Former WPTDS Champion Ioannis Angelou-Konstas Bags Final Table Lead in Brussels

Ioannis Angelou-Konstas picked up the chip lead just before the money bubble and never looked in danger of relinquishing it as he rode a tidal wave of chips to lead the final table of the WPTDeepStacks Brussels Main Event.

Angelou-Konstas took down WPTDS Netherlands last October, where he also bagged the chip lead going into the final table. However, his chip lead now is almost twice as big; 3,500,000 chips is almost 40% of the chips in play, and most of it came with the elimination of Benjamin Truyens in the final hand of the night.

The Greek player raised to 60,000 in the small blind and Benjamin Truyens defended his big blind. The flop came and Angelou-Konstas check-called a bet of 75,000. The turn was the and Angelou-Konstas bet 100,000. Truyens called.

The river was the and Angelou-Konstas bet 330,000. Truyens raised all in for 560,000 and after a short tank, Angelou-Konstas called with . “You win,” said Truyens, tabling .

Here is the seating draw for the final table:

1. Miguel Coussement – 385,000
2. Gianluca Bucchino – 1,500,000
3. Roland Rozel – 930,000
3. Mourad Tounnouti – 467,000
4. Ioannis Angelou-Konstas – 3,500,000
6. Martin Kaya – 758,000
7. Amin Charef – 317,000
8. Milan Rabsz – 849,000
9. Michael Lech – 1,124,000

Gianluca Bucchino was the start-of-day chip leader, and was comfortable in the early stages of the day, as short stacks looked for a way back into contention. The likes of Jonathan Abdellatif, Lars Kamphues and Jeremie Sarda all headed to the exit during the first level. Also eliminated was Kalidou Sow, who wouldn’t be adding to his WPTDS Brussels High Roller sixth place finish.

Also eliminated early on was Champions Club member Alexandre Gomes, who ran king-jack into the kings of Jorden Verbraeken to bust and Kenny Hallaert, whose ace-seven failed to crack the queens of Raoul Refos.

It was a sign of things to come when Angelou-Konstas eliminated last year’s runner-up Leonardo Armino, but it was Dutchman Sander van Wesemael who shot to the top of the counts when he eliminated Bart Lybaert after turning a straight against his opponent’s pocket aces.

The bubble burst when Johan Mertens’ ace-queen failed to hold against the fours of Michael Lech. This guaranteed all players €2,400 but they were all playing for the €75,000 first prize, which included a €2,000 package to the WPTDS Europe season-ending event.

Angelou-Konstas was the first player over a million, and he was soon joined by Vladimir Velasquez as someone looked to reign in the chip leader.

The plan for the day was to play ten levels, and by the time the tournament officials drew for the last number of hands, there was only just enough time for Angelou-Konstas to send one last player to the rail, securing him an overwhelming chip lead heading into the final day’s play.

Stay tuned to WPT.com to see if Angelou-Konstas can become only the second-ever player, and first in Europe, to win multiple WPTDeepStacks titles.