Christopher Puetz Wins World Poker Tour Germany Stop
When Christopher Puetz made his way back to King’s Casino in Rozvadov on Sunday for the final day of play in the World Poker Tour Germany stop, he was in the middle of the pack with nine players left including two reigning World Champions.
Eight hours later he was a WPT champ.
Puetz topped the 510-player field to win his first major title and €270,000 including entry to the WPT Tournament of Champions in June in Las Vegas.
Rifat Gegic and Renato Nowak were eliminated in ninth and eighth place respectively before reigning World Series of Poker Main Event champ was eliminated by Puetz in Hossein Ensan in seventh place to send the final six players to the official WPT final table.
It took 24 hands before the first elimination. Farukh Tach moved all in from UTG for 1,200,000 with 
before Laszlo Papai moved all-in over the top for 4,000,000 with 
. The 
gave Tach an open-ended straight draw but neither the 
turn or 
river were able to improve Tach’s hand and he was eliminated in sixth.
Gianluca Speranza, the reigning PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event champion, was the next to go. From the cutoff, Speranza moved all in for 1,900,000 with 
before Laszlo Papai called from the small blind with 
. The 
flop gave both players a set but Speranza was eliminated after the turn and 
river completed the board.
Just 19 hands later, Josef Gulas raised to 325,000 with , Papai called with 
before Joep van den Bijgaart moved all in for 5,600,000 with 
. Gulas called all in before Papai folded. The board ran out 
to eliminate Gulas in fourth place.
Three-handed play lasted 39 hands before van den Bijgaart saw his tournament run cut short. From the button, Papai raised to 400,000 with 
before van den Bijgaart moved all in for 3,200,000 from the small blind with 
. Papai called and then moved ahead on the 
flop and then stayed there through the 
turn and 
river to eliminate Bijgaart and head to heads-up play with a slight lead over Puetz.
It took just seven hands for Puetz to turn things around and eliminate Papai. The penultimate hand was saw Papai lose a significant amount of chips after going to battle with 
against Papai’s . Even though Papai was left with less than one big blind, the final hand still had plenty of drama.
Papai was all in with 
and Puetz called with 
. The 
flop gave Papai bottom set while Puetz had top two pair. The turn was to give Puetz the nut full house and the was no saving grace for Papai to eliminate him in second place and give Puetz his first major title.
The €3,300 buy-in event drew 510 players to create a €1,530,000 prize pool, just surpassing the €1,500,000 guarantee.
WPT Germany Final Table Payouts
- Christopher Puetz – €270,000
- Laszlo Papai – €174,500
- Joep van den Bijgaart – €125,000
- Josef Gulas – €91,000
- Gianluca Speranza – €68,000
- Farukh Tach – €52,000
