Russian Andrey Pateychuk dominated the final table at the San Remo Main Event of the European Poker Tour, beating out several far more experienced contenders in order to become only the second Russian ever to win an EPT event. The San Remo event has historically been one of the biggest events in the EPT, often touting a prize larger than any other in the annual tournament. At the end of play, Andrey Pateychuk took home a €680,000 prize.
This virtual unknown walked into San Remo and, after four days of play, beat out a final table that consisted of Barny Boatman, the great poker legend from the United Kingdom as well as Kevin MacPhee, the American currently sitting in fifth place on the EPT All-Time Leader Board. Other players included Jan Bendik (5th place), Yorane Kerignard (6th place), and Italian player Rocco Palumbo, who finished seventh.
Neilson dominated most of the San Remo event, staying within the top two places for most of the game (he went into the final table as the chip leader, with twice the chips with which Pateychuk started). MacPhee had the short stack, but he also had the most to gain– winning would make him the first ever two-time winner during the history of the European Poker Tour. MacPhee was the first out, eliminated by Barny Boatman, and he was followed about an hour later by Rocco Palumbo, who was sent to the rail by Slovakia’s Jan Bendik. Danchev took out Yorane Kerignard of France, while Pateychuk himself eliminated Boatman, leading to an unexpected final three. By this point, Neilson’s stack had been whittled away considerably throughout play by the Russian, and Danchev finished him off.
This year’s San Remo had an interesting payout schedule, as second place (which ultimately went to Bulgarian Dimitar Danchev) was awarded €600,000, a mere €80k less than first place, while Australian Daniel Neilson, who came in third, left with only €285,000. That’s quite a leap between second and third, and not a great deal of difference between the first and second prizes, and all of the other events at the European Poker Tour this year have been more fairly distributed. Why did this EPT event, which had one of the larger prize pools so far this season, have a smaller take for the first place winner and such an uneven distribution among the winners? The top two players made a deal during the heads-up play, when the game was determined by a bad beat– instead of winning €800k and €480k, first and second place took home more balanced amounts to reflect the true nature of how this game played out. Pateychuk had gone all in with only a 6-7 in his hand, while Danchev held 9-10. The 9-4-2 flop left Danchev in the lead with a pair, but Pateychuk got lucky when the turn and river produced an 8-5, making this an incredibly bad beat. We imagine that Danchev probably won’t mind too much, as he’s still walking away with a considerable sum.
Poker fans may recall hearing Pateychuk’s name somewhere before, and for good reason. He ran deep in the $10,000 World Championship – No Limit Hold’em Main Event at this year’s World Series of Poker, landing a substantial win of $478,174 after being eliminated in 15th place. Before this year, however, no one had ever heard of Pateychuk, so it looks like a star has been born this year. Congratulations, Andrey, and may your runs be deep and your seat be favorable in the future!