Felix Schulze Wins the WPTDeepStacks €1,200 Main Event for €104,304

By Aaron McBride

Felix Schulze has been crowned the WPTDeepStacks Amsterdam €1,200 Main Event champion after he battled through a 507 player-field at the Holland Casino Amsterdam Center.

Schulze, who was the Day 3 chip leader, defeated Emrah Cakmak heads-up to win the €104,304 first-place prize + €2,000 WPTDeepStacks European Championship Deauville Main Event package.

The victory for Schulze marks an extraordinary week to remember for the young pro after his Main Event triumph unbelievably coincided with first-place finishes in the WPTDS €330 Hyper event as well as the €330 Shortdeck event.

“I feel pretty good, It’s been a decent week” joked Schulze with a smile of his face.

“I probably don’t realize how good it’s been right now in the moment, but I felt super comfortable in the Main Event having won two events already this week.”

“After my first win, I didn’t even have a winners photo taken. So I joked with the tournament director that I would wait to have my picture taken as Main Event winner. He just came and congratulated me and was shocked it actually happened.”

Schulze added that he is now targeting the WPTDeepStacks Europe POY €10,000 top prize after his victory, combined with a cash in the Berlin Main Event in January, propelled him into third place on the leaderboard. Schulze has already won his seat into the WPTDS European Championships in Deauville in May and is set to travel to WPTDS Malta next month as well.

Final Table Result:
1- Felix Schulze € 104,304
2 – Emrah Cakmak € 69,525
3 – Joey Weissman € 51,285
4 – Micha Hoedemaker € 38,245
5 – Mark Wiegerinck € 28,835
6 – Enrico Camosci € 21,985
7 – James Thody € 16,950
8 – Menduh Kalmaz € 13,220
9 – Carlos Manuel Da Costa Dias € 10,430

Action of the day

Day 3 kicked off with 16 players returning to battle, and the action could not have got off to a faster start with four eliminations in the first 10 minutes of play, and by the time the first level was completed the field had been reduced to ten.

Fatih Aydin was the unfortunate player to miss out on a final table spot after his pocket sixes were unable to hold against Menduh Kalmaz’s ace-king after the players got all their chips into the middle preflop.

Carlos Dias (9th – €10,430) then hit the rail when he ran ace-queen into Enrico Camosci’s aces before a hand took place that changed the whole dynamics of the final table.

American pro Joey Weissman moved all in from under the gun for his last 600,000 and saw big stack James Thody three-bet to 1,200,000 from the next seat. The action folded to eventual runner-up Cakmak in the big blind and he reshoved for 2,600,000. Thody called and needed to hit to score the double knockout.

Weissman held nine-eight, Thody ace-king, and Cakmak pocket queens.

The board fell nine-seven-four-jack-eight to give Weissman a triple up with two pair, Cakmak secured the side pot for the overall chip lead, and Thody was reduced from 3,000,000 to 500,000.

Short stack Menduh Kalmaz (8th Place – €13,220) then hit the rail before Thody (7th Place – €16,950)(pictured) felt the effects of his bitter defeat against Weissman and Cakmak and was unable to turn it around.

Enrico Camosci (6th Place – €21,985) was next out when the Italian saw his king-ten fade the board against pocket queens, before another short stack fell in the form of Mark Wiegerinck (5th Place – €28,835) after he found his jack-ten dominated by Micha Hoedemaker’s king-jack, and when the cards fell to give Hoedemaker top two pair on the turn, Wiegerinck was drawing dead.

Hoedemaker’s winning run didn’t last long, however, and he was next to depart in 4th place for €38,245.

Hoedemaker was all set for the double up holding king-jack against Weissman’s queen-ten, and he held his lead on the flop and turn. But the cruel ten of the river gave Weissman a pair, and the final three were set.

Weissman’s remarkable run ultimately came to an end in 3rd place for €51,285, but it must be said that the American showed real determination to get as far as he did. Weissman started Day 3 as the shortest stack with just four big blinds but turned it around to be among the middle of the pack at the final table.

Schulze went into the heads-up match with Cakmak holding a four-to-one chip advantage, something he was on the other side of when he won the Shortdeck event earlier this week.

Cakmak secured an early double up to pull the players nearer together but slipped back in a series of small confrontations with Schulze, and after just 40 minutes of play, it was all over.

Schulze called on the button, and after Cakmak moved all in for 3,000,000, he made the call.

It was pocket tens for Schulze and ace-king for Cakmak, with everything on the line.

The flop fell five-seven-five, and Schulze held his advantage. The turn deuce edged Schulze further ahead, and when the river revealed the eight of diamonds, Schulze had secured the hattrick of titles in Amsterdam.

That’s all from us here in Amsterdam!

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