23 year-old Frenchmen Adrien Allain was crowned the champion after outlasting 325 other top poker players, and a tough final table that included poker superstar JC Tran (Tran finished in third place). The win netted Allain over $391,556.

Allain won his way into the event through a $5 satellite tournament on PKR Poker where he plays under the name of “zlatan35”. The win seemed to surprise the young Allain more than anyone: “I’m overwhelmed, this is so wonderful. I qualified for this tournament through a $5 lottery tournament on PKR and end up beating all these top players. Vive La France!”

The EPT’s inaugural Kiev Open kicked off the popular poker tour’s 6th season. The event was originally slated to be played in Moscow, but was moved to Kiev because of Russian legislation banning poker. In the end it was yet another young Russian player coming out on top: 21 year-old Maxim Lykov. Lykov held off Kiev native Alexander Dhovzenko to capture the title and pocket the $475,000 first place prize-money.

The final table was dominated by players from the former Soviet Bloc countries, with three Russians a Belarussian and a Ukrainian among the eight players vying for the title.

The next stop for the EPT will be in Barcelona, Spain. Last year’s Barcelona Event drew a whopping 619 entrants: Germany’s Sebastian Ruthenberg captured the title, taking home close to $2,000,000 in prize-money.

Written by Steve Ruddock

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Tags: APT Macau, EPT Kiev

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