Popular British online and live tourney poker pro Sam Grafton bested a field of 736 opponents over the weekend to carry off the honours and the Euro 117,707 first prize in the PokerStars Festival Bucharest main event, racking up his biggest live tournament win in the last five years.
By the time the final table formed Grafton and Turkish pro Anil Ozdemir had cornered half the chips in play, enabling them to dominate what turned out to be a dynamic finale. For example, in the first three hands two players busted out, and later in one hand alone two players were eliminated, leaving Grafton and Ozdemir facing each other in the heads up, with the Turk holding a 2 to 1 advantage.
Odzemir’s skills were boosted by good cards and it looked as if it was only a matter of time before he clinched the game, but Grafton fought his way back into contention with a double up, building on that success to eventually overtake and then eliminate a tough opponent.
Odzemir went home with a Euro 96,933 pay check thanks to a previously agreed chop between the two.