Poland's Jakub Michalak Wins €436k At 2013 International Stadiums Poker Tour
June 6, 2013 12:32 pmPoland’s Jakub Michalak has won the inaugural International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT), after defeating a field of 761 players on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the €436k first place prize. Initially, €1 million had been earmarked for the eventual winner but with 2nd place slated to receive a distant €285k, the six finalists naturally decided to divide out the prize money first and leave the remaining €200k for the ultimate winner.
When all the dust has settled, its fair to say that the ISPT fell well short of many expectations its organisers had anticipated ahead of the ground-breaking tournament. After it had became obvious the event was not going to attract a massive 30,000 competitors, the €6,000 buy-in was then reduced to €3,000, but still only managed to draw 761 players to Wembley Stadium, thus giving the tournament a loss of roughly €589,000.
Nevertheless, there are many positives to come from the ISPT event, with the majority of participants having praised the unusual and magical atmosphere at Wembley, and Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi calling it the most ‘beautiful tournament in the world.’ Although the future of the ISPT now remains in the balance, it is fair to say that the organisers will likely learn from their mistakes and come back stronger at the next ISPT organised event.
Turning our attention to the tournament action itself, Jakub Michalak ousted the event’s last woman standing Gwendoline Janot from the final table in 6th, before Pete Linton did likewise to Alban Juen in 5th. Unfortunately for Linton, though, Jakub Michalak (K-J) eliminated him (A-Q) next in 4th, before continuing his steamroll and dispatching Nick Hicks to the rail in 3rd to go heads-up against Xavier El Fassy.
As heads-up got underway, Jakub Michalak held a massive 35.67m to 4.5m chip advantage over his French opponent and soon after Michalak (A-7) and El Fassy (K-K) were all-in preflop. The board then rolled out A-J-3-4-A to relegate Xavier El Fassy to a runner-up finish, while Jakub Michalak was crowned the inaugural ISPT champion.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1) Jakub Michalak, €436,000
2) Xavier El Fassy, €204,000
3) Nick Hicks, €254,000
4) Pete Linton, €375,000
5) Alban Juen, €290,000
6) Gwendoline Janot, €243,000