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Getting all in against the same hand as your opponent doesn’t always result in a chop, and one player learned that the hard way at European Poker Tour (EPT) Malta.
The hand in question took place during Day 3 of the €1,650 PokerStars Open, which Britain’s Scott Margereson would go on to win the next day for €423,700, as Claudio Coelho found himself all in with ace-queen suited against Mateusz Moolhuizen with the exact same hand.
Rather than being awarded half the pot, Coelho was sent packing as his fortunate opponent made a Royal Flush.
As captured by the PokerNews live reporting team, Moolhuizen had three-bet an earlier open to 250,000 with A♦Q♦ when Coelho moved all in for 760,000 from the small blind with A♥Q♥. The initial raiser got out of the way before Moolhuizen called after a bit of thought.
Only Moolhuizen had a chance to scoop the pot when the J♦K♦5♣ flop appeared. Moolhuizen kindly asked for a Royal Flush, and his wish came true when the 10♦ hit the turn. With Coelho’s fate set in stone, he stood up as the meaningless 8♠ river completed board. Moolhuizen celebrated his royal flush as Coelho took his unlucky exit.
Margereson Defeats Carbo For PokerStars Open Title
Over four days of battling at Casino Malta, UK pro Scott Margereson outlasted a field of 1,845 entries, the biggest turnout of any event at EPT Malta, and was rewarded with a massive haul of €423,700 after defeating Gerard Carbo heads-up. Carbo took home €264,650 for his efforts, the second-biggest piece of the €2,656,800 prize pool and by far his largest recorded live score, as per The Hendon Mob.
Together, Margereson and Carbo provided all the eliminations from the final ten players onward, steamrolling the final table which included the likes of 2024 EPT Paris champion Barny Boatman and Spanish powerhouse Ana Marquez. The destined duel for the title only took 22 hands to fall in Margereson’s favor, however, as he won the vast majority of pots to conquer the title.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott Margereson | United Kingdom | €423,700 |
| 2 | Gerard Carbo | Spain | €264,650 |
| 3 | Siarhei Sochneu | Belarus | €188,900 |
| 4 | Evaldas Aniulis | Lithuania | €145,350 |
| 5 | Donato De Bonis | Italy | €111,850 |
| 6 | Modar Alsoud | Germany | €86,500 |
| 7 | Ana Marquez | Spain | €65,950 |
| 8 | Barny Boatman | United Kingdom | €50,700 |
Carbo Dominates Early
Margereson began the final day third in chips out of the 14 returning players. While Carbo had a rocket start to the day by doubling up in a huge cooler against Ioannis Oikonomidis, capturing the chiplead, Margereson had simply maintained his stack by the time the unofficial final table of nine was reached, dropping him a spot on the leaderboard.
Oikonomidis could not recover and busted in ninth against Margereson, becoming the last player to miss the official final table. In the meantime, Carbo used his lead effectively and saw it grow by the minute. After eliminating Boatman and Marquez, Carbo also took care of Modar Alsoud and Donato De Bonis, ending up with over half the chips in play when four players remained.
Margereson’s Merry Road to Victory
With four players left, Margereson started to hit his stride. In just a couple of hands, he knocked out start-of-day leader Evaldas Aniulis and bronze medalist Siarhei Sochneu.
The players took a break before the heads-up battle, during which a deal was briefly discussed. Having the smaller stack, Margereson politely declined once he saw the numbers, and the stage was set for a high-stakes battle worth over €159,000, the difference between first and second place.
Margereson won the first significant pot of the duel when he picked off a bluff by Carbo. Having gained the lead, he started winning most hands, eventually claiming a five-to-one chip lead over his opponent. Carbo still had a workable stack of 20 big blinds when Margereson moved all in preflop, but his ace-nine was no match for the seven-six of Margereson, who seemed to have all the luck on his side and made a pair to secure the victory.
When Margereson was officially declared the winner, the two competitors shared a hug before they went their separate ways to pick up their monstrous six-figure paydays. “I ran so incredibly hot heads-up,” Margereson summed up his experience to his rail as he left the tournament area.
That concludes the PokerNews live reporting for the €1,650 PokerStars Open, but EPT Malta is far from over. The Main Event has just kicked off, and Margereson and Carbo are both expected to make an appearance, so be sure to keep an eye on our EPT Malta live reporting hub to not miss any of the exciting action in the days to come.
