Bulgarian Petar Zografov overcame a six to one heads-up deficit to claim the Eureka Bulgaria title, trophy and €48,745.
Going into heads-up play against Algirdas Saveikis he had just 500,000 to the Lithuanian's 3,100,000. But, after nearly three hours of mano-a-mano combat, during which the chiplead changed hands multiple times it was the PokerStars qualifier who came out on top. "It was a very intensive heads-up,' the Eureka tour regular told me. 'But i did my best and I won. I played very aggressively and think I made him make some mistakes.'
But spare a thought for Saveikis, just 10 minutes into the heads-up battle he had Zografov all-in and was in front with [Ac][Qc] against the Bulgarian's [Jd][10d]. However, a jack on the flop gave Zografov a route back into the match and put the first dent in the Lithuanian's chip stack. Up until that point Saveikis had been a one man wrecking crew.
The Lithuanian had started the final table sixth in chips but took care of Nagy Barnabas (8th), Michal Misterek (5th), Slaven Popov (4th) and Ted Stolzenbach (3rd) to take a huge lead into heads-up play. The poker pro from Lithuania will surely be disappointed to have finished second, but a deal done when he was still chipleader means he actually won more than Zografov.
Undoubtedly the most dangerous player at the final table was one of those who didn't fall victim to Saveikis. The high stakes cash game playing Swede, Daniel Karlson had started the day as chipleader and strengthened his position in the early stages. At one point he had 1,100,000 when no one else had more than 500,000. But, he doubled up both Nagy Barnabas and Michal Misterek with nine left to slip back into the pack.
Despite knocking out Deyan Stanev in seventh place, he was eliminated in sixth place when he lost a flip to eventual winner Zografov, pocket jacks failing to hold against [Ac][Qc].
The day had started with 13 players, five players would have to be eliminated before the final table would be set, a task that took a little over three hours to complete.
Nobody could've guessed that first out would be Tobias Schwecht, who came back second overall, but he exited in 13th and was followed by Dennis Schaefer (12th), Michael Alnahas (11th), Andrzej Kozikowski (10th) and Andrejus Jakovlevas (9th).
But the day belongs to Bulgaria and to Zografov: 'To win the trophy in my home country is the perfect situation, I feel great.'
Final Table Results:
1st. Petar Zografov, Bulgaria, PokerStars qualifier, €48,745*
2nd. Algirdas Saveikis, Lithuania, €51,645*
3rd. Ted Stolzenbach, Netherlands, PokerStars qualifier, €22,050
4th. Slaven Popov, Bulgaria, €17,300
5th. Michal Misterek, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, €14,300
6th. Daniel Karlson, Sweden, €11,900
7th. Deyan Stanev, Bulgaria, €9,550
8th. Nagy Barnabas, Hungary, PokerStars qualifier, €7,600
*denotes that a deal was done
To catch up on all today's action click on the links below, the next stop on the Eureka Poker Tour is Riga, Latvia between October 4th-7th.
But from all of us here at the International Hotel and Casino in Golden Sands, Varna it's goodnight. We've had fun by the seaside, some more than others!
All photos are copyright of Tomas Stacha, he's got a tripod and he's not afraid to use it.