- Heads up specialist and Alpha8 commentator Olivier Busquet captured his first European Poker Tour (EPT) title Wednesday.
- The win marks Busquet’s first seven-figure payday and only his second major tournament victory.
- Busquet defeated protégé and good friend Dan Coleman heads up for the title.
Heads up specialist and Alpha8 commentator Olivier Busquet captured his first European Poker Tour (EPT) title Wednesday—and with it a first place prize of over $1 million.
He bested a field of 57 other players, each having paid the €50,000 entrance fee to compete in the star-studded Super High-Roller event. With many rebuying after busting out, the total prize pool reached €3,697,155 (~$4.9m).
The win marks Busquet’s first seven-figure payday and only his second major tournament victory, the first coming in 2009 at the WPT Borgata poker open. The victory puts Busquet’s lifetime tournament winnings at $5,875,066, according to The Hendon Mob database.
Tough Final Table
Heading into day three there were still nine players alive in the tournament, one more than the official final table.
As one might expect the remaining field was loaded with big-name players including the sixth place finisher in this year’s Big One for One Drop Scott Seiver, runner-up in the 2012 Big One for One Drop Sam Trickett, and hedge fund manager and high-stakes poker enthusiast Dan Shak.
Adding to the excitement of the event was the heads-up match between Busquet and his protégé and good friend Dan Coleman, who has over $20 million in live tournament earnings including a victory at the 2014 Big One for One Drop event for over $15 million.
When the tournament came down to the final two, Busquet and Coleman agreed to split most of the prize money, but left €30,000 and the title as incentives to play to win.
In the end Busquet walked away with €896,434 ($1,188,996), while Coleman banked €843,066 ($1,118,479).
Busquet started the day in the middle of the pack, but was propelled near the chip lead after an amazing hand where Busquet got it all in with As2s against the chip leader Sven Reichardt, who held the KsKd.
After a flop of 8h8cKc giving Reichardt a full house, Busquet had a less than 1% chance to win the hand. But runner-runner aces on the turn and river kept Busquet live and put him in position to eventually win the tournament.
You can watch the amazing hand in all of its glory here:
