French businessman Christophe Benzimra has won EPT Warsaw and a first prize of 1,493,170 PLN (approx. €358,644).

The 47-year-old from Nice, who runs a Plexiglas factory in Bucharest, Romania, beat Italian pro Alfio “aLFiosNob” Battisti to win the title. He only took up poker three years ago but has taken part at almost every EPT in the last two seasons. He said: “I think I was lucky today. I am not a professional, I play for fun. I’m not giving up work! I play poker just for the pleasure of it.” As part of his prize, Benzimra also wins a seat into the Season 6 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

The 25,000 PLN EPT Warsaw Main Event attracted 203 players to Casinos Poland at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, generating a total prize pool of more than 4.7 million PLN (approx. €1,145,826).

Runner-up Battisti, a SuperNova Elite on PokerStars, takes 834,840 PLN (approx. €200,520) back home to Latina, near Rome in Italy.

Team PokerStars PRO Luca Pagano was knocked out in fourth place for 357,790 PLN (approx. €85,938). It was a bitter-sweet experience for the 31-year-old Italian who broke all his own records in Warsaw -  reaching a fifth EPT final table and recording his 12th cash finish. Pagano now overtakes fellow Team PokerStars PRO Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier to top the EPT all-time Tournament Leader Board, but his best result in money terms remains his sixth place finish at the Season 4 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, worth €337,000.

Canadian PokerStars qualifier Clayton Mozdzen, 26, one of 33 players to win their Warsaw seats on PokerStars, came sixth, earning 233,750 PLN (approx. €56,144). Among the 24 players to cash were PokerStars Passport winner Shaun Deeb and Polish PokerStars player Wojciech Polak. Team PokerStars PRO Dario Minieri won the EPT Warsaw high roller event earning €77,206 (approx. 322,375 PLN).