Von Kriegenbergh And Elder Pocket Top Prizes

The EPT San Remo and WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Main Events finally wrapped early this week. Few will be shocked to hear the outcome of either. After all, eventual WPT title winner >Taylor Von Kriegenbergh was a frequent leader during the tournament, and EPT San Remo champion Rupert Elder also started the day behind the big stack (even if he was less than 200,000 chips ahead of Max Heinzelmann). Having already revealed the winners, here’s how the rest of the action went down…

All said, a total of 987 players paid their way into the EPT San Remo Main Event creating an enviable top prize of €930,000 (more than $1 million USD). As we’ve already noted, a whole slew of significant pros showed up to vie for that prize, but the eventual winner was the relatively young and inexperienced Brit, Rupert Elder. Elder had only put himself into contention at the end of Day 5 when he unexpectedly surged into the lead going into the final table. That lead might have been slim, but combined with the pro’s impressively airtight playing style it was enough to see him through to the win.

Elder’s San Remo Main Event win marked the fourth championship for UK players on the European Tour this season. Which is not to say that plenty of other Europeans weren’t doing their best to win, especially the Italians who made a strong showing in hopes of keeping the San Remo title on their home turf. Unfortunately, the four Italian pros at the final table didn’t fare as well as spectators hoped. Robert Spada, Constantino Russo, Massimiliano Manigrasso and Francesco De Vivo (in order of elimination) ultimately filled the bottom four places from the final table.

The formidable Russian, Max Lykov, hit the rail next in fourth followed by the last lady standing, Xuan Liu, in third. The heads-up battle between Max Heinzelmann and Rupert Elder seemed decided before it started, what with Elder holding a significant majority of the chips. Indeed, it didn’t take Heinzelmann long to make the move that ultimately ended it all; unfortunately for him it ended in Elder’s favor.

We’d like to hype the outcome of the WPT Seminole Main Event more, but honestly no one seemed very surprised by Von Kriegenbergh’s well-deserved win. Kriegenbergh powered his way to the front of a field of 433 players and never fell back again. His outright dominance earned him the top $1,122,340 payout, his first major live tournament title, and a seat at the $25,000 WPT Championship. Von Kriegenbergh has really proven himself to be one to watch this year, hitting three final tables in 2018 alone. As a result, he’s currently leading the CardPlayer Player of the Year race.

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