It didn’t take long for Ove Stenberg’s remaining chips to find their way into the middle. He had 620,000 and found pocket eights and Janos Katzenberger held pocket fours. The board of 
doubled him up to 1,240,000.
and that’s when it went crazy. Katzenberger checked, Stenberg bet 100,000, Katazenberger made it 275,000, Stenberg made it 550,000 and then we had a pause. Katzenberger lent back, hands on face and considered his option. Eventually he made it 1,000,000 total, a nanosecond later Stenberg said all-in and just as fast Katazenberger said call, he was the at risk player all-in for 2,955,000. Katzenberger showed 
for a worse two pair. The 
turn gave Stenberg the flush draw, but the river was the 
pushing the pot to Katzenberger and giving him 6,000,000 of the 6,660,000 chips in play. It’s the first time that Stenberg has relinquished the chip lead at the final table.
and Katzenberger bet 220,000 and Stenberg called. Both players checked the 
turn and 
to claim the pot.
was no help for Holst. Stacks will be pretty even going into heads up play.
on a 
on a 
board and it was good.
flop. On the 
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And That’s A Wrap From Season 2 of GSOP Live!
And with Andrey Shatilov’s victory here in Punta Cana, that completes season 2 of the GSOP Live tour. We’ve seen [...]
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And That’s A Wrap From Season 2 of GSOP Live!
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RedKings Qualifier Janos Katzenberger wins GSOP Malta (€72,550)
GSOP Live: Malta Winner - Janos Katzenberger
The final table was a sprint, not a marathon, lasting a little under five hours. For most of the dash to the finish line it looked like one man, Ove Stenberg, would be bound to break the tape first. In the first hour of play he eliminated Jeppe Bisgaard (9th), Attila Urbán (8th), Robert Eriksson (7th) and Rafal Arendt (6th).
His next victim was fifth place finisher Morten Mortensen. The Dane was runner-up in GSOP Riga and by making back to back final tables the talented player is in pole position to win the GSOP leaderboard and the free seat to the Grand Final in Seville that goes with it. Four handed play lasted for over an hour, but again it was Stenberg who played the role of executioner, eliminating Erik Backlund.
When three-handed play began Stenberg had 65% of the chips in play and it was here that a rival emerged in the shape of Janos Katzenberger. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, the Hungarian had come to the final table as chip leader, but his stack had barely budged in size from nine-handed to three-handed play as he took a back seat to the Stenberg show. Katzenberger now though ramped up the aggression taking numerous pots off of Stenberg. When Katzenberger eliminated Dennis Holst in third the chip counts were almost even when heads up play began and the momentum was with the Hungarian.
Just a few hands into heads up play a cooler changed the shape of the tournament. Both Katzenberger and Stenberg flopped two pair, Katzeberger’s top two held up and gave him six million of the six and half million in play and he sprinted into the lead. Despite Stenberg scoring one double up, Katzenberger soon finished him off when he picked off a desperate river bluff by the Norwegian.
Congratulations to Janos Katzenberger on winning GSOP Malta and the first prize of €72,550. See you in Bucharest.