Sotiropoulos Wins the Merit Poker Vintage Series Main Event
Three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos added the Merit Poker Vintage Series Main Event title to his ever-growing list of poker accomplishment. This latest victory came with a $384,150 payday, pushing Sotiropoulos' live earnings north of $3.5 million.
The $3,300 buy-in Main Event drew in 767 entrants, who created a $2,122,440 prize pool. The lion's share of that princely pot is now nestled in the bank account of Sotiropoulos.
Merit Poker Vintage Series Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | Greece | $384,150 |
| 2 | Robert Sanchez | Spain | $282,900 |
| 3 | Eli Saad | Israel | $173,600 |
| 4 | Sergey Babincev | Lithuania | $128,400 |
| 5 | Mustapha Kanit | Italy | $96,150 |
| 6 | Serdar Tasyurek | Turkey | $77,700 |
| 7 | Andrey Golubev | Russia | $66,300 |
| 8 | Dmitry Gromov | Russia | $51,160 |
| 9 | Milos Petkovic | Serbia | $38,400 |
Sotiropoulos was eighth from nine in chips when the final table action commenced. Milos Petkovic was in the middle of the pack but he was still the first finalist heading out of the door. Petkovic came unstuck during a coinflip with Israel's Eli Saad. Petkovic held pocket queens and was against Saad's ace-king. The queens remained true up to the river where the ace of spades sent Petkovic to the rail.
Seasoned pro Dmitry Gromov was the next casualty. With blinds of 150,000/300,000/300,000a, Gromov open-shoved for 1,625,000 from under the gun with ace-five of hearts. Mustapha Kanit called from the next seat over with the dominating ace-jack, and his jack-kicker took down the pot.
Seventh-place and $15 went to Andrey Golubev. Sotiropoulos opened with suited ace-jack and quickly called when Golubev three-bet all-in for a shade under 2.5 times the size of Sotiropolos' opening raise. Golubev flipped over the dominated ace-trey, and was drawing dead to a chip after the turn because Sotiropoulos improved to a straight. A brick on the river reduced the player count by one.
Turkey's Serdar Tasyurek bowed out in sixth at the hands of Robert Sanchez. Sanchez min-raised to 1,000,000 with jack-nine of heart in the cutoff, and Tasyurek called in the big blind with king-nine. A seven-ace-eight flop with two hearts saw Tasyurek check-raise a 900,000 continuation bet to 2,600,000, and Sanchez called. The five of hearts on the turn was greeted with a 7,000,000 shove from Tasyurek, but he was bluffing with the hand Sanchez held. Sanchez snap-called, leading to the inconsequential seven of spades on the river.
A double elimination saw Kanit bust in fifth and Sergey Babincev crash out in fourth. Sotiropoulos min-raised to 1,000,000 with pocket queen in the cutoff, Kanit three-bet all-in for 7,000,000 in the small blind with pocket tens, and Babincev committed his 12,250,000 stack in the big blind with pocket aces! Sotiropoulos called, flopped a set, and hit a full house on the river to bust two dangerous opponents.
The ball was firmly in Sotiropoulos' court now, and he put his foot on the gas. He open-shoved from the button with ace-trey, and Eli Saad called off his last 11 big blinds with king-nine of clubs. Saad caught a king on the turn, but there were four diamonds on the board, with Sotiropoulos holding the ace of diamonds.
Heads-up was a short affair, and ended with a coinflip. Sanchez limped in for 600,000 with ace-king, Sotiropoulos raised to 2,300,000 with pocket nines in the hole, only for Sanchez to jam for 25,200,000. Sotiropoulos instantly called, and his nines held on a queen-high run out.
Lead image courtesy of Merit Poker
