Pavlos snatches last gasp League glory

Pavlos wins €9,000 for his League triumph

The ParadisePoker Tour League produced maximum drama in the final leg of Season 3, as Pavlos Xanthopolous pipped rival Andreas Zauner at the last attempt.

The Greek, who had secured his place in the upper echelons of the standings with victory in the penultimate leg in Vienna, had exited the Main Event on Day 1 - but opted to enter Side Event 1 in a final hope of taking the biggest slice of the €20,000 prize pool.

Eight players cashed in the €330 NL Hold'em event and Xanthopolous finished 7th to secure the 100 points he needed to surpass long-time leader Zauner. On top of his side event winnings, the finish crucially improved his League prize by €7,000!

Zauner - who won the first event of Season 3 and had led throughout - was left to settle for second-place but has a €5,000 consolation. He is joined in the top five by previous winners Santiago Soriano (Barcelona), Nat Jarmonthavat (Prague) and Georgios Tzimas (Thessaloniki).

All winners will have their ParadisePoker account credited within 72 hours. That just leaves the PP blog to sign-off Season 3 by saying thanks to all our players, blog readers and friends... we've loved every minute!

Thessaloniki results - League points. Click to enlarge

Final League standings - click to enlarge

Fantasy Poker: Thessaloniki Results

Fantasy Poker provided the usual tussle amongst our blog readers and while no less than 24 teams managed to get a pick into the Main Event money - only one team landed two in the points.

That was xarisma who impressed the FP judges by selecting both 9th-placed Pantelis Pavlis and our third-place finisher, Pavlos Kasselouris (@kasspav). Kudos.

Our final winner of Season 3 bags himself a cool €500 for the trouble, so we'd say he owes Pavlis and Pavlos a drink!

Kasselouris proved the key for the five other entrants who picked him, but having failed to get a second team member into the cash, they will face a Fantasy Poker Play-Off for the remaining cash.

We'll be in touch with ANGEL, Full85, AceHigh, abdulgabul and nixokoftes soon to arrange a time that suits all, with €300 set to be awarded to the winner and €200 for the runner-up in the tournament.

Here's the Fantasy Poker standings:

Click to enlarge

UPDATE (21.06.12)

Congratulations to the winner of our Fantasy Poker Play-Off - who turned out to be none other than ParadisePoker Tour 3 League Champion, Pavlos Xanthopolous!

His Fantasy Poker team nixokoftes  tied for second place but we should have known the money magnet wouldn't have stopped there, as he secured the €300 prize with victory on Wednesday, June 20th.


His heads-up victim was abdulgabul owner Santo Abate, but defeat in the final two still came with a €200 payday. Not too shabby! Well-played to all our Fantasy Poker finalists. Until the next game...

Recap: Tzimas turnaround completes Season 3

Left to right: Sefertzis, Tzimas, Kasselouris

Giorgos Tzimas claimed victory in the ParadisePoker Tour Season 3 finale in Thessaloniki, Greece, but the local player had to recover from having just three big blinds on the final day of play.

Proving the oldest poker adage about a chip and a chair, the Greek was the dominant stack by the time the €125,000 Guaranteed Main Event reached the final three and a deal was cut to hand him the trophy and a €24,000 top prize.

The MTT semi-professional split the money with a pair of compatriots in the end, agreeing a settlement with Giorgos Sefertzis and Pavlos Kasselouris after eliminating the last of the foreign players, Attila Kongz.

Sefertzis and Kasselouris had both final tabled the Greek Poker Tour event that had preceded ParadisePoker's trip to Thessaloniki and the latter had begun the final table as chip leader. Each had played their part as executioner-in-chief at different points of Day 3 so it was fitting that the trio were there at the last.

The final leg of the ParadisePoker Tour’s Main Event was widely hailed as being among the best since the medium stakes series began in 2009, with the Hyatt Regency Casino earning praise from ParadisePoker’s Head of Poker, Bryan Carroll.

“We have thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful setting and superb organisation in Thessaloniki and will certainly be considering a return in the future,” said Carroll, “All our players have raved about the experience and that is testament to our hosts, who have been fantastic.

“I would like to congratulate Giorgos Tzimas on claiming the trophy on the final step of Season 3. We have crowned five new champions during this season and are eagerly awaiting the ratification of results in the ParadisePoker Tour League.”

Tzimas talks

The PP blog caught up with Giorgos Tzimas in the immediate aftermath of his ParadisePoker Tour Main Event victory and he revealed a little more about the road to glory... including the fact he was down to just three big blinds on Day 3!

How does it feel to have won the ParadisePoker Tour Main Event?
It feels great. It's the first time that I've won a big tournament in my home town. It was my first ParadisePoker Tour and I've really enjoyed it, so maybe I'll play in future events too!

So what were the key moments in your tournament, starting with Day 1?
All the days I had a good stack. Day 1 ended with 63,000 and Day 2 around 290,000. I had a few problems today and was down to just three big blinds when I called with 55 vs 10-2 and lost. I had to grind my way back but by the time we were four-handed, I thought I was playing really well. I was being aggressive and using my experience.

Were there any big hands you remember that could have changed how the tournament developed?
I don't like to sound like I'm bragging about hands but the key one was when I six-bet - and now this sounds like a brag *laughs* - all-in with 6-10 against an aggressive Polish guy. I almost doubled up on that hand so I think that had to be the most important one. I didn't really have many times when I was all-in and it helped that I had some good hands at the final table.

So if you were six-betting with 10-6 you must have felt sharp? You must have been reading people well.
Not always! If I was always reading people that well maybe I'd be a bit more famous worldwide! Sometimes you have to follow your reads though and it means sometimes you fail, but it was a good read on that occasion.

Coming into the final table, what was the strategy?
I was about the sixth or seventh stack and I needed some big hands as I only had 15-16 big blinds. I don't remember the first important hand but I won some hands without showdowns, a couple of c-bets taking down big pots with the blinds so large. I managed to grind back up to 25+ big blinds and it was a lot easier from then on.

In terms of the win, the moment that swung things for you was with AK vs the 66 of Attila Kongz?
Yes I raised pre-fop and he three-bet from the button. We ended up all-in and a King hit the flop. That was undoubtedly the key hand and gave me the power to make a deal. When we were four-handed I was the short stack but I didn't want the deal then, unless we were going to chop it four ways.

So you were disappointed that deal didn't happen - but delighted by the time it was done then?!
*laughs* You know the cliche about the guy who doesn't want to do a deal always fails but not on this occasion. I'm obviously delighted!

Tzimas win in pics

Giorgos Tzimas was a happy man as he claimed the ParadisePoker Tour trophy in his home town and of course we snapped some pics of him celebrating with his trophy, big cheque and friends Giorgos Sefertzis and Paul Kasselouris. Enjoy...



Viewing on your mobile? View the ParadisePoker Tour Winner pics here.

Our thanks go to PokerLobby.gr for their help with pictures throughout the Main Event in Thessaloniki!

Deal secures Giorgos Tzimas the title

After much discussion, ICM deal research and deep thought, our trio of players have come to an agreement and crowned big chip leader Giorgos Tzimas as our ParadisePoker Tour Thessaloniki champion.

With three quarters of the chips in play, Tzimas was able to negotiate a prize of €24,000 for his first place while his rivals Giorgos Sefertzis and Paul Kasselouris take €18,500 and €18,443 respectively.

The PP blog managed to catch up with the champ for an interview which we'll publish right here in the next couple of days, so come back for a read soon.

We'll also have winner pics and Fantasy Poker results for you later in the week so feel free to bookmark the blog.

Congratulations to the new king of Paradise!

Final table - what a welcome!

You savvy blog readers will have noted the lack of the mandatory final table pic but we thought the final instalment of the ParadisePoker Tour Season 3 deserved something a little bit special.

Our hosts ramped up the final 10 by introducing all the players to the gathered crowds with the lights, cameras and music made possible by the technical whizz here in the Vergina Theatre.

So without further ado, have a watch of this!