One of poker’s top live tournament and internet players, Eugene Katchalov from Ukraine, has added victory in the Eureka Vienna High Roller tourney to his glittering career record, besting 454 other entrants to claim the main prize in the Euro 2,000 buy-in event.
Final table combatants as the match neared its decisive stage were Katchalov, Nikolaus Jedlicka of Austria; Swede Lars Tungel; Russian players Mikhail Korotkikh and Viktor Chiginev; Clement Thumy from France; Germany’s Daniel Melten and Dominik Panka of Poland.
The final table was a tough place to be, and it took the best part of four hours before the first casualty – Panka – headed for the exit.
The grinding competition continued into the early hours of the morning after that, but eventually the elimination of Sweden’s Lars Tungel cleared the decks for a heads up between Katchalov and Austrian rival Nikolaus Jedlicka, which was postponed to the following day with the Austrian holding a million chip advantage.
When the action resumed, the two survivors agreed on a chop leaving $27,700 on the table for the winner before again joining battle in an exciting four-hour finale that eventually saw Katchalov prevail to claim the main prize of Euro 149,400.
The other final table pay-outs looked like this:
Nikolaus Jedlicka Euro 127,600
Lars Tungel Euro 77,250
Mikhail Korotkikh Euro 61,400
Clement Thumy Euro 48,100
Daniel Melten Euro 37,700
Viktor Chiginev Euro 28,350
Dominik Panka Euro 20,150