With a final table of five Frenchmen and Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano it’s easy to see why Belarussian poker pro Vadzim Kursevich was overlooked heading into the final day of the 2012 PokerStars PT Deauville Main Event, despite entering the day second in chips.

By the end of the day Kursevich would be the talk of the tournament, after a dominating performance that saw the young poker pro pick up his first major tournament victory, along with the €875,000 in first-place prize-money.

With so many players having career years and breakout performance in 2011, Kursevich got lost in the shuffle, even though he put together a very impressive 2011 campaign that included a 3rd place finish at the 2011 EPT Berlin Main Event, a 28th place showing at the EPT Barcelona Main Event, and a 3rd place finish at the WPT Rendez Vous a Paris, pocketing well over $500,000 in tournament winnings along the way.

Now with an EPT title on his resume, Kursevich is likely to get the star treatment at virtually every poker tournament from here on out, and considering his success over the past year it looks like he has a very bright future ahead of him!

The final hand between Kursevich and his heads-up opponent Paul Guichard saw the two get all the money into the middle with Guichard holding Pocket 5’s for a flopped set, and Kursevich holding a flush-draw and a double-gutted straight-draw with the 3/6 of Hearts –The board read Js-7h-5d-9h. an 8c on the river made Kursevich’s straight, and with a slight chip-lead over Guichard to begin the hand gave him the EPT Deauville title.

As for Pagano, his seventh EPT final table ended much like the rest, with a disappointing (disappointing for him) 7th place finish. The Italian poker legend can take solace in the fact that the nearly $150k in prize-money was enough to put him over the $2 million mark in career tournament earnings, putting him in 5th place on the all-time Italian Money-List (and passing Allesio Iaia in the process).

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the 2012 EPT Deauville Main Event:

1. Vadzim Kursevich – €875,000 ($1,150,000 US)

2. Paul Guichard – €557,000 ($731,000 US)

3. Vuong Than Trong – €328,000 ($430,000 US)

4. Yorane Kerignard – €260,000 ($341,000 US)

5. Bruno Jais – €200,000 ($262,500)

6. Olivier Rogez – €155,000 ($204,000 US)

7. Luca Pagano – €110,000 ($145,000 US)

8. Mick Graydon – €67,200 ($88,200 US)

The PokerStars European Poker Tour’s next stop will be in Copenhagen, Denmark for a $35,500 DKK Championship event, taking place from February 20th – the 25th. From there the EPT will head to Madrid, Spain; Campione, Italy; Berlin, Germany; and finally to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final.

The Grand Final is returning to Monte Carlo after a one year absence –the Season VII Grand Final was played in Madrid Spain.

Tags: 5d, 8c, Bright Future, Deauville, Dominating Performance, EPT, Frenchmen, Guichard, Iaia, Italian Money, Luca Pagano, main event, Opponent, poker tournament, PokerStars, prize money, Shuffle, Solace, Star Treatment, Tournament Victory

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