🇩🇪 Salih Gabrysch is the France Poker Festival Main Event winner!
- Stefano Atzei
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
Entries 3018
The France Poker Festival Main Event comes to an end with the victory of Germany’s Salih Gabrysch, author of an outstanding performance, helped at key moments by a little bit of fortune when it mattered most, allowing him to collect €110,600 plus the €3,000 package for the next King’s Super Main Event scheduled for September.
A victory built patiently over several days. During Day 2, Gabrysch had dropped to just 3 big blinds, a spot that looked close to impossible to recover from. Instead, through solid play, composure and a favorable run at the right moments, he turned a desperate situation into the biggest live score of his poker career.
“It’s an incredible feeling. I’m so happy, especially for everyone who supported me and kept messaging me. When I think about being down to only 3 big blinds on Day 2…” he said shortly after the win, still struggling to fully process what had happened.
During the 3-handed stage, together with Roberto Palmieri and Dutch player Johannes Sijbrand van der Hulst, Gabrysch also turned down an ICM deal.
“I felt I had an edge over them. I wasn’t happy with the ICM numbers, I proposed different figures but we didn’t reach an agreement, so we kept playing.”
The Dutchman was eventually eliminated by Roberto Palmieri, who managed to extract maximum value with a straight against his opponent’s two pair and entered heads-up play holding a 2-to-1 chip advantage.
And right there came the hand that completely changed the tournament.
On the very first hand of heads-up play, Salih isolated after Palmieri limped. On a 7–10–J–J board, Gabrysch continued applying pressure and eventually moved all-in for roughly a pot-sized bet. Palmieri snap-called and arrived at showdown holding approximately 77% equity to put one hand on the EuroRounders trophy.
Then the river came.
A K completely changed the momentum of the match and brought Gabrysch back to life. One card shifted the heads-up and perhaps the entire tournament. Despite that hand, the duel continued for nearly two more hours before reaching its final showdown.
“I’ve already booked Las Vegas. This summer I’ll play my first WSOP Main Event and I’m extremely happy. This win gives a huge boost to my bankroll, alongside the satisfaction of winning such an important tournament.”
For Roberto Palmieri, however, there was understandably some bitterness left. The Italian had been one of the tournament’s major protagonists: chip leader in one of the starting flights, chip leader at the end of Day 2 after a crazy late-night rush, and only a few cards away from lifting the trophy.
“If you ask me tomorrow or in two days, I’ll tell you I’m very satisfied. Right now though, even with €68,000 for second place, it hurts. After seeing those percentages on the turn… I had already started imagining the trophy.”
“The poker gods decided differently.”
Palmieri still records the best live result of his career, adding it to another runner-up finish achieved at WSOP Circuit events last September.
Below you can find the complete list of all nine final table players and their finishing positions.
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