Victor den Houting is The Festival in Malta Main Event Champion! He defeated Canadian Haven Taylor after an hour long heads-up battle to take the title and the €55,000 first prize.
He went into the heads-up stage of the tournament with 10.675m chips versus Haven Taylor's 6.3m. Taylor did manage to take the lead at one stage of the final session, however Victor who is usually a cash game player rallied and retook the lead and the final hand played out soon after.
In the final hand Haven moved all-in with K 6 on a flop of Q K 7 and after a brief delay Victor made the call, tabling K 7 for two pairs. This left Haven drawing thin, needing either running sixes to win the hand, or a queen to pair the board for a chop. The 4 on the turn and 9 on the river provided no help for the Canadian, who had been dutifully railed by her husband Tom Taylor throughout the final table.
Haven Taylor cashed for €32,800 for her runner-up finish while our champion Victor victoriously took down the €55,000 first place prize.
In his post tournament interview Victor revealed that he hasn't played live for ten years and his journey here was the first time he has even been on an aeroplane in the same amount of time. Victor, originally from Spain plays cash online professionally and moved to Andorra six years ago, soon after the birth of his first child. He is now a proud father of three and has re-ignited his love of tournaments by securin this win.
Congratulations to The Festival in Malta Main Event Champion Victor den Houting! See you in Bratislava!
The Final Table Result
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victor den Houting | Spain | €55,000 |
| 2 | Haven Taylor | Canada | €32,800 |
| 3 | Oliver Mihajlovski | Macedonia | €23,300 |
| 4 | Mathias Jordi | Switzerland | €17,800 |
| 5 | Bart Dil | Netherlands | €13,800 |
| 6 | Mario Eder | Austria | €10,600 |
| 7 | Krystian Nalepka | Poland | €8,300 |
| 8 | Dragan Ignjatovski | Macedonia | €6,300 |
| 9 | Jordi Ruiz | Spain | €4,800 |
