Eric Afriat Wins 3rd WPT Title at WPT Fallsview Poker Classic

Eric Afriat wins WPT FallsView Poker Classic
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  • Namita Ghosh February 25, 2020
  • 2 Minutes Read

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Fallsview Poker Classic festival part of WPT Season XVIII played out at the Fallsview Casino Resort from February 16 to 22, and headlining the action was the CA$5,000 buy-in Main Event that attracted 594 entries. After a three-day run, it was Canada’s Eric Afriat (cover image) who came out on top to win his third WPT trophy.

Afriat had come close to winning his third WPT title at the 2019 WPT Hard Rock Poker Showdown, where he eventually ended up taking home a runner-up payout. This time, he defeated fellow countryman Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault heads-up to collect the top prize of CA$508,021 (~$379,120).

“When I finished second I was depressed. I came in as the chipleader heads-up, and I was excited. I said, ‘This is it, it’s my third title.’ But I left empty-handed, and it hurt so much. But who hurt the most was my son. He told me, Daddy, you didn’t come back with the trophy. I said, I’m going to get you another trophy,” Afriat said, admitting how much the victory meant to him.

He recalled that he’d told his wife then, “That’s the motivation I needed to go and win another trophy.”

Afriat had entered the six-handed final table as the shortest stack, and at five-handed play, he had come down to his last eight big blinds. A hand that he won against Carpentier-Perrault sprung him back into contention, and never looked back!

The event also saw defending champion Demo Kiripoulos make a deep run, scoring a fifth-place finish to win CA$125,850.

The final 75 finishers were assured at least CA$6,720 from the CA$ $2,708,046 prize pool. Only 134 players could advance to Day 2, where a brisk pace of eliminations saw the day close out with only 15 players bagging a stack for the final day`s play!

The money bubble burst in the third level of the day after Jim Kalogritsas`s elimination in 76th place at the hands of Mike Leah.

The other notable finishers were Vanessa Selbst (22nd for CA$19,756), Christopher Lockhart (43rd for CA$12,096), Mike Leah (49th for CA$10,617), Kevin Rabichow (55th for CA$9,193), Jeff Madsen (56th for CA$9,193), Ben Farrell (69th for CA$7,929) and Alex Foxen (75th for CA$6,720).

The six-handed final table was convened following the elimination of Paul Brar (7th for CA$84,939).

The WPT FallsView Poker Classic final table
The WPT FallsView Poker Classic final table

 

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Adam Hui – 8,515,000
2. Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault – 4,960,000
3. Trung Hien Nguyen – 3,945,000
4. Demo Kiriopoulos – 3,060,000
5. Zuhair Al-Pachachi – 2,135,000
6. Eric Afriat – 1,200,000

 

Final Table Recap

Around an hour into the final table play, Zuhair Al-Pachachi lost his tournament life in sixth place after his ace-ten was busted by Trung Hien Nguyen’s ace-king.

The turning point in the tournament for the short-stacked Afriat came when he called the all-in move of Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault. Afriat held pocket deuces against Carpentier-Perrault’s pocket aces, but he flopped a set to score a massive double-up.

He continued his upward climb and soon dispatched defending champion Demo Kiriopoulos in fifth place after his pocket jacks hit a full house to dominate the latter’s ten-nine.

Four-handed play continued for more than an hour before Trung Hien Nguyen hit the rail when his were cracked by Adam Hui’s that turned a flush on the runout .

Afriat continued to add to his stack and before long he had consolidated to 10.9 Million.

Three-handed play went on for over 90 minutes before Adam Hui got booted out by Carpentier-Perrault. Hui’s all-in move with was called by Carpentier-Perrault who held . The latter took the lead on the flop and Hui failing to improve on the remaining two streets and , was eliminated in third place.

Afriat held a comfortable lead with 13.15 Million against Carpentier-Perrault’s 10.62 Million at the start of their heads-up duel. It was all over in just four hands, and the final hand of the tournament saw Carpentier-Perrault jam with only to be called off by Afriat, who held . The board ran , and Afriat’s pocket pair won him his third WPT title!

Eric Afriat wins WPT FallsView Poker Classic
Eric Afriat wins WPT FallsView Poker Classic Main Event

 

Final Table Results (CAD)

1. Eric Afriat – CA$508,021*

2. Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault – CA$356,180

3. Adam Hui – CA$229,013

4. Trung Hien Nguyen – CA$163,965

5. Demo Kiriopoulos – CA$125,850

6. Zuhair Al-Pachachi – CA$103,217

*includes a $15,000 seat into the WPT Tournament of Champions

 

Content & Images Courtesy: World Poker Tour

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