Online and land poker pro Mustapha Kanit boosted his career earnings over the weekend by claiming the first prize of Euro 936,500 – his biggest win yet – in the Euro 50,000 buy-in Super High Roller event at the 2015 PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final.
To do so he had to survive a talented field of 65 other top players all seeking the lion’s share of the massive Euro 3.2 million prize pool.
The event produced an exciting mix of talented play and fast action, starting just after midday on Sunday and winding up with Kanit’s victory in the small hours of Monday morning.
The final table featured an international gathering of poker pros that included Italian-based Kanit, along with Mike Watson (Canada); Martin Finger, Fedor Holz and Fabian Quoss from Germany; Belarus player Andrei Streltsou; Brit pro Mark Teltscher; Ivan Luca from Argentina and USA big name Scott Seiver.
Canadian Mike Watson and Kanit faced off in the heads up, but the Italian managed to get off to a flying start with a double up early on which put him in the chip lead, a position he held onto despite a reversal toward the end when he was temporarily set back by a Wilson double up.
It wasn’t enough for the Canadian to reverse his losing position, however, and he had to be content with a generous runner-up take-home of Euro 672,300.
Kanit’s career earnings are now well over Euro 3 million.
Other final table prizes in the event were:
Martin Finger Euro 437,000
Fedor Holz Euro 329,800
Fabian Quoss Euro 256,100
Andrei Streltsou Euro 198,500
Mark Teltscher Euro 156,900
Ivan Luca Euro 121,700
Scott Seiver Euro 92,860
This was the second almost a million Euro win in the EPT Grand Final this year; over the weekend Erik Seidel was victorious in the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller, besting a field of 70 to add Euro 2,015,000 to his bankroll (see previous report).