Turkey’s PokerNews Cup Won by Arnaud Enselme

Day Two of Turkey’s PokerNews Cup has revealed a new champion, with Arnaud Enselme coming out on top after just under 12 hours’ play.

Based at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Casino, as part of the 2022 Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party, the tournament saw 332 entries compete for the first prize of $50,000 over the week.

Here’s a look at how the action played out, and Arnaud Enselme’s path to victory.

Heading Towards the Final Table

Day Two of the PokerNews Cup began with just under 50 of the 332 players remaining.

The field had played down to 49 players through three flights across two days’ qualifying, putting all those who made it through to the final day in the money. Day’s play began with Sakis Adrianopoulos as the big stack, who held 100 big blinds—a chip count of exactly half a million. Eventually winner Araud Enselme was well off the pace with only 44 big blinds, making his stack a moderate 222,000.

Adrianopoulos flamed out fast however, tumbling out of the tournament in 22nd place part way through the day for a cash of $2,000, quadrupling his buy-in of $500. Key to his downfall was a nut flush by Veselin Petrov, who took him for the majority of his chips when Adrianopoulos made a set of jacks on the river card.

The day was also unsuccessful for earlier chip leaders, with the Day 1a and 1b big stacks coming up short in ninth and tenth position.

A Grueling Final Table Arm Wrestle

For hours, play at the final table was locked in a war of attrition.

Fan-favorite Furkan Beg, known for his clever table talk, bowed out in seventh place for $7,500, having turned his starting stack of 17 blinds into a deep run on Day Two.

After this, a deadlock ensued.

Very rarely do all players have an average of 10 big blinds in poker, but that was the case at one stage of the deadlock. With the levels raising regularly, yet no player budging, at one stage, only 62 big blinds were in play between six competitors.

Arnaud Enselme must have had a good feeling about the way he was playing however, because when talk of a six-way deal arose, the Frenchman stubbornly stuck to his guns and dismissed the prospect.

Sure enough, Ercan Hasan, Vittorio Maugini, James ‘Jizza’ O’Brien and Gheorghe Butuc all fell short, and only two players remained at the final table.

Arnaud Enselme Downs Koleznev in Dramatic Heads Up Play

Eliminating Butuc, Dmitry Koleznev would have felt confident heading into a heads-up shootout against Enselme.

That is, until he saw Enselme’s stack, which outnumbered the Russian’s three to one.

On the fourth hand, this discrepancy evaporated however, with the two getting it all in over AK vs. A9. Koleznev’s Big Slick held true, and the two were on an even playing field chip-wise.

The drama was just beginning in heads up play, as two hands later, the players broke for a quarter of an hour to discuss a deal. Both parties agreed to split the prize money and play for pride, however, the tournament director insisted that the current hand be completed before the deal came into force.

Holding pocket nines, Koleznev shoved the hand, and was called to his surprise by Enselme with A J. The flop was a thing of dreams for Arnaud Enselme, coming A J 6, to leave Koleznev drawing to one of the two nines remaining in the pack.

It was not to be, leaving Koleznev devastated, and Arnaud Enselme ecstatic.