 chip advantage before eventually extending it to a 3:1 chip advantage. Jouhkimainen climbed back and eventually snagged a 2:1 chip advantage himself before stacks more or less evened out between the two.
In a pivotal hand, Antonius got it all-in with pocket queens and spiked a set against Jouhkimainen's pocket kings. Jouhkimainen was left with crumbs after the hand and got the rest in shortly after with jack-five only to run into Antonius' pocket aces.
Jouhkimainen didn't win the trophy but the €58,550 did push the Finn past the $3 million milestone in lifetime cashes according to The Hendon Mob. Meanwhile, Antonius will take home a trophy with his name on it and will be back in action on Sunday to play some more high stakes cash games to be live streamed from the casino stage.
*Images courtesy of Rene Velli / Patrik Antonius Poker Challenge.
The tournament ended on the first hand after the blind level went up. Joni Jouhkimainen jammed for 100,000 and Antonius snap-called.
Joni Jouhkimainen:
Patrik Antonius:
Jouhkimainen needed a bit of luck to survive after running into Antonius' aces. His rail was calling for a ten after the flop. The rail got louder for Jouhkimainen after a ten would really help after the opened a gutshot straight draw for the Finn.
A ten didn't come and instead the completed the board on the river. Joni Jouhkimainen was awarded a runner-up prize of €58,550 and congratulated Antonius who won the trophy at his own signature event along with the €78,100 top prize.
Stay tuned for the recap of the PAPC €10,200 Championship Event.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Patrik Antonius |
800,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
|
||
Joni Jouhkimainen | Busted | |
|
Level: 19
Blinds: 8,000/16,000
Ante: 16,000
Patrik Antonius opened to 26,000. Joni Jouhkimainen raised to 90,000 before Antonius four-bet jammed all-in for 350,000 and got a snap call by Jouhkimainen.
Patrik Antonius:
Joni Jouhkimainen:
Antonius lost several times both with queens and against queens for his entire stack in the €25,000 High Roller earlier in the week but luck was on his side this hand. Although he was behind, fortunes quickly changed for Antonius after he nailed a set on the flop.
Jouhkimainen didn't catch back up in the hand after the came on the turn followed by the on the river.
Photos courtesy of Rene Velli / PAPC
Joni Jouhkimainen three-bet Patrik Antonius twice in the last three hands to regain an edge in the heads-up match.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joni Jouhkimainen |
500,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
||
Patrik Antonius |
300,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Patrik Antonius |
400,000
34,000
|
34,000 |
|
||
Joni Jouhkimainen |
400,000
-34,000
|
-34,000 |
|
Joni Jouhkimainen jammed the button more than covering the 183,000 Patrik Antonius had behind and Antonius called.
Joni Jouhkimainen:
Patrik Antonius:
Antonius was a small dog but turned into a huge favorite after he paired the flop. Jouhkimainen never got back into the hand with the coming on the turn and the completing the board on the river.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joni Jouhkimainen |
434,000
-106,000
|
-106,000 |
|
||
Patrik Antonius |
366,000
106,000
|
106,000 |
|
Level: 18
Blinds: 6,000/12,000
Ante: 12,000