Paul Cracuinas Crushes €550 Main Event After Three Way Deal for €71,740 on Day 7 of The Festival Rozvadov
A new Main Event champion has been crowned under the lights of the feature table at Europe's palace of poker, King's Resort Rozvadov. Paul Craciunas has become the latest Festival Series Main Event champion, topping the 710 total field. He took home the largest share of the €500,000 prizepool after a three-way deal for his third title of the week. Here is the rundown of the action.
€550 Main Event
After a marathon session yesterday, 16 players made it to the third and final day. However, only 15 returned because RAFA was absent for the entire session. One of our online package winners, Oleksii Lubnin, was the first to depart. He came into the day as the shortest stack, and he was dispatched by Floran Bilan early into the day's play. Maurizio Pisciotti was next to depart, as he chose the wrong time to jam 25 big blinds over an open and a call with queen-ten offsuit from the small blind.
Blian was the beneficiary, as his queens faded a flush draw and a straight draw across the 9 2 A J 3 runout. Raul Sav scored a triple up with ace-queen offsuit to crack the queens and tens of Rama Prema and Florin Bilan. THE FISH bust to Zdravko Lamot, a former contestant on Big Brother Croatia, who called off a four-bet all-in on a ten-high flop with ace-ten offsuit. THE FISH had pocket fours and couldn't find a two outer. RAFA's stack was left unattended for the entire session, and he blinded out in tenth place.
Sav couldn't maintain his momentum and was the final table bubble boy, as Prema picked up his stack with sevens against king-queen suited in a preflop all-in confrontation. Prema flopped bottom set and faded a straight draw to signal the start of final table play.
€550 Main Event Final Table Play
Lamot came into the final table as one of the shortest stacks, but he successfully doubled against the start of the final table chip leader and title hat-trick seeker Paul Craucinas. Ariel Kayat was the first departure of final table play, as he defended queen-eight off with his under-eight big blind stack. He moved all in for 800,000 on the A K J flop with Q 8 . Babubarsch called. Kayat couldn't hit a flush or a straight across the 5 turn and 4 river.
Enrico Falco was next to fall, and he was on the wrong end of a cooler against Grzegorz Flak. Flak had kings and Falco had queens. Both players made two pair, but Flak's superior holding propelled the Polish national up the chip counts. Friend of The Festival and media partner with poker.time.cz, David Vesely doubled up through Babubarsch in a preflop all in, making a ten-high straight in the process. Lamot lost a big one to Cracuinas in a limped pot, as the Romanian made the nut flush against Lamot, who had two pair. He was all in a few hands later, but couldn't spin up his big blind and a half against Rama Prema.
Cracuinas was crushing, and the deck was in his favour. He opened from the small blind with eights against Prema, who jammed 16 big blinds with nines. Craciunas called after a moment. He was behind but took the lead instantly, flopping quads and eliminating Prema in the process to take play five-handed. Bilan was next to bust, as he called a jam from Craciunas from the small blind. Bilan had the best hand preflop but fell behind on the flop, as Craciunas' queen-three suited paired to take play three-handed.
Cracuinas was atop the counts when play resumed three-handed, with Veseley the clear short stack. Babubarsch wasn't far off Craucinas. Vesely's run came to an end as he paid off a sizeable river bet with a jack on a king-high board. Vesely opened from the button to 500,000. Babubarsch three-bet from the big blind to 1,200,000. Vesely called. Babubarsch led for 900,000 on the flop of K J 7 . Babubarsch led again for 1,700,000 on the 3 turn. Vesely called again. Babubarsch asked for it all on the 4 river, wagering 6,000,000, enough to put Vesely all in. He deployed a few time banks before calling with Q J . Babubarsch flopped top set with K K .
Heads Up
Babubarsch came into heads-up play with a slight advantage, but it didn't take long for Craucinas to turn the tables. Craucinas applied max pressure whenever possible, winning pot after pot. Ultimately, after a heads-up match that lasted around an hour and a half, all the chips were in Craucinas' posession. In the final hand, Craciunas called in the small blind. Babubarsch raised to 1,400,000. Craicunas responded with a four-bet jam, and Babubarsch called. He was dominated with K 9 against Craciunas' A 9 .
The J 10 2 A 4 runout sealed the deal for Craciunas, and he secured an unprecedented third Festival title over the week. All three podium finishers walk away with their largest career cashes. Babubarsch said after his runner-up finish, "It is my biggest career score, it's very special because it's hard to get to a final table. I play a lot of festivals in Rozvadov, but this has been one of the most entertaining ones, plenty of action and lots of tournaments. I will be coming to The Festival again." Below are the final table payouts.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Craciunas | Romania | €71,740* |
| 2 | Babubarsch | Germany | €51,250* |
| 3 | David Vesely | Czech Republic | €43,310* |
| 4 | Grzegorz Flak | Poland | €27,100 |
| 5 | Florin Bilan | Romania | €20,800 |
| 6 | Rama Prema | Czech Republic | €16,000 |
| 7 | Zdravko Lamot | Croatia | €12,300 |
| 8 | Enrico Falco | Italy | €9,400 |
| 9 | Ariel Kayat | Israel | €7,220 |
| *Denotes ICM Deal |
Winners Interview
That's a wrap on this instalment of The Festival Series. It won't be long until we return, which will be to the beautiful Baltic capital of Tallinn from July 1 - July 5 for The Festival Weekend, the home of many of The Festival crew. Get involved with online qualifiers via Olybet to get involved in all The Festival fun. Interested in coming to Malta in September? We have you covered. Qualify online through the iPoker Network, WPT Global and much more to win a package, which includes Main Event buy-in, accommodation coverage and access to the exclusive Hospitality events.
That's all for now, folks. Until next time.
