Zoltan Gal Poker

Zoltan Gal poker player profile. Get latest information, winnings and gallery. WPT Career Highlights Value Rank; Career Earnings: $185,087: 1,133: Cashes: 2: 3,690: Final Tables: 2: 191: Titles: 1: 245. Gal Takes One Down Main partypoker WPT Vienna Season 2014-2015 1A Level 6: 200-400, 50 ante. PokerStars qualifier Zoltan Gal wins Eureka4 Vienna and €208,655 Chris Hall March 23, 2014 in Uncategorized It was the biggest ever Eureka Poker Tour event and true to form, it went so far as to make the 175,000/350,000 (50,000) level – a feat previously unheard of on this tour.

In what proved to be a highly entertaining final table, Romania’s Vlad Darie defeated start-of-day chip lead Zoltan Gal to take down the World Poker Tour Vienna title on Sunday afternoon (U. S. time).

When the six men gathered at the Montesino Wien in Vienna on Sunday, they were the survivors from the 215 unique entries that the tournament had garnered. Along with 19 rebuys in the tournament, the total prize pool of €680,940 (a little more than $757,000 U. S.) had already seen some of it handed out to the previous 21 finishers in the tournament. These final six men, however, would divvy up the lion’s share of the wildebeest, with the eventual champion taking down a nice €157,000 payday.

Although Gal held the lead at the start of the day, it was really anyone’s tournament as the men were tightly packed together on the leaderboard. Reigning L. A. Poker Classic champion Dietrich Fast was looking for his second WPT title while holding 1.594 million in chips as Matt Davenport (1.274 million) and Darie (1.18 million) joined them in the million chip club. Dominik Bosnjak (665,000) and Georgios Zisimopoulos (485,000) rounded out the table as the men went to work on Sunday.

“Frantic” would be the word for the early hands on the Vienna final table as the players started moving chips quickly. Fast would be the beneficiary of the early flurry of action, cracking the two million chip mark, to seize the lead away from Gal. He also would punish Darie for some missteps as Darie saw his stack slip to the basement of the leaderboard. On one particular hand, Darie was fortunate to walk away still in the tournament.

After Darie raised from under the gun (with a K-Q) and Fast defended his big blind (with an A-5), the 3-4-Q flop seemed to be beneficial for Darie, who bet 45K. Fast made the call and, after another four came on the turn, Fast decided to lead out and Darie made a tenuous call. When the river came with an Ace to give Fast the hand, he would move all in and Darie agonized over his decision. With just 400K in chips and a pot worth more than half that amount, Darie decided to walk away and let Fast have the hand, a laydown that saved him from elimination.

The “poker gods” must have smiled fortuitously on Darie for that laydown as he didn’t seem to make a misstep from that point forward. On Hand 28, Darie would eliminate Zisimopoulos in sixth place, his pocket eights standing over Zisiomopoulos’ K-J off suit. On the very next hand Fast dropped Bosnjak in fifth when his Ace caught in a race against Bosnjak’s pocket tens on an A-8-9-J-5 board.

Now it was Davenport’s turn to get in the action. He would double up through Gal, his pocket sixes holding firm over Gal’s Big Chick, and used trip Queens to topple Fast’s two pair to take some of Fast’s stack in getting to 1.674 million in chips. Davenport would seize the lead when he carved some chips away from Darie after he flopped two pair against Darie’s flush draw, the resulting influx of chips pushing Davenport to 2.65 million in chips.

The four men continued a blistering pace, one that could not be sustained. Part of the destruction was Fast’s stack, which never seemed to get over the hand with Davenport. After Gal raised the betting to 100K, Fast shoved nearly one million chips to the center and Gal immediately made the call. His Big Slick was ruling over Fast’s A♣ 10♣ and the “poker gods” chose this moment to show they also have a sense of humor; the 3♣ K♣ 3♥ flop hit everyone in the hand, with Gal holding Kings up and Fast on the nut flush draw. A Jack on the turn was black, but it was the J♣, and after the 6♥ came on the river, Fast was out of the tournament in fourth place as Gal began to dominate.

Just as easily as it came to Davenport, it went away from him. On Hand 75 (and after seeing his stack decimated in a hand against Darie that left him with scraps), Davenport moved all in and both Gal and Darie came along for the ride. The Q-8-7-7-6 flop, turn and river was checked down by Gal and Darie and Davenport showed a 6-5 for two pair. Gal didn’t have any piece of the board with his A-9 off suit, but Darie’s 10-9 had rivered the nut straight to eliminate Davenport in third place and send the WPT Vienna to heads up play between Gal and Darie with Gal holding a 2:1 lead.

Gal didn’t waste any time, moving out to a 3:1 lead within about five hands of heads up action. It was the sixth hand, Hand 82, that proved to be a game-changer, however, as the twosome saw a 5-10-7 flop. Darie would check-call a bet out of Gal and, on a trey turn, Gal fired again. Darie chose this time to make a stand, pushing his chips to the center and Gal nearly beat him into the pot, turning up a 5-3 for two pair against Darie’s 7-6 for a pair of sevens. Looking for another seven or a six to best Gal’s two pair, Darie struck gold when a six came on the river, capturing the pot and the chip lead with his better two pair.

The duo would shift the lead back and forth over the next 70 hands before the final act. Darie would move all in from the button and Gal made the call, which turned out to be the correct move. Darie’s K♥ 6♥ looked great when he turned it up but it faded quickly in the face of Gal’s A♥ 2♥. A six on the flop changed that, however, and when no Ace came on the turn or river, Gal was out in second place as Vlad Darie captured the championship of the WPT Vienna.

1. Vlad Darie, €157,000
2. Zoltan Gal, €109,340
3. Matt Davenport, €70,800
4. Dietrich Fast, €52,450
5. Dominik Bosnjak, €39,360
6. Georgios Zisimopoulos, €31,500

Relative newcomer Zoltan Gal overcomes a massive field en route to winning the Eureka Vienna Main Event and over €208,000.

Relative newcomer Zoltan Gal overcomes a massive field en route to winning the Eureka Vienna Main Event and over €208,000.

Zoltan Gal Poker Games

On Friday, the PokerStars sponsored Eureka Vienna Main Event made headlines when it drew a staggering 1,432 runners, 975 of which registered on Day 1b. Breaking the previous benchmark for a Eureka Main Event by over 100 runners, the 2014 iteration of the Vienna Main created a nearly €1.4 million prize pool, over €244k of which would be reserved for the winner.

Zoltan Gal Poker Game

That winner would end up being none other than Hungary’s own hometown hero Zoltan Gal. Maneuvering through a field that included the likes of former EPT champs Steve O’Dwyer and David Vamplew, along with notable PokerStars Pros Bertrand Grospelier and Mickey Petersen, Zoltan’s journey towards glory would be riddled with tense moments and jaw-dropping suspense.

The Final Table

The festivities would begin with a cooler of epic proportions. Robert Malinowski of Poland, holding K♦10♣, called a three-bet out of position against Markus Stoger. The two saw a flop of J♥A♦Q♠, giving Malinowski the stone cold nuts. All the money got in before the turn was dealt. Stoger revealed J♣J♠ for bottom set. Needing the board to pair, the turn 10♦ provided no help. But the river Q♥ bailed Stoger out of poker purgatory, in the process sending Malinowski to the rail in eighth place.

But it wouldn’t be long before the former chip leader would also meet his demise. Shortly after Erik Scheidt and Kalfas fell in seventh and sixth respectively, Stoger would shove all in against the lone US representative at the table, online professional Bryan Paris. Stoger meekly revealed Q♥9♣, while Paris flipped over A♣K♥. Despite spiking a pair on the flop, Stoger was drawing dead completely dead by the turn. And it would be Paris that would be the beneficiary of a more than 4 million chip pot.

Paris would meet his end shortly after, followed in third place by Blazej Przygorewski. All the while, Gal hung back, slowly amassing a massive chip lead despite not playing a wealth of big hands. By the time he was heads-up with eventual runner-up Andreas Freund, Gal held 75 percent of the chips in play.

Gal Defeats Freund Heads-Up for Title, But Not Without a Fight

It would only take a few hands for Freund to begin closing the gap on Gal. Apparently fearful of losing his grasp on the chip lead, Gal opened discussions with Freund regarding a chip chop. The two eventually agreed to the terms, leaving €10,000, and of course the prestigious champion’s trophy, on the table.

Just as the tournament would begin with a cooler, it would conclude with one. Gal, holding 10♥10♦ would raise to 750,000. Freund three-bet to nearly two million, prompting Gal to four-bet shove. Freund called it off with the 8♦8♥ only to find himself in dire straits. The board would run out 6♣7♠7♦K♥6♥ granting Gal the title.

The 27 year-old Gal has already amassed a notable list of tournament cashes, but his victory at Vienna was his first six-digit score. For Freund, it was only the fourth cash of his career, and at €174,655 by far the most lucrative.

Final Payouts

The next stop on the fourth season of the Eureka Poker Tour will be at King’s Casino in Rozvadov. If Vienna was any indicator, poker players should expect another massive, potentially record-breaking Main Event turn out.