After an action-packed 11 and a half hours of Day 2, play here today at Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party 2022 in the unbelievable Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Casinothere can only be one winner $500 PokerNews Cup: Arnaud Enselme.
After a grueling game of 30 and a half levels, Enselme was defeated Dmitry Koleznev in heads-up play that saw one of the wildest finishes to a tournament in recent memory. Both players, in virtually equal groups, had stopped play for 15 minutes to agree a deal, but were forced to complete the hand that had already been made before completing the deal. However, both ended up coming back for the win, with Enselme emerging victorious.
Winner’s reaction
Being the last of a total of 332 entries, Enselme was awarded the first prize of $50,000 and the famous PokerNews Cup trophy. To make life even sweeter, the win sends the Unibet-sponsored pro to over $1 million in lifetime HendonMob poker tournament earnings.
“That’s right, I knew (he eclipsed $1 million). It’s wonderful, it’s very special. I’ve always played a lot online and now I’m playing more live poker, especially after signing up with Unibet. It’s my first win of the year, I’ve been waiting for it since January so it feels great. I am very proud of that. I am very proud that I passed, even in the difficult moments, with strong opponents and I am very happy that I came out with the victory”.
Of course, Enselme had to talk about the dramatic finish that saw him drop the $50,000 first prize instead of playing it for a few thousand dollars less.
“We agreed to a deal, but then word came and explained that we had to play the hand that was in the process. The guy (Koleznev) moved all in and I had ace-jack. Even though we were talking about a deal, my hand was too strong to fold and he showed up with a real hand. He really looked like he wanted a deal, but that’s how it went.”
PokerNews $500 Cup Final Table Results
| country | Player | country | PRICE |
| 1 | Arnaud Enselme | France | 50,000 dollars |
| 2 | Dmitry Koleznev | Russia | 30 thousand dollars |
| 3 | Gheorghe Butuc | Moldova | 20250 dollars |
| 4 | James O’Brien | Ireland | $15,000 |
| 5 | Vittorio Maugini | Ital | 11 thousand dollars |
| 6 | Ercan Hasan | Turkey | 9000 dollars |
| 7 | Furkan Beg | Turkey | 7500 dollars |
| 8 | Konstantinos Nanos | Greece | $6,250 |
| 9 | Vladislav Fedoseev | Russia | 5000 dollars |
Action of the day
Play began with 49 players already in the money after qualifying through three different flights over the previous two days, with Enselme coming in with a healthy 222,000 in chips (44 big blinds). However, he was far behind the overall chip leader, Sakis Adrianopoulos, who came into the day with exactly 500,000 chips (100 big blinds). However, Adrianopoulos would not have much luck and finished in 22nd place for $2,000, notably losing stacks on Level 18 when he hit a set of jacks on the river while Veselin Petrov hit his flush. He would go down around 40 minutes later after going in with the first pair against Vittorio Mauginiwhich sent him down.
The Day 1a and Day 1b chip leaders, the Russians Vladislav Fedoseev AND Elena Yasyuchenyawould fare much better as they finished 9th and 10th respectively.
One of the most entertaining players on the field, Furkan Beg, had the players laughing all day with his table talk. He also let his cards do the talking for him, taking his original stack of 86,000 chips (17 big blinds) and turning it into a very respectable 7th place finish for $7,500.
After Beg hit, the bottom six players engaged in a long battle that, at one point, saw all six players sharing just 62 big blinds between them. There was even talk of a deal at one point that would have seen the remaining $135,250 split between the players in some way, but it was Enselme who shot down the deal, noting that he felt confident in his game . That faith would pay off as he would eliminate three of his five opponents en route to victory.
Heads-up Play
After the elimination of Koleznev Gheorghe Butuc, Enselme entered heads-up play with a 3:1 chip advantage. Both players would go all in on hand four against each other, with Koleznev beating Enselmen with ace-king suited against ace-9. After a single hit/fold, Koleznev and Enselme were neck and neck, with Enselme covering Koleznev with only 100,000 chips.
The sixth and final hand would be dealt and talks of a deal would stop the action for about 15 minutes. Both players would agree to a personal deal, but that fell apart after the floor ruled that both had to play for a significant margin between second and first place to facilitate a deal. After a few minutes, a second and final deal was decided, but the speaker also decided that the players must first finish the hand before any documents were signed.
However, a deal was never to be completed as Enselme opened to 500,000 (2.5 big blinds). Koleznov shoved and Enselme called, and both would call for the remaining $20,000 and the trophy:
Koleznev was visibly upset and disappointed with the result as he walked away with just $30,000, far less than if the hand had not been played at all.
As for Enselme, he booked the $50,000 win and took home over $1,000,000 in career live winnings in what he described as one of his favorite poker rooms in the world.
Make sure you keep it with you PokerNews team covering the final days of the 2022 Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party at the extraordinary Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Casino.
Blaise Bourgeois
Blaise Bourgeois is a full-time digital nomad living and playing poker in Latin America. He is part of the PokerNews live coverage team for the 2022 World Series of Poker.
