A lot of people were keeping tabs on the EPT Vienna because of Daniel Negreanu’s presence at the final table, and possibly his first time to win a major championship at the EPT. However, the title was apparently not meant to be his, as it was Michael Eiler who would scoop it up and win the €700,000 grand prize.

The Road to the Final Table

The EPT stop at Vienna has always been one of the most highly anticipated events in the tour. This year, it attracted a massive field of 600, generating a prize pool of almost €3 million. Eighty players would get to dip their fingers into this pool, with the winner getting a pretty impressive €700,000 prize, as well as the prestigious title. The tournament lasted for six whole days, but at the end, only 8 were left to contend for the title. The final table was set, with Daniel Negreanu at the very top, having over five million chips. This was what attracted everyone’s attention the most, especially since Negreanu is one of the most high profile players out there. Even with such an accomplished pro at the table, however, the others still fought fiercely.

Eventually, Bruno Launais from France was the first one to go, courtesy of Luca Cainelli. The fighting resumed for two hours without a single elimination after that, with Nanos eventually taking the lead from Negreanu. Soon, Matthias Lotze, a PokerStars qualifier, was eliminated. He was soon followed by Andreas Wise, courtesy of Michael Eiler. One of the tournament’s most pivotal moments was when Cainelli, Negreanu, and Hruby clashed in a certain hand, of which Hruby was the ultimate winner. Cainelli was eliminated at fifth place, and Negreanu was crippled. He never recovered his chip stack after that staggering loss and was soon eliminated at fourth place. Nanos followed Negreanu out shortly after.

Heads Up between Hruby and Eiler

Martin Hruby, from the Czech Republic, was at that point sitting pretty comfortably at the top. He had a 2.5:1 chip lead over Eiler, but the latter steadily chipped at his stack for half an hour until he managed to even out the match. But Eiler did not stop there and continued to push Hruby, eventually gaining a pretty sizeable lead. Finally, Hruby’s pocket deuces fell to Eiler’s A-10 of diamonds, which beautifully came into fruition when the entire flop was revealed to be all diamonds, giving Eiler a flush.

The river and the turn failed to help Hruby, and he walked away at second place, leaving Eiler as the ultimate winner of the tournament.