BRITISH POKER PLAYER JAKE CODY WINS EPT DEAUVILLE FOR €847,000

Jake “neverbluff67” Cody from Rochdale in the UK has won EPT Deauville for a first prize of €847,000 after besting a record-breaking field that included two former world champions and 13 EPT champions.

The 21-year-old online pro, who recently cashed in Galway at the new PokerStars UK and Ireland Poker Tour, was playing his first ever EPT. He beat Romanian Teodor Caraba after a two-hour heads up battle.

Cody, who also wins a seat to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in April, said: “This is so overwhelming. It’s the sort of stuff I dreamed about with my mates just a few weeks back. I feel like I should be asleep as I can’t believe this is happening.”

Canadian Mike “Timex” McDonald, who won EPT Dortmund in Season 4, had hopes of becoming the first ever EPT double champion but was eliminated in third place. Team PokerStars Pro and PCA champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, also in the running for a second EPT victory, was knocked out in ninth place.

A total of 768 players entered the EPT Deauville main event at Casino Barrière, generating a total prize pool of €3,686,400. A hundred players won their seats to the event on PokerStars.

Team PokerStars Pro and former world champion Peter Eastgate made his second final table appearance, coming eighth for €70,000 while fellow pro Luca Pagano again broke his own record by achieving his 14th EPT cash – and third this season. He was knocked out in 72nd place for €10,900. Other Team PokerStars Pros to make the money were Dario Minieri, from Italy, and Vadim Markushevski from Belarus.

Martin Kabrhel from the Czech Republic also made poker history when he beat Frenchman Antony Lellouche heads-up to win the €20,000 EPT High Roller event for €250,000. Kabrhel has now won side events at the last three EPTs in Europe – the €2k in Prague, the €2k in Vilamoura and EPT Deauville. Kabrhel has now earned at least €400,000 at EPTs and Lellouche more than €900,000.

French player Audrey Guyonvarch won the €220 Ladies Event for €5,800. The 89-strong field included – thanks to French anti-discrimination laws – four men. Dagmara Aleksandrowicz, who won the EPT London Ladies Event, came tenth.

EPT spokesperson Kirsty Thompson said: “EPT Deauville has been a huge success yet again with a warm welcome from Casino Barrière. We had a record-breaking turnout with 768 players and there were some incredible performances – especially from the winner Jake Cody, Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate who came eighth and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier – who so nearly made the final. Congratulations also to Luca Pagano for his record 14th cash.”

Final table/payouts:

#    Name     Country     PokerStars status     Payout
1    Jake Cody      UK        €847,000 EPT Grand Final seat
2    Teodor Caraba     Romania     PokerStars qualifier    €516,000
3    Mike McDonald     Canada    PokerStars qualifier    €295,000
4    Craig Bergeron     USA     PokerStars qualifier     €221,000
5    Claudiu Secara     Romania         €165,000
6    Stephane Albertini    France        €129,000
7    Michael Fratty     France       €92,000
8    Peter Eastgate     Denmark    Team PokerStars Pro €70,000

The next stop on the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour is the 35,000 DKK buy-in EPT Copenhagen event running from February 16-21, 2010 at Casino Copenhagen in the Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel. For more information, please visit http://www.ept.com.

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