Jan Bendik won the EPT Grand Final Main Event (photo: PokerNews)

Slovakia’s Jan Bendik won the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final Main Event from the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel in Monaco. His reward: €961,800 and a spade-shaped trophy. After a grueling week of play, Bendik finally cracked a smile and multiple waves of confetti rained down.

“Thank you to my wife. Thank you to my friends. Thank you to PokerStars. Thank you to myself. I’ve been doing this ten years,” a happy Bendik said after the final river card was dealt. He was eventually draped in a Slovakian flag.

“I see it as two separate things. One is a season-long reward and one is a single tournament,” Bendik said when asked to compare his Season 9 EPT Player of the Year title to winning the EPT Grand Final. “I’ve been trying to win the Main Event for years.”

Bendik didn’t want to make a deal; instead, he was confident he could take it down. “I trusted myself to beat my opponent heads-up,” he said. “A lot of luck had to be involved to make that happen, but that’s part of the game.”

A field that started with over 1,000 entrants was whittled down to just six by the time Friday rolled around. Joe Stapleton introduced each of the six survivors shortly before 1:30 pm on the stage of the main tournament room and play began immediately from there. Jimmy Guerrero and Adrien Allain both had over 100 big blinds when the action began, while everyone else held between 22 and 26.

Fifteen hands into final table play, Israel’s Oren Rosen pushed from the cutoff for 1.65 million with AdJd, but Jan Bendik, seated next to him on the button, woke up with AcKh and shoved over the top. The rest of the table folded and neither player improved after the board came Td2h3h3s6d. An hour-and-a-half earlier, Rosen was introduced in front of a rail of about a dozen, including a flag sporting the colors of his home country.

Winamax-sponsored player Pierre Calamusa was the next to fall. He shoved pre-flop for 3.3 million with Ah4c and got a quick call from chip leader Adrien Allain, who was in the big blind with AdJd. Allain ducked chop outs on the river when a benign 5s fell to trim the table from five to four. Calamusa earned €233,800.

The talk of the final table was Kazakhstan’s Asan Umarov. He won his seat to the tournament via a €10 Spin & Go on PokerStars and began the final table guaranteed a 1,700,000% ROI even if he busted immediately. Instead, he lasted to fourth place and earned €305,660.

Umarov, the first player from Kazakhstan to make an EPT Main Event final table, got it in before the flop, three-betting all-in Ad9d. Jimmy Guerrero fourbet all-in with kings and the board ran out QsQdJs6hJd, sending Umarov to the rail with a 3,000,000% ROI.

Bullets weren’t kind to France’s Jimmy Guerrero, who was sent packing in third place. Just before he was eliminated, Bendik cracked his aces with Kd7h. The money went in on a flop of 4hKc7d, with Guerrero holding aces and Bendik having top two. A deuce and a trey rounded out the board and Guerrero’s stack sank to 6.83 million, trailing second place on the leaderboard by a million.

Ducks weren’t kind to Guerrero either. In his last stand, he raised to 425,000 pre-flop from the small blind with pocket twos and Adrien Allain popped it to 1.1 million with AcJd from the big blind. Guerrero five-bet all-in and Allain called. A flop of AdJh3h put Allain in the lead for good with two pair, and the board finished out 6dTc. The Frenchman was paid €406,850 for his third place run.

Allain began heads-up play from the stage in the main tournament room with a 2:1 edge over Bendik. Allain came out swinging too, almost universally betting to a level that seemed to throw Bendik off his game. At one point early on in heads-up play, Bendik turned to his rail, threw up one hand in disgust, and turned back and huffed.

But Bendik wouldn’t go quietly into the Monaco night. On the 100th hand of final table play, he called all-in with QhJc after Allain initially just completed pre-flop with 8s8c. The flop was all clubs – Ac2c4c – but another club on the turn gave Bendik a queen-high flush and the pot.

Then there was more aggression by Allain, allowing him to build another 2:1 lead, but about 20 minutes before the dinner break, Bendik, who won his way into the Main Event via a live satellite, shoved for 9,000,000 before the flop with sixes against A-K in a race. Allain picked up a straight draw in addition to his two overs by the time the river hit, but a meaningless 3s fell, doubling Bendik up. That hand put the duo nearly even in chips.

Allain continued to apply pressure despite doubling up Bendik twice. And the last hand was a memorable one.

Allain raised to 525,000 before the flop with 8h8d and Bendik made it 1,650,000 with TsTd. The flop was Ah8c4s and Bendik bet 1,600,000. Allain just called behind with a set and a Th hit on the turn, giving Bendik a better set. Allain bet 1,500,000, Bendik bet 4,250,000, and Allain called.

The river was the 3d. Bendik moved in, Allain called for his tournament life, and it was over.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Jan Bendik – €961,800
  2. Adrien Allain – €577,800
  3. Jimmy Guerrero – €406,850
  4. Asan Umarov – €305,660
  5. Pierre Calamusa – €233,800
  6. Oren Rosen – €170,950