Zoltan, Hound of Poker Feasts At Hofburg Palace In Vienna

Anyone familiar with old horror movies will recall a certain dog which carried the spirit of Dracula within it called Zoltan. The 1978 Hammer studios film was entitled ‘Zoltan, Hound of Dracula’ and until recently his was the most striking example of the Hungarian masculine name, which is derived from the Old Turkish word sultan.
Now, Dracula’s hound has got competition after Hungary’s Zoltan Gal disposed of a record-breaking field of 1,432 players at the Eureka Vienna Main Event to lift the title worth €208,655. The competition was fierce, too, as the € 1,100 buy-in Main Event attracted some of the world’s most talented players to the Hofburg Palace in Austria, a former imperial residence which has housed some of the most powerful people in European history, including the Habsburg dynasty.
A huge €1,389,040 ($1,933,519) prize pool was subsequently created with the top 215 finishers receiving a share of the spoils, and amongst the notable pros walking away with some reward for their efforts was Kevin Iacofano in 140th ($2,895), and the 2011 WSOP Main Event winner Pius Heinz in 98th ($3,368). By the time the final table of eight had been reached on the fifth day, Austria’s Andreas Freund was the 4th biggest stack at the table (4.515m), with Zoltan Gal in 6th place with  2.245m in chips.
Eventually, Zoltan faced his final foe holding a 20.7 million to  7.6 million chip advantage over Freund who, despite his best efforts, was reduced to just 25bb when the final stake was plunged through his proverbial heart. In the hand in question, Freund got his chips in the middle preflop with pocket eights, only for Zoltan to then conjure up a pair of tens to put his opponent’s luck to the test. Unfortunately for Freund, the 6-7-7-K-6 board produced no escapes and so he was then consigned to a runner-up finish worth  €174,655 (after a deal was struck), while Zoltan was declared the champion and then made it back to his crypt befor sunrise!!
Final Table Payouts:
1st Zoltan Gal        (Hungary)    €208,655*
2nd Andreas Freund  (Austria)    €174,655*
3rd B.Przygorzewski (Poland)    €98,210
4th Bryan Paris        (USA)    €72,230
5th Markus Stoger   (Austria)    €56,600
6th Stavros Kalfas  (Greece)    €43,240
7th Erik Scheidt    (Germany)    €33,090
8th R.Malinowski    (Poland)    €23,430