American poker pro Samuel Panzica claimed the honours and the Euro 375,770 first prize this weekend after besting a field of 184 other players in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Euro 10,300 buy-in High Roller event in Dublin.
By the time the action reached final table stage on the third day it looked as if Russian pro Sergey Lebedev was on the way to a big win, but in the end he managed only a third place finish for Euro 184,650 as Panzica and German player Akin Tuna overtook him to feature in the heads up.
with Panzica holding a small edge in chips.
The duo called a time-out to discuss a chop, agreeing that Panzica would take Euro 310,000 and Tuna Euro 290,000, leaving Euro 65,770 and the trophy on the table for the winner.
When the action resumed Tuna managed to wrest the lead from Panzica, only to lose two big pots which relegated him to the losing end of a 2 to 1 chip count and enabled his American foe to close out the game.
For both players the prizes were their best rewards yet: Panzica’s previous live tournament best was a $109,326 cash, whilst Tuna bested his top previous win by a factor of four.
Other final table survivors took home:
Emil Patel Finland Euro150,550
Davidi Kitai Belgium Euro 120,050
Ryan Riess USA Euro 92,240
Timothy Adams Canada Euro 67,120
William Arruda Brazil Euro 48,630