Castaignon dominated Day 5 of the contest and saw his stack swell to a staggering 9.9 million after starting with 1.9 million. That’s nearly 50% of the chips left in play.
Walid Bou Habib is Castaignon’s closest opponent but he’s a distant second with 3.8 million chips.
There are no big-name pros in the final eight but skilled Lebanese online pro Jeff “YoungSupremacy” Hakim is looking to make some noise at his first EPT final table.
Unfortunately for Hakim he will be working from the short stack with 895,000 chips.
Hakim won’t be the only Lebanese player at the final table as both Habib and Joseph El Khoury hail from the country.
The final table is certainly an international affair with two Belgians, two Frenchman and one German.
It took roughly 13 hours to go from 23 players on Day 5 to the final table of eight players.
Mitchell Ousted Four Spots From Final Table
2010 Irish Open winner James Mitchell seemed destined for a spot at the final table with his solid play over the last two days but he finally fizzled out in 12th place.
Mitchell was playing from the short stack and shoved ace-seven into Noel Gaens' ace-jack.
Former chip leader Cyril Andre also hit the rail on Day 5 when his lost an all-important race with pocket fives to Remi Castaignon’s ace-five suited.
The final table begins at noon tomorrow. Here’s a look at the final-table chip counts:
1. Remi Castaignon – 9,900,000 2. Walid Bou Habib – 3,835,000 3. Enrico Rudelitz – 2,690,000 4. Noel Gaens – 1,720,000 5. Joseph El Khoury – 1,710,000 6. Robert Romeo – 1,440,000 7. Franck Kalfon – 1,195,000 8. Jeffrey Hakim – 895,000Visit www.pokerlistings.com