Mustapha Kanit Wins the EPT 12 Dublin €25,750 High Roller for €501,640
Italian poker's all-time leading money winner, Mustapha Kanit, took down the PokerStars European Poker Tour Dublin €25,750 High Roller at the Royal Dublin Society on Sunday night, collecting the event's top prize of €501,640.
The biggest buy-in event ever held on Irish soil drew 70 entries to Dublin and played down to a final table Saturday night. The eight-handed final started quickly on Sunday, with Keith Johnson doubling through Ivan luca on the first hand, then Luca busting eighth to Chance Kornuth on the second.
Short stack Nick Petrangelo then got it in good against Jeff Rossiter, but could not hold, busting seventh. Soon after, Anton Bertilsson shoved sixes and Johnson called off his remaining chips with a weak ace, missing and taking sixth.
Kanit had started the day with a big lead that only got bigger when he busted Rossiter in fifth in dominating fashion. Kanit then pulled off a huge bluff against Bertilsson, getting him to fold queens on an ace-high board with a big river bet.
Bertilsson busted fourth, calling it off with king-high against Kornuth's ace-high and failing to improve.
With three players remaining, it looked like it was all over when Kanit raised with two kings and saw Charlie Carrel shove fives and Kornuth re-shove ace-high. However, Carrel made a set and Kornuth a wheel to crack Kanit's kings and allow them both to stave off elimination.
Carrel then ran a weak ace into Kanit's jacks to bow out in third and send Kanit into heads-up with Kornuth.
Kanit had the lead, but Kornuth quickly turned things around, cracking Kanit's kings again to take a 2-1 lead heads up. But it wasn't long before Kanit moved ahead again for good.
With his lead growing, Kanit shoved pocket threes, and Kornuth, who has now made three high roller final tables on three different continents to start 2016, called it off with a big ace and missed, allowing Kanit to book his third EPT high roller win with a dominating final table performance.