France's Sylvain Berthelot has claimed victory in the €1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour main event held as part of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona festival. The French amateur's triumph following a three-way deal was worth €499,224 (approx. US $558K) and capped off a worst-to-first day that saw Berthelot land his first major tourney score after starting the day last out of the event's 19 surviving players.
Berthelot's win was unexpected by any measure. Prior to Sunday's Estrellas main event finale, Berthelot had only five previous Hendon Mob-recorded cashes for less than $8,000 total, and the road to his first major win went through numerous talented pros. Mexico's Santiago Nadal led the way into Day 4 with a stack nearly double his closest competitor, PokerStars brand ambassador Parker Talbot, with well-known pros that included Alexander Reard, Ren Lin, Magnus Persson, and Martin Zamani among those still in the event.
In the end, though, it was Berthelot's day. Following the elimination of Canada's Talbot in fourth place (€227,000), Berthelot, Zamani, and Nadal remained, and with the three fairly close in chips, they worked out a near-ICM chop that assured each of the three around €400,000 and left an extra €45,100 for the winner. When Berthelot claimed the trophy, he collected a total of €499,224. Mexico's Nadal, the runner-up, claimed €394,526, while the US's Zamani, the official third-place finisher, earned €463,250 after having the largest stack when the deal was made.
Zamani dominates Day 4 action but falters late
The Day 4 finale of the Estrellas main event appeared destined to be a tale of a player rising from deep in the pack to win, but the star of that tale was Zamani for most of the day. Zamani began the day in seventh spot but played a hyper-aggressive strategy that found him quickly climbing the leaderboard and, eventually, taking a dominant lead.
At one point during four-handed play, Zamani had roughly three quarters of the chips in play, though from that point on his momentum melted away. All three of Zamani's remaining foes landed double-ups to garner more playable stacks, and a couple of other medium-sized pots further cut into his once-commanding lead.
Berthelot had climbed into the lead by the time Zamani flopped trip nines against an all-in Talbot to narrow the field to three, which led to the three-way chop. Following the deal-making, Nadal doubled through Zamani to move into second, and Berthelot then finished off Zamani in a hand where his dominating A-Q held up against Zamani's all-in with A-4.
A cooler hand ended the tourney a few hands later. With Berthelot holding the lead, both players made big holdings in a hand where a 
fell on the turn following an 
flop. The chips went in, and a 
completed the board. Berthelot showed 
for the nut flush, meaning that Nadal's 
for a turned straight was no good, and the title was Berthelot's to celebrate.
Final-table results:
- Sylvain Berthelot (France) - €499,224*
- Santiago Nadal (Mexico) - €394,526*
- Martin Zamani (United States) - €463,250*
- Parker Talbot (Canada) - €227,000
- Jean Benvenga (Switzerland) - €173,000
- Francesco Macri (Italy) - €136,400
- Stanislovas Vinicenka (Lithuania) - €104,500
- Johannes Verhagen (Netherlands) - €79,400
* - includes three-way deal
Images courtesy of Rational Intellectual Holdings/PokerStars Live. Prior tournament results courtesy of The Hendon Mob.
