Brice Cornut crowned Pokerheaven.com Paris Hold'em Trophy winner!

The Aviation Club was inundated with entrants and eventually the lucky 150 runners plus 3 alternates took their seats to play in one of the biggest and most respected poker tournaments in France.  In the beginning play moved quickly with many happy to gamble for all their chips.  But as the field dwindled play began to tighten up and slow down.  It was not until the early hours of the morning as the sun rose behind the Arc de Triumph, that the fortunate final 8 were known.

The 7 French and 1 German who made it to the final table started with cagey and nervous play.  Any raise at the table was respected, with the final 8 refusing to get involved in big pots unless they were holding premium hands.  It was no surprise that with no moves being made at the table, the blinds were beginning to eat into the short-stacks. 

Benjamin Brami decided he was bleeding chips away and in a bid to win the blinds (3k-6k and ante 1k) went all-in with a Gus Hansen favourite – suited connectors.  Unfortunately Xavier Detournel, who still had to play a hand, looked down to see Ace King smiling back at him and the chips were pushed across the line quicker than Brami was hoping for.  Ace/King hit on the flop and with the turn and river blanks - it was Brami first to leave the final table.

The crowd did not have to wait long for the second casualty – only 2 and a half minutes later and 3 time European Backgammon Champion Francois Tardieu exited in 7^th place his 7/Jack of clubs not holding up to Sam El Sayed’s pocket queens.  He did however leave the table smiling as the one extra hand played had earned him almost €5,000 more than Brami who exited in 8^th. 

With 2 players out in quick succession, the table tightened up, all reluctant to be the next one out.  It took over an hour of play before a short-stacked Meyer Benchetrit found pockets 7s.  A loose call from Benjamin Kang with 10/8 suited found them both all-in and the classic race of the pocket pair verses the 2 over cards ensued.  Kang hit the 8 on the flop and it was curtains for Benchetrit. 

Hand 37 proved unlucky for Gilles Smadja as he ran into what can only be described as a monster.  When short-stacked the expression “any Ace will do”, clearly rang true in Smadja’s head as he moved all in post-flop with Ace/6, El-Sayed had played a blinder by checking the flop having hit trip twos, had trapped Smadja to perfection.  To add insult to injury El Sayed hit quad twos on the river and it was good night to Smadja.  To his credit he saw the funny side of the quad twos and needless to say the check for €25,610 softened the blow!

With 4 players left, they began to settle into a rhythm and the banter began to pick up with the occasional lose of concentration as Kang & El Sayed made the odd jokes. Despite this their eyes were firmly on first prize, and play remained conservative.  It was the Lebanese hair designer currently residing in Switzerland that left the table in 4^th spot.  Having held the chip lead for a large proportion of time at the final table, he started to see it dwindle away with a few bad calls.  He pushed all-in pre-flop, whether in a bid to win the blinds or because he thought he had a great hand is still a mystery.  Holding Jack/Eight he was called by Kang as he hot trip 7s on the turn, to knock out El Sayed. 

Five hands later and it was the quiet Xavier Detournel’s turn to walk.  Having held out for premium hands for the whole final table, he pushed all in pre-flop with Ace/Jack and was called by Cournut with pocket eights.  Detournel hit an Ace on the flop putting him ahead as he breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down.  However, poker is one thing if not cruel as Cournut got trip 8s on the river and it was bye-bye to Xavier. 

So by hand 68 it was heads-up.  With the 3^rd EPM title at stake nerves set in with the blinds being passed back and forth, neither keen to make any kind of move and both laying hands down to the smallest amount of aggression.  It was clear the two were waiting for premium hands before daring to stick their chips in.  This was even more apparent with the final hand of the match.  Having played it out for 13 hands, Kang found pocket 7s and went for it pushing all his chips across the line.  It took Cournet a staggering 5 minutes to decide to call.  All those watching were under the impression he was going to turn over a marginal hand, and all were amazed to see him flip-over pocket Jacks!  The Jacks held up and it was the young trainee pilot from France that became the European Poker Masters Paris Hold’em Champion picking up a cheque for €136,600 and the coveted EPM Paris Hold’em Trophy. 

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Pokerheaven.com Paris Hold'em Trophy

21st-22nd October 2006

€3,000 NLHE Event