Remi Castaignon Dominates EPT Deauville Final Table
Remi Castaignon will go into tomorrow's EPT final table here in Deauville as the overwhelming chip leader after he tore through his opponents in the last couple of levels. Castaignon finished with 9,900,000 which is around 42% of the chips in play and no-one else has even half of this. As it stands, it's going to be a tough job for anyone to get close to the Frenchman. Castaignon knocked out eight of the 15 players eliminated today, including the last three.
Just 23 players started today after the elimination of Sam Grafton in the last hand yesterday and it wasn't long before we lost our first player, Eric Sfez, who went all in on the turn holding top pair against Castaignon's two pair and couldn't catch up. This exit was an all too rare example of a player heading to the payout desk as the day began very slowly, taking nearly five hours to eliminate just six players.
A late dinner break seemed to spice everything up with the rock-solid Pascal Aznar, former Irish Open winner James Mitchell and former chip leader Cyril Andre all departing in quick succession. Andre's exit was perhaps the most surprising but the high-stakes PLO professional came off worse in a tussle with Castaignon which left him with few chips and little room to maneuver.
Castaignon eliminated Jean Pierre Petroli in 10th place with 
holding against 
on 
board to reduce the event to just a single table and with the exit of Cymbaluk following quickly, the final table is set. His chip count dominance recalls Nicolas Chouity at the EPT Grand Final in Season 6, Chouity began the final table with a huge chip lead that he never looked like losing. Can Castaignon follow in his footsteps tomorrow?
| Seat | Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph El Khoury | Lebanon | 1,710,000 |
| 2 | Jeffrey Hakim | Lebanon | 895,000 |
| 3 | [Removed:4] | Germany | 2,690,000 |
| 4 | Franck Kalfon | France | 1,195,000 |
| 5 | Robert Romeo | Belgium | 1,440,000 |
| 6 | Walid Bou Habib | Lebanon | 3,835,000 |
| 7 | Noel Gaens | Belgium | 1,720,000 |
| 8 | Remi Castaignon | France | 9,900,000 |