Nanev, a tour regular who first played an EPT at Sanremo in Season 4, is thrilled to have finally made an EPT final. His best result to date was actually that first event in Italy when he finished fourth in a side event for €61,140. He has had four EPT Main Event cashes including EPT Deauville, 18th for €23,000, and EPT Barcelona, 21st for €20,000. He currently ranks #4 on the Bulgaria all-time money list with fellow finalist Simeon Naydenov at #3. He said: “It was one of my goals to make a final table this year so I feel great. I am really happy that both Simeon and I have made the final. We’ve been supporting each other throughout the tournament. We are good friends and always stick together at events. But no mistake – I’m going after him at the final”. Nanev, who comes from Varna in Bulgaria but moved to Vilamoura in Portugal two years ago, currently has live tournament winnings totaling nearly €500k and is already guaranteed a best-ever live cash.
Finance student Pablo Gordillo won his seat on PokerStars.es in a €250 seat+expenses qualifier. He’s had several attempts at qualifying so was thrilled to finally make it. He had a rocky start to the event however – down to just 4,000 chips on Day 1 and starting Day 2 with just 20,600. His fortunes turned on Day 3 when he won a huge pot against Portugal’s Michel Dattani to take the chip lead. He ended the day as chip leader and was second in chips to Timo Pfutzenreuter at the end of Day 4. This is already his biggest cash – either live or online. He came third in a €200 NL side event at Estrellas Madrid in January for € 2,421 and cashed for €12,000 in a Sunday Especial on PokerStars.es two months ago. He said: “Yes, I thought I could make the final. I felt nervous when I was in my hotel room but once I was at the table I felt very calm and confident”. Gordillo came to Vienna with friends Benjamin Garcia and Miguel Riera and all three are planning to move to London in the next few months so they can play on PokerStars.com.
Timo Pfutzenreuter’s best result to date was third place in the WSOP $5k PLO Six-Handed event last summer for $194,14 where he was eliminated by eventual winner Steve Gross. Pfutzenreuter also went deep at EPT8 Berlin, finishing 41st for €15,000 and his total live tournament winnings already amount to more than $300,000. Originally from Bonn in Germany but now studying business at university in Vienna, Pfutzenreuter has been playing EPTs since Season 6. He also has solid online results including winning the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up in 2011 for $117,000 and fifth in TCOOP Event 47 for $104,100. He also took down the PokerStars Monday OLO for $17,000, a PokerStars GCOOP Event for $11,000 and was runner-up in the Sunday 500 for $55,500. He’s spent much of this week reading The Wolf of Wall Street at his table. He won his seat in a €215 NLHE Deep Hyper-Turbo a month ago.
