Igor Kurganov Wins €25,000 High Roller (€1,080,000)!
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Igor Kurganov has done it folks. After defeating a stacked final and battling with one of the best players ever to live, Daniel Negreanu, Kurganov has scooped all the loot and will be the man with his name on the trophy. For his win, Kurganov scores himself a cool seven-figure score worth €1.08 million and a massive European Poker Tour title.
Kurganov has had an amazing season on the EPT, especially in High Roller events. This season alone he's earned a third-place finish in the EPT Tallinn €10,000 High Roller for €40,450 and a second-place finish in the EPT London £20,000 High Roller for £318,300. And this season doesn't even include the second-place finish he scored in the EPT Grand Final €10,000 High Roller Turbo last season in Madrid where he won €123,000.
Entering the final table, Kurganov already had just shy of $900,000 in live tournament earnings. Now he's got over double that and locked up a major win under his belt, but it wasn't easy.
Although Kurganov entered the final table second in chips, he had quite the onslaught of opponents to battle through. When play got down to the final four, Kurganov fell to the bottom at times, but never gave it. He stuck to his guns and battled his way to heads-up play against Negreanu. When the match began, Kurganov was down over a million in chips to Kurganov, but the focus and determination was there the entire time.
Thanks to some timely spots and solid play, Kurganov took the lead and kept Negreanu chasing for a good amount of the match. Negreanu grow shorter and shorter, but didn't give up either. Eventually, he was a bit too short and moved all in with the 
. With just about six big blinds, Kurganov was basically forced to call him with the 
. Kurganov spiked a king on the flop and held from there to take home the title. Negreanu's second-place finish earned him his second six-figure score of the week, this time for €598,600.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igor Kurganov | €1,080,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | €598,600 |
| 3 | Philipp Gruissem | €366,000 |
| 4 | Justin Bonomo | €266,000 |
| 5 | Artem Litvinov | €216,000 |
| 6 | Noah Schwartz | €166,000 |
| 7 | Nathan Schoo | €133,000 |
| 8 | Max Lykov | €100,000 |
Earning this score has vaulted Kurganov up into the top 10 on the Russian all-time money list and ahead of Andrey Pateychuk for seventh place. He's still got a ways to go and a few more millions to win if he wants to be on top of that leader board, but by the looks of it, he's on the right track.
Congratulations to Kurganov and also to the other winners for their efforts. As for PokerNews, that wraps up our coverage from here in Monaco for the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final. It also wraps up our coverage from Season 8 of the EPT. It was another very, very successful one and we can't wait until Season 9 kicks off in Barcelona in August. Until then, stay tuned to our live reporting pages for coverage of events from all across the globe. We'll see you next time!