Roger Hairabedian Wins the 2020 King's PLO High Roller (�40,401)
The first major live poker tournament on European soil after the COVID-19 outbreak has come to a conclusion at the King's Resort in Rozvadov, one of the biggest poker arenas of the continent and host of the World Series of Poker Europe throughout the last few years.
A total of 60 entries in the 2020 King's Resort �2,500 PLO High Roller boosted the prize pool to �128,250 and the top seven spots were paid. After a short-lived heads-up battle it was French poker veteran and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Roger Hairabedian that defeated Christian Stratmeyer in heads-up to claim the top prize of �40,401 whereas Stratmeyer walked away with a payday of �29,176.
Among those to cash were also Eric Lescot, Harry Casagrande, and Jonas Kronwitter whereas King's regular "The Talk" ended up as the bubble boy.
Final Result �2,500 PLO High Roller
| Place | Winner | Country | Payout (in EUR) | Payout (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roger Hairabedian | France | � 40,401 | $45,249 |
| 2 | Christian Stratmeyer | Germany | � 29,176 | $32,677 |
| 3 | Eric Lescot | Belgium | � 18,596 | $20,828 |
| 4 | Harry Casagrande | Austria | � 14,107 | $15,800 |
| 5 | Andreas Bremer | Germany | � 10,901 | $12,209 |
| 6 | Jonas Kronwitter | Austria | � 8,336 | $9,336 |
| 7 | Ossama Khamis | Germany | � 6,733 | $7,541 |
Frantic Early Stages
Since Day 1 only played six levels of 30 minutes each, the late registration was available for another four levels on the final day and the new entries and re-entries kept on coming at a steady pace. Sergej Barbarez was among the new additions to the field and lasted all but one hand when he got it in with aces versus aces and Matthias Kribben turned trips jacks.
As the players busted and bought back in, the chips went back and fourth in the first two hours of play. Barely any minute passed without an all-in showdown and the guarantee was surpassed easily. Ultimately, the attendance was nearly doubled and 22 players remained in contention when the registration had closed.
By then, Jan-Peter Jachtmann was still in the top spot but the former WSOP PLO bracelet winner dropped into the middle of the pack when his top pair ran smack dab into the top set of Roger Hairabedian.
The Race to the Final Table
In arguably the most remarkable hand of the day down to the final three tables, Harry Casagrande scored a triple knockout when his queens and jacks turned a king-high straight to dispatch Robert Wilke, Kristijan Maric and Andre Ellbracht. Franz Doblinger came up short of the final two tables and by then, new chip leaders had emerged in Christian Stratmeyer and Hairabedian.
Karol Konopka had most of his stack in with aces and Jonas Kronwitter flopped trips eights to sent Konopka to the rail. Shortly after, Jules Ayoub flopped two pair and turned a flush only for Christian Stratmeyer to flip over the turned nut flush and join the big stacks.
Tuncay Tutus and Uemit Guenduez fell next, and Jachtmann's horrid run ended in 12th place when he flopped top pair and top kicker. Stratmeyer also flopped top pair but turned two pair to deal the final blow. Hairabedian then knocked out Saeed Rehman and Pedjman Hamie to enter the final table as the chip leader ahead of Stratmeyer.
Hairabedian Runs Hot and Dominates the Final Table
Hassan Mattout was the shortest stack among the final nine and stood no chance. For The Talk the tournament and a lengthy massage ended on the money bubble when he defended out of the blinds and got it in holding a straight draw along with top two pair against Stratmeyer and Kronwitter, the latter had flopped a set and held up.
What followed was the Hairabedian show as he knocked out five of his final six contenders. Ossama Khamis ran with queens into his kings and Kronwitter could not find help with top and bottom pair against top two.
Andreas Bremer ran with top two into the top set of Stratmeyer and the rampage of Hairabedian continued when he rivered the nuts against Harry Casagrande and took the remaining chips of the Austrian shortly after. Lescot also fell victim to Hairabedian and the heads-up duel was almost over in the second hand. Stratmeyer scored a lucky double by cracking aces but it was only a short-lived hope.
Hairabedian rivered a full house against the trips of Stratmeyer to take a commanding lead once more and found kings a few hands later to flop a wrap and turn the nut straight in order to seal the victory.
That ends the PokerNews live updates from the King's Resort in Rozvadov and Europe's biggest poker arena prepares for bigger festivals in the weeks and months to come according to the current safety restrictions in the Czech Republic.