It ended up being the Englishman Rupert Elder who took down the EPT San Remo Main Event and laid hands on the first prize of €930,000, a place in the Champion of Champions event, and a gold bracelet worth €16,200.
Elder arrived at the final table with just about 8 million chips and had a small lead over Max Heinzelmann. Both of them continued playing fantastic poker on the final table and they remained in the top until they were the last 2 men standing. Both players had an easy, genuine respect towards each other, having shared dinner several times during the week in San Remo.
So it was an entertaining and laid-back heads-up match the crowd and TV viewers got to see. After about half and hour of play, Elder had a two-to-one lead and then it didn't take long before both players went all-in. It was a memorable last hand in which the German flopped the nuts, only for Elder's bottom set to reach full house status by the river.
Final Table results
1) Rupert Elder, €930 000
2) Max Heinzelmann €600 000
3) Xuan Liu, €360 000
4) Max Lykov, €290 000
5) Francesco de Vivo, €220 000
6) Massimiliano Manigrasso, €170 000
7) Costantino Russo, €125 000
8) Roberto Spada, €81 950
Elder played some good poker in early stages of tournament, but I think he wasn't that good at FT, but I've got to give him credit for reaching FT and winning.
