Sylvain Berthelot has bagged a prize of €499,224 after winning the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event, following an ICM chop three-way.
The Frenchman is an amateur player who only had $7,443 in live tournament winnings heading into the tournament, and he managed to put one over on Martin Zamani.
That’s some achievement considering the high-stakes pro came into Day 4 with a considerable advantage after bullying his opponents into submission to make him a huge favourite come final table time.
Berthelot was ecstatic after claiming an unexpected victory:
“I can’t believe it. I need my friends to pinch me because it’s such a dream. I don’t have the words. I’m really happy. It’s. It’s an unbelievable sentiment. I can’t explain my feeling.
“I don’t have any, any, magic potion; I guess that this tournament was for me. Inside my head, I got the feeling I don’t know why. This was my tournament. My different my, one time, the big one time.”
Action Recap
When the final nine players sat down to play, it was Sweden’s Magnus Persson who first ran head on into the Zamani train.
Opening with K♣ K♦ in the hijack, the Swede got a call from Zamani in the big blind with 6♣ 2♣
The flop came down6♦ 6♥ 4♦ and Zamani check-raised his opponent, and faced a jam in return.
The A♦ turn brought some hope but he was out when the 3♥ river landed.
Johannes Verhagen was next to head to the rail with his A♣ 4♥ coming unstuck against the K♥ Q♥ of Jean Benvenga.
Over the next two hours, Stanislovas Vinicenka, Francesco Macri, and Jean Benvenga all fell by the wayside to leave Sylvain Berthelot facing a tough final four.
But it was PokerStars Ambassador Parker Talbot who was next to leave. The high-stakes tournament pro had only just doubled up through chip leader Zamani, but it wasn’t to be for the Canadian.
Zamani opened with 9♣ 7♣ on the button and Talbot jammed form the big blind with A♦ 10♣
The board then ran out 9♥ 4♦ 9♠ 10♠ Q♥ to leave Talbot out of chips to end his challenge.
At this point, the remaining three players stood aside to discuss a deal. They all agreed to do an ICM chop and leave €45,100 up for grabs for the winner.
Zamani had apparently squeezed out some extra value from Berthelot, for his skill level, no doubt, but then the poker gods spoke to give their opinion.
As play resumed, the American ran A♥ 4♦ into the A♣ Q♣ held by Berthelot to leave a tense heads-up battle brewing.
But that didn’t arrive, either, sadly for the fans.
On a flop of A♦ Q♥ 6♦ Berthelot check-called a bet of 4,000,000 from Santiago Nadal.
The turn was the 10♦ and Berthelot bet 10M, getting a quick call from Nadal.
The river came the K♥ and the Frenchman jammed, again getting a call after some deliberation.
Berthelot jumped up in excitement flipping over his K♦ 4♦ as Nadal looked despondent as he turned over K♣ J♦ for the broadway straight.
2024 Estrellas Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) |
| 1 | Sylvain Berthelot | France | €499,224 |
| 2 | Santiago Nadal | Mexico | €394,526 |
| 3 | Martin Zamani | United States | €463,250 |
| 4 | Parker Talbot | Canada | €227,000 |
| 5 | Jean Benvenga | Switzerland | €173,000 |
| 6 | Francesco Macri | Italy | €136,400 |
| 7 | Stanislovas Vinicenka | Lithuania | €104,500 |
| 8 | Johannes Verhagen | Netherlands | €79,400 |
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