Picking up the action on the river with a completed board of 10♠7♣K♥Q♥3♠ and around 80,000 in the pot. Gabriel Rymar moved all in for around 110,000 in the big blind.
Padraig O'Neill snap-called in the cutoff and Rymar showed A♥5♥ for a bluff. O'Neill turned over A♦J♥ for the nut straight to win the massive pot and send Rymar to the rail.
Alex Kulev also departed the tournament room at nearly the same time from an adjacent table.
Joao Sydenstricker opened to 5,000, Aleksejs Ponakovs called, and action folded to Daan Mulders on the button.
He reached for chips and produced a three-bet to 18,000. Sydenstricker folded, but Ponakovs reached for more chips and produced a four-bet to 34,000.
The preflop action wasn't done there yet, as Mulders was not to be taken off his hand, reaching for chips and putting out a bet of 55,000. Ponakovs called.
On the 7♠9♥6♥ flop, Ponakovs moved all in and Mulders called off his remaining 55,000, with Mulders at risk.
Daan Mulders: Q♥Q♣
Aleksejs Ponakovs: A♥J♥
Mulders was ahead with his overpair of queens but Ponakovs had plenty of outs with his flush draw.
The 7♥ rolled off on the turn to complete Ponakovs' flush, leaving Mulders drawing to a queen, and that did not arrive on the 6♠ river, sending him to the exit.
"I have them convinced I never bluff. Back from the dead," Graydon Kowal said as the cards were being dealt at his table. He proved to be a mere spectator as Paul Covaciu moved all in for 24,000 in early position. Philippe Barouk called on the button, as did Eero Rantala in the small blind.
The flop came 6♠2♣9♦ and Barouk bet 25,000. Rantala called to create a side pot as they went to the 3♠ turn.
Barouk fired another 40,000 and Rantala came back with an all-in shove. Barouk tanked for a few moments before calling for around 140,000.
He showed J♠J♣ and Covaciu turned over A♥K♥. They were both behind, however, as Rantala showed 9♥9♣ for a set. The river was the Q♦ and Rantala scooped the massive pot to send both players to the rail.
"Good hand," Kowal told him.
"Thank you. Got very lucky," Rantala replied as he stacked up more than 500,000.
The cards were already on their backs preflop after Pieter Aerts jammed out of the small blind and Kiryl Asaulenka called all in for approximately 25,000 behind from the big blind.
Kiryl Asaulenka: 6♥6♣
Pieter Aerts: A♦Q♥
The bigger stack improved right away on the A♣8♣7♦ flop while Asaulenka gained some equity with the 4♥ turn. However, neither the set or straight came with the 10♠ river and that spelled the end for the Belorussian.
He briefly chatted with Konstantyn Holskyi in the four seat and mentioned he would jump into the Mystery Bounty Event shortly.
This week’s field size of 1,747 entries at the spacious Palais des Congrès in Paris has made the €5,300 PokerStars European Poker Tour Main Event the largest one ever held outside of Barcelona.
The tournament saw a 9% increase over last year, thanks to 1,224 unique players and 523 reentries. The event is now the sixth-largest EPT Main Event in history, generating an overall prize pool of €8,385,600.
Largest EPT Main Event Fields
Year
Main Event
Entries
Prize Pool (EUR)
2022
EPT Barcelona
2,294
€11,125,900
2023
EPT Barcelona
2,120
€10,282,000
2019
EPT Barcelona
1,988
€9,641,800
2018
EPT Barcelona
1,931
€9,365,350
2016
EPT Barcelona
1,785
€8,657,250
2024
EPT Paris
1,747
€8,385,600
2015
EPT Barcelona
1,694
€8,215,900
2023
EPT Paris
1,606
€7,708,800
A total of 69 different countries were represented this week in Paris, up from 65 at this event a year ago. As expected, the host country of France led the way for a second straight year with 300 players or 24.51% of the field. The rest of the top five nations also remained the same, including Italy (78 players - 6.37%), Germany (68 players - 5.56%), the United Kingdom (66 players - 5.39%) and Spain (58 or 4.74%).
Further down the list is Romania with 54 players for 4.41% of the field, the United States with 44 players for 3.59% of the field, and The Netherlands with 35 players for 2.86% of the field.
EPT Paris Main Event Nationalities (Courtesy of PokerStars)
Some of the other countries represented this year include Argentina (6 players - 0.49%), Croatia (3 players - 0.25%), Mexico (2 players - 0.16%) and Malaysia (1 player - 0.08%).
A full breakdown of the nationalities represented in the EPT Paris Main Event is available in the table below.
Julien Martini was spotted all-in and at risk for his last 29,000 in the cutoff and one of the table big stacks looked him up in Ihar Soika on the button.
Julien Martini: A♣K♠
Ihar Soika: 9♦9♥
Along with his two overcards, Martini also flopped a flush draw on 8♣7♣2♣. However, the 5♠ turn and 10♠ river were both blanks to send the French poker pro out of the tournament.
Soika pulled ahead of Sergio Coutinho on the same table and two tables over, Volga Uyanik is another big stack.
The board read 2♥7♦2♣10♦ and around 50,000 was in the middle, in a battle between Gianluca Speranza in the small blind and Hwany Lee on the button.
Speranza had put out a bet of 24,000, only to be faced with a raise to 59,500 by Lee.
Speranza pondered the position for a while, and ultimately moved all in for another 190,000.
Lee, who had 55,000 left behind, went deep into the tank. After around three minutes, he sighed and made the fold.
Speranza exhaled deeply, looking relieved, and turned over A♦9♠ for ace-high and raked in a chunky pot. Lee tapped the table in acknowledgement of his opponent's aggressive play.
Aurelien Russo was already all-in and at risk, awaiting his fate while a small side pot had emerged between Reza Tabatabaei in the big blind and Santhosh Suvarna from under the gun. The two active players checked the A♥10♦10♣5♣ turn and 8♣ river for all cards to be revealed.
Tabatabaei flashed his 2♠2♥, Russo had the 7♠7♣ whereas Suvarna's A♣J♦ earned the main and side pot.
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