Zauner still a league apart

The ParadisePoker Tour League is in need of an update after our trip to Vienna in March/April, though even another €125,000 Main Event has failed to dislodge Andreas Zauner from the table summit.

The Austrian - who won the first event in his native country in the autumn of 2011 - remains 11 points ahead of Barcelona winner Santiago Soriano Ramos and Prague's champion Nat Jarmonthavat.

All three defeat bigger fields than our most recent victor Pavlos Xanthopoulos, but with the tour regular set to play the final event on home soil, would you bet against another strong showing that would see him snatch the top prize?

A final table appearance for many of our top competitors could still wrestle the lead from our most stubborn leader in ParadisePoker Tour League history, so it's all to play for in Thessaloniki.

Here's the standings in full:

ParadisePoker Tour Vienna Results (click to enlarge)

League Standings (click to enlarge)

Party pics!

A little late, we're willing to admit (that's better than never so they say) but the pictures from our party night in Vienna have finally arrived!

The Saturday night fun fest was held on the night of March 31st at ‘Club Nautique’ on the Danube river and as well as the intriguing setting, the free bar helped lift the mood of players eliminated from the Main Event.

Here's our slideshow of the best shots...



Viewing on your mobile phone? Click to see the ParadisePoker Tour party pics.

Fantasy Poker Vienna - Official Results

The penultimate chapter of Season 3 saw nearly 200 entrants battling it out for Fantasy Poker glory with Luka Lesic, Toni Englund and Maly Vitezslav propelling many a team into the points - but Main Event winner Pavlos Xanthoplous proved the key.

Despite more than 20 teams bringing all three players into Day 2, not one managed to squeeze a pair of picks into those crucial money places so it was the six teams with Pavlos on board that shared the victory.


Όνομα ομάδας, team justmenow, Quads, nixokoftes, kopečkovi and ROG ACADEMY were all right to add the Greek to their line-up but as Fantasy Poker rules dictate - only one can win the €1300 prize package to Thessaloniki!

That means we'll have a six-player playoff on ParadisePoker to see who wins the grand prize in May/June. We'll be in touch with our winning entrants next week.

Here's the official top 10 from Vienna:

Click to enlarge standings

UPDATE - The Fantasy Poker final will be played on April 18th at 20.00 CEST. Good luck to the six players involved! We'll announce the winner on the blog when he/she is confirmed.

Pavlos in pics

Congratulations again to Pavlos Xanthopolous on winning the ParadisePoker Tour Main Event in Vienna. Our photographer was on hand to snap the aftermath of his victory, so here's our slideshow of the best shots.



On your mobile? Check out our ParadisePoker Tour Vienna pictures via this link.

A word with the champ...

We promised you a transcript of our interview with ParadisePoker Tour winner Pavlos Xanthopolous and here it is, complete with comments on his brother, the hand that made him believe and his plans for the next event in Greece!

How does it feel to have won the ParadisePoker Tour Main Event in Vienna?

It feel s great to have won this tournament, especially as I’m a regular on the ParadisePoker Tour. I made a deal in one side event before but today was my day to win the Main Event – and I’m delighted! I’ve been hunting it for a long time.

Your brother Christos won the Main Event in 2010, are you two competitive when it comes to poker?

Christos never really boasted about winning the London event, but we are a bit competitive with each other sometimes. In the side event earlier in the week, I knocked him out so it’s a perfect weekend!

Coming out of Day 1 you had just short of 90,000 chips so you were a big stack. What do you remember of the tournament?

Things started slowly but then I never had to get all-in. I won lots of small pots and barely had to showdown a hand. I just kept on increasing my stack without having to risk my tournament life or double up.

By the end of Day 2 you were the chip leader, so things must have gone really well for you?

Again I didn’t have to take too many risks; I was only all-in once with KK against 88. I won around 30 big blinds in that pot but there wasn’t really any other standout pot I can remember. It was similar to Day 1 in that. I was actually on the same table as Pavel Chalupka on Day 2 and we had a few clashes. I had taken a lot of chips off him in a blind battle and we had a little rivalry long before we met heads-up.

So how did you feel the final table went? There was a spell where all the short stacks kept getting lucky and you lost a few pots when you were a big favourite.

There were a few but the worst was probably the blind battle with Billy Ngo, who shoved with 88 and I called with 99. He caught an 8 to win a really big pot and I was getting annoyed at that point.

Did you feel like the luck had turned against you at that point?

It did feel like that at one point but I didn’t let it get on top of me. These things happen but maybe I was just involved more because I had a lot of chips.

After that time you finally had a hand hold up, QQ vs AJ and you shouted across the room in celebration. You never really looked back from there.

I won that hand and then raised with 99 and Vincent Gomez went all-in with A6. I called and won again and that was probably the turning point for me. That was the hand where I really believed I was going to win because I was buzzing after that pot. I had a second wind and upped my game.

Next up is the Greek event in Thessaloniki, which seems fitting. We assume both you and your brother will be there?!

That’s for sure! We’re really looking forward to that one in our own country so we’ll be playing both that and the Greek Poker Tour this summer.

Xanthopolous the name on the trophy... again!

The Xanthopolous brothers celebrate together

Pavlos Xanthopolous made it a family double on the ParadisePoker Tour by wrapping up the victory he so craved to match his brother's achievement from 2010.

Younger sibling Christos had taken down the London event in Season 2, but Pavlos can lay claim to an equal share of the bragging rights once more after putting on a strong showing at the final table here in Vienna.

He tops up the €31,070 he claimed in the deal with a further €1,000 and of course the ParadisePoker Tour trophy for the family cabinet!

The final hand came after an hour of sparring, during which Pavel Chalupka doubled up with a flush vs the two pair of Xanthopolous but gradually leaked the chips back to his Greek rival in a series of small pots.

In the end a pre-flop shove from the champion-to-be found him behind, with K♣6♠ against Pavel's A♦10♠. The flop looked to favour his Slovakian opponent, falling A♣K♠7♠ - but the 6♣ on the turn ended the heads-up match.

The PP blog caught up with our latest champion in the aftermath of his victory and we also got a host of great photos too, so check back tomorrow for both added instalments.

We'll also have a Main Event recap and official Fantasy Poker results for you in the coming week.

Pavlos in control after eliminating Daranyi

Pictured earlier, Pavlos holds a 4.5-1 chip lead

Pavlos Xanthopolous is closing in on his brother's footsteps as his stack has risen to 4,300,000 after eliminating Tamas Daranyi.

The Hungarian has returned from a break with the shortest stack and quickly shipped it when next he was on the button. Xanthopolous looked down at KK and made the simple call.

There was no drama in the hand, with not so much as a draw to trouble the Greek. He goes heads-up with comeback kid Pavel Chalupka (1,180,000), though not without a quick deal discussion.

Earlier Pavlos had seized the initiative with a number of good-sized pots, first betting all three streets before shoving the river vs Chalupka and then drawing to a straight to cripple Daranyi.

Daranyi meanwhile takes €13,020 for third place.

UPDATE - A deal has been struck in which Pavlos will take €31,070 and Pavel €21,960. They will play for the remaining €1,000 and the ParadisePoker Tour title.