EPT Deauville 2011 Won By Lucien Cohen
February 1, 2011 8:36 amLucien Cohen has just won the EPT Deauville 2011, after defeating a field of 891 players over seven days to lift the trophy, as well as collect the €880,000 ($1,262,373) first place prize.
On his way to winning the prestigious PokerStars sponsored event, the French amateur player had to overcome a large field which included such pros as Jonathan Duhamel, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.
Eventually triumphing at the €5,300 buy-in event, the 47 year-old pest control company owner was clearly ecstatic at his remarkable achievement and exclaimed:
“I’m very proud. It’s a very emotional moment. I want to say thank you to the organisers, the EPT and my opponents. This is one of the best days of my life after my wedding and the day my children were born. I’m happy, happy, happy.”
As the final table of eight got underway yesterday, Martin Jacobson (Sweden) was the chip leader on 7.28m chips, followed by Alex Wice (Canada) on 6.248m and Kenny Hallaert (Belgium) on 3.6m chips. Claudepierre (France) had 3.25m in chips and Lucien Cohen was close behind on 3.085m, with short-stacks Anthony Hnatow of France (1.65m), Ruslan Prydryk of Ukraine (1.154m) and Latvia’s Kaspars Renga (470k) bringing up the rear.
Pros Martin Jacobson and Alex Wice initially presented the biggest danger at the final table, and after Alex Wice (A-Q) was eliminated by Cohen holding pocket queens in 3rd (€330,000), the Frenchman took a 2 to 1 chip advantage over Martin Jacobson into the heads-up phase of the tournament.
Eventually, an increasingly short-stacked Jacbson moved all-in pre-flop with 6h-7h only to be called by his opponent holding As-Kd. With the board then running out 10s-9c-3s-3h-Jh, Jacobson had to settle for a runner-up position worth €560,000, while Lucien Cohen was crowned the 2011 EPT Deauville Champion and joins such past winners as Jake Cody, Brandon Schaefer, Moritz Kranich and Mats Iremark.
Summing up the Main Event, EPT spokeswoman Kirsty Thompson said:
“We had a record-breaking turnout with 891 players and there were some incredible performances – especially from our winner Lucien Cohen as well as runner-up Martin Jacobson.”