Sotirios Koutoupas became Greece’s first EPT champion when he outlasted 670 players to take the title in Deauville from 26 January to 1 February 2014.

After six exits from the final table at Casino Barriere, Koutoupas faced Eugene Katchalov heads-up for the title.

In the end, it was Katchalov who came up short, unable to stop the awesome momentum of Koutoupas. The 31-year-old Greek player cracked aces twice along the way and came from behind on countless other occasions, including a cruel final hand against Katchalov. But he came to the final table with the chip lead and never surrendered it.

“It was my time now, it was my time to win. I was very lucky today in some situations, but that’s poker. Everything went well for me,” said Koutoupas, who collected €614,000 for his week’s work.