And with Andrey Shatilov’s victory here in Punta Cana, that completes season 2 of the GSOP Live tour. We’ve seen football at Old Trafford in Manchester, been to the Black Sea in Thessaloniki, had a record breaking 500 runners in Prague, skied in Salzburg and finally made it to the tropical paradise here in the Dominican Republic.

Shatilov bought in through his Red Kings account, he regularly plays a mixture of heads up and 6-max SNG’s at the $500 level, as well as some tournaments. He finished 21st in the GSOP Live in Malta in Season 1 and is a regular on the tour though this is his biggest ever live result. Incidentally, Shatilov and Zoltan Szabo were the two biggest stacks going into today’s final and managed to successfully navigate their way to heads up.

So what next for the GSOP Live, well we’ll be back with a brand new season starting after the summer with some choice new locations yet to be announced. No doubt it’ll be just as exciting as this year, so get online and get qualifying and maybe next year you could be standing where Andrey Shatilov is!

Andrey Shatilov wins the GSOP Grand Final!

It didn’t take long for another all-in confrontation and this time it would prove decisive.

Andrey Shatilov opened to 65,000, Zoltan Szabo made it 150,000 to go, Shatilov four-bet to 290,000, Szabo moved all-in for around 1,200,000 and Shatilov made the call.

Shatilov:
Szabo:

Szabo was in bad shape and the flop did little to help his cause. He got the best non seven turn card though as the fell on fourth street to give him a flush and open-ended straight draw. The river though was the meaning Russia’s Andrey Shatilov is the 2011 GSOP Live grand final champion and takes home $144,190, whilst Zoltan Szabo, who played a great final table, finishes second for $93,240.

GSOP Live champion Andrey Shatiov

Runner-up Zoltan Szabo

Andrey Shatilov opened to 60,000 from the button and snap-called when Zoltan Szabo moved all in for about 800,000. 

Szabo:
Shatilov:

Szabo was at risk of elimination but he only needed to avoid an eight to double up, the board came and the Hungarian held the better ace-high. He’s back up to 1.6 million while Shatilov dropped to 2.8 million. 

Szabo is back in the game...

Since he assumed the chip lead Andrey Shatilov has slowly but surely been eroding Zoltan Szabo’s remaining chip stack. In the eight hands since he doubled up Shatilov has won six of them. In fact the only two hands that Szabo has won has been when he’s moved all-in pre-flop.

Stacks currently 3,600,000 for Shatilov, 800,000 for Szabo. The players are on a five minute comfort break right now.

Blinds are now 15,000 – 30,000 ante 3,000

My, my, my, this has changed things.

Zoltan Szabo opened to 55,000 preflop and Andrey Shatilov made it 125,000 from the small blind but Szabo responded by making it 240,000 in the big blind and a moment of thinking, Shatilov made the call.

The flop was , Shatilov checked and Szabo bet 180,000 but the Russian came back over the top with a check-raise to 390,000. Now it was the Hungarian’s turn to tank and he took about a minute before moving all in.

The call came instantly from Shatilov.

Shatilov:
Szabo:

Szabo was drawing slimmer than a champion dieter, needing running sevens or queens to win the tournament and although he caught the on the turn, the river was the and Shatilov now has about 3.2 million chips to Szabo’s 1.2 million.

The first 12 hands have passed with few fireworks, few three-bets and just two showdowns, the biggest show of emotion was when Andrey Shatilov got a walk when he had aces. Here’s what happened in the hands that did go to showdown.

Hand One: Andrey Shatilov raised to 55,000 on the button and Zoltan Szabo made the call. On the flop of Szabo bet 63,000, call from Shatilov. The turn was the , 84,000 from Szabo, call from Shatilov. The completed the board, but there was no more betting as both players checked, “Ace high,” said Szabo, whilst Shatilov showed pocket eights to scoop the pot.

Hand two: Szabo made it 55,000 to go and Shatiov made the call. The flop was , check to Szabo who bet 65,000 call from Shatilov. The turn was checked through as was the river. Szabo could only muster , so Shatilov’s took the pot.

Despite winning the hands that have gone to showdown, Shatilov has, if anything, lost a little ground as he has about 1,400,000 to Szabo’s 3,000,000.

Zsolt Vizsnyiczai opened to 50,000 on the button, Andrey Shatilov folded in the small blind and it was passed to Zoltan Szabo in the big blind who said, “I’m all in.”

Vizsnyiczai instantly called and Szabo looked a little worried despite showing . Vizsnyiczai laughed with a sigh and flipped .

The board came , Vizsnyiczai eliminated by his compatriot but a substantial payout for an excellent third place.

Szabo now has chip lead going into the heads up with about 2.9 million to Shatilov’s 1.5 million, but this could take a while as they’re effectively 60 big blinds.

Zsolt Vizsnyiczai takes third place.

It folded to Jeff Topol in the small blind and the Canadian raised to 50,000, Zoltan Szabo took a look at Topol’s stack (about 600,000) and moved all-in, quick call from Topol.

Szabo:
Topol:

Although Topol was in front, it was a race and one he would ultimately lose as the board ran .

We’re down to three and the chip counts are:

Zoltan Szabo – 2,500,000
Andrey Shatilov – 1,420,000
Zsolt Vizsnyiczai – 450,000

Jeff Topol - out in fourth

Zoltan Szabo has opened up a bit of a gap on Andre Shatilov as he just took a chunky pot from him.

Szabo raised to 56,000 from the button and Shatilov called from the big blind. The flop fell and it checked through. On the turn card Shatilov led for 56,000 only for Szabo to make it 134,000 total. Then, Shatilov tried to re-raise but didn’t throw out enough chips to make it a legal raise so it went as a call.

The completed the board and this nixed any potential fireworks as both players checked, Szabo showed to claim the pot.