Iva Lazarova Comes Back From Half Big Blind to Become MPNPT’s 1st Female Main Event Champion at Sunny Beach

Iva Lazarova Comes Back From Half Big Blind to Become MPNPT’s 1st Female Main Event Champion at Sunny Beach
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  • PG News July 11, 2018
  • 8 mins Read

The third MPN Poker Tour festival of 2018, MPNPT Sunny Beach has come to a close with Bulgaria’s Iva Lazarova (cover image) conquering the field to become the tour’s first-ever female Main Event champion!

The €150,000 guaranteed €550 Main Event commenced on July 5, with two entry flights that attracted a total 320 players, and ran through four days of non-stop action to reach a winner.

This is the first time ever that Lazarova has won a live tournament. Her short poker resume shows all final table finishes (four of them) before this win, but this is her biggest cash. “I’m dancing with the trophy” she said, ecstatic after the win!

The journey to the title wasn’t an easy ride for Lazarova and at one point before the bubble, she was down to half a big blind. Racing against the odds, she quadrupled her stack on the bubble after her ace-nine managed to defeat her opponent’s ace-queen with a nine spiking on the turn. Only 35 players remained at that time, who made it in the money, and that was the turning point for Lazarova. She enjoyed an incredible run post that placing herself second in chips, and she finally ended the day in eight spot among the 13 remaining players.

The final day saw these 13 players taking down their seats but it was not too long before they started to fall out, leaving just the final nine. Interestingly, it was just one player who ousted all the four players in quick succession. Overnight chip leader, Robert Bostock eliminated Martin Stoev in the very first hand, cracking his aces with a pair and flush draw. Bostock continued to hammer his table, sending compatriot David Longmate, Finland’s Risto Aho and local hope Stelian Kukuchec to the rail in short order.

Final Table Recap

The final table action was live streamed on Twitch and Facebook.

The first elimination of the final table saw Tihomir Ochkov losing out to Lazarova, whose tens held up against Ochkov’s shove with ace-eight. Fellow Bulgarian Galin Panayotov had a similar fate and followed him out in eighth place as his ace-seven ran into Borislav Yosifov’s pocket queens.

Next to go was short-stacked Martin Nikolov, who shoved with ace-ten but ran into Bostock’s pocket kings, hitting the rail in seventh place.

The six-handed action slowed down considerably but after a long pause, it was Simeon Spasov who succumbed to Dimitri Fomitsa’s big slick. At this point, a five-way deal was discussed but Yosifov turned it down and the action resumed.

Lazarov came in the forefront at this point after managing to double up twice from Bostock.

Germany’s Philipp Anger, was the next to hit the rail in fifth place after his pocket eights couldn’t hold up against Lazarova’s ace-five.

With four players remaining, once again a deal was discussed and this time it went through with the players agreeing to split up the money and they left €8,600 in play for the winner along with the trophy.

It was then Bostock’s turn to head out as he was eliminated in fourth place after his king-queen couldn’t hold up against the king-ten held by Fomitsa.

The three-way play saw the players once again pausing the tournament clock to discuss a deal and they agreed with each of them guaranteed an extra €1,000 a piece. After the play resumed, Dimitry Fomitsa exited the tournament in third place for €20,100 giving way to the heads-up play.

The heads-up ran for a long time as both the players exchanged the chip lead several times in the process. Cutting it short, the players agreed to a third time deal to chop up the remaining money and continue play for the trophy.

And as expected the play ended shortly thereafter, as Borislav Yosifov called off with king-seven and failed to catch up against Lazarova’s ace-three, who was declared the champion!

Iva Lazarova
Iva Lazarova

Final Table Results (EURO)

1. Iva Lazarova – €26,900*

2. Borislav Yosifov – €24,300*

3. Dmitri Fomitsa – €20,100*

4. Robert Bostock – €15,200*

5. Philipp Anger – €9,000

6. Simeon Spasov – €7,000

7. Martin Nikolov – €5,300

8. Galin Panayotov – €3,900

9. Tihomir Ochkov – €3,000

*denotes four-way deal

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