Chris Brewer Wins the 2023 EPT Paris €25,000 No-Limit Hold'em (€357,180)

Nearly 15 hours after the start of the second big buy-in contest during the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris festival, a winner has been crowned. American poker pro Chris Brewer came out on top of 44-entry strong field at the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile after defeating Brazil's Felipe Ketzer in heads-up.

Both shared the biggest slice of the €1,034,880 prize pool with Brewer earning a payday of €357,180, while Ketzer had to settle for a consolation prize of €232,800. Also among those to finish in the money were Daniel Dvoress, Nick Petrangelo, Ren Lin, and Orpen Kisacikoglu. The runner-up of the opening €10,200 Mystery Bounty High Roller Event, Kayhan Mokri, ended up as the bubble boy.

EPT Paris €25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Results

Brewer held the lead on several occasions during the late stages of the tournament and wasn't fazed by a subtle joke of Conor Beresford on the rail either when the tournament was approaching the money bubble, as the Brit subtly pointed out the run-bad of the former track runner in expensive high-equity situations. On top of that, he had already avoided an agonising setback just before the end of the late registration period to defeat his curse.

Brewer got three-outered on the flop only to river a one-outer himself and knock out €10,200 Mystery Bounty Event winner Andre Marques in a key situation that set the pace for the remainder of the night. From there on, it wasn't an easy ride either as especially eventual runner-up Ketzer pulled several rabbits out of a hat by hitting multiple runner-runner full houses.

Among the usual suspects in the high-stakes competitions were Stephen Chidwick, Steve O'Dwyer, Alex Kulev, Pedro Garagnani, and Kannapong Thanarattrakul. All of them bowed out early on and played no role during the frantic race towards the money bubble. Seth Davies went from one of the bigger stacks in the field to the rail within two hands and Jean-Noel Thorel also suffered a very similar fate as well once the final two tables were set.

PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton was his usual jovial and bubbly self, providing plenty of entertainment for everyone involved. The self-described "best player with a stack of six big blinds and fewer" escaped from elimination with a short stack on multiple occasions but eventually bowed out against Brewer in a duel of small pocket pairs. Tauan Naves and Rui Neves Ferreira lost most of their chips to Ketzer, who entered the final table with the lead.

Tom Orpaz experienced a roller coaster ride throughout the day before he bluffed off most of his chips and then jammed at the wrong time with a suited king. Brazil's Bruno Volkmann was flipped out by Brewer, who continued to gain momentum. What followed was a tense bubble period dominated by highly-sophisticated ICM and GTO implications, after which successful bounty hunter Mokri came up short.

Once the money was reached, the chip lead changed numerous times soon after Orpen Kisacikoglu became the first player to collect a cash prize. Ren Lin took over the top spot only to see his "no gamble, no future" approach backfire with a double-up for Dvoress. Brewer then eliminated him when his ace-four were no match to pocket kings, and the victory of Brewer with more than half of the chips in play seemed inevitable.

However, it took several hours for that to eventually happen as part of a topsy-turvy conclusion in which Ketzer battled bravely until the very end. A slow-played pair of kings would eventually be his downfall, as Brewer kept a cool head despite numerous setbacks and turned the best of it.

The second edition of the €25,000 No-Limit Hold'em follows one day later and many of today's participants will very likely be back in action. Stay tuned for more high-stakes poker from the French capital, as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide updates of several marquee events.