McDonald, Eastgate Fall Short at EPT Deauville
Cody, a 21-year-old poker pro from Rochdale, U.K., outlasted a field of 768 players to claim the first place prize of €847,000.
Organizers had plenty of compelling story lines with McDonald looking to become the first two-time EPT winner and Eastgate trying to win his first major tournament since taking down the 2009 WSOP Main Event.
Eastgate, a member of Team PokerStars Pro, entered the eight-player final table as the short-stack and couldn’t get anything going.
It didn't take long before Eastgate found himself on the rail in 8th place after his pocket tens were bested by K-9.
The Danish pro has never won an EPT title although he came close in London this year eventually finishing second to Aaron Gustavson.
McDonald entered the day with an average stack and made it considerably farther than Eastgate getting all the way to three-handed play.
Unfortunately for McDonald he ran into trouble at that point and finally lost a flip for his tournament life. The young Canadian pro claimed €295,000 for his efforts.
McDonald won EPT Dortmund in 2008 and very nearly won it again in 2009 but eventually finished in fifth place.
Despite the fact it was Cody's first time competing at the EPT, it took him less than an hour to beat heads-up opponent Teodor Caraba.
It was a disappointing event for French poker fans who saw a number of their most well-known players fall painfully short of the final table.
Most notably Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier who came in ninth place after running into pocket aces with ace-queen, effectively becoming the final table bubble boy.
Winamax Pro and actress Alexia Portal finished in 10th place after losing a coin flip for her tournament life.
Meanwhile French poker legend Bruno Fittoussi, who came finished runner-up in the 2007 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event, bombed out of EPT Deauville in 14th place.
With Deauville complete the EPT will travel to Copenhagen for the Scandinavian Open, which is scheduled to take place Feb. 16-21.
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