European Poker Tour

The New EPT Blog

2005-08-23T21:49:00.000+02:00

If you've come here looking for news on Season 2 of the European Poker Tour, please visit the New EPT Blog by clicking here: Poker Blog.

All of Season 1's archives will remain here. All of Season 2's new can be found on the official PokerStars blog at the link above.

Monte Carlo Grand Final Report

2005-03-20T07:17:00.000+01:00

For a hand-by-hand account of the Monte Carlo Grand Final final table, you can click here. The final eight results are here. The other 19 finishers' results of the Grand Final are at the bottom of this link.

Monte Carlo in the hours before dawn is no different than any small city with respect to the March chill in the air and undercurrent murmur of late-night revelers in their waning hours of weekend release. At a little Irish pub just down from the Monte Carlo Grand hotel, a four piece rock band filled the small space from the floor to the rafters. Guinness fell from the taps and formed a perfect head at the top of the pints. Had the cliff faces not risen above the dark horizon and had the sea not allowed the wind to blow its scent across the city's two sqaure miles, the casual observer might not have guessed he were sitting in the world's second smallest country.

Sitting just outside on a patio, European Poker Tour creator John Duthie sat sipping on a Coca Cola. His shoes were on his feet, but had slipped of his heels.

"It's hard to believe," he said, a cigarette dangling form his fingers, "it was just a year and a month and ago I sat in the bath and thought, 'that would be a good idea.'"

In the 12 hours before, he'd seen a bathtime idea ultimately realize itself. It was a multi-event, multi-country series of televised poker tournaments spread across Europe, sponsored and supported by PokerStars.com and culminating in the EPT's Monte Carlo Grand Final.

As the hour slid ever close to sunrise, Duthie slipped into the darkness, the first year of his creation behind him.

John Duthie directing his vision

It's sometimes hard to comprehend the poker world. It's the type of place where people dressed in ratty denim and wrinkled shirts will step wildly into a $200,000 heads-up game just to make up the $150,000 they lost the night before. It's a place where a player will readily sit down for a ten-person €5000 crap-shoot, but fight wildly for a free €25 dinner.

It's in this world that Duthie, PokerStars.com, and the retinue of the world's poker players have spent the last half a year. It began with a number of events stretching across Europe. It ended just a few hours ago here in the Pricipality of Monaco. The Grand Final cost players €10,000 to enter. That was just the monetary cost. Before it was over, they would give and earn more than they'd ever expect.

To learn how we arrived at the final eight, you can read the archives of this web site. To learn how we reached the Grand Final Champion, you need only read the rest of this post.

The Final Eight

When it began, all eyes were on the young Brandon Schaefer. Just a few months from heading off to graduate school for his MBA, Schaefer had followed his friend to Deauville for the French Open. What started as a "buddy road trip" story fit for Hollywood ended with an ending even California screenwriters wouldn't venture. The two friends took first and second place in the French Open and won seats into the Grand Final. Schaefer's friend wouldn't fare so well in Monaco, but Schaefer scraped and battled his way to the final table and went into the ultimate day as the chip leader.

A few days before, Schaefer had randomly brought a grapefruit to the poker table with him. Regular poker observers assumed it was an odd homage to poker great Johnny Chan. As it turned out, Schaefer just wanted some fruit. But over the course of a few days, it became a symbol for his success. Just before the final table began, the floor director ran to Schaefer and handed him a small grapefruit.

"From your mom," he said

Schaefer and the grapefruit

Joanne Schaefer, Brandon's mother, and Carl Olson, Schaefer's friend, sweating him from the stands

While Schaefer had the chip lead, he also had seven other players to face. Some said it would end in tears...

Seat 1: Romain Feriolo 475,000
Seat 2: Alex Stevic 57,500
Seat 3: Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 181,000
Seat 4: Ben Grundy 90,500
Seat 5: Kevin Seeger 364,500
Seat 6: Mikhail Ustinov 68,500
Seat 7: Brandon Scahefer 488,500
Seat 8: Rob Hollink 384,000

We lost the first of the seven on just the sixth hand of the contest. Under the gun, Mikhail Ustinov raised more than three times the big blind under the gun. With an even shorter stack than Ustinov, EPT Barcelona champ Alex Stevic came over the top all in. Ustinov called with QQ. Stevic had JJ. The dealer laid out the first three community cards. The crowd gasped when they saw a jack. Stevic had made a set and Ustinov never improved his QQ. Ustinov left in 8th place with €59,500

It would take another 14 hands before another small stack left the table. Holland's Rob Hollink opened the pot for a 3x the big blind raise and fellow poker blogger Ben "Milk Bar Kid" Grundy called from the small blind. The flop came down 6KQ. Both players checked. The turn came a jack. Grundy checked, Hollink bet out 25,000. Grundy considered hs play for a long while then moved in for the rest of his chips. Hollink didn't think for a second and called. Grundy showed AJ. Unfortunately for the young man, he'd walked right into a well-laid Hollink trap. Hollink held KK for a flopped set. Grundy left in 7th place for €79,500

Ben "Milky Bar Kid" Grundy

While Frenchman Romain Feriolo came into the day with a lot of chips, his tournament experience was limited. That inexperience would eventually manifest itself in the wholesale spreading of Ferilolo's chips around the table. The first beneficiary was Alex Stevic. The first time, it wasn't Feriolo's fault, necessarily. Feriolo had put in a large raise and Stevic came over the top all-in. Feriolo called. Stevic showed him KQ. Feriolo held AT, but the flop came down AKK, giving Stevic trips. Stevic' Swedish fan club exploded in jubilation while Feriolo's lady sat silently in the stands. A tough poker player herself, she had poked me in the back earlier in the week when I got in the way of her watching Feriolo's play. It still hurts.

Just a few hands later, Feriolo would bluff off a nice part of his stack and give Schaefer a nice bump in chips. On the button, Schaefer raised from the big blind and Feriolo called. The flop came down AK6 with two clubs. Feriolo checked and Schaefer bet out a little more than half the pot. With a bit of flair, Feriolo called. The turn was a non-club ten. This time Feriolo bet out a little less than half the pot. Schaefer flat called. The river was another non-club ten. Feriolo again bet out and Schaefer, who apparently had quite a read on his French opponent, called again. Schaefer flipped up A4 for two pair. Feriolo showed 78 of clubs for a missed flush draw.

Perhaps Abdulaziz Abdulaziz wanted a part of the action. From the button, Feriolo came in for a raise and from the big blind, Abdulaziz came over the top all in. Feriolo called with 88 which was a winner against Abdulaziz's K6. Abdulaziz departed in six place taking home €99,500

Abdulaziz Abdulaziz

While the table had been a bit tight up to this point, maybe it was something in the last few plays that opened the floodgates. Under the gun, Schaefer raised three times the big blind and Californian Kevin Seeger called from the big blind. The flop came down T64 with two clubs. Seeger checked, Schaefer bet, and Seeger came back over the top all in. It wasn't a hard call for Schaefer. After all, he had aces. Seeger showed 88 and never improved. Seeger took fifth place for €118,000

Kevin Seeger

Things began to get a bit odd from there. Feriolo made a small raise from the button. Stevic, in the small blind, tripled the bet. Feriolo made as if to call, but put out too many chips. His move ended up meaning a minimum re-raise. It gave Stevic the opportunity to move all in. Feriolo, for some reason, called and showed QT to face Stevic's AA. Stevic won to cheers from his fan section.

Feriolo still had chips, however, but wouldn't for long. Facing a sizable raise from Schaefer, Feriolo called from the small blind. The flop came down J28. Feriolo bet out a little more than half the pot. Schaefer called. The turn was a queen. This time Feriolo bet out about half the pot and Scahefer called again. With the pot now at 412,000, the river came down as a three. Again, Feriolo bet out, but this time less than half the pot. Schaefer called without much thought...and Feriolo...mucked his cards. Scahefer only had A8 for third pair, but it must've been good.

Just a few hands left, with relatively few chips left in his stack, Feriolo got in with the best hand, A3, versus Rob Hollink's K2, but Hollink flopped a king and Romain Feriolo left in 4th place, taking home €139,000.

Romain Feriolo

That win left Hollink and Schaefer as the top two chip stacks. It seemed inevitable they would end up heads up. Hollink made it official a few hands later, getting all his money in the middle with KK against short-stacked Stevic's AQ. As if to seal the deal with authority, the flop came down with with two kings to give Hollink flopped quads and send Stevic back to Sweden in fourth place with €178,000.

Alex Stevic

Heads up: Vigorous youth versus careful experience

Brandon Schaefer and Rob Hollink headed into heads up play with near equal stacks. While the producers were counting the chips, I heard a familiar voice over my left shoulder.

"Brandon. Brandon, come here."

It was Greg Raymer. I didn't listen in, but I suspected Raymer, 2004 World Series of Poker champion, was giving Schaefer some advice.

Advice from a champion

Had the chips been different, it might have been a different game. See, Schaefer had been amassing his stack versus fairly loose play. That's not how Hollink had been playing. Hollink usually sat back and waited until he was fairly certain he had the best of it. Whether Schaefer could switch gears would determine whether he could best the Dutch poker pro.

A future MBA student versus a poker pro

The players sparred for a couple of dozen hands. Hollink took the upper hand, either showing down the better cards or pushing Schaefer off his hand. Then Schaefer took hold and battled back to a good lead, his aggressive style getting the better of Hollink. And then the crowd saw the key hand.

From the button, Schaefer made the standard raise and Hollink called. The flop came down T3T. Schaefer bet out, Hollink doubled the bet, and after some thought, Schaefer announced he was all in. Hollink called immediately. Schaefer knew he was in trouble. He stood up and walked away from the table as the the announcer said what Schaefer already knew. Hollink held a ten. Schaefer's three would do him no good. He lost more than half his stack on that hand.

Seconds later, in another hand, it was over. Although Schaefer still had some chips to play with, he didn't get them all in with top pair on the flop. By the river, Hollink had made two pair, got all-in, and bested Schaefer in the heads-up contest. Schaefer got €350,000 for second place.

Schaefer in between his mother and the lovely Caroline Flack, hostess of the EPT

After four days of grueling play, the unassuming Dutchman, Rob Hollink walked away in first place, taking home a massive first place prize, €635,000.

Afterthoughts

The sun is coming up in Monte Carlo now. The EPT and PokerStars crews are getting ready to board flights from the nearby Nice airport. It will be several months before everyone sees each other again. This grand experiment, by my estimation, has worked fantastically.

This blog has been a work in progress and one I think, based on e-mails and traffic reports, has been a respectable success. While it was a lot of very hard work, I never could've done it without the EPT television crew, all of the folks from PokerStars, tournament directors Thomas Kremser and Warren Karp, their hard-working dealing staff, and the staffs of the various venues we've visited. You folks are all real professionals and it has been an honor working with you.

I'd also like to thank the readers who came to this blog during the tournaments and offered their good wishes and advice.

Most of all, I'd like to thank all the players who endured my constant photography, nagging questions, and the occasional misspelled name or incorrently reported hand. You folks are the reason I do this and I thank you for putting up with me.

Now...we all just have to wait until the next EPT event. While my eyes are heavy from several weeks of action, I, for one, can't wait.

Monte Carlo Grand Final Day Three Wrap-up with results

2005-03-18T20:52:00.001+01:00

Earlier in the day, Brandon Schefer said to me, "I'm living a charmed existence."

Whether it is charm or an inborn skill, the young man from Seattle Washington is on his way to writing a very, very good story.

Just a few weeks ago, he had no plans to play on the European Poker Tour. He won a seat for free on PokerStars.com to the French Open just so he could go play with his buddy, Carl Olson. He and Olson provided the French Open crowd with quite a story by placing first and second. They both won seats to this event and now Schaefer has made the final table again and comes in as the chip leader.

Brandon Schaefer

The hour now grows quite late. We've just put in three 12-13 hour days of poker. Now, only eight are still alive.

Final Table

Seat 1: Romain Feriolo 475,000
Seat 2: Alex Stevic 57,500
Seat 3: Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 181,000
Seat 4: Ben Grundy 90,500
Seat 5: Kevin Seeger 364,500
Seat 6: Mikhail Ustinov 68,500
Seat 7: Brandon Scahefer 488,500
Seat 8: Rob Hollink 384,000

The Frenchman who now lives in Spain, playing in his first live tourney

Abdulaziz, the 19 year-old student who apparently had to pull the wool over his mom's eyes to come here. He also won his seat on PokerStars.com and ended up chopping the pot with the co-winner. His opponent took the cash, Abdulaziz took the seat. Guess who got the better deal?

A fellow blogger, Ben Grundy struggled to stay alive all day but picked the right spots and made the TV table

Kevin Seeger, the man behind the chips. Ask him how he feels, he almost always responds with gusto, "I feel GOOD. I feel STRONG."

Mikhail Ustinov, the quiet Russian

Brandon Schaefer

Alex Stevic, winner of the EPT Barcelona event, told his lovely lady Cecilia if he made the final table, he was taking her on a shopping spree. Cecilia, get out the Mastercard

Rob Hollink, right, next to the dearly departed 9th place finisher,Jani Sointula

Now, they play for money that is hard to view as insignficant.

Payouts

1st: €635,000
2nd: €350,000
3rd: €178,000
4th: €139,000
5th: €118,000
6th: €99,500
7th: €79,500
8th: €59,500

If you think your heart, and, yes, your soul can handle it, let's take a quick ride through the day.

Possibly Potential?

There's a guy in the U.S. they call the Blogfather. He often borrows a catchphrase from a certain Zeppelin catastophe which I couldn't help but re-borrow all day today.

"Oh, the humanity."

It's all I could think as I watched hopes and Monte Carlo dreams dashed like Buddhist sand sculpture built in playground sandbox.

Perhaps it is the players' potential that made this day such a hard one to watch. As the beginning of the day, the 38 players who started each had the potential to leave with money in their pockets. Sure, some players' potential was greater than others. But, that's not the point. Nearly all of the players controlled some portion of their destiny. In the end, 30 of them left this room without a chance to take the championship. For some of them, it happened at their own hand. For others, the cruelest of Fates stepped in and robbed them of their chance at greatness.

No full house, but we better have a boat, because we're about to go to the river

The Fates were ugly to the likes of young Nate Kelly. The poor kid flopped the nut straight only to face running cards that sent him home in 31st place, just four out of the money.

Nate Kelly, no money but a great bad beat story to tell

The Fates played games with The Flying Dutchman Marcel Luske's heart. Facing two flat callers, Isabelle Mercier raised from the small blind. Finding AQs in the big blind, Luske moved over the top for all his chips. Mercier called. Luske showed his cards and Mercier flipped over QQ. The flop came down 689, leaving Luske with an overcard. The turn gave him his ace and a flush draw. It left Mercier with only one out. That out, the queen of diamonds, came on the river. It sent Luske out before we reached the money.

The Flying Dutchman, Marcel Luske

Queen Isabelle Mecier

The queen of this room lived by the queen and nearly died by the queen a moment later (thanks to fellow blogger Mean Gene for the thought). With the blinds at 1000/2000, Mercier raised to more than 6000. Brandon Schaefer flat called from the big blind. The flop came down with two clubs. Mercier made a pot-sized bet and Schaefer came over the top for the rest of his chips. Mercier called. Schaefer showed KQ in clubs for a club draw. Mercier turned over aces with the ace of clubs. The turn and river came running queens to give Schaefer trips. From across the room, railbirds thought Schaefer had lost he hand. He appeared crestfallen. He later explained the look on his face was excited relief. He also said he felt a little bad for laying such a tough beat on Mercier. Nontheless, Schaefer said he couldn't have played the hand any differently. With a little shrug, Schaefer admitted, "I'm living a charmed existence."

Brandon "I'm Not Good Enough to Fold" Schaefer

Others would not be so charmed. Enter Willie Tann.

The Bubble: Who needs a river when you have a turn

With only 28 players remaining (27th gets paid, 28th gets nothing), Willie Tann raised an uncalled pot from the small blind with KT. Rob Hollink, chip leader at the time, called from the big blind. The flop came down ten-high with two diamonds. Tann, who still had nearly 100,000 in chips, bet out. Hollink flat called. The turn was the five of diamonds. This time Tann checked-called a Hollink bet. The river, as it turns out, was irrelevant. Willie check-called Hollink's all-in bet. Hollink showed T5 for a flopped top pair and turned two-pair. Tann's KT was no good and he left on the bubble.

Willie Tann, drinking a bubbly drink as he bubbles out of the Grand Final

Later, in an interview, Tann said, "I feel very miserable." He sulked around the room for some time, before sitting down at an empty table behind Hollink. Hollink overheard Tann telling the story of his exit to a young lady. Hollink turned around.

"Willie," Hollink said, "I really think you made a big mistake."

"Mistake?" Tann was indignant.

"Raising the chip leader out of position with king-ten..." Hollink mused.

Tann, still miffed, mumbled, "Yah, you're the best player. Forget it."

The Grind

Once we reached the money, the grind began. The small stacks battled to stay alive, and the big stacks (and sometimmes a good stroke of luck) obliged.

Abdulaziz doubled up after Gus Hansen called his KQs all in bet with 89c. Hansen later gave the rest of his stack to Martin Wendt after jacks couldn't hold up against AK.

Ben Grundy doubled up after getting all-in with AQ versus Martin Wendt's KK. Grundy flopped two pair for the win.

Jani Sointula survived as well with A9 of hearts when he made a flush against Kevin Seegers pair of tens.

Moments later, Abdulaziz raised the 6000 big blind to 25,000 and Julian Gardner came over the top all in with JJ. Abdulaziz held aces and those aces held up, crippling Gardner. Gardner left shortly thereafter.

The beat of the night came from the hands of Kevin Seegers. With a very nice-sized stack, he somehow got all in with KQ of hearts versus Martin Wendt's AK. The flop couldn't have been more powerful. It came down all hearts, crippling Wendt and ruining his chances at a good finish.

A little side action

A funny thing happened on the way to eight players. At these festivals, players can essentially call their own Sit&Go tournaments. It gets sort of fun. Throughout this night I heard calls for everything. Omaha-8, Seven Stud Eight or Better, you name it. And then...as we wound down to 11 players, I heard that a a crowd formed in an anteroom, where ten players say down for a €5000 No-Limit Hold'em Sit&Go. The winner of that tournament would end up getting more than the 12th place finisher in the Grand Final. oward the end of the night, John Fanning, Greg Raymer, and Marcel Luske ended up in a €1000 Sit&Go together. That's one thing about poker players: give them a deck of cards and they'll create the action in a vacuum.

Action in the anteroom, the final table of the €1000 event

After a quick look, I wandered back to the Main Event where the tough beats continued. After that, it was dfficult to watch much more. While I watched almost every card, I won't subject you to all of it.

Suffice it to say, when we reached the final ten, I was sitting behind Isabelle Mercier. She had hung on and hung on, doubling through when necessary. With her lipstick sitting next to her chipstack, she sighed. She looked exhausted.

"Can I get you something?" I asked. "Dou you need anything?"

She looked around for a second, smiled, then laughed.

"I need...to double up a couple more times. I need...chips." She laughed again and headed toward the final table.

That's what keeps me going during these marathon events. After 36 hours of poker over three days, when asked if they need anything, these people only want one thing.

They want to win.

Moments later, Mercier got all-in with the best hand AJ versus AT.

Her opponent rivered a runner-runner flush and she was gone. Later she wandered by with the look of 36 absent hours in her eye. She apologized as if a runner-runner flush wqas her fault.

When she softly stepped away, she whispered, "Next time..."

A little while later, we lost the last player of the day. This is how it ended up.

€39,300

9th--Jani Sointula

€23,900

10th--Isabelle Mercier, Canada
11th--Michael Luber (The Anvil), USA (PokerStars.com FPP qualifier)
12th--Anthony Lellouche

€19,800

13th--Martin Knape
14th--Martin Wendt (Svend sværd), Denmark, (PokerStars.com FPP qualifier)
15th--Julian Gardner (MrCoco), Great Britain, (PokerStars.com FPP qualifier)

€15,800
16th--Gus Hansen, Denmark
17th--Scott Bush (Shrubluv), USA, (PokerStars.com FPP qualifier)
18th--Eugene Katchalov

€11,900

19th--Jonathan Senn (holdem2000), USA (PokerStars.com cash qualifier)
20th--Kevin O'Connell
21st--John Fanning, USA
22nd--Martin DeKnijff, Sweden
23rd--Barny Boatman, G.B.
24th--Declan Barker (Hitecdeck), Ireland(PokerStars.com cash qualifier)
25th--Harry Fitzpatrick (Surrey Rock), (PokerStars.com cash qualifier)
26th--Ben Sprengers (-BBJ-), USA (PokerStars.com cash qualifier)
27th--Ryan Walters (bbaced), Canada, (PokerStars.com Frequent Player Point qualifier)

We begin the final table tomorrow at 5pm. The current plan is to live blog it hand-by-hand. See you then.

In the money--Willie Tann busts on the bubble

2005-03-18T17:04:00.000+01:00

Willie Tann just lost the rest of his chips to Dutch chip collector Rob Hollink.
In a fairly confusing hand, both players got all in on the river. With a diamond draw on the board, Tann called Hollink's all-in bet with top-pair, king kicker with KT. Hollink turned over two pair T5. Wilie had been ahead on the flop, but fell behind when Hollink made his two pair on the turn.

We are now in the money. (Declan Barker just asked me to send word home to the family that he has made the money, so...there.)

Mercier busts Marcel and other wild action

2005-03-18T16:37:00.000+01:00

Marcel Luske just busted out int 30th place. Isabelle Mercier sat in the small blind and faced two flat calls. Mercier raised and Luske came over the top all-in from the big blind. The two limpers folded and Mercier called. Luske showed AQ, Mercier showed QQ. The flop came down 689. Mercier was ahead, but Luske had an overcard and flush draw. Then an ace came on the turn putting Marcel ahead and leaving Mercier with only one out. That out, the queen of diamonds, came on the river and Luske was gone.

Edited (this was worse than I thought): Then, moments later, with the blinds at 1000/2000, Mercier raised to more than 6000 and Brandon Schaefer flat called. The flop came down with two clubs. Mercier made a pot-sized bet and Schaefer came over the top for the rest of his chips. Mercier called. Schaefer showed KQ in clubs for a club draw. Mercier turned over aces with the ace of clubs. The turn and river came running queens to give Schaefer trips. Schaefer has now rocketed to near 100K in chips and Mercier's stack has been significantly reduced. Schaefer's face tells the story if a man who feels almost guilty. "I'm living a charmed existence."

In other news, Robert Mizrachi has made a surprise exit, apparently losing all his chips to Kevin O'Connell. O'Connell ended up most of those chips to Rob Hollink when Hollink's AK beat O'Connell's QQ.

Lastly, Nate Kelly, the tenacious young American has lost his bid to money here in Monte Carlo.

We're on the bubble.

Day Three Insta-Photo Gallery

2005-03-18T15:03:00.000+01:00

We are just six players away from the money and now comes the point where people cling to life, the callousses on their fingers (earned from days of riffling chips) are scraping against the ledge that divides the money line.

Today will likely be a series of smaller posts once we hit the money, so keep your eyes open. Here's something to keep your eyes entertained until we reach that point.

Kevin Seeger, chip leader

Day 3 Featured table

Marcel Luske at the featured table

Isabelle Mercier

Frequent Player Point qualifier Scott Bush, again at the featured table

Brandon Schaefer, ever-smiling, brought another grapefruit with him today

Declan Barker

American Nate Kelly hangs on. He's doubled up twice today to make it closer to the money

Robert Mizrachi

Monte Carlo Day 3 Underway

2005-03-18T14:45:00.000+01:00

We've hard a series of technical difficulties this morning and are off to a slow start. We have lost a few players at the start. I'll be back shortly with some introductory words and a status report. We'll be in the money shortly.

Monte Carlo Day 2 Wrap-up and Chip Counts

2005-03-18T02:19:00.000+01:00

I've been playing poker for about as long as I can remember. My dad taught me the game with a deck of Bicycle cards and some plastic Hoyle chips. The game is not just a part of my life. It's a way of life.

What makes that a little spooky is that I've come to realize recently that I'm so incredibly, obliteratingly frightened of the game's cruel, cruel ways that I can't walk into a cardroom without wanting to crawl into a French maid's arms and suck my thumb.

Perhaps, I'm overstating it a bit. Nonetheless, this can be a cruel, frustrating game. I think, maybe, Marcel Luske said it better and without invoking French maids. After getting dealt a string of rags, Luske beseeched a new dealer, "At least give me two good cards. I don't have to play them. Just give me two good cards."

He stopped for a moment, considering the possibility, his bright red tie still perfectly tied. "Give me king-queen suited," he said. "I'll be happy. At least I'll have a picture to look at."

Marcel Luske

Maybe it was late night delirium speaking, but I got his point. He'd been hovering on a medium to small stack all day long. Later, I stood watching over his shoulder. Facing having to call just half a bet in the small blind, he looked over his shoulder at me and jumped as if I were the ghost of his long-dead grandmother. He then promptly turned around and folded with force.

"Did I scare you out of it," I asked.

"No," he said, then paused. "I scared myself."

That, folks, is how fear works in a cardroom. It comes out of nowhere. In one moment you can be leaning back in your chair, laughing it up with the fellas, and sipping on a cool Evian from a glass bottle. The next moment you can feel the sweat in the small of your back every time you move because something in the room shifted and half of your chips just slid to the other side of the table.

The greatest and saddest example came in the form of Andreas Harnemo, second place finisher at the EPT's Vienna event.

Andreas Harnemo with 90,000 in chips, second from right

I considered re-writing this, but I think this portion of an earlier post sums it up best.

Andreas Harnemo (above, second from the right) a quiet man from a little place on the Artic Circle, seemed to be the man to beat. Fresh off a second place finish in Vienna. Harnemo rolled into today and collected chips like wild tourists during a seedy Las Vegas casino brawl. Somehow over the course of two levels, Harnemo created a mountain of chips 90,000 high. Ever the quiet, affable Swede, Harnemo sat quietly, using his chips and re-raises as daggers.

And then the waiters walked in and quiety announced the dinner menu. Apparently everyone was hungry for some Harnemo. French Open winner Brandon Schaefer flopped the nut straight against Harnemo. Jan Heitmann got all in with aces versus Harenmo's ace-king. It began a series of events that ultimately resulted in Harnemo breaking his silence, slamming his hand on the felt, and, yes, losing every one of his 90,000 in chips.

Now, Schaefer and Mikail Ustinov, who were both diners at the Cafe d'Andreas, have come together as chip leaders, each with more than 90,000. Schaefer cleansed his palate with a ripe grapefruit, which was apparently not an homage to Johnny Chan.

From there it seemed Brandon Schaefer would have more trouble getting the grapefruit juice off his hands than making it into the money. He stepped onto the featured table with around 90,000 in chips. Before he knew it, he got involved in a hand with one of the tightest players in the tournament, Steve Stolzmann. The exact details of the hand, in the end, are fairly irrelevant. Suffice it to say, Stolzmann got all in after the flop with Schaefer. By the river, Stolzmann had made a straight flush. He used Schaefer's chips to cruise into Day 3.

Steve Stolzmann, center

Schaefer surived, but over the course of the next couple of hours ended up falling down below 40,000 in chips. When I left the cardroom, he was checking his e-mail on a laptop that features some beautiful French woman on the desktop. His computer got more attention than the game at some points.

The talk of the day, for a great while, were the people doing all the talking. Here's another brief snippet from the dinner break post:

If silence is golden, the featured table is no precious metal. In Europe, table talk is not all that common. In some cases, it just doesn't happen at all. So, at our new featured table, it's amazing the European sensibilities haven't combusted into something like the Sterno flames that keep the food warm.

The first ingredient is John Fanning, one of the Fannings behind the (in)famous music downloading service Napster. I feared for a few minutes Fanning may fall unconscious, as I didn't think he was breathing between sentences. Funny, it seemed, because of majority of conversations took place with the second ingredient Robert "Merci, Mama!" Cohen, a man who speaks little English.

A Frenchman standing near his table remarked with a smirk, "He doesn't speak French very well either." I'm pretty sure he was kidding.

But Cohen is a good player who can hold on to his small stack for hours on end.

If you add a sprinkle of Nathan Kelly to that mix, you have the recipe for a table so loud and gregarious, the words rumble all the way down the French coastline.

Because the table was made for TV, the EPT producers put the players on the featured table.

Steve Stolzmann, a Wisconsin firefighter who learned poker from his son, had fallen into a long run of folding. At one point Fanning looked up and said, "Steve, where are you from?"

"Wisconsin," Stolzmann replied.

"Do they ever raise in Wisconsin?" Fanning smirked.

"No," Stolzmann said dryly. "We only limp. And fold."

Just about the time I was thinking Stolzmann should've said, "We only raise dairy cows," Robert Cohen exclaimed, "Ssssssssh!"

The table looked up and Cohen nodded to Stolzmann. Cohen closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands in the international symbol for, "He's sleeping."

Who says you need to speak the same language to have a good laugh?

As I was recovering from my chortle, young Nathan Kelly jumped up and threw on his coat in disgust. He'd been steaming for the better part of an hour. Cohen had put him on tilt by raising and raising and raising.

Now, Kelly had pushed in the rest of his stack with a pair of sevens. Fanning had called with pocket eights.

The dealer laid out the turn as Kelly begged for a seven. It didn't come.

On the verge of full implosion, Kelly watched as the dealer laid out the turn...a seven.

Kelly reversed his implosion and exploded into his wireless mircophone, removing his coat and getting ready to sit. Then someone pointed out the four diamonds on the board. Fanning had the eight of diamonds.

Kelly pulled his coat over his head and begged for a club. When the dealer laid out a black rag, Kelly again fell into his chair, exhausted. He had held on again.

The funny thing...someone had mucked a seven. Kelly had a one-outer and hit it.

Nate Kelly

Cohen didn't make it to tomorrow. Kelly survived with just a little more than 6000 in chips. Fanning...well, Fanning had a bit of an issue on one of the last hands of the night.

I was away from his table monitoring another hand when a railbird ran up and said, "Did you see that? The Napster guy just pushed all in with pocket threes." As it turned out, Fanning had done so after the flop with three overcards on the board. His opponent had the biggest overcards of all...two aces in the hole. Fanning who had spent the entire day building a stack fell back to average just before we broke for the night.

John Fanning

Fanning was not the only one to face aces. The vacant seat Fanning filled at one point belonged to a young man named Jan who labored forever over all all-in call from Rob Hollink. When Jan finally called the queen-high board for almost all his chips, Hollink turned up aces.

Jan, socked by aces

Hollink, who crippled two players in twenty minutes, picking up pocket aces twice in the same level

And then there was a Friend of Bloggers, Patrick "Curzdog" Curzio who battled all day long to keep his chipstack fresh. Twice in ten minutes he ran into Declan Barker. Twice in ten minutes Barker had aces. It's not hard to figure out how Barker makes it into Day 3 and Curzdog will have to watch from the rail.

Curzdog

At the end of the day, several players had stormed toward the top. Robert Mizrachi won a huge hand at the end of the night to move him into third chip position. Kevin Seeger won several big hands to go into tomorrow with the lead. FPP qualifier Scott Bush battled steadily all day long to work his way toward the top. And there were others.

Willie Tann, 8th in chips

Isabelle Mercier, 12th in chips

Thirty-eight players remain as we head into tomorrow's Level 11 (750/1500/150). It is still anybody's game. Play resumes at 2pm Monte Carlo time.

Day Two Chip Count

1-Kevin Seeger 147,100
2-Rob Hollink 139,500
3-Robert Mizrachi 117,500
4-Romain Ferilio 103,100
5-Julian Gardner 98,800
6-Scott Bush 95,800
7-Jani Sointula 79,900
8-Willie Tann 78,100
9-Martin Wendt 73,100
10-Mikhail Ustinov 70,900
11-Martin Knape 70,800
12-Isabelle Mercier 70,000
13-Alexander Stevic 66,500
14-Kevin O'Connell 63200
15-John Fanning 58,000
16-Anthony Lellouche 57,100
17-Martin DeKnijff 56,100
18-Eugene Katchalov 54,400
19-Micheael Luber 48,700
20-Markus Golser 45,400
21-Ben Sprengers 45,100
22-Eric Misterzegger 40,600
23-Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 40,100
24-Harry Fitzpatrick 38,900
25-Declan Barker 38,200
26-Ben Grundy 37,600
27-Brandon Schaefer 36,000
28-Barny Boatman 34,300
29-Jonathon Senn 32,700
30-Steve Stolzmann 27,800
31-Ryan Walters 26,400
32-Morten Jensen 26,100
33-Gus Hansen 23,000
34-Marcel Luske 19,300
35-Joseph Grech 14,000
36-Howard Chow 11,800
37-Henry Terranova 11,700
38-Nate Kelly 6,600

Chip counts going into final level of the day

2005-03-17T22:31:00.000+01:00

Beginning the 600/1200/100 level, the final of the day, with 48 players remaining, here are some of the chip leaders:

Romain Feriolo: 100K
Rob Hollink: 95K
Mikhail Ustinov: 82K+
Scott Bush: 80K+
Willie Tann: 80K
John Fanning: 78K
Martin Knape: 75K+
Brandon Schaefer: 70K+
Jan H. 70K+
Robert Mizrachi: 68K+
Julian Gardner: 65K+
Gus Hansen: 60K
Isabelle Mercier: 50K+
Kevin Seeger: 50K
Anthony Lellouche: 48K+

Dinner in Monte Carlo

2005-03-17T19:45:00.000+01:00

There were two different menus tonight. At the Café de Paris, there was roasted lamb, baked ham, ravioli Marsala, and a shrimp cous cous. I also had a nice strawberry tart.

In the poker room, the menu was a bit different. The appetizer was a ripe grapefruit. The salad was a one-outer. The main course was a mysterious Swede. I suspect those who feasted are now sitting somewhere with the top button of their trousers undone.

Andreas Harnemo (above, second from the right) a quiet man from a little place on the Artic Circle, seemed to be the man to beat. Fresh off a second place finish in Vienna. Harnemo rolled into today and collected chips like wild tourists during a seedy Las Vegas casino brawl. Somehow over the course of two levels, Harnemo created a mountain of chips 90,000 high. Ever the quiet, affable Swede, Harnemo sat quietly, using his chips and re-raises as daggers.

And then the waiters walked in and quiety announced the dinner menu. Apparently everyone was hungry for some Harnemo. French Open winner Brandon Schaefer flopped the nut straight against Harnemo. Jan Heitmann got all in with aces versus Harenmo's ace-king. It began a series of events that ultimately resulted in Harnemo breaking his silence, slamming his hand on the felt, and, yes, losing every one of his 90,000 in chips.

Now, Schaefer and Mikail Ustinov, who were both diners at the Cafe d'Andreas, have come together as chip leaders, each with more than 90,000. Schaefer cleansed his palate with a ripe grapefruit, which was apparently not an homage to Johnny Chan.

Table talk defined

If silence is golden, the featured table is no precious metal. In Europe, table talk is not all that common. In some cases, it just doesn't happen at all. So, at our new featured table, it's amazing the European sensibilities haven't combusted into something like the Sterno flames that keep the food warm.

The first ingredient is John Fanning, one of the Fannings behind the (in)famous music downloading service Napster. I feared for a few minutes Fanning may fall unconscious, as I didn't think he was breathing between sentences. Funny, it seemed, because of majority of conversations took place with the second ingredient Robert "Merci, Mama!" Cohen, a man who speaks little English.

A Frenchman standing near his table remarked with a smirk, "He doesn't speak French very well either." I'm pretty sure he was kidding.

But Cohen is a good player who can hold on to his small stack for hours on end.

If you add a sprinkle of Nathan Kelly to that mix, you have the recipe for a table so loud and gregarious, the words rumble all the way down the French coastline.

Because the table was made for TV, the EPT producers put the players on the featured table.

Steve Stolzmann, a Wisconsin firefighter who learned poker from his son, had fallen into a long run of folding. At one point Fanning looked up and said, "Steve, where are you from?"

"Wisconsin," Stolzmann replied.

"Do they ever raise in Wisconsin?" Fanning smirked.

"No," Stolzmann said dryly. "We only limp. And fold."

Just about the time I was thinking Stolzmann should've said, "We only raise dairy cows," Robert Cohen exclaimed, "Ssssssssh!"

The table looked up and Cohen nodded to Stolzmann. Cohen closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands in the international symbol for, "He's sleeping."

Who says you need to speak the same language to have a good laugh?

As I was recovering from my chortle, young Nathan Kelly jumped up and threw on his coat in disgust. He'd been steaming for the better part of an hour. Cohen had put him on tilt by raising and raising and raising.

Now, Kelly had pushed in the rest of his stack with a pair of sevens. Fanning had called with pocket eights.

The dealer laid out the turn as Kelly begged for a seven. It didn't come.

On the verge of full implosion, Kelly watched as the dealer laid out the turn...a seven.

Kelly reversed his implosion and exploded into his wireless mircophone, removing his coat and getting ready to sit. Then someone pointed out the four diamonds on the board. Fanning had the eight of diamonds.

Kelly pulled his coat over his head and begged for a club. When the dealer laid out a black rag, Kelly again fell into his chair, exhausted. He had held on again.

The funny thing...someone had mucked a seven. Kelly had a one-outer and hit it.

He yawned last night and today has found no chance to rest

When it came time for dinner, I rushed in the direction of the ravioli Marsala and found myself at dinner with Patrick "curzdog" Curzio. His fiancee, a fine young lady, was almost in the middle of an apoplectic fit. While she'd brought a book to read (The House of Sand and Fog, I noticed), she'd not read a page. Curzdog had been giving her a heart attack all day long. At one point he was down to just more than 1000 in chips. Just before dinner, he'd brought his stack back up to a respectable level, but gotten all in with Barny Boatman. Curzio held pocket queens. Boatman held pocket eights. The flop came down with an eight and Mrs-to-be Curzdog nearly died. Right there on the floor. It was only made worse (better, actually) when the dealer laid out a queen on the turn, giving curzdog the set-over-set win and rocketing him up to 25K in chips.

They both had wine with dinner (that's curz and his fiancee, not curz and Boatman)

Feel free to look below for chip counts from the dinner break. We've started back now with 57 players remaining. We'll play either two more levels or down to 27 players, whichever comes first.

Swedish apocolypse--Dinner break chip counts

2005-03-17T19:05:00.000+01:00

How it happened is almost impossible to say. I'm not sure we'll ever hear the full story.

Andreas Harnemo, the man who held a comfortable chip lead just one hour ago...

has lost it all.

All. He's gone.

As the players get ready to head to dinner, here are some chip numbers to tide you over.

Mikail Ustinov: 90K+ (Thanks to Rolf from Poker Pages for the help on this one)
Brandon Schaefer: 90K+
Anthony Lellouche: 70K+
Willie Tann: 70K
Robert Mizrachi: 70K+
Isabelle Mercier: 50K+
Julian Gardner: 55K+
Scott Bush: 50K+
Jan H. 45K+
Ben Sprengers: 45K
Gus Hansen: 40K

Monte Carlo In-Game Chip Report Updated with Photos

2005-03-17T17:43:00.000+01:00

Heading into the 300/600/75 level with 75 players remaining, here are some notable chip stacks.

Andreas Harnemo, 2nd place finisher at EPT Vienna event: 90K+
Markus Golser: 60K
Alex Jacob: 54K
Robert Mizrachi: 54K
Julian Gardner: 50K
Barney Boatman: 50K
John Fanning (of Napster fame): 50K
Anthony Lellouche: 50+ (he was much bigger but just doubled up Yalie Alex Jacob)
Isabelle Mercier: 45K
Ben Sprengers: 44K
Scott Bush: 43K
Alexander Stevic: 40K+
Jan H: 40K
Brandon Schaefer: 37K+
Marcel Luske: 35K

Murderer's Row, from left to right, Julian Gardner, Brandon Schaefer, Andreas Harnemo, and Barney Boatman

John Fanning, one of the brains behind Napster, builds a stack on a table so talkative it became the featured table during the break

Isabelle Mercier, playing good cards and collecting chips

After riding a smaller stack most of the afternoon, Marcel Luske won a big pot just before the break to bring his stack up over 35K

Johnny Chan may have his trademark orange, but Brandon Schaefer has his grapefruit

Monte Carlo Featured Table Action

2005-03-17T15:29:00.002+01:00

I try my best to avoid rampant expression of opinion here. Still, I feel compelled to point this out from the beginning of this post:

Reality TV sucks eggs. Hard boiled eggs.

That is, with one exception. That exception sits just a few feet from my workstation.

There is nothing egg-sucking about televised poker.

Each day, the EPT is featuring one table. Today, it has been exceptionally fun to watch.

It began with Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen, the radiant Cecilia Nordenstam, and "Friends of Bloggers" Patrick "curzdog" Curzio and Scott Bush, Mads Andersen, Luis Jaikel, Kirill Garasimov, and Martin Vallo.

Hansen, a man who can play just about any two cards to success, threatened to be quite a foe.

Nordenstam, despite her disarming beauty, is not one with whom to trifle.

While the action around the room has been very good so far, I decided to sit and watch the featured table for a bit. Patrick "curzdog" Curzio came to the featured table with one of the smaller stacks and looked to double up as early as he could. The players folded around to curzdog in the small blind. When he threw out a raise, I read him for a steal. The bet was just big enough to be fishy. Little did I or his opponent in the big blind realize, that was exactly what curzdog wanted everyone to think. His opponent came over the top all in. Curzio had him covered and immediately called, showing pocket aces. The big blind had KQ and never improved.

Patrick "curzdog" Curzio (left)

The story of the featured table so far has been Scott Bush. The PokerStars.com Frequent Player Point qualifier came to the table with just more than 22,000 in chips. While he rarely plays weakly, I expected him to shrink a bit in the face of Gus Hansen. Again, I'm learning to stop expecting things. Bush did the exact opposite, raising and re-raising Hansen at almost every opportunity. Only once in the first level did I see Bush lay down a hand to a Hansen bet, and that was to a check-raise on a raggedy board. On the last hand of the last level, Bush showed down queens on a jack-high board for another big win. Bush is now nearing 40,000 in chips with the blinds at 300/600/75.

Scott Bush

Of course, there is other action around the room. Alexander Stevic, the champion of the EPT Barcelona event, began the day as chip leader with nearly 49,000 in chips. At the first break, he had about the same amount.

Alexander Stevic

In other news, French Open winner Brandon Schaefer has moved up to more than 40,000 in chips. EPT Vienna second place finisher Andreas Harenmo has built up a nice stack as well. Blogger Ben "Milky Bar Kid" Grundy had doubled up twice, taking his small stack and turning it into 20,000 in the first level of the day. And at last report, Isabelle Mercier had turned her 17,000 Day 2 starting stack into 45,000.

I'm out in search of big-stack play.

Monte Carlo Grand Final Day 2 begins

2005-03-17T14:15:00.000+01:00

As I walked up the stairs to this ballroom, players were rushing in and out, changing their clothes, and wiping sweat from their brow. Just a few minutes into the day and already there is stuff about which to talk.

Young American Justin Bonomo, already on the shortstack, had the displeasure of drawing the big blind on the first hand today. He pushed in the rest of his chips and his time was done. It also appears that Russian Tennis Star Yevgeni Kafelnikov has departed early in the day.

The TV producers have picked a fine and diverse featured table. Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen, the radiant Cecilia Nordenstam, and "Friends of Bloggers" Patrick "Curzdog" Curzio and Scott Bush are four of the eight at the table. Mads Andersen, Luis Jaikel, Kirill Garasimov, and Martin Vallo round out the list.

The main room is dim for TV purposes and both rooms are hot. Suddenly I find myself glad I wore a short-sleeved, stinky shirt this afternoon.

Monte Carlo Day One Wrap-up and Chip Counts

2005-03-17T04:41:00.000+01:00

Maybe it was the burning TV lights. Maybe it was the skulking anxiety. Maybe it was my imagination. Whatever it was, it seemed someone sucked the oxygen out of the room and left us all holding our breaths for the entire day. As early morning threatens to become sunrise, it's diffcult to comprehend that we just spent twelve hours in the middle of a poker tournament with a history-making €2.11 million prize pool. In these hours, in a perfectly oxygenated hotel room, it almost seems a dream, like something you might watch on TV.

In fact, this day began in front of TV camera. Here at the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final, a €10,000 buy-in event, the EPT television crew brought in its gear and introduced the television series to a daily featured table.

It began with familiar faces. 2004 WSOP champion Greg Raymer sat next to the vocal Tony G. The Russian tennis star Yevgeni Kafelnikov increased the star power. It was a place where even champions couldn't survive for long. PokerStars.com Frequent Player Point qualifier John Withers sat in the one-seat and had been having a rollercoaster day. His zenith arrived in the form of a pair of jacks. He got all-in with them and ran squarely into Raymer's aces. For Withers, though, luck came a'callin' and flopped him a jack. The beat didn't bust Raymer, but it hurt him. Shortly after the dinner break, Raymer bid goodbye to his tablemates.

If Raymer left with a feather in his cap, it was this: he outlasted the other WSOP Main Event bracelet-holder. 2003 champion Chris Moneymaker didn't last through the second level. A tablemate told me Moneymaker flopped the dummy end of a straight on an all-spade board. Though Moneymaker had a spade, it was only an eight. He went to war with his only opponent and ended up all in, finding himself up against the ace-high flush. He left the room quickly and left the larger-than-life posters of his own face behind him.

It was a day when the room would ride on a quiet murmur for hours, only to be shocked to life by the occasional primal scream. The first one that shook me from my chair came from the mouth of Italian Luca Pagano. All-in pre-flop with aces, he had his opponent, FPP qualifier Daniel Tierny, dominated. Tierney held kings. Like a child's balloon with an untied end, Pagano's hopes spluttered invisibly into the ether as the dealer laid out an AQTJ to give Tierney the Broadway straight. Pagano stood with uncontrolled yell and stalked the room like a lion that's just been shot with a too-small bullet. He still had chips and paced around the room until it was his turn to act again. He finished the day with a few chips and a much calmer demeanor.

Luca Pagano

Now, understand, I play a lot of cards. It takes quite a bit to give me the willies. And yet, somehow I actually found myself shaking a little bit after watching the following hand which I chronicled a little bit earlier.

I walked up on what might've been Brandon Schaefer's last stand. When I arrived, four community cards sat on the table. Several thousand euro sat in the pot and Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman had just pushed in the rest of his stack after a significant bet from Schaefer. Schaefer fell into agony. The board was king-high with rags accompanying the painted card. It was obvious that Schaefer, in early position, felt that Boatman, on the button, had either made two pair or a set. Schaefer made to muck his cards a couple of times, then counted out his stack again. Three times he held his cards in the air in front of his eyes and winced. He asked how much Boatman had left and then winced again after seeing Boatman had him covered. Just watching the hand, I fell into a slight shaking fit. Just when I thought Schaefer was going to give up, he said, "I'm not good enough to fold. I call." He pushed in the rest of his chips and flipped over two aces. Suddenly deflated, Boatman turned over K4 for top pair, weak kicker. The river didn't help Boatman, and Schaefer, who wasn't good enough to fold, took almost all of Boatman's chips and doubled up.

Ever-smiling, ever-winning, Brandon Shaefer

Schaefer and his buddy Carl Olson surprised everyone by taking first and second at the EPT French Open in Deauville last month. While Schaefer finished the day with a healthy number of chips, Olson couldn't get rolling today and will have to be happy watching his friend from the rail.

And the rail is a crowded place. Swede Mikael Westerlund, who made final tables at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and EPT Scandinavian Open, busted out very early. EPT Vienna champ Pascal Perrault soon followed, as did Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani. Devilfish lasted a bit longer, but in the end, couldn't survive until Day 2. More than 80 people wil spend the rest of their time in Monte Carlo enjoying the sights.

Pacal Perrault, no back-to-back EPT wins

Still, 121 players remain, some famous, some not. Each has their own story and whoever finally wins this thing will make it interesting. Here are a few shots and captions to help bring the morning home.

Danny Ashman, a young gun from Massachusetts, USA walked up to me before the final level and declared, "I'm going to win this tournament." He convinced me that it would make me seem much smarter if I predicted now that he would finish well. Convinced enough by his respectable chip stack, I took this picture and filed it away. Later, he got moved to then-chipleader Barney Boatman's table. On one memorable hand, Boatman turned a straight with T8 on a 99JQ board. He bet into Ashman who flat called. The river was a seemingly harmless deuce. Ashman put out a very callable bet and Boatman happily called with his straight. Ashman turned up 92 for the rivered boat and took down a very nice-sized pot. Maybe young Ashman was right.

Andreas Harnemo took second place in Vienna and has survived into Day 2 here at the Grand Final

The Great Dane, Gus Hansen, has been playing his game here in Monte Carlo to a little success, but not enough to make him a dominating force...yet

FOB (Friend of Bloggers) Scott Bush does his buddies proud by taking a respectable stack into the second day

Robert Mizrachi

Ben Sprengers, one of, if not the youngest player in the Grand Final. The young gun also cashed at at the PCA earlier this year

Barney, the surviving Boatman

After playing ten pots heads up with Gus Hansen and not faring well on many of them, student Nathan Kelly mumbled, "I'm exhausted."

If you don't feel like scrolling down through the rest of the posts (which frankly, I suggest you do), here are some details of where we go from here.

We'll be going into Level 6 tomorrow (200/400). One hundred twenty-one players remain. We'll likely play down to near 27 players on Thursday. The top 27 get paid. The final table will get paid the following amounts:

Final Table Prize Money

1) €635,000
2) €350,000
3) €178,000
4) €139,000
5) €118,000
6) €99,500
7) €79,500
8) €59,900

Here are the final chip counts, with many thanks to Tournament Director Thomas Kremser and his hard working staff:

1 Stevic Alexander 48,950
2 Boatman Barney 43,125
3 Benyamine David 41,700
4 Bruel Patrick 40,300
5 Knape Martin 40,275
6 Wilder Brent 38,975
7 Fanning John 38,900
8 Harnemo Andreas 38,750
9 Ashman Danny 37,625
10 Golser Markus 36,900
11 Shipley John 35,350
12 Lellouche Antony 35,275
13 Mizrachi Robert 35,050
14 Jacob Alex 33,850
15 Seeger Kevin 33,075
16 Andersen Mads 32,625
17 Jensen Morten 32,400
18 Senn Jonathan 31,275
19 Marciano Elie 30,850
20 Mustanoglu Osman 29,200
21 Grundtvig Christian 28,825
22 Schaefer Brandon 28,725
23 Gardner Julian 27,425
24 Guoga Antanas ("Tony G.")26,150
25 Heitmann Jan 25,925
26 Sprengers Benjamin 25,625
27 Sointula Jani 25,325
28 Atlani Maurice 24,925
29 Simms Gavin 24,650
30 Sonnert Bengt 24,175
31 Ovadia Ofer 24,150
32 Bush Dennis Scott 22,675
33 Fitzpatrick Harry 22,625
34 Nowab Simon 22,600
35 Tann Willie 22,050
36 O'Dea Eoghan 21,300
37 Ustinov Mikhail 21,100
38 Persson Tobias 20,750
39 Moran Brandon 20,400
40 Abecassis Michael 19,825
41 Harwood Joel 19,700
42 Walters Ryan 19,600
43 Bush Garry 19,250
44 Serjak Greg 18,950
45 Kabbaj John 18,800
46 Nathanael Kelly 18,550
47 Stolzmann Steve 18,400
48 Terranova Henry 18,275
49 Feriolo Romain 18,125
50 Grech Joseph 17,675
51 Mercier Isabelle 17,550
52 Hansen Gus 17,350
53 Jaikel Luis 17,225
54 Tiezney Daniel 17,200
55 Salmi Pekka 16,700
56 DeKnijff Martin 16,350
57 Quesada Manrique 16,175
58 Kollmann Erich 16,125
59 Figlesthaler Matthew 16,025
60 Gerasimov Kirill 15,850
61 Novak Istvan 15,850
62 Cohen Robert 15,275
63 Luske Marcel 15,250
64 Brown Andrew 15,025
65 Katchalov Eugene 14,300
66 Nagy Jonathan 14,300
67 Clarke Will 14,150
68 Chung Peter 13,400
69 Haddad Gilles 13,075
70 Betson Alan 13,025
71 Gould Peter 12,700
72 Nordenstam Cecilia 12,450
73 Jensen Brian 12,150
74 Koppel Eric 12,000
75 Thew Julian 11,850
76 Laszcz Xavier 11,550
77 Portano Desmondo 11,250
78 Tuft Tom 10,950
79 Kallakis M. Achilleas 10,925
80 O'Connel Kevin 10,750
81 Chow Howard 10,500
82 Lloyd David J. 10,450
83 Mistereggen Eirik 10,100
84 Hollink Rob 10,000
85 Gunnarson Peter 9,850
86 Ygborn Carl 9,825
87 Luber Michael 9,700
88 Edler William 9,625
89 Lennaárd Ken 9,600
90 Blanco Angel 9,550
91 Van der Burg Eric 8,950
92 Hony Ilya 8,750
93 Persson John 8,300
94 Vallo Martin 8,275
95 Curzio Patrick 8,000
96 Wendt Martin 7,975
97 Olsen Henrik 7,750
98 Boeken Noah 7,650
99 Sokalsk Vincent 7,575
100 Massoudnia Yousef 7,350
101 Adkins Sammy 6,850
102 Barker Declan 6,525
103 Boaz Lavie 6,475
104 Sukhotin Sergey 6,175
105 Wong Roland 6,125
106 Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 5,950
107 Pagano Luca 5,950
108 Bolliger Mark 5,900
109 Grundy Ben 5,800
110 Kafelnikov Yevgeni 5,475
111 Vladar Steve 5,325
112 Lerch Bruce 4,600
113 Sharma Rani D. 4,425
114 McNamara Niall 4,300
115 Pichee Andrew 4,125
116 Bonomo Justin 3,975
117 Cawley Russell 3,550
118 Arvidsson Björn 3,450
119 Segal Martin 3,050
120 Aaron Jeff 2,725
121 Wachter John 1,700

Behind the Scenes at the Monte Carlo Grand Final--Updated with key Brandon Schaefer hand

2005-03-16T22:06:00.000+01:00

A moment ago as we broke between levels three and four, I saw The Flying Dutchman Marcel Luske grab a young player by the shoulders and say "You cannot win this tournament today." He wasn't taunting him. He was educating the young man. Luske is well-known for being a mentor to young players. He's mentored such standouts at 2004 WSOP runner-up David Williams and Scandinavian Open champ Noah Boeken. The advice was good. No one can win this tournament today. Even the chip leaders at the end of this day have no guarantee of a good finish.

As such, I cannot report a winner today.

I do feel compelled to report that 2004 WSOP winner Greg Raymer has departed.

And just moments ago a frustrated scream exploded from the table in front of me. Luca Pagano got all his money in with aces pre-flop vs a pair of kings. The board made his opponent, Daniel Tierny, a Broadway straight. Online players can be heard to remark, "Only online" when that happens to them. I'm here to tell you it happens more often than you think in live games. Pagano still has a few chips left, but is steaming like a kettle left on the stove too long.

I also hesitate to mention that one of the dyanamic PokerStars.com duo from Seattle, Carl Olson, has not had a good day and now sits on the rail keeping tabs on his buddy Brandon Schaefer. The pair traveled to Deauville together for the French Open and astounded everyone by taking first and second place and winning free seats into the Grand Final here.

Brandon Schaefer, French Open winner and PokerStars FPP qualifier protects his 18,000 in chips

Update: Just moments after I posted this, I walked up on what might've been Brandon Schaefer's last stand. When I arrived, four community cards sat on the table. Several thousand euro sat in the pot and Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman had just pushed in the rest of his stack after a significant bet from Schaefer. Schaefer fell into agony. The board was king-high with rags accompanying the painted card. It was obvious that Schaefer, in early position, felt that Boatman, on the button, had either made two pair or a set. Schaefer made to muck his cards a couple of times, then counted out his stack again. Three times he held his cards in the air in front of his eyes and winced. He asked how much Boatman had left and then winced again after seeing Boatman had him covered. Just watching the hand, I fell into a slight shaking fit. Just when I thought Schaefer was going to give up, he said, "I'm not good enough to fold. I call." He pushed in the rest of his chips and flipped over two aces. Suddenly deflated, Boatman turned over K4 for top pair, weak kicker. The river didn't help Boatman, and Schaefer, who wasn't good enough to fold, took almost all of Boatman's chips and doubled up.

So, with that behind me and before the action gets any more hot or heavy, I thought I'd offer a quick behind the scenes report. Most people's perception of poker tournaments is what they see on TV. There is so much more that goes on behind the camera. Here are just a few photos to give you some idea of what happens.

As the featured table plays under the TV lights, a crowd looks on and one of a few announcers calls out the action bet by bet and card by card over a microphone

All the while the rest of the room plays under dim softer lights (made dim for tv purposes)somewhat oblivious to the action taking place in front of the cameras. Although the room did cheer a moment ago when Devilfish got all-in behind with AJ vs. AQ and made trip jacks to win the hand

The poker widows sit on the rail, sweating their dearly departed. Incidentally, just to be fair, there are poker widowers around her as well

EPT creator John Duthie points out his next featured table to PokerStars' marketing wizards Tamar and Marta

Just a small portion of the assembled media here. Everyone else had run off to play cards. The scoundrels.

A producer and videographers form the EPT plan their next move. These guys shoot everything from cricket to poker and are pretty quick on their feet

An artist with a boom camera, this guys gets some of the prettiest shots of the feaured tables

The boom camera sweeps over the audience

This kind of tourament would not surive without some of the best dealers in the world. Neil is a dealer on the world poker circuit and knows his stuff

Rupert from the EPT counts out the chips as he builds the new featured table

When breaktime comes, many of the players rush outside the fishbowl to the smoking area

Monte Carlo Dinner Break News

2005-03-16T19:46:00.000+01:00

Well, just before the dinner break I had a massive post full of news, but, sadly, my computer got a jump start on supper and ate my work. So, now I set out to offer the computer dessert. Perhaps it will consider this something in the way of a chocolate mousse (which, incidentally, I just ate at the buffet and it was very good).

First off, the people in the money room have come up with a final number of entrants. Two hundred and eleven players put up the €10,000 buy-in. Oddly, 206 sat down to play. No word of a search party for the other five players.

With 211 buy-ins, the EPT and Pokerstars.com find themselves quite proud to report they have built the largest poker prize pool in European history.

TOP SIX RECENT POKER TOURNAMENTS IN EUROPE
1. EPT Grand Final, Monte Carlo €2,110,000
2. WPT Grand Prix de Paris €2,050,000
3. MasterClassics, Amsterdam, Holland €980,000
4. Prima Millions, Monte Carlo €835,135.31
5. EPT European Classic, London, €754,088
6. Ladbrokes Poker Millions, London €516,898

With €2.11 million in prize money, Tournament Director Thomas Kremser announced the payouts. Twenty-seven players will walk away with prize money. The final eight are in for a big year.

Final Table Prize Money

1) €635,000
2) €350,000
3) €178,000
4) €139,000
5) €118,000
6) €99,500
7) €79,500
8) €59,900

Players, we hardly knew thee

Players here are enjoying a fine, comfortable structure. They began with 10,000 in chips at 25/50 blinds. The levels have each been 90 minutes long and it has allowed players to surive and play their game. Nonetheless, we've lost 35 of the players who started the day. The notable departures include:

Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani

Mikael Westerlund, the rampaging Swede who made final tables at both the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the EPT Scandinavian Open

Pascal Perrault, EPT Vienna champion

2003 WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker reportedly went out in the second level after flopping the dummy end of a straight on an all-spade flop. Moneymaker had the eight of spades and got in a raising and re-raising battle with another player which eventually ended with all of Moneymaker's chips in the middle. The WSOP champ found out quickly that he was drawing nearly dead. His opponent had flopped the ace-high flush. Moneymaker departed quickly thereafter.

No Money today

Bloggers and friends of bloggers

If this is your first opportunity to read a poker blog, you may not be aware there is a thriving community of poker players and writers who are keeping the internet full of poker content (just Google "poker blog" and you'll see what I mean). One of those bloggers is not doing too badly at the dinner break. Ben "Milky Bar Kid" Grundy has just about doubled his stack in the first three levels.

Ben Grundy

Many readers likely know that 2004 WSOP champion Greg Raymer has been a frequent poster of the 2+2 forum. He's spent the first half of the day at the featured table with Tony G. and Russian tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Also at the table is PokerStars.com Frequent Player Point qualifier John Withers who has been having an up and down day. One of his up moments came at Raymer's expense. Withers got in pre-flop with Ramyer. Raymer held aces. Withers held jacks and a jack came on the flop. As a result, Raymer's stack has dwindled a bit. Fortunately, the blinds are still manageable and are giving the shorter stacks an opportunity to play a bit.

There are also a few FOBs (Friends of Bloggers) out there, as well.

Scott Bush

Patrick "curzdog" Curzio

Of course, many notable names remain in contention. Since they are far too many to name and be fair about it, I'll refrain from naming the notables who are still running.

We will play two more levels tonight before breaking for the evening. Tomorrow, we will play either five levels or down to 27 players, whichever comes first (my money is on the five levels, but whatta I know).

The players return from dinner in 16 minutes. I'll have another report in a while.

Monte Carlo Grand Final Begins...and we already have the TV table

2005-03-16T16:15:00.000+01:00

The ceiling in this cardroom is so high that if I fell from it I'd likely die. Or, at the very least, I'd be reduced to a mass of broken bones in a husk of torn flesh. Perhaps it seems an ugly idea, but this cavernous ballroom can be an ugly place, despite its beauty. The ugliness only resides in the rampant anxiety as more than 200 players protect their 10,000 chip starting stack. Some of the players are treating their stacks like AK-47s with unlimited ammunition. Other players are looking over their stacks like it was a basket of newborn kittens.

In a departure from the norm, the EPT television crew has moved in on day one. In addition to taping the final eight players on the final day, the producers have decided to feature one table every day.

While almost every table here has some degree of star-power, I suspect the producers had little difficulty picking the first featured table of the day. Under the TV lights right now sit 2005 WSOP champ Greg Raymer, the ever-vocal Tony G., and Russian tennis great, Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Question: Will Tony G. be Greg Raymer's EPT version of Mike Matusow, or will everyone get along?

In the adjoining room, 2003 WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker is holding a quiet court at Table 23. He's one of the immediately recognizable faces in the room, not only because of his record, but because his visage is plastered on posters and banners all over the place. Perhaps it was little coincidence then that his face would show up in his own shadow.

Playing in one's own shadow

Amusing, if not a coincidence, was another face beaming near Moneymaker's poster.

Christy, Moneymaker's girlfriend, watching from a safe distance

Alas, no number of posters or lovely sweating from the rail could keep Moneymaker from leaving halfway through the second level. Seconds ago, he and Christy walked out of the room. An empty seat at table 23 and the curious lack of chips in Moneymaker's hand lead me to believe he won't be playing anymore in Monte Carlo this week.

Alex Jacob, the resident Yalie, in the moments before Moneymaker's departure. No more will he have to think about having a WSOP champ on his left

It is a wide variety of players here in Monte Carlo. It is perhaps the toughest line-up so far on the EPT.

Andreas Harnemo fresh off his second place finish in Vienna

Pascal Perrault, Vienna EPT champ

The always intimidating Devilfish

The Great Dane, Gus Hansen, making his return to the EPT from the states

Luca Pagano, 3rd place finisher at the EPT Barcelona

Simon Nowab, final table finisher in Vienna, and Noah Boeken, Scandinavian Open champion

And at the same time, the room is awash with players who've never see a tournament as large, with a prize pool so big, on tables so far away from home.

Ashland, Missouri, USA's Corey Myers, Frequent Player Point Qualifier on PokerStars.com

It appears we have well-eclipsed the 200 mark in players. The final number of runners and prize money is still being tabulated. This is shaping up to be, perhaps, the largest poker payout in European history.

Back with more in a bit.

Sitting down at destiny's table

2005-03-16T14:52:00.000+01:00

In Monte Carlo, there is no rain, no sleet, and certainly no snow. There is simply sun and a certain sense of destiny. It settled in here last night as the players converged from cities far and wide. Many of these players have made every stop on the European Poker Tour from Barcelona until now. A few sat down last nights for a few hands of poker to further warm their sensibilities.

As I type, more than 200 players are filing into this ornate ballroom and finding their seats on the Italian-crafted tables. The notable names and face are too many to mention. Certainly we have our champions from the other EPT events. We have many of the runners up. Other tournaments have their champions as well. So far today I've seen PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Champion John Gale and 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker Champions Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer.

And beyond the notables, there is a significant number of unknowns here, as well. Many of them are PokerStars Frequent Player Point qualifiers. Others have qualified with cash. I met people from all over last night. Sweden, Denmark, the U.K., Dallas, Missouri, West Virginia, Maryland, and Washington state.

There are a few other neat things worth mentioning, but I'll save them for later. Now it's time to grab our seats in this seat of paradise. The Grand Final of the European Poker Tour is about to begin with prize pool of more than €2 million at stake.

Monte Carlo: Pre-Game In Paradise

2005-03-15T16:47:00.000+01:00

About the time poker godfather Doyle Brunson was winning his first World Series, my dad drove a Monte Carlo. Only a lonely dark night in Southwest Missouri, a driver cut Dad off and the Monte Carlo ended up crumpled in a ditch. Dad was okay but the car couldn't further serve as a conduit for childhood memories. That crumpled black mess was about all I really remembered of the Monte Carlo. And though I've been around a bit, I had not yet seen...this. This is Monte Carlo.

Now, I'll offer the possibility that my senses were a bit needy. I'd just spent a week in Vienna, which is quite a nice city, but it was cold and snowy. A week in a cardroom had left me with a bit of sensory deprivation.

The flight from Vienna to Zurich swept us over the Swiss Alps, a sight so intense, my thoughts somehow reverted to desserts. The snowy mountains climbed so high in the air, they slid into the clouds. It looked like a giant field of meringue. Though I wanted to sleep, I couldn't help but find myself stuck the window. Maybe I was hungry.

After a short wait with player Justin Bonomo, Steve the Dealer, and half of the four-man dealing team known as The Hobbits, we were back in the air. When I touched down in Nice, France, palm trees greeted me with a south France, "Howdy."

A helicopter was waiting on its helipad and climbed into the sunset. Having spent an inordinate amount of time in choppers, I didn't prepare myself for the sight.

Arriving by chopper

Monte Carlo sunset from the air

The coast from above

Within minutes, I touched down in the Principality of Monaco. At just two square miles, it is the second smallest country in the world, just a little bigger than Vatican City. Home to the Grand Prix motor race, Monte Carlo is one of the four districts in this small country that's been ruled for 700 years by the same family. The current ruler, Prince Ranier, was once married to American film great Grace Kelly.

Though motorcyles, Mercedes, and Porsches zip through the streets, the best way to see this place is on foot. So, I set out in the late afternoon. There was no doubt, the EPT and PokerStars were in town.

Dealer Neil and French Open champion Brandon Schaefer chat outside the Hotel Hermitage

A giant PokerStars.com banner hangs from the outside wall of the local cinema

Just a hundred yards from the Hotel Hermitage, yachts that could buy my home hundreds of times over line the harbor. Seagulls and all varietys of flora and fauna make it difficult to remember, it's still winter.

The Monte Carlo Harbor

Impossibly blue water

I've been looked up by many a poker player, but never a bird

A stroll through town is awash with Cartier, Piaget, Dior, et al. And while the stores are very nice, nearly 200 people here are more concerned with one thing. Tomorrow, the richest poker tournament in European history will begin. The prize pool has eclipsed €1.75 million. Some of the best poker players from around the world are gathering now in prepartion for the four-day event.

The Monte Carlo Casino

If this is your first time to PokerStars EPT blog, feel free to browse the past entries to get a feel for the full coverage you can expect here. In the meantime, I'm out in search of players and stories. I suspect I won't have to look far.

EPT Vienna E-WSOP Final Table Wrap-Up and Results

2005-03-12T23:45:00.000+01:00

For a full hand history of the final table, click here. Be sure to join us here for the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in just a few days)

Danger in Vienna

We live in an unsafe world. We live in a time of mayhem and danger. So, who in their right mind would make every effort to be on time for a meeting with a documented poker serial killer and a mysterious Swede with enough chips to scare the Frito Lay company?

The final table ready for play

This was the meeting place: an eight-seated table, surrounded by lights and flags of the world. By all accounts, there was only a minimal chance someone would be carried out unconscious. Eight players were willing to take the risk. After all, several hundred thousand Euros were at stake.

The players begin their quest for the title

It was the final table of the European Poker Tour's Vienna E-WSOP. What had started as a friendly competition had turned nasty in the night before, with players snapping at each other, slamming their cards on the table, and expressing a certain amount of crankiness.

They were eight men who defied the poker version of the expression "all men were created equal." After all, there was that mysterious Swede, Andreas Harnemo, who had defied his lack of professional playing time and stacked up more than 800,000 in chips.

Andreas Harnemo

And then there was the poker serial killer, Pascal Perrault, a popular Frenchman who had singlehandedly turned the losers lounge into a morgue in the days before. He sat second in chips and had his eyes set firmly on the prize.

Pascal Perrault

As play began, the chipstacks looked as follows:

Seat 1: Joachim Sanejstra, 129,500
Seat 2: Tim Ramsey, 152,500 (USA PokerStars.com online qualifier)
Seat 3: David Clayton, 287,000
Seat 4: Pascal Perrault, 641,500 (France)
Seat 5: Josh Schiffman, 197,000 (USA)
Seat 6: Simon Nowab, 301,000
Seat 7: Mika Puro,450,500 (Finland)(PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 8: Andreas Harnemo, 821,000 (Sweden)

At first it seemed as if no one wanted to play in a big arena. While players sparred a bit pre-flop, we saw very few hands past the initial betting stage. In fact, it took 30 hands before...well, before the floor fell out from underneath the final table and players fell to their doom with it.

It began as so...

Simon Nowab, in an apparent blind-steal, raised all in with A7 offsuit. Mike Puro seemed happy to call with a pair of nines. The first card off the flop was a nine and it ultimately spelled Nowab's end. What had once been a tight final table was suddenly as loose as a goose in a noose. Nowab left the room in eighth place and 17,300 Euro.

Simon Nowab

Just two hands later, Josh Schiffman, half of the America's Duke University Mafia, raised more than two times the big blind, 40,000 chips, out of position. Andreas sat on the button and made it 120,000. Perhaps thinking Andreas was on a steal, Josh moved all in. Andreas called, turning over AQs. It dominated Josh's KJs both before and after the ace-high flop. Schiffman left in seventh place, taking home 23,000 Euro.

Josh Schiffman

On the very next hand, the players folded around to the small blind where David Clayton put in a huge raise, 92,000 into Perrault's 15,000 big blind. Perrault came over the top an pushed all in. Clayton called. Perrault's AJ easily survived Clayton's A5 offsuit. Clayton took sixth place and cashed for 28,800 Euro. Perrault's credentials as a poker serial killer were re-affirmed.

David Clayton

In just four hands, we'd lost three players and the bloodshed would not stop. Not ten hands later, the most interesting hand of the night unleashed itself on the table.

With the blinds still at 7500/15000/1500, Harnemo raised under the gun to 55,000. Without a great deal of concern on his face, Tim Ramsey pushed in the rest of his stack. For the first time in a great while, Harnemo seemed to fall into the tank. He pondered. Then he pondered some more.

And, then, out of nowhere he asked Ramsey, "Do you have a pair of sevens?"

If Ramsey responded, I didn't hear it. All I know is that when Andreas called, Ramsey flipped over a seven...and a seven. Harnemo held A9 offsuit. Ramsey seemed to be in good shape. The first four cards on the board were 3832. The river, however, came as an ace sending Ramsey back to the USA in fifth place wih 34,500 Euro.

Tim Ramsey

When the beating stopped, the chip counts looked like this:

Joachim Sanejstra: 127,500
Pascal Perrault: 799,000
Mika Puro: 527000
Andreas Harnemo: 1,500,000

Remarkably, the man who began the day with the shortest stack, Joachim Sanejstra, had managed to blind steal and hang on until fourth place. And when he finally went out, he got his chips in with the best hand. Mika Puro put in a raise to 45,000 (3x the big blind). Behind him, Harnemo made it 105,000 to go. After some thought, Sanejstra put in all his chips. Puro folded and Hernemo showed K7offsuit to Sanejstra's pair of fours. It was still a coinflip, which Harnemo won, pairing his king on the flop and hitting another on the turn. The shortest stack at the start of the day took fourth place and 40,500 for his efforts.

Joachim Sanejstra

A dinner break came unexpectedly and apparently, Mika Puro's dinner didn't agree with his poker timing. Just three hands into the after-dinner session, Puro raised to 55,000. Perrault immediately made it 150,000 to go. Puro came back over the top all-in and Perrault happily called, showing a pair of queens. Puro only had a pair of fours and he never improved. Puro left in third place with 51,800 Euro.

Mika Puro

Bettors would've likely put good money that Perrault and Harnemo would end heads up. However, I would defy anyone to predict the outcome. Perrualt's game is sometimes difficult to predict. At times he's fantastically tight. Other times he makes curiously hyper-aggressive moves. At the same time, he has many years of experience over Harnemo in big tournament play. The poker serial killer then set his target squarely on the mysterious Swede. Perrualt had 1.2 million in chips to Harenmo's 1.9 million.

Heads up

We got a taste of Perrault's aggressive style a few hands into heads-up play. Perrault called from the small blind and Harnemo raised a little more than 3x the big blind to 70,000. Perrault called and they saw a flop of Q2K. Both players checked to the turn, a nine. Harnemo bet out 50,000 and Perrault raised to 300,000. After some thought, Harnemo mucked a pair of sixes face up. With a grin, Perrault showed his bluff, a little hand some poker bloggers like to call The Jackhammer, J4.

While the players had battled to even stacks, Perrault had just set up a move that would end in Harnemo's undoing.

In the small blind, Perrault raised 3x the big blind to 60,000. Harnemo called and the flop came down 473. Harenmo checked to Perrault who bet out 150,000. Harnemo, perhaps remembering Perrault's move a little earlier, made it another 250,000 to go. With nary a thought, Perrault announced all in.

Harenmo didn't seem sure what to do. He seemed to like his hand but his face fell into a concentrated version of American actor Clint Eastwood's tough face. When Harenmo regained consciousness, he called and showed J7offsuit for top pair on the board (sevens with a jack kicker). With that, Perrault turned over a pair of nines, the hand that would eventually win and take nearly all of Harnemo's stack.

While Harenmo battled strongly for a few more hands, he eventually got the rest of his chips in with KJs, but ran right into Perrault's AJs. With that, it was over. Harenmo pocketed 101,400 for his second place finish.

The winning hand and its bountiful harvest

Perrault had the biggest fan club in the rooom and cheers rose to the rafters.

Pascal gets congratulations from his friends

It was a 184,500 payday for Perrault, a man so dedicated to this game, he reportedly named his baby daughter...Vegas.

A thumbs up from the winner

Pascal gets paid

And lest you think this is the last time Perrault and Harenmo will meet, both players received entries into the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo this coming week.

Please join me back here on this blog for full coverage of this fine circuit's biggest event.

EPT Vienna Final Results

184,500

1--Pascal Perrault, France.

101,400

2--Andreas Harnemo, Sweden

51,800

3--Mika Puro, Finland (PokerStars online qualifier)

40,500

4--Joachim Sanejstra, Austria

34,500

5--Tim Ramsey, USA (PokerStars Online Qualifier)

28,800

6--David Clayton

23,000

7--Josh Schiffman, USA

17,300

8--Simon Nowab

11,500
9--Jeffrey Rogers (PokerStars online qualifier)

6950

11-Paul Hersleth
12--Alan Betson (PokerStars online qualifier)

5750

13--Milurat Peric
14--Luca Pagano, Italy
15--Sigi Stockinger, Ireland

4600

16--Paul Testud
17--Cohen Robert
18--Mike Shalibi

3600
19--Tibor Tolnai
20--Horst Riedlinger
21--Bernhard Reither
22--Denis Kharitonov, Russia
23--Luis Jaikel, Costa Rica
24--BadGirl Pham, Great Britain
25--Harry Casagrande
26--Falker Leview, Russia
27--Joseph Grech

E-WSOP Day 2 Wrap-Up and Chip Counts

2005-03-12T02:37:00.000+01:00

Remember this face. Because every other player who has seen it today can't seem to forget it.

Andreas Harnemo, Sweden

Now, let's take a walk in down a back alley where a modern-day Jack the Ripper is skulking in wait.

Welcome to the Vienna Morgue

Parisian Pascal Perrault calls himself the PP Bandit. Perhaps on some days it is a fitting moniker. However, to the none-too-casual observer, it would seem something doesn't fit today. See, bandits steal. Sometimes they pillage. They don't often kill.

Perrault is a murderer. Check that. He's a serial killer. I've seen the victims in the morgue as proof.

Victim: Elky

Elky held JJ. The Bandit held KT. The Bandit wins. That's where the serial killing began.

Victim: Justin Bonomo

Perrault raised pre-flop to 7000 (a little more than 3x the BB). Justin Bonomo made it 17,000 to go. Perrault pushed all-in and Bonomo called. The Bandit showed KQo offsuit. Bonomo, who had built his stack back to a respectable level was happy to show pocket kings.

Enter: carnage.

A queen on the flop and queen on the turn sent Bonomo home. I can't describe the look on his face. Later, I suggested he go get four drinks at once. His eyes, still glazed from the beat, swept the room and settled on nothing.

I decided it was an inappropriate time to break out the ever-trite, "That's poker" and let Bonomo wander on.

Victim: Noah Boeken

It seemed as if no one could stop The Bandit. Just a few hands after nearly doubling up with a set of twos, Noah Boeken raised the pot by 3x the big blind to 9000. The Bandit pushed all in and Boeken almost immeditely called. The Bandit showed a pair of nines. Boeken slammed his pair of tens on the table.

Seconds later the dealer laid out the flop. Right in the middle of it sat a nine. Boeken was out and The Bandit stole another players chips.

All the other players at the table muttered in unison, "Unbelievable. Unbelievable."

I can't count the victims. And I have a hard time counting the Bandit's chips.

I've seen so much blood. So much blood...

I need to clean my eyes. Let's talk about more pleasant things for a second. Just a second.

SERVICE!

Let me say this about the Concord Card Casino. The service here is fantastic. Yell, "Service!" and you get service. The waitstaff is omnipresent. And get this: the cleaning crew cleans the men's room at what seems like hourly intervals.

It's the little things that please me. In the rough and tumble world of bigtime poker, you have to appreciate the amenities.

Of course, as a tournament reporter, I can focus on such things when I'm not writing or snapping pictures.

It's the poker players who have to concentrate. Day Two of the E-WSOP, after all, was enough to make a grown man cry.

That's where the nice-nice talk ends.

Shattered

The glass broke and splintered all over the floor and only a waitress seemed to notice. It was the beginning of Day 2 and Jennifer Walsh (Hickory, NC) had come into the day with a large stack. In the span of just a few hands, she'd given it all away. It happened so quickly, one might not've noticed. She doubled up Tony "Tikay" Kendall and Ross Boatman, calling Tony's all-in bet with AQ against Tony's TT. Then she got all in with pocket fives against Boatman's nines. Again, she lost. And as she wallked away, she brushed a table and knocked a beer glass to the floor.

While in the long run, Walsh was a long shot, her hasty exit and shattered glass seem to be an ugly harbinger of the day to come. It was an afternoon and evening of shattered hopes, shattered glass, and shattered memories for the 83 people who began the day.

The chips would move quickly, so fast they were hard to track. Players rocketed from nothing to something then back to nothing before the ink was dry on my notepad. As the afternoon progessed, the Bandit emerged from the crowd and started his killing spree.

By the dinner break, we were down to 35 players. A king's buffet of beef, pasta, and salmon greeted players in a heated outdoor tent. Inside, the chips sat alone at the table. Three players, Pascal "PP The Bandit" Perrault, Andreas Harnemo, Mika Puro held more than 200,000 going into the 1500/3000/300 level.

Mr. Bubble Bush

As I've noted before, I love bubble-time. When the next player who leaves is the last to leave without money, the drama is intense.

In case you missed the bubble post, here's a snippet:

Getting to the money was as comedic as it was sad.

With 28 players remaining, Londoner Gary Bush was on a desperately shortstack and was holding on by the skin of any teeth he could find. Once, he doubled up with AQ against Joachim Sanejstra and it gave him new life.

In the interim, others came close to bubbling.

In one case, a player from the U.K. pushed in and a Frenchman labored and labored over whether to call. At one point, he picked up a mock phone and desperately asked "Mama? Mama?" The man needed advice. Finally he folded KT suited and saw his opponent turn over AK.

Clutching his heart like America's Fred Sanford in a heart attack fit, the man again picked up his mock phone and said, "Merci, Mama! Merci!"

Merci, Mama!

Shortly thereafter on another table, the button made an ill-advised blind steal and the big blind pushed all-in. The amount of money in the pot required the button to call. Still, the big blind begged.

With a pint of Beefeater Gin in him, the big blind stood and belted out the chorus to SuperTramp's "Give a Little Bit."

"Give a little bit!," he sang. "Give a little bit of your chips to me!"

The button called and with a smile turned over nine-three. The big blind had AT and took down the hand.

Finally, it came back to Gary Bush. Again in desperation, he pushed in with pocket fives and again Sanejstra called. This time with A7. Bush's hand didn't hold up and he left with no cash.

Bubble Bush

The Monied

Post-bubble, the all-ins became much more common. The action moved fast, with yesterday's chipleader, Denis Kharitonov giving away almost all of his chips to American Tim Ramsey in two hands.

"I've been waiting two days to do that to him," Ramsey said with a smile.

Tim Ramsey

And from there is became a show of middle stacks battling against Andreas Harnemo and Pascal Perrault. Both players had his own table to control until they condensed to the final ten. Luca Pagano and Paul Hersleth suffered a couple of fairly ugly beats to get knocked out of TV contention. Pagano's opponent made a five-outer, Hersleth had AK vs KQ and lost.

When ten players converged on one table, the players became increasingly irritable. The friendly banter that had been commonplace earlier in the day was replaced by harsh tones, angry faces, and the occasional ugly exchange between the players. Hardly a flop was seen and the ones that were were fairly uneventful. That was until Lothar Landauer and Mika Puro got all-in pre-flop. Landauer held QQ. Puro had AQ. Puro turned his ace and Landauer was gone.

Just a couple of hands later, Jeffrey Rogers raised all-in with 33. Simon Nowad called with AK and made his ace on the turn. Rogers was out on the next hand.

Finally, after more than 24 hours of play over two days, we reached the TV table. Hopefully after some rest the players won't be as snarky.

Final table

Seat 1: Joachim Sanejstra, 129,500
Seat 2: Tim Ramsey, 152,500 (USA PokerStars.com online qualifier)
Seat 3: David Clayton, 287,000
Seat 4: Pascal Perrault, 641,500 (France)
Seat 5: Josh Schiffman, 197,000 (USA)
Seat 6: Simon Nowad, 301,000
Seat 7: Mika Puro,450,500 (Norway)
Seat 8: Andreas Harnemo, 821,000 (Sweden)

Now you know why I told you to remember this face.

Andreas Harnemo, Sweden

Here were the fortunate and skillful players who finished in the money.

11,500
9--Jeffrey Rogers (PokerStars online qualifier)

6950

11-Paul Hersleth
12--Alan Betson (PokerStars online qualifier)

5750

13--Milurat Peric
14--Luca Pagano, Italy
15--Sigi Stockinger, Ireland

4600

16--Paul Testud
17--Cohen Robert
18--Mike Shalibi

3600
19--Tibor Tolnai
20--Horst Riedlinger
21--Bernhard Reither
22--Denis Kharitonov, Russia
23--Luis Jaikel, Costa Rica
24--BadGirl Pham, Great Britain
25--Harry Casagrande
26--Falker Leview, Russia
27--Joseph Grech

The final table begins Saturday at 5pm.

We'll be here and plan to live-blog every hand of the final TV table.

E-WSOP Final Table Set

2005-03-11T22:53:00.000+01:00

Eight players remaining. Sweden's Andreas Harnemo has the chip lead, with Pascal Perrault in a strong second. Finishers are below. Full report with chip counts shortly.

Chip leader Andreas Harnemo

11,500
9--Jeffrey Rogers (PokerStars online qualifier)

6950

10--Lothar Landauer
11-Paul Hersleth
12--Alan Betson (PokerStars online qualifier)

5750

13--Milurat Peric
14--Luca Pagano, Italy
15--Sigi Stockinger, Ireland

4600

16--Paul Testud
17--Cohen Robert
18--Mike Shalibi

3600
19--Tibor Tolnai
20--Horst Riedlinger
21--Bernhard Reither
22--Denis Kharitonov, Russia
23--Luis Jaikel, Costa Rica
24--BadGirl Pham, Great Britain
25--Harry Casagrande
26--Falker Leview, Russia
27--Joseph Grech

In the money, and goodbye Mr. Bubble Bush

2005-03-11T21:12:00.000+01:00

After a long hand-to-hand session, we've finally reached the final 27 players, and, hence, the money.

Getting to the money was as comedic as it was sad.

With 28 players remaining, Londoner Gary Bush was on a desperately shortstack and was holding on by the skin of any teeth he could find. Once, he doubled up with AQ against Joachim Sanejstra and it gave him new life.

In the interim, others came close to bubbling.

In one case, a player from the U.K. pushed in and a Frenchman labored and labored over whether to call. At one point, he picked up a mock phone and desperately asked "Mama? Mama?" The man needed advice. Finally he folded KT suited and saw his opponent turn over AK.

Clutching his heart like America's Fred Sanford in a heart attack fit, the man again picked up his mock phone and said, "Merci, Mama! Merci!"

Shortly thereafter on another table, the button made an ill-advised blind steal and the big blind pushed all-in. The amount of money in the pot required the button to call. Still, the big blind begged.

With a pint of Beefeater Gin in him, the big blind stood and belted out the chorus to SuperTramp's "Give a Little Bit."

"Give a little bit!," he sang. "Give a little bit of your chips to me!"

The button called and with a smile turned over nine-three. The big blind had AT and took down the hand.

Finally, it came back to Gary Bush. Again in desperation, he pushed in with pocket fives and again Sanejstra called. This time with A7. Bush's hand didn't hold up and he left with no cash.

Bubble Bush

Now we're in the money.

For those watching the young guns, Noah Boeken and Elky have both busted out, as well. Pascal Perrault is still the chip leader, now with 326,000 in chips.

Updates as they are warranted.

E-WSOP Day 2 Dinner Break

2005-03-11T18:35:00.000+01:00

The buffet has beef, salmon, and pasta.
The players have chips.
These players have the most:

Pascal "PP The Bandit" Perrault
Andreas Harnemo
Mika Puro

All of them have slightly more than 200K in chips.

We're headed into the 1500/3000/300 level with 35 players remaining. We've dispatched with nearly 50 players since 2pm. I don't think I'm making any grand prediction when I suggest the next four hours will not go as quickly.

Then again, as my dad like to say, "Lord knows I've been wrong before."

Carnage. Sheer carnage.

2005-03-11T17:23:00.000+01:00

Pascal "PP The Bandit" Perrault, the new chip leader

PP the Bandit summed it up in one sentence:

"You need luck sometimes," he said.

Earlier in the day, I'd dubbed him the All-In Man. It was a moved he used more than folding, often to much success. Just moments ago, it happened again, and it resulted in such bloody carnage that it's elevated him to chip-leader.

Perrault raised pre-flop to 7000 (a little more than 3x the BB). Justin Bonomo made it 17,000 to go. Perrault pushed all-in and Bonomo called. The Bandit showed KQo offsuit. Bonomo showed pocket kings.

Domination, right.

Mais, no

A queen on the flop and queen on the turn sent Bonomo home. I can't describe the look on his face.

Seconds later, Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman got all in on a king-high flop with his pair of aces. After some thought, his opponent called and turned another king.

Around here, when you need drink, all you have to do is shout "Service!"

Suddenly, there are a lot more shouts like that.

I wonder if the waiters can clean up the blood.

E-WSOP Day 2 Insta-Photo Gallery--UPDATED with a few chip counts

2005-03-11T16:11:00.000+01:00

Day 2 of the E-WSOP underway

First, if you're in the States and just logging on, here's the wrap-up from Day 1.

Now, some photos.

Denis Kharitonov began the day as chip leader after a day of play on Thursday that confounded his opponents

Cruel, cruel world. Luca Pagano gets sat right next to the guy he faced on the last hand of Day 1. See yesterday's wrap-up to see why this is so cruel.

Jeffrey Rogers, thr English gentleman, ended Day 1 second in chips

Pro-gamer and PokerStars fan, Elky makes it to Day 2

This gentleman took over the role of Supreme Aggressor this morning, going all-in more times than I could count. He came out in front almost every time (although Justin Bonomo did call his 86 offsuit bluff when Bonomo held a pair of aces. This guy is now gettinig a massage after flopping quad aces against an unfortunate player's pair of sixes.

Mika Puro came into the day third in chips

Morton Stenheim, one-time King of Bad Beats, works his stack up to a respectable level

Josh Schiffman recovers from a rough start of Day 2

Action at the Concord Card Casino

As we near the end of Level 11 (800/1600/150), we're down to 52 players. The top 27 will get paid.

Update

Going into the 1000/2000/200 level, here are some random, approximate chip counts (not comprehensive, just somoe people I talked to at the break)...

Mika Puro--140,000
Denis Kharitonov--110,000
Milurat Peric--110,000
jeffrey Rogers--110,000
Josh Schiffman--90,000+
Morton Stenheim--90,000+
Noah Boeken--80,000+
Justin Bonomo--61,000
Ross Boatman--60,000

Mea culpa, Noah, and some frenzied action

2005-03-11T15:09:00.000+01:00

First, the action, in breif:

*Jennifer Walsh, (Hickory, NC) came into the day with a large stack and ended up doubling up Tony "Tikay" Kendall and Ross Boatman She called Tony's all-in bet with AQ. Tikay held TT. Then she got all in with pocket fives against Boatman's nines. Again, she lost and now she's gone.

*American John Wells is gone after going to war with a player who had his number. Wells finally got all in with pocket tens against his nemesis. His nemesis held AK and flopped an ace.

*Duke University Mafia member Josh Schiffman has lost a good portion of his stack early in the day, calling a big bet from a guy who made a flush on the turn with 86 of diamonds on a big board that showed both a straight and flush possibility (methinks Josh had the straight).

Now...the mea culpa...

Now down to 60 players, I've been informed by a Noah Boeken proxy that I screwed up. Last night, in writing about a big Boeken hand, I had Noah's hand right, but the order of the board wrong. With his KJ vs. KQ, but he didn't have a four-outer. He got all-in open-ended and then made his straight (not making a four-outer on the river as I incorrectly reported). I have a thousand excuses, but I'll leave it at that and offer a heart mea culpa to Noah (I'll be changing yesterday's news for posterity).

More later.

E-WSOP Day 2 Underway

2005-03-11T14:37:00.000+01:00

We're underway here in Vienna for Day two of the E-WSOP. We began with 83 players and are already down to 72 after a half hour of play. Just two seconds ago and two feet away, American Justin Bonomo, shortstacked and in danger of leaving early, doubled up. American John Wells had raised to 5000 in the cutoff. The next player pushed all-in on the button a stone-cold bluff with 86 offsuit. Bonomo, in the small blind, found aces and went all-in. His hand held up and just like that, he's got chips with which to play.

I'll be back with a photo gallery in a bit.

EPT Vienna E-WSOP Day One Wrap-Up and Chip Count

2005-03-11T05:45:00.000+01:00

The room cleared, the chips fell into bags, and the room's cacophony slipped into a quiet buzz. Almost all the players had taken taxis back to the hotel. One sat alone in his seat, a painfully blank stare set on his face.

Luca Pagano seemed to be hypnotized. Occasionally he shook his head or brought his fingers to his lips. But, basically, he just sat there staring into nothing.

It had been the last hand of the night. Almost all the tables had quit. Luca Pagano was facing a bet that would force him to call for all his chips. The board was about as scary as it gets. Four cards were already down, with one left to come: AKQ9 with two spades. The man who had bet into Pagano had him covered by quite a bit. Watching from tableside, I tried to put them both on hands. I considered every option. The made straight, the flush draw, two pair. All of them seemed to be possible. Pagano was in pain.

The opponent said, "Do you have the ace?"?

Pagaono allowed a smile, "Of course, I have an ace."

Minutes went by. I thought for a moment that Pagano was going to call, which surprised me. I was sure he would lay down the hand. Pagano is a fantastic, but conervative player. I didn't think he would call with any less than two-pair, or better yet, the made straight. Finally, after some murmurring from the railbirds behind him, Pagano said, "I'll believe you" and mucked and ace and king face-up. Top two pair. I exhaled with the words, "What a laydown."

Then, his opponent, with no particular flair, turned up AQ.

Pagano had just laid down the almost sure winner.

And so he sat staring into nothing. He still had more than 30,000 in chips going into Level 10 tomorrow (600/1200/100). But, in his mind, he had just blown it all.

He was still sitting there an hour after the game was over. He was still sitting there when I left. I wouldn't be surprised if he were still sitting there when I return later today.

That was the end of the day.

The beginning

The snow had stopped falling, but a hard chill sat in the air. The space-heaters in the tented dinner buffet had to ask for help from the veal goulash and noodles. Players, still recovering from jetlag and pre-game hangovers, looked surly. It was a crowded room with cigarette smoke filtering in from the cash games. And while it had all the conditions of an Eastern European war--the cold, the smoke, the goulash--it was not at all unplesant for the 297-something players who made their way to Vienna for the first day.

Of course, there were hard times. Shortly after the dinner break, I found French Open 3rd place finisher Mark Ristine sitting alone at an empty table in the front of the room. He still wore his dark sunglasses.

"I don't remember a hand I won," he said.

Twice Ristine had made powerful sets to see them fall to better hands. They were beats from which he would not recover. They would turn out to be among his final hands on the EPT this year.

No repeat for Ristine

And then there was the story of blog-favorite John Gale. Before the dinner break, he was dealt pocket kings twice, pocket queens once, and Big Slick four times. He lost with every one of them. Still, he managed to hold on to some chips. How, I'm not entirely sure. But, that's why I'm writing and he's playing. In fact, he'll be playing in Day 2.

Gale, the suvivor

In fact, it seemed that many of the top players here faced short-stacks early on and many of them found a way to battle back to the middle of the pack. Other top players did not, however.

Midway through the day, a familiar voice came over the intercom. Devilfish had grabbed the mic from the poker room manager and announced he and Ram Vaswani had both busted from the tournament and they were ready for a cash game.

As if to entice the cash-hungry, Devilfish closed his announcement with, "We're both steaming."

Devilfish, pre-steam

And for as cold as it was outside, it wa a steamy evening inside the cardroom. Marcel Luske, Isabelle Mercier, and Devilfish were out before we hit the halfway mark in players.

As we hit the 150 mark, I surveyed the room. Sixteen tables of aching bodies struggled to stay in their seats. Two chip-stacks stood out at this point. Morten Stenheim, the King of Bad Beats (I'm going to stop using that moniker as of right...now) had amassed a sizable stack of chips and removed his sunglasses so he could better admire his mountain. He would ride a rollercoaster the rest of the day, at one point vowing to go home if he finished with less than 50,000. He came very close, but is still going to stay.

Stenheim, going into Friday with just under 50K in chips

John Wells, hopeful for an Oakley Sunglasses sponsorship, kept his shades on. He constantly scanned the room looking for chip stacks as big as his. He sat near 60,000 and hoped to end the day as the chip leader. As it would happen, from that moment forward, he would get no cards and would end the day around 50,000 in chips.

A Texan playing Texas Hold'em, John Wells

There were other rags to riches stories. Scandinavian Open champ Noah Boeken at one time had fallen below 1000 in chips and somehow managed to rally back to more than double his starting stack. Then on one of the last hands of the night, he got all his chips in with an open-ended straight draw, holding KJ vs KQ. He ended up hitting the open-ender to double up.

I'd had hopes for Henry and Jamie Terranova, a father and son team that came here from Long Island, NY to play together. Sadly, neither of them finished the day. Neither did my Cinderella story Kevin Fangerow.

My other hope had been in a couple of buddies from Duke University. I dubbed them the DUM (Duke University Mafia). Jason wouldn't finish the day. But half of the DUM, finished well. Josh Schiffman has more than 80,000 in chips. (Note: Funny story. The young man counted out and signed for his chips, giving himself 71,000 to finish the day. The Duke University student apparently needs to hit Math 10 again. He shorted himself by 10,000. He can give Stacey the Dealer an extra tip for catching his mistake. That's S-T-A-C-E-Y).

Schiffman, the chipman

THAT table

You know, there's almot always THAT table, the action table where crowds can't help but form. Tonight, it was the table where Russian Denis Kmaritonov (my apolgies if I misspelled that)sat. When the crowd formed the first time, the Russian was almost all-in with pocket aces. He got two all-in callers, pocket kings and pocket queens. His aces held up and he rocketed to chip-leader. Half an hour later, he got two more players all in when he held pocket sevens. He was up against ATs and AKs. Not only were his sevens good by themselves, he turned a straight on a 634/5/9 board.

In fact, the Russian ends the day with with the chip lead and not a few people who would like to see him lose a few hands.

The chip-leading Russian

Other notables, London's Jeffrey Rogers who goes into tomorrow in second place, just ahead of Mr. Puro Mika (that's how he wrote it down for me but I think it might be Mika Puro) who sits in third place.

Mika

Here's the official chip count:
KHARITONOV Denis 146,875
ROGERS Jeffrey David 119,175
PURO Mika 115,475
SMITH Luke 97,200
LANDAUER Lothar 81,600
PHAM Xuyen 79,050
COOPER Robert 76,425
WALSH Jennifer 74,675
SCHIFFMANN Josh 71,425
TOLNAI Tibor 66,075
SANEJSTRA Joachim 64,650
GROSPELLIER Bertrand (Elky) 61,650
BETSON Alan 59,475
GRECH Joseph 59,050
Resink Johann 57,600
JAIKEL Luis 56,300
HARNEMO Andreas 55,400
RIEDLINGER Horst 55,050
WELLS John 52,850
KOZINSKIY Yuriy 50,150
CASAGRANDE Harry 48,950
CLAYTON David 48,650
STENHEIM Morten 46,775
Boatman Ross 45,100
STOCKINGER Sigi 43,600
SZEREMETA Nic 41,875
COHEN Robert 41,725
LERBREKK Ove 40,925
NOWAB Simon 39,125
PERIC Milurat 38,825
MESUT Bütün 38,725
PAGANO Luca 36,500
BOEKEN Noah 32,850
PUNTALA Timo 31,525
RAPP Rainer 30,900
SHALABI Mike 30,050
CHRISTENSEN Alex 29,625
PAGANO Claudio 28,775
Torbey Sami 28,000
HERSLETH Pel 27,225
JONES Iwan Bryn 26,250
WOLTERS Christoph 25,825
REITHER Bernhard 25,400
PERRAULT Pascal 25,250
GUNDERSEN Thomas 24,500
RAMSEY Timothy 24,175
Tyler Thomas 23,425
BENTIVEDO Mario 22,350
FIRICANO Daryn 21,475
TSOUKALAS Nicholas 21,325
TESTUD Paul 20,800
WALSER Severin 20,625
KENDALL Tony 20,250
TSOUKALAS Maria 19,775
VLADAR Steve 19,700
SOKOTIN Sergeij 18,775
BÖCKSTRÖM Stefan 18,525
Beevers Joe 18,325
GALE John 18,275
URE Anthony 18,100
LINNEMAN Roger 18,050
HUCKLE Jonathan 17,925
VELLIOS John 17,900
TRAN VAN Hung 17,000
ZHANG Luzeh 16,850
HAUGLAND Erlend 16,150
WAGENKNECHT Dieter 15,550
SHOREMAN John 15,450
SWAINS Howard 14,175
BUSH Gary 13,425
Hadayia Mark 13,125
LEVIEW Falker 12,550
FRIEDMANN Mark 12,400
BONOMO Justin 12,350
LEEB Thomas 11,975
BAUER Georg 10,900
Kalpesh Batel 8,850
BARTLOG Mark 8,700
CHOY-SING Tony 8,375
MAIRHOFER Peter 7,900
Ovadia Ofer 7,025
KEINER Michael 4,575

Eighty-three players remain going into this afternoon. At some point, I suspect all of us will sleep. Perhaps at the dinner break.

You can thank the two Thomases (fine, fine gentlemen) for the official count. These guys work very, very hard.

I could write and write, but the sun is about to come up. Plus, I think someone needs to check on Luca to see if he's gotten up from the table yet.

We're back at 2pm.

My, what an hour can do

2005-03-11T01:36:00.000+01:00

Thing are starting to move quickly. So, quickly, in fact, I don't quite have as handy a handle on the chipstacks as I did an hour ago. Suffice it to say, Morton Stenheim is no longer the chip leader. He's still in, but his stack has been under attack for the entire level. Justin Bonomo has given away a sizable chunk of his stack as well.

And, here's the update for all people who think online poker is rigged:

I just watched a live (repeat LIVE)hand with two players all-in preflop and another in for most of his stack. I don't even have to tell you the hands, but I will for the sake of clarity...

AA vs. KK vs. QQ

And you know what was more amazing?

Aces held up.

Notable names, notable chip-stacks

2005-03-11T00:26:00.000+01:00

At some point when I was caught up in a series of all-in bets, Thursday turned into Friday. My body suggested it was time to call it a night. Then I realized we still had two more levels to go. Still, some players have started to pull away and build good stacks. Below is by no means a comprehensive list. We still have 138 players remaining and this list is just a cursory glance around the 14 tables.

One thing seems to be clear. The man I once dubbed "The King of Bad Beats" is, for the moment, the King of Chipstacks.

King Morton Stenheim

Morton Stenheim 69,000 Norway
John Wells 67,000 USA
Ross Boatman 60,000, U.K.
Josh Schiffman, 55,000 USA (Duke University)
Cohen Robert 52,000, France
Justin Bonomo 50,000 USA
"BadGirl Pham" 45,000

Again, this is far from a comprehensive list, but it gives some idea of where we are heading into the eighth level (300/600/75)

Odds and Ends--UPDATED

2005-03-10T22:27:00.000+01:00

I've added a mini-photo gallery at the end of this post

We're still dealing with frustrating Blogger software issues. There's nothing I can do about that. Hopefully the issues will be resolved quickly. If the updates seem infrequent, that's why.

Tournament Director Thomas Kremser just announced the payouts for the E-WSOP. Out of 297 players, 27 will walk away with cash in their pockets. The final eight who make the TV table will be fighting for these prizes (in Euros):

1) 184,500
2) 101,400
3) 51,800
4) 40,500
5) 34,500
6) 28,800
7) 23,000
8) 17,300

If you're the forgetful type and have had a hard time remembering this address, aforementioned Madame Kaput has come up with a fix. You can now reach this site through the address http://www.eptblog.com. Madame Kaput, it's much appreciated.

How are your favorite players doing? Since I don't know who your favorites are, I'll just mention some better-known names and people I've already mentioned today. Quickly, here are the ins and outs.

Out
Devilfish
Ram Vaswani
Mark Ristine
Henry Terranova
Isabelle Mercier
Marcel Luske

In
Justin Bonomo (sitting on an above-average stack)
Tony "Tikay" Kendall form BlondePoker
Noah Boeken (Winner of Scandinavian Open)
Kevin Fangerow
John Gale
Eirik Kolaas (Final table Scandinavian Open)
Morton Stenheim (The King of Bad Beats)
Sami Torbey
Elky
Joe Beevers
Eric Vanderberg
Willie Tann
BadGirl Pham
(and about 165 other very good players...and a few bad ones)

More updates as the software allows.

Mini Insta-Photo Gallery

Play continues with 165 people left

ATTENTION OAKLEY SUNGLASSES: John Wells of Corpus Christi Texas needs a sponsor. This guy wears just about every kind of Oakleys you can fathom (some so odd, they have frightened some ladies). Get him while you can. He's one of the chip leaders right now

Requisite picture of French Open fourth place finisher Justin Bonomo

Willie Tann makes friends with the dealers

Above and below are the two members of DUM (that's Duke University Mafia). They are much more intelligent and better players than my hastily-conceived acronym might suggest. The youngsters are both still in the compeition.

E-WSOP Dinner Break Musings

2005-03-10T20:04:00.000+01:00

PokerStars shine on the EPT

I like the dinner break. I mean, sure, it's free food (usually quite good), but it's more than that. It's "I got beat set-over-set" stories. It's "I beat somebody set-over-set" stories. Oh, and it's a chance to find my next Cinderella story.

That's Kevin Fangerow from Chicago, Illinois, USA (aka fangs22). His dad and co-workers don't really believe he's here. They think if he IS here, he might be losing internal organs to wild bandits in European back alleys. Oh, and if the fates of Cinderella are conscious, they'll make this man the next poker hero.

See, Kevin, just 23 years old, is living an odd story. He's played a bit with his friends and he's played a bit online (by his own admission, losing a little much in the $5/$10 NL game on Stars). In fact, it was in the middle of an online tilt-session that he thought he'd see what those Frequent Player Point qualifiers were all about.

So, he bought into one with his FPP points and won an entry into an FPP super satellite. The top two placers got trips to this fine city for this fine tournament. The winners notification said he needed to log on at a desginated time for his chance to win.

So, he logged on at the designated time and found...well, he found that his Central-Timed brain hadn't considered the tournament times were, well, Eastern Standard Time. He'd been blinded off for a full hour.

But, not one to give up, Kevin played on. And, lo and behold, he made the final table...just in time for his internet service to crash.

In a frantic frenzy of phonecalls to his ISP, he discovered there was no hope. The entire ISP server had crashed. So, Kevin turned off his computer.

Yes, the man who wouldn't give up turned off his computer and drove like he was on some Chicago Autobahn and screamed into his friend's house.

"Log off your computer," he said.

"But I'm playing a $50 tournament," his friend protested.

"Log. Off. Your. Computer."

I'd go on, but you see where this is going.

Kevin is sitting about ten feet from me right now, chatting up his table, and protecting his chip stack (he's been up and down all day and sits right now at around 11,000 in chips).

Yes, folks, this is how it goes. We're on Level 5 now. Twenty-two tables remain in what is sure to be one very long night.

We'll be back from the Concord Card Casino in a while.

Technical difficulties

2005-03-10T19:55:00.000+01:00

If you're looking for updates, I'm tryng to get them to you. Unfortunately, we're having some issues with the Blogger system. As soon as they are resovled, I'll be back.

First break Insta-Photo Gallery

2005-03-10T16:42:00.003+01:00

Players from around the globe hang out their flag for the E-WSOP

So, let's be honest about the first two levels of a poker tournament. For some players it's a practice in controlling their nerves and adrenaline. They have to make a concerted effort to hold their chips without shaking and resolve the illusion that they must, MUST, double up immediately.

For other players, the first two levels are a time when they roll over their competition, amassing a chip stack at the expense of the players who are too afraid to call big raises.

And then there are those players who sat up all night drinking and playing cards, who are now hiding behind sunglasses and hoping no one recognizes their bloodshot eyes.

Indeed, it's quite a show for the perceptive.

We're entering the first break as I type. Twenty-seven of the original 31 tables remain. I suspect we'll wind our way down to 140-150 players before night's end.

No one has lept forward as a massive chip leader at this point, so I thought a few pictures would help pass the time.

Inside the Concord Card Casino

Willie Tann, money-finisher at the EPT French Open in Deauville. Willie has the stamina of a man half his age. Check that. He has the stamina of a man 1/4 his age. When I left the casino at 3:00am, he was playing pot-limit Omaha. He was here when I arrived today. I'm not sure he left.

Mark Ristine, USA, 3rd place finisher at the French Open

Isabelle Mercier and John Gale share a smile before the start of play. I challenge you to find two nicer people in this city this week

Noah Boeken, Scandinavian Open champion sits next to Oslo, Norway's Morten Stenheim, a man I once dubbed King of the Bad Beats (scroll down to the middle of this post to see why). When he realized I was the one who gave him the name, he didn't kill me. So, I've got that going for me.

Eirik Kolaas, final table finisher at the Scandinavian Open

Henry (top) and Jamie Terranova of Long Island, NY. I'd been wanting to meet this father and son team for some time. Last night, it looked like they might not make it here. Weather and flight delays meant they didn't get here until 10:30 this morning. They are currently playing on no sleep and a mainline feed of adrenaline.

Morten Sembach

Devilfish, again looking fishy. A few moments ago, with the blinds at 50/100, the Fish sat in the big blind. The button raised to 300, the small blind called, and Devilfish re-raised to 1300. After some thought, both the button and small blind folded. With a shrug, Devilfish turned over QJ offsuit. Fishy, I say.

Italian Luca Pagano, final table finisher at the French Open

This Frenchman who now lives in Korea has a real name (Bertrand, if you care), but everyone knows him as Elky. This guy makes a living playing video games. A good living. Now he's doing pretty well on the poker circuit. Talk about a nice life.

I've written about Isabeller Mercier's half-smile before. It's a look that says, "If you call me, you're going to wish you'd gone outside and stepped in front of a train. So, be a sweetie and lay down your garbage."

PokerStars Caribbean Adevnture winner John Gale. I spent a lot of time with John last night talking about his future in poker. The management consultant will play here and Monte Carlo before heading to Vegas in April for the WPT Championship. It's looking like management consulting may go the way of the dodo soon.

Before I go back out on the floor, allow me to send out my condolences to the player (maybe players plural) who got caught up in bad weather and an air controller strike. I've heard from the States that one poor guy is stuck at Logan in Boston with no way to come and sit down in his seat. If they'd let me, bud, I'd play it for you and give you the winnings.

I'll be back in a while with more.

The EPT Vienna E-WSOP -- Pregame

2005-03-10T13:01:00.000+01:00

I'll admit from the outset, when offered the glass of wine, I took it. Normally, I don't drink on planes. That is, I try not to drink anything, alcohol or otherwise. Climbing over other passengers to go to the bathroom is tough enough without adding the stumbling possibilities of wine.

But on this particular Lufthansa flight, I said "Yes," because the steward's eyes told me to answer in the affirmative. I'd seen the look only once before in my life. I was in a Davenport, Iowa diner where the waitresses looked normal but were certainly from another planet. I'd seen in those servers eyes a gaze that I was nowing seeing from Helmut the Steward's retinas. It's a look that bores into your spleen. It's a look that says I would rather eat your face than talk to you. And it's a look that's often delivered with a smile.

I only bring it up, because it was around this time I started laying odds against my luggage arriving in Vienna. Something about Helmut's wine offer made me believe Lufthanasa was trying to liquor me up in advance of losing my bags. I put the odds at 3-1 against and found myself almost pleased when the baggage carousel stopped and my bags weren't on it.

Inside the "Lost and Found" office, I told the nice German lady that my bags were missing.

"Your baggage claim tickets, please." Funny. She had that same look.

"Funny thing, ma'am," I said. "I threw them away in Frankfurt." I had, indeed, tossed the claim tickets in the trash about and hour and half earlier in what I thought was a great exercise in backpack cleaning.

"That's a good job," she said, although it sound like "Dats a goot jop."

Note: Sarcasm sounds the same with a German accent.

I almost went into a long speech about how I considered getting "Stupid American" tattooed on my behind but decided against it after considering the concept of self-fulfilling prophesies and such. Instead, I let the nice lady fix my problem, left the Vienna airport and loaded myself into one of many taxi cabs I would see in the coming days.

It was snowing.

There's something quite liberating about riding 80mph hour in a driving snow. It's something akin to ice-skating on frozen meat. Maybe a porterhouse.

...

By late afternoon, the snow had tapered off and I set myself into the hustle and bustle that was the city center of Vienna. It was one of those cold European days where people don't stop to smell the roses, because the only thing in bloom are the roadside icemounds.

Still, there is beauty in the winter. It comes in the form of a quickly-passing train, deadly in its size, but graceful on its rails. There are the buildings, aging artforms that make even drab colors seem stark.

It was almost shame it had to get dark. Of course, with darkness comes poker. And that's what I'm here for, after all.

At the urging of a friend, heretofore known as Madame Kaput, I sat down at a low-limit hold'em game last night and played much too late. This cardroom, unlike others on the EPT, stays open 24 hours a day. I saw too many of those hours, but walked out a winner.

Note: European money feels heavier in your pocket than American dollars.

Now, we enter Day One of the European Poker Tour's E-WSOP Tournament. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 players are just sitting down for three days of action. Where this is a smoking room, the tournament director just announced this would be a non-smoking tournament, which means we should be able to see the tables well enough to take some good pictures throughout the day.

The good stories are already starting to flow toward my little impromptu work station. Looks like we have some good stuff ahead of us in the coming days.

Saddle up, folks. It's once again time to ride.

The EPT thus far

2005-03-02T19:07:00.000+01:00

For those of you who are just now finding this blog or those wanting to know more about it, I've added an "About" section, a "Popular Posts" section, and a "Links" section on the right side of this page. If you've come here looking for the stories from the Scandinavian Open and French Open, check out the links below. They should keep you sated until we get to Vienna on March 10, 2005.

SCANDINAVIAN OPEN

Part One--Naked In Copenhagen

Part Two--Pre-Game
Part Three--Day One Report
Part Four--Day Two Report and Final Results

Other small reports and pictures from the Copenhagen event can be found in the archives between the dates of 1/18/05 and 2/01/05

FRENCH OPEN

Part One--Strangers on a Train
Part Two--Day One Report
Part Three--Apres-midi? Really?
Part Four--Day Two Report
Part Five--Day Three Report
Part Six--Final Table Report and French Open Results

Other small reports and pictures from the Deauville event can be found in the archives between the dates of 2/15/05 and 2/20/05

The French Open Final Wrap-up

2005-02-20T01:44:00.000+01:00

For a hand-by-hand account of the final table click here. Be sure to join us on this blog in a couple of weeks when the EPT visits Vienna, Austria's Concord Casino (March 10-12, 2005)

The Battle from Seattle

If you don't care to watch Finding Nemo for the ninth time on the overseas flight to Deauville, there's time to dream a little dream. Like, say, a dream about you and a long-time friend making the final table at the French Open and getting heads-up for the title.

Sure, it's a silly little dream with odds against it stronger than hitting your one-outer on the river. But, that's what dreams are all about: making real in your head that which will never happen.

And so on the flight over from the states, that's what long-time buddies Brandon Schaefer and Carl Olson did. Sure, it was silly, but the circumstances of their trip together were pretty silly, too.

Brandon Schaefer (front) and Carl Olson

The two buddies went to the same high school. Then they went to the University of Washington together. Still, they live just a few blocks from each other. When Carl Olson won a cash qualifier for the French open on PokerStars.com, he told Schaefer he'd like to have a traveling companion. Schaefer agreed, because that's what buddies do. Schaefer planned to just play cash games while Olson played in the main event. Then, Schaefer decided to play a few PokerStars.com Frequent Player Point tournaments. On the very last qualifier before the event, Schaefer won his seat.

And so the dream was born. Maybe...just maybe...they would make it to the final table together.

For the two guys who haven't yet seen the age of 26 and who've never played against World Class Players like the competitors at the French Open, it seemed a long shot. A very long shot.

And yet, by and by, they found their way to the final eight players, all vying for a briefcase stuffed with cash and one very pretty trophy.

Two among eight

Dodging the bullets to make it through the starting field of 245 players was a lot like dodging raindrops in the guys' hometown of Seattle. Somehow they made it happen and entered the final day of play with sizable chip-stacks. More than half of the final eight had won their entries on PokerStars.com.

Here's what the final table looked like:

Seat 1--Mark Ristine, USA--251,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 2--Peter Eichhardt, Sweden--202,000(PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 3--Jeremy Tuckman, England--372,000
Seat 4--Brandon Schaefer, USA--691,000 (PokerStars online FPP qualifier)
Seat 5--Bob Coombes, England--163,000
Seat 6--Justin Bonomo, USA--124,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 7--Carl Olson, USA--349,000(PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 8--Luca Pagano, Italy--316,000

On the second hand of the tournament, it looked as if Carl Olson would never see another hand. With the blinds at 5000/10000, Bob Coombes opened the pot for 30,000. From the small blind, Olson made it 100,000. It seemed as though Olson would take it down right there. But sitting in the big blind, Pagano pushed in the rest of his stack. Olson had him covered, but losing would hurt him badly. It was a familiar scenario. Pagano had been picking up big pocket pairs quite a bit in the last two days and usually pushed in with them when facing a raise. Still, Olson called 240,000 more with AK of spades. The flop came down 684 with two spades. The turn was a king, the river a four, and Pagano left in eighth place, taking home 13,500 Euro.

A few hands later, short-stacked Justin Bonomo started raising to 30,000 one hand after another. The third time he did it, Peter Eichhardt found queens and pushed in the rest of his stack. He only had Bonomo covered by 1000. And while Bonomo had been raising a lot, this time he had aces. The board didn't help Eichhardt and he was out on the next hand, leaving in seventh place and cashing for 18,000.

Plays they will remember

The next few minutes brought hands the players likely wished they had back. Under the gun, Jeremy Tuckman came in for 40,000. The players folded around to the big blind, Mark Ristine, who called. The flop came down AA9 with two clubs. Mark checked and Jeremy checked behind him. The turn came down as a six of clubs. Mark checked, Jeremy bet out 30,000, Mark raised to 60,000, and after looking tortured for a few minutes, Tuckman announced he was all-in. Mark called immediately, showing KJ in clubs for the flush. Tuckman had AT and checked his way to a loss in the hand. While he doubled up on the next hand, he would never fully recover.

Shortly thereafter, Brandon Schaefer found himself embarassed after getting into a hand with Justin Bonomo. Schaefer came in for the standard raise to 30,000 and Bonomo re-raised form the small blind to 80,000. Brandon called and saw a flop of 9A2 with two hearts. Justin checked, Brandon bet out 100,000, and Bonomo thought for four stright minutes then anounced he was all in. Although it was only 58,000 more to call, Brandon mucked his hand. He said later he had "maybe half an out" and had miscounted Bonomo's stack before the hand started.

Bob Coombes, being one of only two European players left, became the crowd favorite, but his stay at the final table would prove to be short-lived. He got all in pre-flop with AQ against Jeremy Tuckman's AK and never improved. He left in 6th place, cashing 22,500 Euro.

Jeremy Tuckman would be the next to go. Again, Tuckman raised under the gun with AT and Mark called in the big blind with a pair of sixes. Tuckman pushed all in for 287,000 on a flop of 294 and Mark called. Tuckman never improved and was out in fifth place, making 27,000 Euro.

Tuckman's exit left only American PokerStars qualifiers at the table. Going into the final four, here's how the Americans stacked up.

Justin 384,000
Brandon 539,000
Mark 735,000
Carl 810,000

It didn't take long before the Battle from Seattle really started to get heated.

Schaefer raised pre-flop to 45,000 and Bonomo called the raise from the button. In the small blind, Olson raised the bet to 200,000 and Schaefer almost immediately pushed all-in. Olson happily called and turned over a pair of kings. Schaefer showed his friend AQs. It looked as if Olson would knock out his friend. Instead and ace came on the flop and Schaefer put a severe dent in Olson's stack.

It would continue a few hands later when Schaefer raised pre-flop with a pair of tens. Bonomo pushed all in with AQ. Olson had AQ as well and called the bet. Instead of pushing all-in, Schaefer called. He and Olson checked all the way across the board. It meant the end of Justin Bonomo. Schaefer's tens held up and Bonomo left in fourth place, cashing for 31,500 Euro.

Two buddies and an insurance salesman

Sure, it sounds like a bad joke. Two buddies walk into a bar and get into a fight with an insurance salesman. A worse joke was how insurance salesman Mark Ristine left the contest.

From the small blind, Ristine announced a raise to 50,000. Schaefer cold-called from the big blind. The flop came out as 4JQ. Ristine checked and Schaefer bet out about half the pot. Ristine decided to double the bet and Schaefer cold-called. Both players checked on the turn, a four. On the river, an eight, Ristine pushed all in and Schefer immediately called, showing a pair of queens for a full house. Ristine's pair of kings had no hope and the insurance salesman left in third place, taking 40,500 Euro back to California.

When daydreaming comes true at night

It had becoome the talk of the room.

"Did you hear that the two final players are rooming together?"

"I hear they went to school together"

It was enough to make a television producer giddy.

The two buddies found themselves in a pre-heads-up interview with the sprite of the EPT, Caroline, telling their story for the 100th time. While nice, it was only delaying what they really wanted to do. They wanted to finish the dream.

The Battle from Seattle

They got their chance within a few minutes. After a few hands of friendly sparring, Schaefer raised to 50,000 and Olson called. The flop came down 82A. Both players checked and saw the turn, a deuce. Olson checked and Schaefer bet 60,000. Olson called. They saw a four on the river. Olson checked and Schaefer bet 250,000. Olson fell into the tank, burying his forehead in his hands, covering his mouth, staring at the board as if it would tell him what to do. Finally he called, turning over K5 for king-high. It seemingly had to be a loser. Instead, Schaefer mucked his hand and Olson raked a good-sized pot.

Olson in the tank, but reading his buddy like a dimestore novel

It would prove to be the beginninig of an all-out war, in which Olson overcame Schaefer's 4-1 chip-lead and took over as the chip leader for a few hands. However, it wouldn't last.

A few hands later, Schaefer raised to 90K pre-flop and Olson called. The flop came down J2T with one club. Olson checked, Schaefer bet out and Olson called. The turn was an eight of clubs. Olson bet out 240,000 and Schaefer cold-called the bet. When the river came as a king of clubs, Olson checked and Schaefer announced he was all-in. Olson fell into several minutes of self torture. He later said he held two-pair, but there was both a straight and flush on the board. After moore than five minutes Olson folded. While it gave Schaefer an insurmoutable chip-lead, Olson would've lost anyway if he had called, for Schaefer later said he held a set of jacks.

A friendly fight under the TV lights

After a few more back and forth hands, Schaefer finally put Olson out of his misery. Schaefer raised to 90,000 preflop and Olson called. The flop came down 376 with two hearts. Olson bet out 120,000 and Schaefer announced he was all-in. With a rueful smile, Olson said, "I'll call."

Olson showed 34 of hearts for bottom pair, a gutshot straight draw, and a flush draw. Schaefer showed T7 of diamonds for top pair. The turn and river didn't help Olson and he finished in second place, taking home 80,000 Euro.

That left first place and the 144,000 Euro prize to PokerStars.com FPP qualifier, Brandon Schaefer. He later said he felt like Olson outplayed him.

But that's what friends are supposed to say, right?

The dream continues

While it was the final hand, it was not the end of the story. See, before this contest began, it was announced the winner would get a seat in the 10,000 Euro EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. A fine prize, to be sure.

So, as the friends went heads-up, it might've been a serious source of contention. Talk about souring a friendship.

That's when the EPT announced that both Olson and Schaefer would get seats in the Grand Final. So, in the end, heads-up play was all about pride.

As a gentle snow falls over Deauville tonight, both players leave significantly more wealthy and with their dream still intact.

We'll see them both in Monte Carlo in March where the dream will continue.

French Open Money Finishers

144,000 Euro

1--Brandon Schaefer, USA (PokerStars online qualifier)

80,000 Euro

2--Carl Olson, USA (PokerStars online qualifier)

40,500 Euro

3--Mark Ristine, USA (PokerStars online qualifier)

31,500 Euro

4--Justin Bonomo, USA (PokerStars online qualifier)

27,000 Euro

5--Jeremy Tuckman, England

22,500 Euro

6--Bob Coobes, England

18,000 Euro

7--Peter Eichhardt, Sweden (Pokerstars online qualifer)

13,500 Euro

8--Luca Pagano, Italy

9500 Euro

9--Sami Torbey, France

5400 Euro

10--Keith "The Camel" Hawkins (Pokerstars online qualifier)
11-Willie Tann
12-Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey, Ireland (PokerStars online qualifier)

4500 Euro

13-Sam Orams, England
14--Peter Dalhuijsen, Holland
15--Jerome Zerbib, France

3600 Euro
16--Eric Vanderburg, Holland
17--Tony "Tikay" Kendall, England
18--Melanie Lofthouse, England

Be sure to join us here in a couple of weeks when the EPT visits Vienna, Austria

Final table set to begin

2005-02-19T16:38:00.000+01:00

The TV lights are on, the room lights have dimmed. The final eight players have made their way into the room. Now, we head to the final table. It appears my live hand-to-hand updates may be impossible due to the distance form the table to the internet connection. Still, you'll have frequent updates and I'll be keeping a hand-to-hand account and posting it at every opportunity.

French Open Day 3 Wrap-up

2005-02-18T20:18:00.000+01:00

Final table players and chip counts can be found at the end of this post

Carl Olson and Brandon Schaefer live just a couple of blocks from each other in Seattle, Washington. They went to high school together. They went to college together.

Saturday, they go to the final table together.

It's an improbable story, to be sure. Olson, a recent college graduate, won a cash qualifier on PokerStars.com earlier in the year, but didn't feel much like making the trip overseas by himself. So he made a deal with his buddy Schaefer. He offered to pay for Shaeffer's hotel room if Shaefer agreed to fly over with him. Schaefer was in the middle of some life changes, switching jobs and preparing to move to California. He figured...why not?

And then he decided to make it interesting, entering a few PokerStars.com Frequent Player Point qualifiers for the French Open. He missed on his first couple of tries and then, on his last possible opportunity, he won.

So, figure the odds on that while I type the next few words...

FPP-qualifier Brandon Schaefer goes into tomorrow with not just a chip-lead, but almost a 2-1 chip lead over second place.

Schaefer is all smiles

Oh, and not to be outdone, the buddy that conned Schaefer into coming here in the first place is not doing too shabby either. He sits third in chips.

Carl Olson, a picture of how buddies can get you into more than you expect

Doing the quarter mile in thirty-miuntes

I'm not a big drag racing fan. It's a lot of going really fast for a very short distance then quitting when it seems like it's just getting started. Of course, there is something fabulously powerful about those cars that shoot off the starting line, pushing their engines so hard they explode in a ball of flames and frustration.

The play today looked much the same way, a fast and furious start followed by a slow, grinding roll to the final eight players.

Here's how it looked at the beginning of the day:

Table 1
1--Keith "The Camel" Hawkins--191,500, England (PokerStars online qualifier)
2--Carl Olson, USA--87,500 (PokerStars online qualifier)
3--Eric Vanderburg, Holland--133,000
4--Brandon Schaefer, USA--205,000 (PokerStars online FPP qualifier)
5--Bob Coombes, England--345,000
6--Tony "Tikay" Kendall, England--55,500
7--Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey--246,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
8--Luca Pagano, Italy--138,000
9--Peter Eichhardt, Sweden--249,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)

Table 2
1--Peter Dalhuijsen, Holland--172,000
2--Justin Bonomo, USA--105,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
3--Willie Tann--51,000
4--Mark Ristine, USA--52,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
5--Jeremy Tuckman--60,000
6--Sami Torbey, France--91,000
7--Jerome Zerbib--99,000
8--Melanie Lofthouse, England--57,500
9--Sam Orams, England--134,500

With the blinds already at 5000/10000/1000, the shortstacks had to make a move fast. American Mark Ristine made his move early, pushing all in with Big Slick. On the button, Melanie Lofthouse hoped her A3 was good and called for almost her entire stack. The board didn't help her and with only an ante left, she left in 18th place on the next hand. While horrible for Lofthouse, it was an omen, of sorts, for what would happen to Ristine for the rest of the day.

Double knock-out

Bob Coombes came into the day as the chip leader. He could afford to be fearless. So, when he raised to 30,000 under the gun, perhaps it was no surprise that Tony "Tikay" Kendall pushed in the rest of his stack, 75,000. What was a little more extraordinary was Eric Vanderburg's announcement that he, too, was all in for a little more than 100,000.

So, while we're living in the realm of surprise, consider this: Coombes called them both, confidently flipping up a pair of kings to battle Tikay's AT and Vanderburg's AQ. The board eventually paired Tikay's ten, but it was no good and Coombes scored a double knock-out.

Bob Coombes, punching with both fists

Jerome Zerbib was the next to go, getting all in with AT versus Jeremy Tuckman's aces.

Tuckman' perhaps, was feeling a little froggy, and decided to jump, getting all-in pre-flop shortly thereafter, putting his AJo against Peter Dalhuijsen's pair of kings. Dalhuijsen felt a little uneasy when the flop came down 78T, giving Tuckman the gutshot draw. Dalhuijsen felt absolutely sick on the turn when a nine came down and made Tuckman's straight. Dalhuijsen was left with just a couple of chips and exited shortly thereafter in 14th place.

Britain's Sam Orams had been getting knocked around at the table, losing a significant portion of his stack when Sami Torbey sucked out a straight with a KT versus Orams' AJ. A few hands later Orams raised with QTs and Justin Bonomo pushed all in with A9. Orams called and got no help from the board, leaving in 13th place.

As that was happening, the other table was about to erupt. After getting chipped away all day long, Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey pushed all in for about 88,000 in middle position. Luca Pagano cold-called the bet. Peter Eichhardt then moved all-in for an amount that would've meant Pagano had to sacrifice his entire stack. Pagano folded.

Lacey turned up AJ suited in diamonds to Eichhardt's pair of jacks.

"Three outs," Lacey muttered.

But the flop made it interesting, coming down KT8 with two diamonds, giving Lacey a gutshot and flush draw. He needed an ace, a queen, or a diamond. The turn made it more interesting, pulling out a seven, offering the possibility of a chopped pot if a nine fell. Alas, the river was a king and fellow poker blogger Mike Lacey left in 12th place.

Waiter, could you please bring a platter of good fortune to Table 2?

It must be something in the California water. Or maybe it is that Mark Ristine hadn't gotten very lucky for most of the tournament. Whatever it was, something happened when we had eleven players left.

Mark Ristine

Willie Tann moved all in from the button with AKo. With very few chips in front of him, Ristine immediately called with Q6o. The flop brought 622 and Ristine cheered. Then the turn came with an ace and Tann broke a big smile. So, imagine everyone's surprise when the river was a six, one of only two outs Ristine had to stay alive.

It continued moments later when he pushed all in with a pair of tens. Jeremy Tuckman called and flipped up a pair of kings. But, woah, woah, woah...Justin Bonomo still had cards and hadn't acted.

"I guess I fold," Bonomo smirked.

Tuckman's hand stayed alive, but he was given a ten minute penalty for revealing his cards prematurely. Moments later he'd wish he'd never seen the kings, for the flop came down ten-high, giving Ristine the set and doubling him up again.

Could it happen again? Yes, again.

Willie Tann got into it again with Ristine, getting all in with a pair of tens versus Ristine's A3. And, of course, Ristine hit his ace and send Tann out in eleventh place.

Willie Tann

Ristine almost seemed to feel a bit guilty for his good fortune. At the same time, as he said during a break, it was the first time he'd been lucky the entire tournament.

While Ristine's engine ran wide-open, the tournament's dragster motor decided to give up the ghost. With only two players left to go until the final eight, the players tightened up and it got very, very slow.

Like the last shot of oil from the bottom of the engine, Keith "The Camel" Hawkins trickled to his demise, getting in with pocket sevens from the button. Olson called with AJ and made a jack on the flop. Hawkins was crippled and on the next hand said goodbye in tenth place.

No TV time for The Camel

The final nine

Ristine was still strong and began the beating on one-time big chip-stack Peter Eichhardt. Ristine called Eichhardt's all-in bet preflop with AJ and made his ace on the flop, doubling up once again.

Bonomo

It's been implied that I have a bit of a Justin Bonomo fetish because I've featured him so many times on the PokerStars blogs. Here's my defense: He's qualified online for the PokerStars Caribbean Adevenure, the Scandinavian Open, and the French Open. That is consistency, folks. He cashed in the Caribbean, nearly cashed in Denmark, and made the final table here in France. Again, consistency.

I do not have a Bonomo festish. I'm a happily married man. I do not have a Bonomo fetish

All of that not withstanding, though, his next hand would prove to be very, very ugly.

With the blinds at 7500/15000/1500, Brandon Schaefer raised to 40,000 in middle position. On the button, Bonomo made it 100,000 to go. It might've worked had Luca Pagano not re-raised all-in from the big blind for 191,500. Schaefer folded quickly (he later said he had pocket eights) and Bonomo went in the tank, counting the money in the pot and how much it was laying him. Finally, he called, flipping up 49 suited in diamonds. Luca turned over pocket queens. Bonomo never improved. Luca ended up making quad queens and taking down a half million chip pot. Bonomo survived, but barely.

Luca, not sleeping with the fishes

Dealer: "The ladybug doesn't play, sir"

With only one player left to go before we broke for the day, Sami Torbey pushed in his entire stack, including his ladybug card marker, hoping against hope his AQ would hold up. Eichhardt called with AK. It looked as though we were on our way to a night on the town when the flop and turn came down 257J.

And then the ladybug played, spiking a queen on the river to double up Sami and send us into another hour of play.

Peter Eichhardt, ladybug victim

But like the ladybugs that invade my house once a year, Torbey's bug could only survive for so long.

With barely enough chips to survive another orbit, Bonomo announced he'd likely play with any two cards. The table folded around to Torbey in the small blind who pushed all in against Bonomo's big blind. Bonomo happily flipped up A8s against Torbey's Q5. Bonomo made his ace on the turn and Torbey took his ladybug home.

Now, the players have to wait another 20 hours to play again. When they start under the TV lights tomorrow, the final table will look like this:

Seat 1--Mark Ristine, USA--251,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 2--Peter Eichhardt, Sweden--202,000(PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 3--Jeremy Tuckman, England--372,000
Seat 4--Brandon Schaefer, USA--691,000 (PokerStars online FPP qualifier)
Seat 5--Bob Coombes, England--163,000
Seat 6--Justin Bonomo, USA--124,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 7--Carl Olson, USA--349,000(PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 8--Luca Pagano, Italy--316,000

Good luck to all the players. We'll see everyone tomorrow night.

To the TV table we go...tomorrow.

2005-02-18T17:41:00.000+01:00

Here's the final TV table heading into Saturday

Final Table

Seat 1--Mark Ristine, USA--251,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 2--Peter Eichhardt, Sweden--202,000(PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 3--Jeremy Tuckman, England--372,000
Seat 4--Brandon Schaefer, USA--691,000 (PokerStars online FPP qualifier)
Seat 5--Bob Coombes, England--163,000
Seat 6--Justin Bonomo, USA--124,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 7--Carl Olson, USA--349,000(PokerStars online qualifier)
Seat 8--Luca Pagano, Italy--316,000

A full report is on the way. Payouts to the other finishers are below.

-----
Brutality.

It's like watching looped video of a child falling on his face or an old man kicking a dog. The chips have been moving around the final table like a volcanic glacier thaw. That is, fast and furious.

Former chip leader Peter Eichhardt has suffered beat after beat, one of them so terrifyingly ugly he had to call out for a glass of water. He is now one of the shortest stacks at the table.

One-time big-stack Justin Bonomo tried to steal a raise at the wrong time with 49s and ran into Luca Pagano who eventually made quad kings. Bonomo is still in but had his stack cut by 66%.

The Camel departed after pushing all in with 77 and getting a call from AJs. A jack on the flop ended The Camel's roll.

9500 Euro

9--Sami Torbey, France

5400 Euro

10--Keith "The Camel" Hawkins
11-Willie Tann
12-Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey, Ireland (PokerStars online qualifier)

4500 Euro

13-Sam Orams, England
14--Peter Dalhuijsen, Holland
15--Jerome Zerbib, France

3600 Euro
16--Eric Vanderburg, Holland
17--Tony "Tikay" Kendall, England
18--Melanie Lofthouse, England

French Open Day 3 set to begin

2005-02-18T13:51:00.000+01:00

For a period of one hour Thursday night, Bob Coombes was an English destroyer. Like a kid with a video game, he zapped opponents in every way. He did it with big cards. He did it with big draws. When the night crossed into early morning, Coombes sat as chip leader.

Bob Coombes

In just a few minutes, he the rest of the remaining 18 players will come back into this ballroom to battle down to the final eight.

Here's the line-up on this third day of play

Table 1
1--Keith "The Camel" Hawkins--191,500, England (PokerStars online qualifier)
2--Carl Olson, USA--87,500 (PokerStars online qualifier)
3--Eric Vanderburg, Holland--133,000
4--Brandon Schaefer, USA--205,000 (PokerStars online FPP qualifier)
5--Bob Coombes, England--345,000
6--Tony "Tikay" Kendall, England--55,500
7--Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey--246,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
8--Luca Pagano, Italy--138,000
9--Peter Eichhardt, Sweden--249,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)

Table 2
1--Peter Dalhuijsen, Holland--172,000
2--Justin Bonomo, USA--105,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
3--Willie Tann--51,000
4--Mark Ristine, USA--52,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
5--Jeremy Tuckman--60,000
6--Sami Torbey, France--91,000
7--Jerome Zerbib--99,000
8--Melanie Lofthouse, England--57,500
9--Sam Orams, England--134,500

Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey (left) and Tony "Tikay" Kendall

Sam Orams (left) and Brandon Schaefer

Justin Bonomo and Melanie Lofthouse

As I type, EPT creator John Duthie is pacing through the ballroom in bath slippers as his crew sets the stage for the the final table. The dealers are counting out the final 18 players' chips. The players are behind two glass doors, eying the chip counts and tapping their feet.

This is such a fun moment. Some of the runners have stacks that teter on the edge of nothingness. Others control pyramids of yellow 1000 euro chips that threaten to tip over and crush the more dainty of dealers.

When we finish this afternoon, we will be left with eight players who will move over to Duthie's stage and play under the television lights.

I'm going to start making my way on the other side of the velvet ropes to get a good look at the tables.

I'll provide info on the unfortunate ten as they leave us.

French Open Day 2 Wrap-up--18 remain

2005-02-18T01:47:00.000+01:00

There were high hopes that the French Open would wind down to eight players tonight. Alas, the play was too tough and there will be no day off for the players tomorrow.

Chip counts for the final 18 can be found at the end of this post. In the meantime, a brief recap of the day's events.

Desperation

"Someone call time," the player said. "Someone."

He had reached pleading and was on his way to begging. We'd been waiting for nearly five minutes for the bet to be called. What made the pleading all the more remarkable was that the pleader was the one who was making the decision. He begged someone to call the clock on him and no one would. One player flipped a chip like a coin, but since the chips look the same on both sides, it was no help.

Finally, the player pushed all-in and his opponent folded.

It was not the hand, but the sheer desperation that made the drama so rich. These times when we we're playing down to the final eight are lousy with high-drama and suspense that can break hearts as quickly as it shoots spirits as high as Deauville clouds.

It seemed as we reached 40 players that the tables were breaking and condensing faster than hands were being played. But the drama continued. Poker-playing writer Tony "Tikay" Kendall turned desperation into a money finish, doubling up with jacks versus chip-leading John Gale's pocket nines.

Tony "Tikay" Kendall

Shortly thereafter, PokerStars Frequent Player Point qualifier Brandon Schaefer rocketed toward the chip lead after calling with the two pair he made on the turn and river against his opponent's all-in king-high bluff. He woudn't hold the chip lead, but he would make it to Friday with a strong stack.

Brandon Schaefer

We were nearing the dinner break when we reached the bubble. I chronicled the hand a bit earlier in this fashion...

***

This is Jean-Claude Perera, a man who, under the gun, came in with a small bet

And this is Keith "The Camel" Hawkins, a man who put in a big enough raise from the button to put Jean-Claude all-in. Jean-Claude, after a few seconds thought, called...forcing Hawkins to show...

It was perhaps the only thing Jean-Claude did not want to see...for he turned up...

Folks who read these blogs know I call this match up the OOH! That's "Only Online Hand" for the uninitiated. And it makes all the railbirds go "OOH!" But wait...the flop!

The crowd again went "OOH!" But wait...the turn and river...

It's dramatic any time you see it happen. But when it happens on the bubble and to poor Jean-Claude, it's simply heartbreaking
***

It was 10pm when the 27 remaining players returned from the dinner break. Some of them came back with full bellies, while others chose not to eat. I watched one player eat crackers from the bar while another stood in a corner, quietly bobbing his head to the music on his iPod. While all of the players knew they wouldn't leave the ornate ballroom empty-handed, they all knew that they had serious work to do if they wanted to make it to the big money.

The carnage started quickly with Finland's Mika Tapio getting all-in pre-flop against AK. Two kings on the flop ended Tapio's run.

England's Jeff Duvall who had held on to a strong stack for two days lost most of it one hand, getting all-in with QQ against countryman Bob Coombes aces. The loss didn't kill Duvall, but it crippled him and elevated Coombes to chip leader. A couple of hands later Duvall left in 27th place.

American Ezra Galston went out next in 26th, offering a hearty hello to his parents back home. Then, Denmark's Morten Sembach pushed in with AT on an 839 board and Bob Coombes called with, 67s. Coombes made his open-ender on the turn and sent Sembach home in 24th place.

Two Frenchmen left next. Jean-Pierre Petroli and Joseph Mrejen left in 23rd and 22nd respectively.

Fellow poker blogger Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey hung on until just before the end of Level 16, then got all in with England's John Gale on a king-high flop. Lacey outkicked Gale's K6 with K9 and doubled up. It would not be the first time. By the end of the day he was in third chip position, just a few thousand off second place.

Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey

Everyone's favorite nice guy busts out

John Gale had maintained a good lead most of the day, amassing a big chip stack and using it to his advantage. After getting involved in his last hand, he simply remarked, "That's poker."

With the big blind at 8000, Gale raised in early position with AQ to 20,000. Peter Eichhardt called the raise from the big blind. The flop came down 283 with two clubs. Eichhardt immediately announced all-in and Gale called with ace-high and no clubs. Eichhardt turned up 75 suited in clubs. A four on the turn gave Eichhard the gutshot draw to go with his club draw. The king of clubs on the river gave Peter the hand and substantial chip-stack to Eichhardt.

Gale later said he felt like he made the right read and right play. Now, he's looking on to the EPT event in Vienna.

When the day ended, these were those we left behind, but with money in their pockets.

2700 Euro

19--Frank Bastow, England--PokerStars online qualifer
20--John Gale, England
21-Ivo Donev, Austria
22--Joseph Mrejen, France
23--Jean-Pierre Petroli, France
24--Morten Sembach, Denmark
25--Ezra Galston, USA (he says 'Hi' to his parents)
26--Jeff Duvall, England
27--Mika Tapio, Finland

The final 18

It's a strong couple of tables leading into Friday. Here are the final chip-counts for the day.

Bob Coombes, England--345,000
Peter Eichhardt, Sweden--249,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacey--246,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Brandon Schaefer, USA--205,000 (PokerStars online FPP qualifier)
Keith "The Camel" Hawkins--191,500, England (PokerStars online qualifier)
Peter Dalhuijsen, Holland--172,000
Luca Pagano, Italy--138,000
Sam Orams, England--134,500
Eric Vanderburg, Holland--133,000
Justin Bonomo, USA--105,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Jerome Zerbib--99,000
Sami Torbey, France--91,000
Carl Olson, USA--87,500 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Jeremy Tuckman--60,000
Melanie Lofthouse, England--57,500
Tony "Tikay" Kendall, England--55,500
Mark Ristine, USA--52,000 (PokerStars online qualifier)
Willie Tann--51,000

Play starts at 2pm Friday, when we'll play down to the final eight.

French Open--18 remain--John Gale is gone

2005-02-17T23:01:00.000+01:00

John Gale just busted out. With the big blind at 8000, Gale raised in early position with AQ to 20,000. Peter Eichhardt called the rise from the big blind. The flop came down 283 with two clubs. Eichhardt immediately announced all-in and Gale called with ace-high and no clubs. Eichhardt turned up 75 suited in clubs. A four on the turn gave Eichhard the gutshot draw to go with his club draw. The king of clubs on the river gave the hand and substantial chip-stack to Eichhardt.

2700 Euro

19--Frank Bastow, England--PokerStars online qualifer
20--John Gale, England
21-Ivo Donev, Austria
22--Joseph Mrejen, France
23--Jean-Pierre Petroli, France
24--Morten Sembach, Denmark
25--Ezra Galston, USA (he says 'Hi' to his parents)
26--Jeff Duvall, England
27--Mika Tapio, Finland

Bubble bursts, heart breaks...and dinner break chip leaders

2005-02-17T20:19:00.000+01:00

Before we continue, the Stars staff here in Deauville wishes to send some good wishes toward the Stars support team. We know you're reading and we know you're working very hard today. Thanks and keep your chin up

After a series of spectacular hands and showdowns, we reached the bubble. Twenty-eight players remained when we went hand-to-hand.

Only pictures can tell this story (blurry as the pics are...)

This is Jean-Claude Perera, a man who, under the gun, came in with a small bet

And this is Keith "The Camel" Hawkins, a man who put in a big enough raise from the button to put Jean-Claude all-in. Jean-Claude, after a few seconds thought, called...forcing Hawkins to show...

It was perhaps the only thing Jean-Claude did not want to see...for he turned up...

Folks who read these blogs know I call this match up the OOH! That's "Only Online Hand" for the uninitiated. And it makes all the railbirds go "OOH!" But wait...the flop!

The crowd again went "OOH!" But wait...the turn and river...

It's dramatic any time you see it happen. But when it happens on the bubble and to poor Jean-Claude, it's simply heartbreaking

We're headed to dinner with 27 players remaining. The hope is we'll play down to the final table of eight tonight and take tomorrow off.

The two biggest stacks right now...

Gale is sitting in the neighborhood of 200,000 in chips

Brandon Schaefer of the USA is sitting close to 180,000 in chips

Back after dinner.

In-game chip update

2005-02-17T19:31:00.000+01:00

With one level left before the dinner break, we have several big stacks vying for the chip lead...

Among them...

Britain's Sam Orams, Keith Hawkin, John Gale, and Jeff Duvall...
America's PokerStars online qualifiers Justin Bonomo and Brandon Schaefer,
and Sweden's PokerStars online qualifier Peter Eichhard.

Thirty-six players remain. We hit the money at 27.

Notable bust-outs: David "Devilfish" Ulliott and Isabelle Mercier.

And the writers are still hanging on. Mike "Lucky Blind" and Tony "Tikay" Kendall have recently doubled up.

This was just a three-minute break, so we're back to the action now.

So you want pocket aces?

2005-02-17T18:10:00.000+01:00

After watching one of the biggest hands of the day, I posed the question...

If you had a chance to have pocket aces one time in a tournament, what kind of opposition do you hope to face?

And I received some very thoughtful answers...

My personal favourite scenario would be at some point well into the
tournament, so you are likely to be able to get all in preflop and get
called, you want to find: AA v AK v AK v KK. Then you are 93% favourite to quadruple up, nice! --Anonymous

I guess I'd want someone to open with a raise, someone to
re-raise, and I go all in with Aces. All the money goes in, and the other
2 have KK!....Making the Aces roughly 96% fav. --Adam

When I'm somewhere near the bubble, not sure I'll make the final table, against an aggressive player who'll take me on and another shortish stack all-in! Pocket Aces are wasted when the blinds are small. --Richard

They are all wonderful scenarios and things about which we dream when we're sitting looking at 83 offsuit all day. Well, consider this hand that actually played out this afternoon.

With the blinds at 500/1000, the player under the gun brought it in for a raise, making it 3000 to go. The player directly to his left called the 3000. The rest of the table folded around to the small blind who pushed in for about 15,000 more. The big blind then announced he was all in for a similar amount. After some thought, the other two players called. At once, we had a pot worth more than 70,000.

With both blinds all-in, the other two players saw the flop, TT5 rainbow. The player under the gun who had been the first raiser pushed all in and the player to his left folded, saying he folded a middle pair.

That left the remaining three players...

SB=AA
BB=JJ
UTG==QQ.

The turn and river, a nine and three, improved no one and the player who found aces in the small blind quadrupled up. He remains in the tournament with 39 players remaining.

Certainly, it wasn't any the perfect scenarios listed above. However, when you have callers, just about any scenario works. In this aces, AA faced JJ, QQ, and a middle pair.

Aces hold up

French Open Day 2 Chip Leaders

2005-02-17T17:09:00.000+01:00

With 51 players remaining at the end of Level 11 (800/1600/150), PokerStars. com oinline qualifier Justin Bonomo and PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Champion John Gale are neck and neck for the chip lead, each holding more than 140K in chips.

Thanks for all your replies on the pocket aces question below. I'll take a few more, post some answers, and then show you what happened here earlier today.

Interactive blogging

2005-02-17T16:24:00.000+01:00

One of the most exciting hands of the tournament raised this question: When do you want pocket aces?

Of course, the obvious answer is...well, always.

But if you had a chance to have pocket aces one time in a tournament, what kind of opposition do you hope to face?

Send me an e-mail at the link on the right with your answer and I'll detail the hand a bit later.

French Open Day Two begins and Insta-Photo Gallery

2005-02-17T15:04:00.000+01:00

Note: I've just received an updated list of today's starters, including nationality. You'll find it in place of this morning's wrap-up at the end of the post

Sometimes on the first day of the tournament, as a player rests her chin on the edge of her chair and ponders a call that will likely insure she'll be in to the end of the hand, she'll think simply, "What do I have to do to survive?"

Now, though, as that player ponders the call again--this time on Day 2--everything changes. Sure, survival is still a consideration, but now there's an added element of ambition. She has surived until Day 2. Now, it's a question of whether she can win.

In the end, the player above decided to fold her pocket tens, sighing with relief when her opponent flashed pocket jacks.

Après-midi? Really??

When I finally escaped the poker room early this morning, a security guard followed me out, chasing me down the hallway. He spoke in French and seemed to insist I understand. I apologized and told him I spoke only a little French. "Un peu," I said, holding my fingers close together.

He spoke no English, so he continued to speak in French. Eventually I understood him to say, "Hotel Normandy." It barely helped that he was making wild hand motions that seemed to indicate he either had some serious shoulder issues or he wanted me to go swimming with him.

Finally, I got it. The door between the casino and hotel was locked and he had to unlock it for me. And he didn't care to go swimming.

Once I made it back to my room, it was nearing 5am and finding no alarm clock, I called for a wake-up call.

"For 1 PM, please," I said, thinking perhaps I should throw a sil vous plait in there for good measure.

The man at the reception desk seemed a bit dubious. "Après-midi?" he asked, seeming to think we had a language barrier to overcome. Après-midi means afternoon, after all.

"Oui, après-midi."

"D'accord. Merci."

I turned on the shower and searched the mini-bar for some juice. The phone rang and it was the reception desk again. And, still, he was doubtful. Something deep down made him call me back to confirm that I really wanted to get up at...

"Treize hours?" he said. The incredulity at the poker lifestyle was just as charming as it gets.

I had to laugh.

Yep. I need a wake-up call for one o'clock in the afternoon.

As a familiar player would remark, "That's poker, baby."

***

Halfway through Level 10, we have 75 players remaining. Some of the small stacks are strating to fall off. I figure my late afternoon update should provide some idea of who is truly going to be out in front for the race to the final table.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the start of play today.

The field thins

Considering a call

A Fishy look

A 'BadGirl' smile

PCA champ, John Gale and his stack of chips

Fellow poker blogger Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacy checking his hole cards. Lacy is a cash qualifer from PokerStars.com

French Open Day Two underway

2005-02-17T14:20:00.000+01:00

The cards were in the air at 2pm sharp today. Nine players dropped off in the first 18 minutes.

We began the day with 104 players, at Level 9, 400/800/100 blinds and antes.

I'm headed into the fray and will return shortly with some early action.

Putting Day One of the French Open to bed

2005-02-17T04:33:00.000+01:00

It has to be beautiful to wake up at lunchtime and find your chair waiting for you in a big tournament like this. Moreover, it has to be certainly brilliant to wake up and find 10,000 chips waiting for you.

Ten thousand chips and a chair.

If only there were such a guarantee that one could go to bed with the such good fortune. The nature of these things--these tournaments where one mistake or a day full of cold cards--means quite simply that more than a hundred people who awoke from restless dreams to a 10,000 chip reality are headed back to bed or out to Deauville bars with neither a chip, nor a chair.

We could all cry in unison for them, but we would be singing without hundred or so people left in this contest. They are people who will retire back to their restless dreams and return Thursday afternoon to their chair and chipstack.

We were not without dreams, though. 'Tis better to have dreamed...oh, you get the idea.

Those who've read these blogs before know, while I keep an eye on the big-name players like I'm supposed to, I'm a sucker for a Cinderella story. I thought I'd found one in Bill Munley. Bill joined us from Pennsylvania. He used 15 Frequent Player Points on PokerStars.com to win his entry into the EPT's French Open. What's more, he wasn't even sure he could come. He'd been trying to sell his seat and realized when he returned from a Las Vegas trip (just a couple days before this tournament) that he was going to play here. He scrounged up a passport on the quick and made the trip. Alas, he couldn't get anything going today and left with about 145 players remaining. With a few more days left in the festival, he's hoping to make good in the Sit-n-Go tournaments that are running most nights.

Scandinavian Open champ Noah Boeken found himself out early in the day, just moments after his mentor Marcel Luske busted out with two pair vs. a rivered set. Boeken is leading the way, running over the one-table freeze-outs. Word on the street is he's already won enough in those tournies to cover his trip.

It takes a poker player's heart to handle the swings in this room. As the final level of the day began, I watched a poor soul with a desperately short stack call an all-in bet on a 99Q board. When he desperately needed to hit a flop, this particular hand answered his prayers. He held A9 for flopped trips. What's more, his opponent had pushed him all in with JT, an open-ended straight-draw. When a queen came on the turn, it killed all but two of his opponents outs. And it happened...a queen came on the river to build a bigger boat and the man who was expecting to double up ended up chopping the pot. He muttered a word in French that I understood, but, in the interest of good taste, will not publish here.

It was quickly becoming that time of day when the short-stacked either chose to cling to life or push on a prayer. Fellow poker blogger, Mike Lacy of poker blog Lucky Blind was a survivor turning a 3000-sized stack into 33,000 after the dinner break, hitting the board with J9, 88, and 67. By the end of the day he sat with around 55,000. Who says writers can't play poker?

Mike "Lucky Blind" Lacy

Also maintaining the writers' cause is writer and poker player Keith "The Camel" Hawkins. Late in the day he controlled one of the biggest chip-stacks in the room.

The Camel holding his water and a big chip stack

Here are a few of your other big stacks.

Thomas Mathiesem (aka clarkaoo) from Norway

Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, who replayed his James Bond impersonation at the end of the day, broadcasting his cell phone's 007 theme over the public address system

Peter Eichhardt, from Sweden, who reluctantly gave up his PokerStars.com online screen name...FoxyLisa. Incidentally, he was a cash qualifier on Stars

Jeff Duvall, an EPT final table finisher in London

John Gale, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion

Indeed it is a hearty field that retires to bed or hits the taxis for a night/early morning on the town.

After a long session of hard work by poker guru Thomas Keller, we have the chip counts as they stand at the end of Day One. On his behalf, I'll apologize in advance for any misspelled names.

Orams Sam 101,975 Britain
Steffen Dam 78,175 Denmark
Gale John 71,025 Britain
Hawkins Keith 67,850 Britain
EichhardtPeter 62,500 Sweden
Mathiesen Thomas58,750
Duvall Jeff 56,050 Britain
Lacy Mike 54,575 Ireland
Galston Ezra 53,225 USA
Fariolo Julian 50,100
Bonomo Justin 49,500 USA
Leumi Mike 46,000
Zerbib Jerome 43,450
Chow Howard 39,575 USA
Nassif Gabriel 38,075
Lofthouse Melanie 37,750 Britain
Nilsson Henrik 36,775
Ulliott Dave 36,750 Britain
Vandenbourg Erik 36,000
Leibgorin Michel 35,125
Pagano Luca 34,950 Italian
Henning 34,425 Swedish
Petroli Jean- Pierre 34,325
Schaefer B. 33,525 USA
Lellouche Anthony 32,575
Liffey Rory 31,800 Ireland
Baston Frank 30,450
Coonbes Bob 30,450
Westberg 29,875
Creagh Adrian 29,175
Poulain A. 28,700
Giles Haddad 28,625
Dalhuijsen 26,775
Kakaoun 26,625
Wenzel Todd 25,800 USA
Perera Jean- Claude 25,075
Sindelar Eric 24,725
Mercier Isabelle 24,450 Canada
Dalby Eric 24,325
Torbey 23,700 France
Davidsen Peter 23,675 Denmark
Barnay Patrick 23,625
TuckmannJeremy 23,250
JerlstromJonas 22,750
Abouaf Dan 22,725
Coldwell John22,125
Falk Daniel 21,100 Sweden
Lemercier 20,775 France
Wraith Mark 20,775
Ilja Hony 20,675 Holland
Resewhr Charles 20,525
Boutilliere Jerome 20,475
Donev Ivo 20,475
Chicheportiche 20,375
Ristine Mark 20,250
Arshad Wilhelm 18,325
Phy Pham 18,300
Mrejen Joseph 17,825
Zajdenberg M. 17,325
Francis Keith 17,275
Olson Carl 16,675
Wilhelm Janne 16,000
Thomas Jean- Mark 15,925
Choquet 15,325
Eskeid Fred 14,425
Pham Xujen 13,950 Britain
Albion Phillip 13,375
Peretti 13,250
Mortesson Patrick 13,100
Cascarino Tony 12,725 Ireland
David Amelie 12,675
Bebeaulox Ronnie 12,625
Carlson Peter 12,150
Lovas Christer 11,825
Audet Audrej 11,600
Bueno Patrick 11,375
Sonigo Franck 11,100
Hartigan James 11,075
Gregersen K. 10,675
Douieb Jerome 10,550
Metsa Aki 10,000
Tann Willie 9,475 Britain
Atheas L. 8,650
Kendall Tony 8,600
Sitbom Guy 8,025
Petit Emile 7,625
Scapula F. 7,500
Testud Paul 7,475 France
Sembach Morten 7,450 Danish
Xanthos Bambos 7,250
Mercado John 6,525
Stolzmann Steve 6,450
Aiken Michael 6,425
Champagnol Patrick 6,100
Tellef Aune 5,325
Svartback Jonatan 5,000
Quesada Renald 4,850
Vladdar Steve 4,700
Dumont L. 4,000
Furguson Andrew 3,825
Patel Jigher 3,750
Cummins Eugene 3,175
Fressenon 3,075

We start again at 2pm Deauville time on Thursday.

Day One in the books--results pending

2005-02-17T02:06:00.000+01:00

After more than ten hours of play, Day One of the French Open is in the books. Unfortunately, I can't post today's final chapter until the chip count comes in.

The chip count is underway and I'll post it and a final report as soon as the count is complete.

High-security, high-anxiety at the French Open--Payouts announced

2005-02-16T22:05:00.000+01:00

There's no bathroom in the ballroom, which is just as fun to say out loud as it is to write.

There's no bathroom in the ballroom.

That means any time a player (or, er...tournament reporter) needs to head to the head, it requires a trip past the security station and down a marble spiral staircase.

Now, there is no real complaint. We all need the exercise. But there is security to think about. I mean, after all, we're playing by the rules here. TDA rules, to be exact. For instance, English only at the tables during a hand. That's more challenging than it sounds when players are coming here from all countries. Another rule, no cell phones at the tables. Er, Devilfish, that means you.

But the TDA rules aren't the ones that have brought in the security staff. Those rules belong to the Casino Deauville and they state that only players--POKER players--are allowed in the poker ballroom. To enforce the rule, all players have been forced to wear festival-style bracelets for the duration of the poker festival.

Of course, security makes a special acception for journalists, sponsors, and staff. Beyond that, one has to be fairly sneaky to sweat his favorite player. The most popular way to score a bracelet is to become a player. Spouses and friends who aren't in the main event are buying into small Sit-N-Go tournaments. After that, they are players and can stay as long as they like.

Some journalists and writers have decided to not write about the event for the moment and play for themselves. Mike from the poker blog Lucky Blind is sittinig on an average stack in the dark back corner of he ballroom. And Tony Kendall from Blonde Poker is holding his own, as well.

Tony at the table

Just a few moments ago, TD Warren Karp announced the payouts for the French Open. They look as follows.

1--144,000 2--80,000 3--40,500
4--31,500 5--27,000 6--22,500
7--18,000 8--13,500 9--9000
10--5400 11--5400 12--5400
13--4500 14--4500 15--4500
16-18--3600
19-27--2700

At the beginning of Level 6 (150/300/25), we're down to 161 players. I suspect we'll be playing another three or four hours before we break for the night.

More updates in a while.

Machismo in Deauville, the French Open continues

2005-02-16T19:00:00.000+01:00

The French Open players hold on tight and get macho

She had blonde hair, hanging long down over her low-cut shirt. She looked out over the felt and with a small smile said, "Everyone is very macho at this table."

An outsider might think she was playing with her male competitors, throwing some flirt in with the chips. In fact, she was not, even though her English accent made the word "macho" sound much proper than it should.

When I caught her eye, I realized she wasn't talking about macho biceps or chest hair. It was about the cards.

Two players went to war, betting into and check-raising each other on a flop of 235. Finally, one player mucked a six face up. His opponent slid his cards toward the dealer. The cards caught the felt and turned face-up, revealing AQ offsuit. Both players had missed the flop, but both sneered as if they'd flopped the nuts. Only one could rake the pot and the one who did not continued to sneer as if his gutshot straight-draw was a winner he'd inadvertently mucked.

"Next time," he said. "Next time we are heads up, I'm all in."

I guess the lady was right.

Macho.

An afternoon in France

We started with approximately 245 players. Just before the dinner break, we sit at 191. Notables Noah Boeken and his mentor Marcel Luske have both already left us. Luske suffered an unfortunate beat when he flopped two pair with his 89 and got all in with a player holding aces. An ace came on the river and Luske left, his entertainment value in tow.

The room has quieted down a bit from the early part of the afternoon. The players are focused and intent on making it until tomorrow.

One notable player still in is David "Devilfish" Ulliott. He's been keeping himself strong with soda, a triple-decker sandwich, and a lifetime achievement award.

This afternoon, Casino Helsinki and a board of casino management voters awarded Devilfish with the European Poker Lifetime Achievement Award. And all this time I thought he was James Bond and spent most of his time picking up beautiful women and saving the world.

The Devilfish receives his Poker Lifetime Achievement Award

Aches and pains

For those who aren't familiar with the French way of living and talking, the word pain translates to "bread." I could spend several paragraphs writing about the various breads I've seen and sampled since I've been in the country. But I'm primarily concerned with the amount of pain sliding back and forth across the felt in the form of chips. It's enough to give a lowly tournament reporter a back ache. And if I'm hurting, you can imagine how tensed-up the players are.

Enter: Christine.

A few minutes ago, Warren Karp announced that Christine, the masseusse, had arrived with her massaging tools and that all players were welcome to partake of her services.

I expected a few quips from the players and I was not disappointed. My favorite: A player looked at the felt in front of him and then the dealer, "Will we still play if someone is laying on the table?"

Christine provides one of the most valuable services in the room

We're headed into the dinner break now. We'll be back with more a bit later.

The French Open...open for Business--UPDATED

2005-02-16T15:13:00.000+01:00

Insta-Photo Gallery below

The French Open begins

Anybody who has ever walked into a casino knows the sound of dozens, nay hundreds, of slot machines tinkling and cackling, mimicking the sound of coins falling into the metal bin at the bottom. It is impossible to mistake.

Although the casino down the hallway from here, I can't help but think about the sound. The poker players' noisy facsimile is the constant riffling of chips. In this giant ballroom, where nearly every seat is full and the tournament directors are scrambling to find more space, that sound is everywhere. The air is one constant riffle, like a stack of chips ten stories high is shuffling itself together.

Early this afternoon, they made the decision. Instead of playing in two smaller flights, we'll be playing in one large flight today. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 people here. Above me, a recorded symphony just exploded from the speakers, vitory music for the rifflers. In a matter of moments, the cards are going to be in the air. We'll be starting with 10,000 chips per player, playing hour levels, beginning at 25/50 blinds.

If you find yourself waiting for an update, be sure to check out this link, the home of the EPT Grand Final.

Insta-Photo Gallery

Noah "Exlcusive" Boeken, EPT Scandinavian Open Champion

Poker pro, Isabelle Mercier

Bambos Xanthos, Scandinavian Open third-place finisher

Alex Cooper, Scandinavian Open eighth-place finisher

Dan Pedersen (left), Scandinavian Open seventh-place finisher, sitting next to Marcel Luske, Scandinavian Open ninth-place finisher

Who is that with his supplies always at the ready: a pack of Reds and a mix of green and orange Tic Tacs?

It's John Gale, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion

Pro-gamer, Bertrand Grospellier (aka ElkY), a Frenchman who resides in Korea, recent winner of PokerStars.com's Pro-Gamer challenge

Bill Munley (aka Bumperenos), is a well-known in poker circles in the American Northeast. He won his seat at the French Open with 15 Frequent Player Points on PokerStars.com

Israeli Boaz Lavie has qualified online at PokerStars.com for the Scandinavian Open, French Open, and EPT Grand Final. He's still working on the EPT event in Vienna

Winner of the best shades of the day contest, this guy is giving Greg Raymer's glasses a run for the money

The European Poker Tour French Open ... Pregame--UPDATED

2005-02-15T17:37:00.000+01:00

Editor's note: While I hadn't planned to post any more today, a star-studded super drew me out of the shadows. See the end of this introductory post for a few snapshots of some familiar faces

Strangers on a train

The train to Deauville quickly escapes Paris’ clogged, arterial cobblestone streets and finds respite in impossibly green hills, where little cottages let loose small plumes of chimney smoke. At 80 miles per hour, it’s like quickly flipping through the pages of a child’s story book. These little villages don’t have men on mopeds zipping in between lanes of traffic and four lanes of traffic squeezed into three. They have grazing sheep and deciduous trees that ache for printemps.

There is nothing particularly extraordinary about international flights other than inherently remarkable ability to haul hundreds of people through freezing skies, over dark seas, and land them safely in places as foreign as, say, Idaho...or Mars.

And, so, as the Noon train to Deauville, France pulls away from Paris’ St. Lazare Station at the very second the clock ticks from AM to PM, it’s worth noting that as unremarkable as international flying can be, it takes a hearty soul to venture internationally and compete on the European Poker Tour.

As is habit for me on these trips, I find myself catching the eye of my fellow travelers and sizing them up in one of two ways. They either are or are not poker players. If my tired eyes aren’t failing me, this car has two or three players on it. And at least one of them wants a game. Now.

If I didn’t already have work to do, I’d be curious as to whether he might be interested in a heads-up match. We have two hours before we pull into the station up north. That’s enough time to soothe an omnipresent jones. Alas, the car is shaking against the tracks as it takes its own brand of flight along the rails and out of this old city. The chips would slide off the little plastic tables, anyway.

Meeting James Bond

When the locomotive reached its terminus, I realized I had underestimated the number of players on the train. I found many familiar faces, all scrunched up against the cold, and biting the inside of their cheek waiting for the taxi line to shrink. I had little doubt we were all going to the same place, and, as such, offered the nearest person in line a seat in my taxi.

As we made our way thorough the Deauville streets, where shoppers strolled and squinted against the occasional spitting rain, the man sitting next to me remarked, “I bet this is a nice place in the summer.”

I couldn’t help but agree, especially when he picked up my cab fare.

Once at the registration desk, we gave our names, he offering “James Bond” to the registration clerk. She looked at him incredulously. As she turned away, he fiddled with his cell phone and forthwith came the 007 theme song.

With a chuckle, Devilfish grabbed his cell phone, checked in and headed off to the tournament room.

Can a hotel be a delicacy?

The Hotel Normandy and the adjoining Deauville Casino are playing host to the European Poker Tour this week. It’s a place where gargoyle monkeys guard one’s room so that no one steals the bath salts, fluffy robes, and heated towel racks.

The Hotel Normandy

The view from the Hotel Normandy

My guard monkey

The host casino

It’s a welcoming place, especially for a traveler who felt lucky to make it to Deauville in one piece.

To wit...

Touching down in Paris itself was more perilous than one might imagine. As we crossed of the English Channel and made our way through the snow-spitting skies, we settled into a smooth, routine landing. Just moments before touchdown, the jet engines wound back up like a giant cat in search of a mate. The nose of the plane pulled violently upward and we were again skyward.

The pilot popped onto the intercom to explain. “Folks, we were cleared to land, but another plane didn’t make it off the runway in time. That happens sometimes.”

And so we circled back around and ultimately landed safely. Apparently that happens sometimes, too.

On the ground and in search of a train, I found a long line of people looking generally bored, but somewhat ill-at-ease. Heavily armed men and women in fatigues had cordoned off the walkway to the train station and were giving the stink-eye to anyone who had the audacity to creep in too close. A lesser-armed and smiling officer told me someone had found a suspicious bag on the way to the TGV. So, I set down my bags and watched as what appeared to be a French bomb squad wound a long cord to the bag. It sat about 150 yards from where I stood.

To pass the time, I listened to the iPod, Etta James and her desire for a Sunday kind of love, and watched a police officer flirt with two American girls who had taken up a perch on their bags. A few minutes later, an officer blew a whistle and I grabbed for my bags.

I mean, that was the “all-clear” whistle, right?

Before I had a chance to fully comprehend why all the police officers were sticking their fingers in their ears, an explosion ripped through the terminal.

Ah. That was the “we’re about to asplode somethin’” whistle.

Fortunately for my ever-aging heart, my recently-departed former life gave me some experience with bomb squads and it didn’t take me long to deduce that the officers had just blown up their suspicious bag as a precaution.

On cue, the Beatles “Ob La Di, Ob La Da” came on the iPod.

And life goes on.

Deauville in the afternoon

Like some of the other stops on the EPT, this tournament is brining poker to its host city. High security is greeting the players, as poker in this form is not normally legal in the casino. As such, the tournament room has been set up just outside the casino in a posh ballroom. The room rivals any of I’ve seen so far in its nice-ness.

The poker room, pregame

Since the main event doesn’t begin until Wednesday, I took some time to walk around Deauville. While I fancy myself a writer, there’s no real way to describe this old city without seeming trite. Its Old World architecture pushes in on the streets, and the streets push out to the beach where tourists brave the cold for a walk along the boardwalk. The sloops in the harbor sit unused, waiting for the first Spring wind to take them out on the water. All the while, the mansions on the hill look down on the little city, its old hotels, and its modern casino.

The Deauville beach

The Deauville harbor

The boardwalk

The houses on the hill

Indeed, I’m sure it is a nice place in the summer.

And, frankly, it’s an impressive place in the dead of winter, too.

The main event tournament action begins tomorrow and I’ll be here with updates throughout the day. In the meantime, rest up. More than 100 people have qualified online through PokerStars.com and the field is looking so big that it may require two flights.

Until the cards get in the air, bonjour, folks.

Update

For a little bit of fun on tournament eve, the players are having some fun in a 100 Euro rebuy super-sat. Here are a few shots to get us rolling into Wednesday.

French pro, David Benyamine

Copenhagan final table player, and PokerStars.com online qualifier, Eirik Kolaas

U.K. standout Julian Thew in the middle of a rebuy

Justin Bonomo, PokerStars.com online qualifier for the Caribbean Adventure, Scandinavian Open, and French Open

This is not Kirsten Dunst, but I watched "Wimbledon" on the flight over and I haven't slept in a couple of days

You ever see a guy with such a sour face after turning kings full of threes? In fact, he was quite happy about it.

EPT Scandinavian Open Final Report

2005-01-31T12:20:00.000+01:00

Editor's note: For a hand-by-hand account of the final table, click here. And after you read this, be sure to come back in a couple of weeks when PokerStars.com and the EPT head to Deauville, France

I remember a time in my youth, back before I grew jaded and suspicious of fight promoters, that I was enthralled by the science, strength, and skill of boxing. It was a spectacle of mind-numbing proportions for a ten-year-old: A heavyweight bout that went the distance, both fighters bloodied, broken, hanging on each other because they had barely the energy to stand, swollen tissue and flaps of skin hanging from their faces. The only thing that could make a kid's heart beat again was watching one of those fighters summon something from their deepest gut and swing a roundhouse punch with such power, you almost wouldn't know he was near uncoinciousness.

As I sat tonight in the ballroom of the Casino Copenhagen, watching my computer battery slowly die under the weight of nearly seven hours of final table action, I thought about those younger days, sitting in front of a TV, wondering which of the prize fighters would fall to the canvas, spent and bleeding, just happy to be alive.

It was a final table that knocked off five players with uppercut after uppercut, then slipped into a marathon heads-up session that can only be compared to careful, artful science. One that ended with something you'd likely never see on the canvas.

This knockout required a different fabric all together.

Since I had to wait for hours to see it happen, I think you can wait for a few paragraphs while we pay homage to the fighters who didn't make it to the final showdown.

18 and hours to go

There was a different energy in the poker room this morning. It was more guarded, quieter. Almost serene. The TV folks had dimmed the overhead lights and the players found themseves only bathed in the singled overhead bulbs that lit the poker tables.

Katja Spillum had precious little time to soak in the light. Her stack was short by the chip-leader's standards. On the very first hand of play, with a spade draw on the board, she went in with Q9 in spades but couldn't get there, and ended up losing to Julian Thew's aces.

Katja Spillum, a moment in the light

Dubliner Padraig Parkinson, sitting at the adjacent table thought he'd put his aces to work and put Jarl Lindholt all in with KQo. It proved to be unfortunate. Two queens came down on the board and cracked the Irishman's aces in two. It would also prove to be a bad omen.

Before that omen could realize itself, though, with the blinds at 1500/3000/300, Jarkko Laine of Finland raised to 11,000 under the gun. Julian Thew re-raised behind him to 30,000. And then from the big blind, chip-leader Mikael Westerlund moved all-in. Jarkko called for the remainder of his chips and flipped up two eights. Westerlund turned over AK. The flop was benign, but Westerlund turned an ace and Jarkko left in 17th place.

Just a few hands later, as the blinds moved up to 2000/4000/300, shortstacked Xuyen Pham went all in with KQs and Marcel Luske called from the BB with an ace. An ace on the flop sent BadGirl Pham packing in 16th.

Goodbye, Badgirl

It was then Padraig Parkinson's bad luck would rear its head again. From the button he pushed in with a pair of jacks. Noah Boeken called from the BB with KT and turned a king. The man from Dublin left in 15th.

Next came my favorite hand of the day. I chronicled it in an earlier post.

Marcel Luske was peeved. All-in preflop against two bigger stacks, the TD told the dealer to bring in the original bets and only leave Marcel's raise out for everyone to see. Thing was, Marcel had precious few chips left. It made his raise seem...well, puny.

And so he was peeved. Both Mikael Westerlund and Pat McCarthy called. Marcel sat back to wait it out. The flop came down KTT and Westerlund severely underbet the pot, betting only 7000. It seemed suspicious and McCarthy folded. Westerlund turned up JTs for the flopped set. Still peeved and on the verge of elimination, Marcel stewed and watched the turn, an ace. Sure, the jack would give him the broadway straight, but it would also give Mikael the boat. So, Marcel had two outs and tendrils of steam coming out his Dutch nostrils.

Two outs. Two queens.

One of which the dealer turned up on the river.

Like a film run in reverse motion, the steam shot back up into Marcel's nose and came out as a giant "Yahhhh!" as he stood and screamed. He pointed to the dealer and made a motion that looked like he was grinding a giant pepper mill.

I still don't know what the pepper mill was all about, but it still makes me giggle.

Mika Puro was next out in 14th place after pushing in with KQ vs Ram Vaswani's 77. Puro never improved and bid the remaining players goodbye. He was followed by Birgitta Johansson who made an attempt at a blind steal with 74o from the button and lost to Vaswani's KQ.

The final lady at the table, Birgitta Johansson, finished 13th

In two back-to-back hands, Aleksander Cooper assured himself a seat at the final table, first busting Jarl Lindholt (Demark) with 99 versus Lindholt's AQ, then busting Per Hildebrand's aces with TT when he flopped a full house.

With ten players left, we condensed to one table. Pokerstars.com online qualifer, Pat McCarthy was holding strong, having doubled up ealier in the day. His stack grew shorter though and with 55 he came all in over the top of a commonplace raise from Mikael Westerlund. Westerlund called with QT. The flop, 624, was beautiful for McCarthy. The turn, a king, did no damage either. Then, Westerlunnd spiked his queen on the river and the race was over. McCarthy left in 10th place.

Pat McCarthy

With just one player remaining before we moved under the TV lights, Marcel Luske (a man who plays to win, not just cash) moved all in for 38,000 from middle position. Mikael Westerlund called with A8 and Marcel never improved, leaving the table in 9th place, but sticking around to watch his protoge, Noah Boeken move on to the TV table.

Under the lights

The EPT cameras get ready to roll on the final table

When we moved to the TV table, this is how it looked.

Seat one: Bambos Xanthos, 115,500
Seat two: Julian Thew, 163,500
Seat three: Dan Pedersen, 113,100
Seat four: Noah Boeken, 99,400
Seat five: Aleksander Cooper, 206,500
Seat six: Eirik Kolaas, 126,800
Seat seven: Ram Vaswani, 294,100
Seat eight: Mikael Westerlund, 435,000

The story of the day so far had been PokerStars Caribbean Adventure third-place finisher Mikael Westerlund. With a loose reputation, but a proven ability to make final tables, Westerlund had run over his table, amassing a massive chip lead that was only threatened by Hendon Mobster, Ram Vaswani. Privately I predicted Westerlund would make it to the final three players. While I'd never predict who would win, the players had been folding raises to Westerlund's re-raises all day long and he seemed to have a captain's control over his opponents.

Of course, there was always the possiblity of a mutiny. But we'll get to that in a moment.

On the very first hand of the TV table, Aleksander Cooper raised from middle position, then psuhed all in when Vaswani re-raised from the button. Vaswani called the raise, establishing a massive pot. Cooper, who had one of the larger stacks at the table, turned over AK. Vaswani flipped up QQ and Cooper didn't catch an ace or king and left in 8th place.

Ten hands later, the table folded around to Westerlund who cold-called the 8000 blind. Dan Pedersen called from the SB. In the BB, Noah Boeken made a decision and pushed the rest of his small stack into the middle. Westerlund asked for a count. It was 81,800 total. Mikael counted out his massive stack of blue 5K chips, twirled one on the table, screwed up his mouth and made it look like Robert DeNiro’s. In the meantime, Noah bobbed his head to the tunes on his iPod and shot Westerlund looks of confidence. Westerlund called the all-in bet with A4o. Noah showed 88. Westerlund never caught an ace and Boeken began his run toward destiny.

Westerlund had continued his run of coming in for raises. Two hands later he came in for a 3xBB bet. The table folded around to Dan Pedersen who re-raised from the cutoff. The flop came down 573 wth one club. Miakel bet out about 1/3 of the pot and Pedersen came over the top all in. Mikael called to find Pedersen was trying to start a mutiny, but failed. Pedersen held J9 of clubs. Westerlund had A2 for ace-high and a gutshot straight draw. The turn was an ace of clubs, giving Mikael the pair but Pederesen the fush draw. But the river didn't deliver and Pedersen was out in seventh place.

Seventh-place finisher Dan Pedersen couldn't carry his Saturday chip-lead to victory

Mutiny

It was as if the table had made an agreement that went something like this: Around twenty hands into the final table, we're all going to turn on Mikael Westerlund. On two conseuctive hands, the players got Westerlund deeply involved in a hand, then pushed him off major pots with major bets. Westerlund's stack was cut nearly in half in just two hands.

Then on the very next hand, Ram Vaswani got in a blind battle with Westerlund, flopped two pair and took down a 300K pot.

I thought at this point that Westerlund might slow down a little. He'd lost a large portion of his chips on three consecutive hands.

I was wrong.

On the VERY NEXT HAND, Vaswani cold-called the blind from the button. Westerlund raised the pot from the small blind and Vaswani called. The flop came down 338 rainbow and Westerlund bet out 100K. Vaswani announced he was all in and almost immediately Westerlund called. Ram flipped up AA, Westerlund had AJ. Just like that, Vaswani took down a pot worth half a million and Westerlund was out in sixth place...from first to worst in four hands.

That's what you call mutiny.

Mikael Westerlund, mutiny victim

Facing 10-1

Right then and there it looked like it was all over. Vaswani had more than quadrupled up in just a little more than 20 hands. He had almost a 10-1 chip lead over the rest of the table. He held more than a million in chips.

Two hands later, PokerStars.com online qualifier Eirik Kolaas pushed in the rest of his stack with QTo and got called by Noah who held A9o. He paired his queen on the turn, but three spades on the board gave Noah a flush draw and an overcard. The river was an ace and sent Kolaas out in fifth place.

Eirik Kolaas

The remaining players proected their stacks for another ten hands or so when Julian moved in from the SB when A3o. Noah called with A5o, outkicked Julian, and sent him home in fourth place.

Nice-guy, Julian Thew

It took another 20 hands of chip protection before Bambos Xanthos pushed all in with TT from the BB. Noah called with KJo, flopped a K, and sent Xanthos out in third place.

I hated to see Bambos go. Every time he announced all in, he did it as if shooing away flies from a picnic dinner. A sort of backward wave of the hand, as if to say, "Posh, all in with these filthy chips."

A TV monitor shows a close-up of Bambos Xanthos

Back to boxing

It took 63 hands to eliminate the first six players. It would take the same number before another would fall.

When heads up play began Ram Vaswani had 938,500 in chips and Noah Boeken 621,500. This was shaping up to be a battle after all.

Now, if you've ever watched boxing, you've heard the crowd boo and hiss when two fighters dance around, avoiding throwing or catching big punches. When you've paid to see a fight, you want to see two guys fight.

You might remember, at the PCA, it only took seven hands to finish heads up play. So, when we passed the fifty-hand head-up-hand mark, even the die hards were getting a little anxious. Vaswani and Boeken were trading some small punches, but nothing that would get the crowd riled up. Boeken slowly captured the chip lead, and the battle continued at the pace of two old men running for the bus stop.

At one point, when I was feeling guilty for feeling a little bored, Devilfish walked by the bar, looked at me and said, "Boring as hell isn't it?"

I couldn't disagree.

And that's when I thought about those old boxing matches. These two guys played poker for 12 hours on Saturday and another ten hours on Sunday. They were on the cusp of winning a major European event (for Vaswani, it would be his second, for he won in Dublin as well). These guys were prize fighters in the final round of a knock-down drag-out match that if the game had been any more brutal, they might've just died of shock on the felt. Who am I--who was anybody--to want them to take some risks and let us get some sleep?

These guys were artists. They were scientists. They were championship players. They may have been hanging on each other for strength and throwing half-hearted gut-punches when they could find the energy, but they had gone the distance.

Of course, I couldn't convince my computer battery of that. After recording almost 130 consecutive hands, the warning light came on, and I started to scramble to finind a power outlet. Just as I'd found one and pulled out my power cable, I heard the TD announce, "Both players are all in."

What? What?

I didn't look back to see the thousands of dollars of equipment I left scattered on the floor. I just grabbed a notebook and pen and ran for the table.

Noah was all in with AQ. Ram was all in with AJ. Noah had him covered.

The flop had to break Noah’s heart: JT3. It paired up Ram and would’ve doubled him up as well.

The crowd gasped as the jack came down. It seemed we were in for another 60 hands.

And then...the turn.

A king.

In one second, Noah went from sheer disaster to the nuts. The king gave him the Broadway straight, first prize, a seat at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, and his first major live tournament win.

It was then, friends, that the bell rang and the two warriors collapsed in their corners, shooing off their cut-men, and letting the cobwebs fall away from their synapses.

Ram Vaswani, left, and Noak Boeken, right, give interviews to the EPT

Here's how it looked in the end.

1,098,340 (Kroner)

1st--Noah Boeken (Holland)

549,170 (Kroner)

2nd--Ram Vaswani (U.K.)

271,695 (Kroner)

3rd--Bambos Xanthos

173,442 (Kroner)

4th--Julian Thew

115,615 (Kroner)

5th--Eirik Kolaas

101,163 (Kroner)

6th--Mikael Westerlund (Sweden)

86,711 (Kroner)

7th--Dan Pedersen (Denmark)

72,259 (Kroner)

8th--Aleksander Cooper

57,807 (Kroner)
9th--Marcel Luske, Holland

46,246 (Kroner)
10th-- Pat McCarthy, USA (acpro)

46,246 (Kroner)

11th--Per Hildebrand (Sweden)
12th--Jarl Lindholt (Demark)

40,465 (Kroner)

13th--Birgitta Johansson

35,684 (Kroner)

14th--Mika Puro
15th--Padraig Parkinson (Dublin)
16th--Xuyen Pham (Thailand)
17th--Jarkko Laine (Finland)
18th--Katja Spillum

Noah Boeken strains under the weight of his winnings

And that's how it ends here in Copenhagen, folks. From nudity on arrival to battle scars on departure, this festival has ended. Next stop, Deauville France. Be sure to join us right here in February for a full accounting from there.

I have a flight to catch. See you in Deauville.

Insta-Photo Gallery

2005-01-31T03:25:00.000+01:00

Final table seating and chip counts below this post

In the moments we have before final table action begins, I thought a insta-photo gallery was in order.

One quick housekeeping matter. Unfortunately, unlike the PCA, we will not be able to do a live hand-by-hand. The poker room doesn't have an internet connection. So, my plan is to keep a hand-by-hand record as play progresses and post it at every break. It's the best I can do.

Now, a few photos.

Chip leader, Mikael "The Salesman" Westerlund

The final two tables begin to compete

Online phenom Noah "Exclusive" Boeken next to his mentor, Marcel Luske

Eirik Kolaas, a man who says very little but collects a lot of chips

Yesterday's chip leader, today's final table-maker, Dan Pedersen

Julian Thew, considered to be one of the nicest guys you'll meet at a poker table

Bambos Xanthos, signing for his chips and headed to the final table

The final lady at the table, Birgitta Johansson, finished 13th

Katja Spillum, 18th place finisher

Final eight headed to TV

2005-01-31T03:00:00.000+01:00

Marcel ground as much pepper as he could out of the table. After hitting his two outer earlier in the day, he just couldn't hang on any more, pushing in the rest of his stack with K8. Chip-leader Mikael Westerlund called with A8 and Luske bid the players goodbye.

We also lost PokerStars.com online qualifer, Pat McCarthy when his pair of fives lost to Westerlund's QT (a queen came on the river).

46,246 (Kroner)
10th-- Pat McCarthy, USA (acpro)

57,807
9th--Marcel Luske, Holland

Here is your final table, listed by seat number, with chip counts to the right.

Final Table

Seat one: Bambos Xanthos, 115,500
Seat two: Julian Thew, 163,500
Seat three: Dan Pedersen, 113,100
Seat four: Noah Boeken, 99,400
Seat five: Aleksander Cooper, 206,500
Seat six: Eirik Kolaas, 126,800
Seat seven: Ram Vaswani, 294,100
Seat eight: Mikael Westerlund, 435,000

Final ten--fast action

2005-01-31T02:26:00.000+01:00

We're on a quick five minute break while they seat the final ten players. Caribbean Adventure 3rd place finisher Mikael Westerlund is your chip leader with well over 240K in chips. Aleksander Cooper (AXABAXA)just crushed two players in back to back hands. His 99 face AQ and held up. Then he was in with TT versus AA and flopped a boat.

40,465 (Kroner)

13th--Birgitta Johansson

46,246 (Kroner)

12th--Jarl Lindholt (Demark)
11th--Per Hildebrand (Sweden)

Just a couple more players until we go under the television lights.

In-game report, down to 13

2005-01-31T01:39:00.000+01:00

Marcel was peeved. All-in preflop against two bigger stacks, the TD told the dealer to bring in the original bets and only leave Marcel's raise out for everyone to see. Thing was, Marcel had precious few chips left. It made his raise seem...well, puny.

And so he was peeved. Both Mikael Westerlund and Pat McCarthy called. Marcel sat back to wait it out. The flop came down KTT and Westerlund severely underbet the pot, betting only 7000. It seemed suspicious and McCarthy folded. Westerlund turned up JTs for the flopped set. Still peeved and on the verge of elimination, Marcel stewed and watched the turn, an ace. Sure, the jack would give him the broadway straight, but it would also give Mikael the boat. So, Marcel had two outs and tendrils of steam coming out his Dutch nostrils.

Two outs. Two queens.

One of which the dealer turned up on the river.

Like a film run in reverse motion, the steam shot back up into Marcel's nose and came out as a giant "Yahhhh!" as he stood and screamed. He pointed to the dealer. he made a motion that looked like he was grinding a giant pepper mill.

And then he sat back down, tripled up, and back in the game.

We're down to 13 players.

34,684 (Kroner)

16th--Xuyen Pham--Thailand
15th--Padraig Parkinson--Dublin (had some really bad luck today)
14th--Mika Puro

The blinds are going up and we're going back to work.

In-game rapid, rock-n-fire report

2005-01-31T00:41:00.000+01:00

Here's a quick update from the last level at 1500/3000/300.

35,684 (Kroner)

18th--Katja Spillum
17th--Jarkko Laine (Finland)

In other news, Padraig Parkinson got cut in half, all in with aces vs. KQo. Two queens on the board hurt the man from Dublin.

And online qualfier Pat McCarthy fomr the U.S. just doulbed up off Mikael Westerlund with a pair of queens vs. 9To.

And, yep, as sure as I walk away, we lost another player.

We're now at 2000/4000/500.

Back at the end of this level.

The Final Eighteen on the Final Day

2005-01-30T23:20:00.000+01:00

Final preparations for the EPT final table

Morning...er...afternoon to all.

We're just a few minutes from beginning the final day of action here in Copenhagen. I thought before we begin, you'd like to see the list of 18.

1--Dan Pedersen--181,000 DENMARK
2--Ram Vaswani--151,000 UK
3--Eirik Kolaas--150,000 NORWAY
4--Mikael Westerlund--139,000 SWEDEN
5--Bambos Xanthos--131,700
6--Per Hildebrand--107,000 SWEDEN
7--Julian Thew--102,000 UK
8--Marcel Luske--83,800 HOLLAND
9--Padraig Parkinson--65,300 IRELAND
10--Aleksander "AXABAXA" Cooper--64,900 NORWAY
11--Pat McCarthy--55,800 USA -
12--Mika Puro--53,700
13--Noah "Exclusive" Boeken--49,400 HOLLAND
14--Birgitta Johansson--42,900
15--Katja Sophie Spillum--35,600
16--Jarl Lindholt--31,900 DENMARK
17--Jarkko Laine--25,000 FINLAND
18--Xuyen Pham--23,800 THAILAND

I'll provide updates this afternoon as frequently as possible. Unfortunately, my internet connection sits in a room adjacent to the poker room. What's more, casino security (read: people whom I'd like to keep in good spirits) like to keep the door to the adjoining room locked. To post, I'm forced to run down stairs, then back upstairs, and into my little hole. So, I can't bring you minute-by-minute action. Rest assured, though, when something big happens, you'll see it here as quickly as I can possible.

I'm also trying to work out the details of a hand-by-hand recount of the final table. The EPT works ever-so-slightly different than the WPT, so a hand-by-hand may be slightly challenging. Nevertheless, if it is in any way possible, you'll see it here.

Action begins shortly. Stay tuned.

Scandinavian Open--Saturday Final Report

2005-01-30T14:20:00.000+01:00

Chip counts can be found at the bottom of this post

I stood with the assembled poker media elite, legs in full-on protest over several hours of standing, and eyed the man with the Las Vegas hat.

"Who is that?" asked a member of the European media.

Minutes before, I didn't know the answer. I felt almost embarassed, in fact. I mean, a guy with a chip stack that big surely was a well-known player. So, I'd sidled up to him, with a little shame in my eyes, swallowed my pride and asked his name and where he was from.

"Dan Pedersen," he said. "I'm from here."

Here. Copenhagen. Denmark.

Minutes later, I made the rounds, announcing to anyone who would listen that the great unknown who had outlasted the Great Dane himself was, in fact, Dan Pedersen, a Dane verging on greatness.

Chip-leader, Dan Pedersen

I'd found my to his table by accident, really. A crowd was assembling itself around the table, not for Dan, but a man deep, deep in the tank.

You are now entering the den of insanity

His name was Morten Stenheim. The man from Oslo was looking at a flop, 665 with one diamond. His opponent, Patrik Antonius had pushed in every last one of his chips. Though Stenheim had him covered, to lose the hand would cripple him beyond repair. Essentially, he was making a decision for the rest of his tournament life.

Stenheim, of Oslo, Norway

The minutes wore on and the crowd grew larger. Perhaps Stenheim thought his opponent had a big pair. Perhaps he feared a six. After a player called the clock on Stenheim, the tournament director arrived and counted down the 70 seconds afforded a player so deeply in the tank. With just a few seconds remaining, Stenheim announced, "Call." Antonius flipped over AA. Stenheim winced and turned over his ATs in diamonds.

With only one diamond on the board, Stenheim needed two running cards to win.

The turn was an eight of diamonds. Stenheim yelled in his native tongue. Though I didn't understand the word, I have no doubt he was screaming, "Diamond!"

From his lungs to the poker gods ears...the jack of diamonds fell on the river.

Some people might say, "That's just one way aces lose."

Well, if it is, it's a gut-sucking way that made me nauseus just looking at it.

Antonius took it like a man who is used to getting beat unconcious, which is to say, pretty quietly

A little while later, the fates of bad beats turned their back on Stenheim when he called a small raise from Marcel Luske and saw a flop of TTx. Both players checked and saw the turn, another blank. Luske bet out, Stenheim raised all-in. Luske called and showed JT to beat Stenheim's pocket cowboys.

I thought, perhaps, that signalled that I'd seen the end of the craziness for the night.

Instead, just a few minutes later at table two, QQ went all-in vs. 99 vs. 88 all-in. Three pocket pairs, two players all in. At first, it looked good for the queens. The flop came down AQK. Then the turn, a jack. And then the river: a ten. A broadway straight on the board and none of the pocket pairs meant diddly. Chop-chop...chop.

A Frequent Player Point and a Chair

Because I like a Cinderella story as much as anybody (except maybe Prince Charming, who always seems into that sort of thing), I keep a close eye on the online qualifiers who made their way to Denmark for the tournament. I was first drawn to Justin Bonomo who cashed on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Bonomo nursed a short-stack most of the day, finally busting in 25th place after he went all-in with JJ. His opponent held AK and found a king on the turn.

Bonomo, stacking his short-stack

Then there ways Terry Jenkins. The man rode over with me on the plane and had a running, friendly argument with his brother, who claimed to own half of Jenkins winnings. Jenkins had qualified with 200 Frequent Player Points and was on the freeroll of freerolls. He gave me some hope when he flopped a set of aces against an opponent who flopped bottom two pair. Alas, he would not survive into the money either.

Terry Jenkins, Palm Desert, CA

And then I heard the story of Pat McCarthy. McCarthy returned from his dinner break with only 3600 chips. His fiancee who flew in today went upstairs to bed. Then McCarthy proceeded to bust Gus Hansen. Then he busted Devilfish's KK with AA. He, too, was here on a 200FPP freeroll. As the hour passed 2am, he told me he'd told his fiancee, "If I'm not upstairs by 3am, it's good news."

Sure enough, when 3am came, McCarthy, from Atlantic City, was counting his chips. He goes into tomorrow in 11th place.

Good news, honey.

Pat McCarthy, Atlantic City, NJ

To the Bahamas and back again

Third-place PCA finisher, Mikael "The Salesman" Westerlund seems to be on a bit of a roll. Freshly out of the islands, he's running well here in Denmark.

As I sat and watched him, the man known to play 64o as the nuts, raised four consecutive hands. On the next hand, under the gun, he looked an his cards, scowled, and folded. Then he announced with his best salesman's pitch, "Anybody at this table would raise with that hand, but I'm afraid people are getting tired of my raises."

Well-known online player Noah "Exclusive" Boeken seemed incredulous. Westerlund countered with the best line of the night.

"I never raise with bad hands," he said. "And I never bluff. And I never lie."

He heads into tomorrow in fourth place with a very healthy chip-stack.

Westerlund in a rare folding moment

Back to the front

And, of course, we must make our way back to chipleader, Dan Pedersen. With a growing cheering section behind him, he went to battle with another well-known player who had the chips to make it into the money. With just a couple players left before the bubble, the two went to war on a raggedy board and ended up all-in. Pedersen held QQ. His opponent held TT. Pedersen's queens held up and his stack grew to more than 180,000, securing his position as chip leader.

He still has his work cut out for him though. Hendon Mobster, Ram Vaswani has been quietly, properly collecting chips all day long and sits just 30,000 back in second place.

Ram Vaswani

And frankly, the rest of the field doesn't have any slouches in it, either. To wit: Padraig Parkison, Julian Thew, Noah Boeken, and Marcel Luske are there as well and have chips with which to play.

1--Dan Pedersen--181,000
2--Ram Vaswani--151,000
3--Eirik Kolaas--150,000
4--Mikael Westerlund--139,000
5--Bambos Xanthos--131,700
6--Per Hildebrand--107,000
7--Julian Thew--102,000
8--Marcel Luske--83,800
9--Padraig Parkinson--65,300
10--Aleksander "AXABAXA" Cooper--64,900
11--Pat McCarthy--55,800
12--Mika Puro--53,700
13--Noah "Exclusive" Boeken--49,400
14--Birgitta Johansson--42,900
15--Katja Sophie Spillum--35,600
16--Jarl Lindholt--31,900
17--Jarkko Laine--25,000
18--Xuyen Pham--23,800

While I could type on and on about the 12 hours of play, good sense dictates I close now and get rested up for the final 18 players later today.

Please come back and join us. It promises to be a good day.

In the money, headed to Sunday

2005-01-30T12:28:00.000+01:00

We broke this morning with 18 players remaining, all of them in the money.

I'll have a full report in a little while. Until then, here's your final 18 (with player-reported chip counts...I trust'em, don't you?)

1--Dan Pedersen--181,000
2--Ram Vaswani--151,000
3--Eirik Kolaas--150,000
4--Mikael Westerlund--139,000
5--Bambos Xanthos--131,700
6--Per Hildebrand--107,000
7--Julian Thew--102,000
8--Marcel Luske--83,800
9--Padraig Parkinson--65,300
10--Aleksander "AXABAXA" Cooper--64,900
11--Pat McCarthy--55,800
12--Mika Puro--53,700
13--Noah "Exclusive" Boeken--49,400
14--Birgitta Johansson--42,900
15--Katja Sophie Spillum--35,600
16--Jarl Lindholt--31,900
17--Jarkko Laine--25,000
18--Xuyen Pham--23,800

Play resumes at 2:30pm on Sunday. The way I count, that's about eleven hours from now.

Bubble time

2005-01-30T11:28:00.000+01:00

At 2:30am, we've reached 19 players. The next player out gets nothing.

Chip leader Dan Pedersen (seen below) has continued to run over the tables, most recently crushing a big stack with QQ vs. TT.

Other notables still in the hunt: Marcel Luske, Padraig Parkinson, Ram Vaswani, Mikael Westerlund, Julian Thew, and Noah Boeken, and Xuyen Pham.

Play resumes...now.

You heard correctly--1:15am, 28 players left

2005-01-30T10:15:00.000+01:00

Actually, I heard correctly.

It's Dan Pedersen.

Chip leader, Dan Pedersen, Copenhagen

Just a few moments ago, we condensed to three tables and finally, once the stacks of green started to obscure the players view, raced off the 25s. (See below for some of the big stack approximate counts).

Now in the eleventh hour of play, three of the biggest stacks in the game have converged on one table. Marcel Luske, Padraig Parkinson, and Dan Pedersen will be pushing around their weight as we play for the next two hours.

Indeed, it's been a grueling day for the players. The back muscles are beginning to grow stiff. The tailbones are starting to get sore.

And yet, only 30 seconds remain until play resumes.

Back to the felt.

In-game chip report and the picture of the day

2005-01-30T09:30:00.000+01:00

We've crossed from Saturday into Sunday. At 12:30am, we sit at 36 players. While the concept of an official chip-count is a little unruly right now, I did size up some stacks to determine who is out in front right now.

One thing is clear...

This guy is the current chip leader

Few people in the room know the man. I know this much. He is from Copengen and his name sounds remarkably like Dan Pedersen. That said, that name doesn't appear on my list of players, so he could be Ken Pedersen, or Frederik Pedersen...or even Daniel Berthelson. Once he's stopped taking everybody's chips, I'll firm up his name. I bothered him enough getting this far. He's sitting with about 170K in chips.

Close behind is Irishman Padraig Parkinson who just doubled up in a big way with AA vs. AK. I put him second in chips with somehwere in the neighborhood of 140K.

Also big in chips right now (although this is not a comprehensive list), are Noah Boeken (aka Exclusive) with about 80K and Mikael Westerlund with about 78K.

And hanging tough with a big stack of his own is Dutchman Marcel Luske. Just a few seconds ago, he stared down an all-in opponent and I was able to squeeze in for my favorite picture of the day.

One last thing before I head back into the room: For friends of online qualifier Justin Bonomo, he's still hanging in there. His stack isn't big, but he's alive.

Standby for more in a while.

The Great Dane is Great Done, and Insta-Photo Gallery

2005-01-30T08:10:00.000+01:00

He was the hometown hero. He was the man who proved to be confounding to his tablemates. He was the man who had an entire rail of Danish staff wrapped up in the moment that was the Great Dane.

A big dog that attracks a flock of birds

It's all past tense now, though. After a quick start, Gus trickled to a slow finish, busting out with a short stack, on an unremarkable hand, well out of the money. The crowd gave his a hometown round of applause. And then just as quickly play resumed.

Gus hitches up and moves on out

Also gone is the Devilfish, reportedly busting out on the OOH (only online hand), KK vs AA.

There are quite a few stories to tell in the two levels since the dinner break. But since we're just on an eight-minute respite, let this quick photo gallery suffice as a teaser.

Morten Stenheim, Oslo, King of the Bad Beat. Just wait to you read this suck-out story

Patrik Atonius (left), a jester in the King of Bad Beat's court. You'll feel for this guy.

Terry Jenkins (right), Palm Desert, CA, Frequent Player Point qualifier, hoping to be the Cinderella story

An impressive crowd is forming on the rail

Around 60 players remain out of the start 156.

More in a bit.

An appetizer

2005-01-30T06:45:00.000+01:00

The poker players just finished a nice dinner of east Asian food and soda pop. I can't offer you that, but I can offer a few morsels of what happeneed before the dinner break.

Gale Force Stymied by Aces

The poker room is a non-smoking venue. Anyone in need of a cigarette is forced downstairs to the main casino lobby.

I knew where I'd find John Gale.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion had just received a giant round of applause from his fellow players. In this room, that's not a good thing.

He stood at the bottom of the stairs with PCA final table-mate, Mikael Westerlund. Westerlund was in the middle of a rant about the stupidest player he's seen in his life. The tale wound through a series of bets, raises, and cold calls and ended with what even Westerlund admitted was a big mistake. After raising pre-flop with 9T, he found himself facing a re-raise. The Stupidest Player cold-called the re-raise giving Westerlund odds to call. The flop came nine-high and Stupid Player (not my words, so don't give me any grief about it) checked to Westerlund. Westerlund then made his mistake, checking his top-pair. Westerlund didn't indicate what the original re-raiser did, but I assume he checked, because Westerlund saw the turn, a king. He ended up losing at the end to a pair of kings his opponent made on the turn.

Westerlund survived and returned to his sat next to Marcel Luske.

But, really, I was there to hear John Gale's story.

Gale was working the play over and over in his head, still not free from the bounds of his loss. With the blinds at 25/50, Gale raised to 200 before the flop with a pair of queens. Martin de Knijff re-raised to 700. The raise wasn't enough to sscare Gale off. But before he had a chance to act, a player in between them cold-called the 700. Gale made a decision.

"I didn't want to see the flop," he said.

And so he pushed the rest of his stack into the middle.

Gale's Caribbean poker gods must've missed their flight, for de Knijff turned up AA, crippling Gale and sending him eventually to the casino lobby, a champion now saddled with the burden of being the first out of the Scandinavian Open.

Goodbye Mr. Gale

Dane, The Great and Terrifying

When I walked up to the table, Gus Hansen seemed to be needling Devilfish. He was piling chips that it seemed once belonged in Devilfish’s stack.

“You can’t believe how sick that hand was.,” he mused almost to himself. Then again, “So, sick.”

He shook his head as if he wronged the world in some way.

“So sick.”

Something drew my attention away from the table, but when I turned my head around, Gus said, “Deuce-five.”

I’d noticed during the hand in question, the board had a A34 on it with two spades.

“But the deuce-five it was in diamonds,” Gus said. Apparently Devilfish had been holding two spades.

“So sick.”

Devilfish in mean-looking mode

An orbit later, the deuce-five conversation hadn’t ceased. Gus made a minimum raise from the cutoff, then cold-called the button’s re-raise. The flop came jack-high rainbow. Gus bet out a small fraction of the pot and the button, perhaps still thinking about the deuce-five, pushed all in. Without as much as a blink, Gus called and flipped over two aces. The button, another European player, dropped his head and turned over two queens.

That, it seems, is the danger of the Great Dane. It could be deuce-five. It could be rockets.

A few hands later, Gus called the 150BB from early position. The table folded around to the BB, who checked his option. The flop came down ace-high with two clubs. The BB checked and Gus bet out the minimum. The BB called and they saw a rag on the turn. Again, the BB checked. This time, Gus followed suit. The river, a queen of hearts, drew another check from the BB. It was here I expected Gus to make a play at the pot. But he did not. He, too, checked.

The BB turned up AK suited in diamonds and Gus mucked his hand.

I looked back at the board with my mouth ever-so-slightly agape The BB had checked his option with suited Big Slick. He had checked his top-pair, top-kicker on the ace-high flop. He had checked the raggy turn. And he had checked the river that didn’t fill in the club flush.

Checked all the way down against Gus Hansen, who never bet more than the minimum bet.

Perhaps, I thought, he was hoping as I thought: that Gus would make a play at the pot and he could check-raise. Or, perhaps...perhaps he was just scared.

I walked away a little scared myself.

The Great Dane wondering...is there an adjective better than 'great?'

Why Hold'em Makes Your Heart Beat

I was watching one particular table because Marcel Luske, Mikael Westerlund, and Isabelle Mercier were all playing there. I was hoping to a catch a hand that involved one of them.

Instead, I got caught up in a hand featuring a young American.

In the cutoff, the young man raised about 2.5x the BB. The players folded around to the BB who cold-called the raise. The flop came king-high with two clubs. The BB checked, the kid announced strongly, “Eight hundred..”

The BB called and watched the turn come down. A queen of hearts. Now, two clubs and two hearts sat on the board.

Again, the BB checked and the young American announced, “One thousand.”

Again, the BB called.

It was as if everybody at the table knew what was happening. Two clubs on the board and two check-calls from the BB.

When the nine of clubs hit the river, the BB instantly moved all his chips in the middle. It almost seemed too deliberate. Too fast. So fast that either he had the flush and wanted to seem like he was making a play. Or so fast that he didn’t have the flush at all and was, in fact, making a play.

The young man went so far in the tank that the hotel had to call out for a deep sea diver to rescue the player. He was gone, mumbling to himself about not wanting to bust out early but also wanting the BB’s chips. Eventually, Luske called the clock on the kid. But the young man was so far in the tank, he didn’t hear it. The floorman came over and announced the American had one minute and ten seconds. The floor started counting down with ten seconds remaining.

With seven seconds left, the young man shot from the tank as if he’d been fired from cannon.

“Call,” he said with a voice of confidence that waned as fast as the BB turned over A8 of clubs for the nut flush.

And just like that, it was over. Six minutes of high-drama that for the moment represented to me everything this game is about. Decisions overlapping decisions, wrapped in a moment of sheer terror, culminating in a poker life or death maelstrom of denial and triumph.

Or something like that.

A decision he won't soon forget

So, there's your appetizer for the evening. Barring any connection problems, I hope to have a five course meal later on tonight.

Watson? Are you there?

2005-01-30T06:30:00.000+01:00

It appears after several hours of furious scrambling to fix the Internet server here at the Radisson, we've returned to something resembling connectivity.

In an age when we're used to getting whatever we want on demand, having to wait nearly three hours seems like an eternity, especially when there is fast and furious poker action going on. Out of fear you'd think I'd abandoned my post, I actually called the wife back in the states and asked her to post the Technical Difficulties entry.

But, we're back...hopefully for good.

Since I've spent a lot of time trying to get our connection back, I'll simply give you a few brief updates.

At 9PM Denmark time, we have 88 players left out of the original 156. Some well-knowns busted before the dinner break. Left to the cash games or next tournament are Isabelle Mercier, Baard Dahl and Martin de Knijff.

Just before the dinner break, stand out Xuyen Pham took a massive pot off her neighbor. After raising pre-flop to around 900 with AKo, the guy net to her pushed all in for about 7000. Everybody else folded around to Pham who considered her play for a few moments. She had the guy covered by nearly three times and finally decided to call. Her opponent flipped up 68o. Pham flopped two aces. Her opponent had four outs with a gut shot straight draw on the river, but his seven didn't come.

Pham, Queen of the Chip Stack

The top eighteen players will get paid tomorrow. We're expecting to get down to the final 20 or so by close of business at 4am.

I'll be back in a bit with another update.

Technical difficulties

2005-01-30T02:35:00.000+01:00

Hotel internet server has collapsed. Updates as soon as it recovers.

Scandanvian Open begins and Insta-Photo Gallery

2005-01-30T01:01:00.000+01:00

Thought you folks might enjoy a few pictures of the start of the tournament, but first...some sad news to report from the poker room. PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner, John Gale, thought it was an omen. He drew the exact same seating assignment as his first day in the Bahamas. Indeedm, the very same seating assignment that sent him to the final table and eventually first prize. Sounded like an omen to me. Sounded like an omen to him.

Unfortunately, the cards are sort of fickle about omens.

John Gale in his, er, lucky, seat

Gale's pair of queens ran up against a pair of aces. It was a crippling blow from which Gale had no spirit to recover. To a round of applause, he left as the first player out of the Scandanavian Open.

Just last night, Gale mentioned something about the poker gods being on his side. It seems his particular overseers are better suited for the temperate climate of the Caribbean than the Kingdom of Denmark.

With that out of the way, let's move on to a quick photo gallery.

The Scandanavina Open begins

Each table is lit by a single overhead light

Isabelle Mercier loses the off-table smile

The Great Dane returns to his homeland saying he'd had enough of Tunica, MS

Hendon Monster Barny Boatman sizes up his table. Earlier in the elevator he'd asked me for the time. I told him he had 15 minutes until the tournament started. He said, he wasn't worried about making it on time. Rather, he just couldn't wait to get the cards in his hands

Fellow Hendon Mobster, Ram Vaswani, checks the bet

European standouts Baard Dahl and Martin de Knijff find themselves as neighbors. Dahl told me last night he used to be on his way to chess greatness, but peaked when he was 17. I said, "You can peak in chess?" Apparently, you can. Now 34, Dahl is a fulltime poker player in the midddle of a successful year.

Pre-Game, Scandinavian Style

2005-01-29T23:21:00.000+01:00

Poker comes to the Casino Copehangen ballroom

Given, it's Saturday. So, the regular working world is likely sleeping a little later anyway. Nevertheless, there is something physically and emotionally satisfying about a workday that begins in the PM. You can see it in the faces of the players who woke late, had a bite to eat, then began making their way to the ballroom where the poker tournament is scheduled to begin at 3pm. This is their workday and they are fresh.

The casino doors were locked, so I ambled through the ballroom's side door, pretending best I could that I belonged there. And while I DO, in fact, belong there, no one there knew it yet, so it made the mission ever-so-slightly risky. Note to the children (and some adults): Don't try this at your home casino. I should know. I had no sooner whipped my camera up to my eye before I was cornered by the Danish casino security officer.

My badge? Well, that's something I need to talk to you about.

But as I mentioned in previous posts, the Danish are friendly folk and quickly provided me with my access badge. There is something quite fine, I think, about having access to some of the finest poker play in the world.

With my badge securely affixed to my new sport jacket (purchased courtesy of SAS airlines, who eventually found my baggage, but not in time to stop me from a brief shopping spree), I finally had permission to show you what the poker ballroom looks like.

The tournament was capped at 150 players, so 15 tables sit around the room, lit by row after row of track lighting. In the back, the European Poker Tour TV crew is already setting up for tomorrow' final table action. The tournament director and his staff busied themselves with counting out the chips (measured in the Dannish Kroner) for the players. Just a moment ago, I heard an ambitious person proclaim, "We are starting on time."

Indeed.

Chip-counting before the tournament begins

More chips for more players

The EPT television crew discusses the lightinng

This tournament has been sold out for some time. Limited to only 150 people, some players have been turned away. Fifty-one people qualified for the tournament online. twenty-one of those players are Scandinavian. The remainder came from the U.S., U.K., or other countries.

As I wandered around the hotel today, I saw many familiar faces. Paul Magriel (aka X-22) was in the elevator singing a poker players' lament. He'd missed signing up before the tournament filled up. If you don't recognize the name, Magriel is a one-time math teacher and professional backgammon player who came to some fame in the States when he was featured on the World Poker Tour and announced "quack-quack" when he entered a pot. (Note to self: Don't refer to X-22 as the "Quack-Quack Guy" next time you see him).

I've seen other familiar faces around the hotel as well. Isabelle Mercier, David "Devilfish" Ulliot, Marcel Luske, and Greg Raymer all came to greet the online qualifiers at an afternoon luncheon.

Isabelle Mercier, sporting her ubiquitious off-table smile, chats with her fellow poker players

Greg Raymer laughs with an online qualifier

Not surprisingly, the two European final table players from the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Mikael Westerlund and John Gale, have made their way to Denmark for the Scandinavian Open. Gale, you'll recall, is from a small town outside London and took first place in the PCA. Mikael "The Salesman" Westerlund is from Gothenberg, Sweden. He took third in the Bahamas and reports he's planning on remaining on the tournament circuit. He says we can expect to see him in Los Angeles for the LA Classic, in Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final, and hopefully at the WPT Championship in Las Vegas this Spring.

John Gale mugs for the camera

Mikael Westurlund in between a bite of food

Few things are left to do now but get the tournament underway. That means I need to be away from the computer for a bit.

Back with some of the action later today.

Naked in Copenhagen

2005-01-28T12:33:00.002+01:00

It is as if a city formed in the middle of a sea. In the pre-dawn hours, one can look through a Boeing 767 window and for hours see nothing bust vast expanses of splotchy nothingness. The video screen in the back of the seat in front of you will show that you've passed Iceland and that Scotland is a bit to the south. The screen, I sense, is supposed to be some sort of comfort that one is not alone in the darkness, that one has not slipped into a realm where only the steady drone of the jet engines breaks the monotony of one patch of darkness after another.

And then, as the video plane icon on the map starts to shift southward, lights pop up from the blotchiness and suddenly a city has grown from the darkness. It is the city of Copenhagen.

View of Copenhagen from Radisson SAS Scandinavia

Once the traveler finds his way through the airport and fails to find his baggage where it should be, there is little left to do but go in search of the city's only casino, aptly named Casino Copenhagen. It sits in what could be the tallest structure in all of the city, the Radisson SAS Scandanavia. It's only 8am and the casino doesn't open for another six hours. Business-travel-weary hotel guests are rushing to check out and make their plane trips home for the weekend. In a second floor ballroom, a poker room sits ready for the weekend's Scandinavia Open, the fourth leg on the European Tour.

It's a quiet Friday morning and with the casino closed and the poker players still hours from arriving, a jet-lagged poker correspondent has but a couple of choices. He can sit, wait for his baggage to arrive, and hope not to be naked by Saturday. Or, he can cast off the internal, infernal begging for a nap and go in search of something to wear. And a way to brush his teeth. And something to keep him from smelling too badly.

Now, don't get me wrong. I've got nothing against being naked. But, if you were to peek out the window at the digital thermometer that runs up the side of one of these ancient buildings, you would, too, note that we find ourselves in the sub-zero Celcius category. And even if you're not one to make the conversion from C to F in your head, you can probably understand. In layperson's terms, "It's cold."

A walk though Copenhagen

And so we walk, our shoeleaces perpetually untied, out of the Radisson SAS Scandanavia, into the wind, across the draw bridge that spans the inner-city water way, and toward the center of town and its business center. The concierge indicated with a smile that it was only a 15-minute walk. I note as a I walk the inordinate number of bicycles on the road. This city has embraced, either by necessity or dersire, the concept of self-motivated, self-perpetuated, two-wheeled transit. From elderly men with crackled faces to Nordic beauties fit for a Milan runway, hundreds of people zip alongside traffic on bikes.

And I now know why: It's quicker and easier than walking.

Just a few of hundreds of bike riders on the Copenhagen streets

The walk, it seems, takes longer than 15 minutes, but the waether is brisk and there is no shortage of ancient beauty to spy. For the moment, I can pry my eyes away from the blondes on bicycles and look around me. The architecture is by its nature inspiring of awe. As much as the city is cold, it is old, a mixture of medievel homes and Renaissanceage castles. It is, despite the incessant walking and stiff breeze, a sight at which one will just want to stop and look.

Many folks likely know the is the home of Hans Christian Andersen and Soren Kierkegaard. It's hard to walk around town without seeing homages to Andersen. And while they are homages the tourists are certainly quick to embrace, it seems the locals are wrapped in some sort of election fever. Nearly every streetpost serves as a stage for the ongoing election battle. And, fool yourselves not, friends in other counties, the mudslinging has found its way into this kinggdom, as well. By accident, I nearly found myself caught up in a small Greenpeace rally that I didn't quite understand, but had something to do with PVC piping. Fortunately, I still had poker and fighting nudity on the brain and moved on.

One of many election signs in Copenhagen

I stopped in "Everything's a Kroner" (not the real name, but folks from the States will recognize the little strip mall dollar stores with the same theme). It's the kind of place you can buy a loose bag of oregano, a ten-pack of razors, and a religous candle in the same trip. When I walked out, I realized I had made it to the center of the city. A group of school children sat outside the Louis Toussaud Wax Museum, begging to be let in a few minutes before the official opening time. Across the way, through the birds, is another touristy place, A Ripley's museum. Beyond those exceptions, though, this doesn't look like a tourist trap. Worker bees buzz in and out of the alleyways. Shopowners push through the cold to take the bars off their shop windows.

Children feed the birds in the center of the city

When--three hours later--I had finally had enough walking and assembled a suitable oufit to carry me until tomorrow (surely to goodness and mercy SAS will find my bag by Saturday), I stopped into an Irish pub for a pint of Guinness, A row of older men sat in chairs near the windows, enjoying a pint or two, smoking their pipes, and reading the daily news. A man stepped up to me and said something in a language I didn't understand.

The bartender, a friendly woman that must be killing time in the fashion model off- season, said "He's asking you if it's good" and nodded to my Guinness. I smiled at the man and indicated it was. Before I could warn him that I was just a poker correspondent who doesn't have the good sense to pack an extra outfit in his carry-on bag, he'd ordered a couple of pints and moved on with my recommendation.

Friendly, trusting city.

***

A little while ago, I wandered through the bar area of the hotel to see if any of the poker players had arrived. When I stepped off the elevator, I immediately recognized young Justin Bonomo (aka ZeeJustin) standing in the lobby. Turns out the 30th place finisher in PokerStars.com's Caribbean Adventure has qualified online for the Scandavian Open as well. He lamented that he'd missed the sign-up for tonight's side tournament. I wished him luck for tomorrow and moved on.

Justin Bonomo

European poker pro and songster Marcel Luske zipped by before I had a chance to say howdy. Last time I talked to Marcel we had a lengthy discussion about his penchant for singing at the poker table. He explained to me, it's something he does everywhere, not just at the tables.

A little while later, I wandered back through the bar and found none other than PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure champion, John Gale, sitting at a table by himself, smoking and smiling at passers-by. I shook his hand and asked if his success in the Caribbean had reached his home in England yet. "I've been accosted in toilets," he said, laughing. He said, though, that the word had not yet spread wide. In the meantime, he said of this weekend's tournament, "I'd like to make it happen again. When the poker gods are on your side..." He trailed off and took a drag from his smoke. I find myself happy to see him here. It's good to find genuinely nice people in poker rooms.

Caribbean Adventure champion, John Gale

I've heard word, as well, that WSOP champ Greg Raymer is in Copenhagen this weekend. I'll keep an eye out for him and the rest of the players for you over the course of the weekend.

In the meantime, I'm in search of food. And apparently, a local TV station will be showing the European Poker Tour tonight. Gotta keep an eye out for that.

If you happen to be in Copenhagen this weekend, track me down and say hi.

I'll be the guy in the black jacket who never seems to be changing clothes and who will smell something awful come Monday.

Welcome to the European Poker Tour

2005-01-27T02:45:00.000+01:00

It was Three Dog Night that channeled Hoyt Axton and sang the landlocked boy's lament of the 1970s. If you're unfamiliar with the tune, the premise was simple and slightly sad: The boy had never been to Spain. And he'd never been to England.

Axton and Three Dog Night, it seemed, ended up compensating with other earthly pleasures. Sadly, though, the song never took us to the land of old world romance and exotica.

When I noted the first two stops on the inaugural European Poker Tour, I couldn't help but hear the song in the back of my head. They are places that are home to countless Europeans, but seem worlds away to those who live on other continents.

While many Americans will argue that poker is a distinctly American game, few will deny the fact that poker and its recent world-wide boom have brought together players from nearly every continent (I'm checking into the Antarctica Poker Tour to see what the buy-ins are there).

Already, the European Poker Tour (EPT) has been to Spain. It bested Three Dog Night and made it to England, as well. Now, it heads to Copenhagen, Denmark for the Scandinavian Open. And you, friends, will be going with it. If you're not already signed up to play, you can follow all the action from Copenhagen on this blog. The European Poker Tour blog will run in much the same fashion as PokerStars.com's recent Caribbean Adventure tournament reports from the Bahamas. However, whereas the Caribbean Adventure was one tournament, the EPT will take us from Copenhagen, to Deauville, France, to Vienna, to Monte Carlo. And you can read about it all right here over the next two months.

Here's a little more background on the EPT:

Season 1 of the European Poker Tour will include preliminary tournaments in Barcelona, London, Copenhagen, Deauville, Vienna and Dublin. The Grand Final event will be held in the majestic setting of the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco.

Winners of the preliminary events will win prize packages worth 15,000 EUR(in addition to their tournament winnings). The prize package includes entry into the Grand Final event, flights for two, accommodation in the stunning Hermitage Hotel in Casino Square, Monte Carlo and 1,000 EUR spending money. View the EPT tournament schedule for details.

No matter where you live in the world, you still have an opportunity to play in the Grand Final event of the European Poker Tour in beautiful Monaco. Online satellite tournaments for the Grand Final event in Monaco will be played on PokerStars.com. Winners of those satellite events will receive their buy-in, hotel accommodations (where offered), and spending money which can be used for airfare and other travel incidentals.

Players who wish to buy directly into an EPT event may do so. Please visit PokerStars for details.

I'll be touching down in Copenhagen Friday morning. In the meantime, feel free to fire off an e-mail to me at the address on the right.

And after you're finished doing that, start trying to win your way to Monte Carlo. I hear it's nice in March.

EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final Hand-by-Hand--We have a winner.

2004-03-19T16:49:00.000+01:00

Rob Hollink is the winner of the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final. I'll have a full report in a few hours, complete with pictures, stories, Greg Raymer, and grapefruits. Until then, here's the picture of Holland's Hollink with his trophy.

Instructions: This hand-by-hand will run in reverse order. The most recent hands will appear at the top. If you want to read from beginning to end, read from the bottom up. Important hands will be prefaced by the words KEY HAND. I will make every effort to record every hand as it happens. Seating and payouts will appear at the bottom of this post.

Blinds 10K/20K/2K

31--Rob raises to 50K. Brandon calls.
Flop: K95. Brandon checks. Rob bets 70K. Brandon calls.
Turn: 8. Brandon checks. Rob bets 70K. Brandon calls.
River: J with three clubs on the board. Brandon checks. Rob announced all in. brandon calls

Rob shows J8 for tow pair. Brandon shows K7 for only a pair of kings.

Rob wins

KEY HAND
30--Brandon raises to 50K and Rob calls.
Flop: T3T with two clubs. Brandon bets 80K. Rob makes it 160K. Brandon announces all-in. Rob says call.
Rob shows T8
Brandon shows 34
Turn: 7
River: 5

29--Rob raises to 50K. Brandon folds.

28--Brandon raises to 50K. Rob calls.
Flop: QT3 with two spades. Check Check
Turn: 3. Rob bets 100K. Brandon calls.
River: 9. Check Check

Brandon shows an ace and ace high wins.

27--Rob raises to 50K. Brandon calls.
Flop: J4Q rainbow. Brandon checks. Rob bets 70K. Brandon re-raises to 200K. Rob folds.

26--Brandon raises to 50K and Rob folds.

25--Rob raises to 50K. Brandon re-raises to 150K. Rob folds.

24--Brandon raises to 50K.

23--Rob raises and Brandon folds.

22--Brandon raises to 50K and ROb calls.
Flop: 57K with two clubs. Rob bets 75K. Brandon calls.
Turn: 4 spades, making two spades as well. Rob checks. Brandon 150K. Rob folds.

21--Rob raises to 50K. Brandon folds.

20--Missed this one...
Flop: But brandon took it down post flop.

19--Rob raises to 50K and Brandon folds.

18--Brandon raises. Rob folds.

17--Rob raises to 50K. Brandon folds.

16--Brandon raises and Rob folds.

15--Rob raises to 50K. Brandon folds.

14--brandon raises to 50K. Rob calls.
Flop: 5K8 with two diamonds. Rob checks. Brandon bets 70K. Rob calls.
Turn: 8. Rob checks. brandono checks.
River: 5. Rob checks. ROb shows A3. Rob shows a king for a abigger two pair.

13--Rob raises to 50K and Brandon calls.
Flop: TTJ Brandon checks. Rob bets 80K Branndon folds.

12-Brandon raises to 50 K. Rob calls
Flop: 24J. Brandon bets 70K. Rob raises to 170K. Brandon calls
Turn: K Board has two diamonds on it. Chekc Check
River: 7 of hearts. Rob checks. Brandon checks.
Brandon: has a jack for apair of jacks.
Rob: 46 for pair of fours
brandon wins.

Blinds 7,500/15,000/1500 end. We're up to 10K/20K/2K

11-Rob raises to 35K. Brandon calls.
Flop: 75J raindbow. brandon checks. Rob checks.
Turn: T. Check Check
River: 8.
Brandon shows 22.
Rob shows Q8 for a rivered pair.

10--Rob calls. Brandon checks.
Flop: QA2 with two hearts. Check Check
Turn: 8. Rob bets 20K. Brandon calls.
River: Teb Chk Chk
Rob shows Q6 for a pair of queens. Brandon folds.

9--Brandon raises to 40K. Rob folds.

8--Rob calls. Brandon checks.
Flop: 3Q8 rainbow. Brandon checks. Rob bets 15K. Brandon folds.

7--Brandon folds.

6--Rob raises to 40K. Brandon calls.
Flop: 6Q3 with two diamonds. Brandon checks. Rob bets 60K. Brandon folds.

5--Brandon raises to 40K. Rob calls.
Flop: J5K rainbow. Chk Chk
Turn: Q. Rob checks. Brandon checks.
River: 7. ROb checks again. Brandon bets 60K Rob calls.
Brandon shows QT for a pair of queens and wins the pot.

4--Rob raises to 40K. Brandon folds.

3--Brandon raises to 40K. Rob folds.

2--Rob raises to 45K Brandon calls.
Flop: Q8K two diamonds. Chk Chk
Turn: T. Chk CHk
River: 3. Brandon checks. Rob bets 65K. Brandon cals.
Rob shows QJ for pair of queens. Brandon mucks. Rob wins.

1--Rb calls. Brandon checks.
Flop: 23Q. Brandon bets 40K. Rob folds.

PLAYERS ARE ALMOST EVEN CHIPS

HEADS UP PLAY BEGINS

KEY HAND
Hand 72
Brandon on the button. Rob is the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Rob makes it 40K. Alex re-raises and makes it 135K more. Rob goes all in. Alex calls.

Alex: AQo
Rob: KK

Flop: 3KK. Rob flops quads. The rest is irrellevant

Alex is out in third place for €178,000

Hand 71
Alex on the button. Brandon is the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Alex folds. Brandono raises to 40K. Rob calls.
Flop: 995 two hearts.
Brandon bets 50,000. Rob calls
Turn: Q of hearts. Now a paired board with three hearts. Brandon checks. Rob bets 100K. Brandon folds. Rob wins 180K pot.

Hand 70
Rob on the button. Alex is the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Alex raises to 50K. Brandon folds.

Hand 69
Brandon on the button. Rob is the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 40K. Rob re-Raises all-in. Brandon folds.

Hand 68
Alex on the button. Brandon is the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Alex folds. Brandon calls from small blind. Rob checks.
Flop: T39 rinbow. Brandon checks, Rob bets 30K. Brandon folds.

Hand 67
Rob is still on the button. Alex is the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Rob raises to 40K. Everybody folds.

Hand 66
Rob is on the button. No small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 40K. Rob folds. Alex folds.

Chips
Alex: 405,00
Rob: 510,00
Brandon: 1,195,000

KEY HAND
Hand 65
Brandon is on the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Rob raises to more than 100K and Romain calls all in.
Rob: K2o
Romain: A3o
Flop: K56
Turn: Q
River: 6

ob wins and Romain is out in 4th place for €139,000

Hand 64
Alex is on the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Alex raises to 45,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 63
Romain is on the button. Alex is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Everybody folds.

KEY HAND
Hand 62
Rob is on the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Brandon makes it 40K, Romain calls, Alex folds.
Flop: J28
Romiain bets 60,000. Brandon calls.
Turn: Q. Roman bets 100K. Brandon calls. Pot is now 421K.
River: 3. Romain bets 149K. BRandoon Callss

Romain MUCKS HIS FREAKIN' CARDS
Brandon shows...I think A8 for third pair. His read on Romain is amazing.

Brandon wins more than 500K pot.

Hand 61
Brandon is on the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 40,000. Rob re-raises all-in. Brandon folds.

Blinds 5000/10,000/1000 ending and increasing to...7,500/15,000/1,500

Hand 60
Alex is on the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Alex raises to 25,000. Rob calls.
Flop: K52 with two spades. Chk Chk
TurnL 3 of spades. Rob bets out 50,000. Alex looks like he's going to raise, then mucks.

Hand 59
Romain is on the button. Alex is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Alex raises to 25,000. Brandon calls.
Flop: 58K with two hearts. Alex checks and Brandon bets out 25,000. Alex raises to 75K. Brandon folds and the Alex cheering section goes wild. Alex shows the deuce of clubs.

Hand 58
Rob is on the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Romain friases from small blind and takes the pot.

Hand 57
Brandon raised form button and take it down.

Hand 56
Alex is on the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Missed it.

KEY HAND
Hand 55
Romain is on the button. Alex is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Romain raises to 25,000. Alex re-raaises to 75,000. Romain re-raises. Alex moves all in. Romain calls.

Alex: AA
Romain: QT

Flop: Axx all hearts. Romain has ten of hearts. Alex has a flopped set.
Turn: 2 of spades
River: T Alex doubles through....again.

Hand 54
Rob is on the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 25,000. Rob, who has been quite quite, makes it 110,000. Brandon folds.

Hand 54
Brandon is on the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 25,000. Romain calls.
Flop: 55K with two hearts. Romain bets out and takes it down.

Hand 53

Missed this one...irrelevant

HUUUUUUGE KEY HAND
Hand 53

Romain is on the button. Alex is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
Brandon rasies to 30,000, Kevin calls in big clind.
Flop: T64 with two clubs. Kevin checks. Brandon bets 40,000. Kevin moves all in Brandon calls immediately.
Kevin: 88
Brandon: AA
Turn: 7
River: 3.
Aces hold up and Brandon wins a monster.

Kevin is out in fifth place with €118,000

Hand 52

Rob is on the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 25,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 51

Brandon is on the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Alex raises to 30,000. After three minutes of thinkin Romain folds.

Hand 50

Kevin is on the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Romain raises to 25,000. Rob calls from big blind.
Flop: 479 rainbow. Rob checks. Romain bets 30,000. Rob folds.

Hand 49

Alex is on the button. Kevin is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Romain raises to 25,000 and takes it down.

Hand 48

Romain is on the button. Alex is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
brandon makes minimum raise to 20,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 47

Rob is on the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Romain calls and Alex checks.
Flop: 38K. Check Check.
Turn: T. ROmaini bets 20,000 and Alex folds.

Hand 46

Brandon is on the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Kevin calls. Romain checks in the big blind.
Flop: 338 two diamonds. Keviin bets out 15,000. Romain calls.
Turn: 7 Romain bets 30,000. This is a familiar move. Romain often check-calls the flop, then bets out on the turn. Kevin ends up folding and Romain takes it.

Hand 45

Kevin is on the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Romain raises to 30K. Alex announces all-in. It's 133,500 more to call for Romain. Romain choose to fold.

Hand 44

Dead button. Kevin is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Alex raises to 38,000 and wins.

Hand 43

Alex has the button. There is no the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
Brandon raises under th gun to 25,000. Everybody folds.

KEY HAND
Hand 43

Romain has the button. Alex is in the small blind. Abdualziz is in the big blind.
Romain comes in. Abdualaziz moves in from BB. Romain calls.
Abdulaziz shows K6.
Romain : 88

Flop: 5T3
Turn: 8
River: 5

Abdulaziz leaves in six place taking home €99,500

Hand 42

Rob has the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Kevin vs. Alex. Checked down to river.
Flop 534 two diamonds.
Turn: A
River: 3. kevin bets at it and wins.

KEY HAND
Hand 41

Brandon has the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 25,000. Romain calls from the big blind.
Flop: AK6 with two clubs. Romain checks. Brandon bets 30,000. Romain calls with flair.
Turn: T. Romain bets 40,000. Brandon calls. Big pot.
River: T. Romain bets 125K. Eeeeesh. Brandon calls.
Brandon shows A4. Romain shows 78 of clubs. Romain missed his flush draw and bet at it. Whatta a call on brandon's part.

Hand 40

Kevin has the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob. is in the big blind.
Missed this hand. Had to blow my nose. it went that quickly.

Hand 39

Abdulaziz has the button. Kevin is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Alex raises to 28,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 38

Alex has the button. Abdulaziz is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
Romain raies to 30,000 and everybody folds.

Hand 37

Romain has the button. Alex is in the small blind. Abdulaziz is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 25,000. Romain re-raises to 60,000. Brandon calls
Flop: 782 with two hearts. Brandon checkc with a smile. Romain bets almost 200K and brandon folds.

Hand 36

Rob has the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Rob riases to 30,000 and picks up the pot.

Blinds 4000/8000/500 end and Blinds 5000/10,000/1000 begin

Hand 35

Brandon has the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Kevin call. Brandon calls from button. Rob calls from small blind. romain checks.
Flop: 4K2 rainbow. Kevin bets 25,000. Brandon calls. Rob folds. Romain folds.
Turn: 5. now tow hearts on the board. Kevin bets 50,000. Brandon raises to 120,000. Kevin folds. Brandon wins nice pot.

KEY HAND.
Hand 34

Kevin has the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Romain raises to 23,000. Alexander raises all-in. Folded back to Romain who askes for a chip count, then calls.
Alex: KQ
Romain:AT
Flop: AKK. ALex flops a set.
Turn: 2
River: T
Alex doubles up with 175K potand the Swedes go nuts.

Hand 33

Abdulaziz has the button. Kevin is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Abdulaziz calls. Kevin raises to 25,000 in small blind. Brandon folds. Abdulaziz folds. Kevin wins.

Hand 32

Alex has the button. Abdulaziz is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
Brandn raises under the gun to 20,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 31

Romain has the button. Alex is in the small blind. Abdulaziz is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 20,000. Rob calls. Blinds fold.
Flop: 4A7 two hearts. Brandon bets 22,000. Rob folds and Brandon wins.

Hand 30

Rob has the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Kevin raises to 20,000. Rob calls and blinds fold.
Flop: 5QK two hearts. Chk Chk
Turn: Q. Kevin checks. ROb bets 18,000. Kevinn folds. Rob wins.

Hand 29

Brandon has the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Kevin raises to 20,000. Romain calls.
Flop: 3QK rainbow. Romain bets out from big blind to 15,000. Kevin raises to 50,000. Romain re-raises. He makes ot 120,000K. Kevin folds. Kevin says, just show me one card. Romain shows him... A DEUCE. Holy cow, Romain loves to bluff.

Hand 28

Kevin has the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Romain opens for 27,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 27

Abdulaziz has the button. Kevin is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Abdulaziz raises to 17K and brandon calls.
Flop: 79T Check Check
Turn: Q Chk Chk
River: J Chk Chk

Abdulaziz shows an ace and ace high wins the pot.

Hand 26

Alex has the button. Abdulaziz is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
Rob raises to 22,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 25

Romain has the button. Alex is in the small blind. Abdulaziz is in the big blind.
Kevini raises to 20,000 folded around to big blind. Abdualziz calls.
Flop: 77K rainbow. Abdalziz checks. Kevin bets 20,000 and takes it down.

Chips
Romain 594,000
Alex 111,000
Abdul 145000
Kevin 409,500
Brandon425,00
Rob 335,000

Hand 24

Rob has the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Romain calls. Aelx checks.
Flop: 3TT Romain Bets 15K. Alex folds

Blinds 3000/6000/500 and and go up to 4000/8000/500

Hand 23

Brandon has the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Alex calls under the gun. Kevin calls as well. Brandon calls. Rob calls. Romain checks. Five players.
Flop: 344 with two hearts.
Rob bets out the minimum, 6000. Alex calls. Kevin calls 6. Brndon folds.
Turn: A of hearts. Rob checks. Alex bets 17,000. Kevin calls. Rob folds.
River: 7 spades. Alex checks. Kevin bets 25,000. Alex folds and Kevin takes down a nice pot.

Hand 22

Kevin has the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Everybody folds to small blind where Brandon calls and Rob checks
Flop: TQA Chk Chk
Turn: 3. Brandon checks and Rob bets 9000. Brandon calls
River: 9 Brandon checks. Rob checks. Brandono shows T8 for a par of tens. Rob shows a queen for a pair of queens and wins a small pot.

Hand 21

Dead button. Kevin is in small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Romain raises and everybody folds.

KEY HAND.
Hand 20

Abdulaziz has the button. Ben is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
Rob opens for a raise to 18,000. Ben calls from small blind. Kevin folds.
Flop: 6KQ with two clubs. Ben checks. Rob checks.
Turn: J. Ben checks. Rob bets 25,000. Ben thinks for a long while then moves all in. Rob calls.

Ben: AJ for a pair of jacks
Rob: KK. Rob has slowplayed a set of kings.

River: 5.

Ben leaves in 7th place and €79,500

Hand 19

Alex has the button. Abdulaziz is in the small blind. Ben is in the big blind.
Romain raises to 17,000 and Alex announces all in from the button. Total bets is 117,500. While Romain is considering, his cellphone goes off with the familiar T-mobile ring. Finally, Romain folds. Alex shows a pair of sixes.

Hand 18
Romain has the button. Alex is in the small blind. Abdulaziz is in the big blind.
Ben moves all in under the gun. Everybody folds again, so ben wins again.

Hand 17
Rob has the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
ben comes in for a raise and everybody folds.

Hand 16

Brandon has the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Folded around to small blind where Rob calls. Romaini checks option.
Flop: 3TQ with two diamonds. Rob checks. Romain bets 12,000. ROb calls.
Turn: T of clubs. Rob checks. Romain bets 21,000. Rob calls.
River: 7 of spades. Rob checks. Romain bets 50,000. ROb calls
Romain: TJ. Rob mucks. Romain wins with trip tens.

Hand 15

Kevin has the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Everybody folds around to the blinds. Brandon nods and folds from the small blind. With a slight look of disgust, Rob turns up pocket aces.

Hand 14

Ben has the button. Kevin is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Kevin calls froom small blind. Brandon checks.
Flop: 3A7 with two spades.
Kevin bets out 12,000. Brandon folds.

Hand 13

Abdulaziz has the button. Ben is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
brandon calls in first position. The kid is playing a lot of pots. Ben calls from the small blind. Kevin checks his option.
Flop: 46A with two spades.
THe blinds check and Brandon bets 30,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 12

Alex has the button. Abdulaziz is in the small blind. Ben is in the big blind.
Brandon opens for a raise to 15,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 11

Romain has the button. Alex is in the small blind. Abdulaziz is in the big blind.
Kevin raises to 20,000. Everybody folds.

Hand 10

Rob has the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
Brandono raises to 15,000. Romain calls from the small blind. Alex calls. Looks like everyone wants to look Brandon up a bit.

Flop: JJK. Romain bets out 25K. Alex folds. Brandon shakes his head and mucks.

Hand 9

Brandon has the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Brandon raises from the button to 15,000. From the small blind, Rob makes it 60,000. Romain considers the bet for a bit from the big blind the folds. Brandon removes his headphones and makes it 150,000 more to go. This is shaping up to be a nice pot. In a pinstripe suit, Rob listens to his iPod, raises his eyebrows, and then folds. Brandon takes down a big one. 130K

Hand 8

Kevin has the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Kevin raises to 20,000. Everybody folds and Kevin wins.

Hand 7

Ben has the button. Kevin is in the small blind. Brandon is in the big blind.
Romain opens for 28,000 and takes down the pot.

KEY HAND
Hand 6

Abdulaziz has the button. Ben is in the small blind. Kevin is in the big blind.
Mikhail raises to 20,000 under the gun. Alex moves all in. Mikhail says call.
Mikhail has QQ
Alex has JJ
Flop:6J8. Alex flops a set
Turn: 8
River: 5

Mikhail suffers the first bad beat of the day and leaves in 8th place with €59,500

Hand 5

Alex has the button. Abdulaziz is in the small blind. Ben is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 15,000. After some thought, Ben folds, too.

Hand 4

Romain has the button. Alex is in the small blind. Abdulaziz is in the big blind.
Brandon raises to 15K. Alex moves all in from the small blind. It is 34,5000 more than Brandon's bet. Brandon passes and thr Swedes in the crowd erupts for Stevic.

Hand 3

Rob has the button. Romain is in the small blind. Alex is in the big blind.
From the button Rob makes it 18,000 to go. The blinds fold.

Hand 2

Brandon has the button. Rob is in the small blind. Romain is in the big blind.
Folded around to blinds where Rob calls from small blind. Romain checked his option.
Flop: Q36 with two clubs. Rob checks. Romain bets 22K and ROb folds. ROmain wins.

Hand 1

Mikhail has the button. Brandon is in the small blind. Rob is in the big blind.
Folded around to small blind where Brandon calls. Rob raises to 15K more from BB. Brandon folds.

Blinds 3000/6000/500

Final Table

Seat 1: Romain Feriolo 475,000
Seat 2: Alex Stevic 57,500
Seat 3: Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 181,000
Seat 4: Ben Grundy 90,500
Seat 5: Kevin Seeger 364,500
Seat 6: Mikhail Ustinov 68,500
Seat 7: Brandon Scahefer 488,500
Seat 8: Rob Hollink 384,000

Payouts

1st: €635,000
2nd: €350,000
3rd: €178,000
4th: €139,000
5th: €118,000
6th: €99,500
7th: €79,500
8th: €59,500

EPT Vienna E-WSOP Final Table Hand-by-Hand--WE HAVE A WINNER

2004-03-12T16:43:00.000+01:00

EPT Vienna E-WSOP Champion Pascal Perrault

Pascal just took it down. A hand history is below. I'll have a full report in a bit.

Seat 1: Joachim Sanejstra, 129,500
Seat 2: Tim Ramsey, 152,500 (USA PokerStars.com online qualifier)
Seat 3: David Clayton, 287,000
Seat 4: Pascal Perrault, 641,500 (France)
Seat 5: Josh Schiffman, 197,000 (USA)
Seat 6: Simon Nowab, 301,000
Seat 7: Mika Puro,450,500 (Finland)
Seat 8: Andreas Harnemo, 821,000 (Sweden)

Payouts (Euro)

1--184,500
2--101,400
3--51,800
4--40,500
5--34,500
6--28,800
7--23,000
8--17,300

For the ease of typing, I'll be referring to all players by the first names. At 5:12pm, the players are seated, the crowd has been warmed up. Pascal and David wear dark sunglasses. The remaining players are showing their eyes. Both chip-leaders have been outfitted in the finest PokerStars shirts.

A quick word about our chip leader. His neighbor is the Artic Circle. He runs a msall internet business and at age 31 only plays poker a couple of days a week. This is the first time he's made the final table in a major event.

More about our other players as time allows.

Play to begin in mere minutes.

Blinds (5000/10000/1000)

Hand #1
Simon has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Andreas is in the big blind.
Andreas takes it with a walk.

Hand #2
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Folded to Andreas who opens for 37,000. He picks up the blinds and antes.

Hand #3
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Tim is in the big blind.
Andreas raises to 41,000. Tim announces all in from the small blind. David folds. Back to Andreas who would have to call for about 111,000 more. Andreas shows an aces and folds.

Hand #4
Joachim has the button. Tim is in the small blind. David is in the big blind.
David gets it in a walk.

Hand #5
David has the button. Pascal is in the small blind. Josh is in the big blind.
Pascal rasies to 15K and Josh calls. Flop comes down with rags, Pascal bets out 30K+ and takes down the pot.

Hand #6
Pascal has the button. Josh is in the small blind. Simon is in the big blind.
Joachim announces all in. Passed around to Simon in big blinid who folds.

Hand #7
Josh has the button. Simon is in the small blind. Mika is in the big blind.
David raises to 50,000. Mika annouces raise all-in. Folded back around to the original raiser, David. David folds. Mika takes it down.

Hand #8
Simon has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Andreas is in the big blind.
Passed around to Simon on the button who raises to 35,000. Mika folded. Andreas, already in for 10,000, announces a re-raise. Simon will have to call another 60,000. Instead, he folds.

Hand #9
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Folded to Simon who raises to 35,000. It's gotta be hard having Andreas just two his left. But everybody folded and Simon takes down the blinds and antes.

Hand #10
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Tim is in the big blind.
Andreas just calls from the button. Danger!... Joachim calls in SB. Tim checks.
Flop: J2J Tim bets out 25,000. Andreas folds. Joachim folds.

Hand #11
Joachim has the button. Tim is in the small blind. David is in the big blind.
Folded to Tim in small blind who raises to 30,000. David re-raises to 90,000 total. Did Tim just get caught...yes he did. He folds and David takes it down.

Hand #12
Tim has the button. David is in the small blind. Pascal is in the big blind.
Funny, even though he's on TV, Pascal is still listening to his iPod. Everyone else has given theirs up for the day.
David calls from small blind and Pascal checks.
Flop: 3QJ Pascal bets 25,000 and David calls.
Turn: 5 Check Check
River: 9 David checks, Pascal bets 30,000. David folds and Pascal picks it up.

Hand #13
David has the button. Pascal is in the small blind. Josh is in the big blind.
Drinks are distributed to the players.
Andreas raises to 37,000. Josh moves all in from big blind. Andreas folds and Josh wins.

Hand #14
Pascal has the button. Josh is in the small blind. Simon is in the big blind.
Folded to small blind where Josh moves all in for the second hand in a row.
In the big blind, Simon asks for a chip count. Josh has 203,000. Simon shows an aces, then folds.

Hand #15
Josh has the button. Simon is in the small blind. Mika is in the big blind.
Joachim moves all in and everybody folds.

Hand #16
Simon has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Anreas is in the big blind.
Simon called from the button. Andreas checked in big blind.
Flop: K35
Andreas bets 20,000. Simon calls.
Turn: 3 Check Check
River: 7 Andreas bets 40,000. Simon folds and Andreas showed 73 for a full house. Nice fold, Simon.

Hand #17
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Andreas simply calls form the small blind. Joachim chekcs.
Flop: QQT Check Check
Turn: Jack. Andreas bets 20,000. Joachim calls.
River: 8. Andreas bets 50,000 and Joachim folds.

Hand #18
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Tim is in the big blind.
Tim calls from the small blind. David checks in the big blind.
Flop: QK5 Tim checks, David bets 20,000. Tim announces all-in. Ye olde check raise. David folds and Tim takes it down.

Hand #19
Tim wins a small hand uncontested while I try to figure out how the button got moved.

Hand #20
David has the button. Pascal is in the small blind. Josh is in big blind.
Joachim announces all in and takes it down.

Hand #21
Pascal has the button. Josh is in the small blind. Simon is in big blind.
From the button Pascal raises. Josh and Simon fold.

Hand #22
Josh has the button. Simon is in the small blind. Mika is in big blind.
Simoon calls in small blind and Mika checks.
Flop: 8AT. Check Check
Turn: 5 Check Check
River: 6 Simon bets the minimum, 10,000. Mika raises to 30,000. Simono calls. Mika shows 65 for runner runner two pair and wins the pot.

Hand #23
Simon has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Andreas is in big blind.
Josh announces all in. and takes it down.

Hand #24
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Tim is in big blind.
Mika raises to 40,000. On the button, Andreas makes it 125,000 to go. Back to Mika. Looks like he want sot call, but can't seem to make himself do it. And, in fact, he folds.

Hand #25
Joachim has the button. Tim is in the small blind. David is in big blind.
Joachim announes all in from the button. Tim asks for a count. It's 109,500. The blinds fold (although it looked like Tim really wanted to call)

Hand #26
Tim has the button. David is in the small blind. Pascal is in big blind.
Andreas raises to 40,000 and take down the pot.

Hand #27
David has the button. Pascal is in the small blind. Josh is in big blind.
Pascal riases to 30,000. Josh announces all-in. Looks like pascal got caught. In the past, he would've likely called anyway. But he's tightened up quite a bit since this time yesterday. Finally, Pascal folds and Josh takes down the pot.

Hand #28
Pascal has the button. Josh is in the small blind. Simon is in big blind.
Tim raises to 30,000. Josh moves all in from the small blind. Simon folds in BB. Tim looks unhappy and folds. Josh wins, seeming to perfect his over-the-top re-raise strategy.

Hand #29
Josh has the button. Simon is in the small blind. Mika is in big blind.
Andreas and Simon call
Flop: AA8 Checks around
Turn 3. Simon bets 30,000. Andreas calls.
River: 3 Simon checks. Andreas bets 60,000. Andreas takes it down.

*****KEY HAND Hand #30
Simon has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Andreas is in the big blind.
Pascal calls the big blind and Simon announces all in from button. Mika calls. Pascal folds.

Simon:A70
Mika: 99

Flop: 9K5--Mika flops a set
Turn: 4
River: meaningless

Simon finishes and takes home 17,300 Euro.

BLINDS GO UP TO 75/15000/1500

Hand #31
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Uunder the gun, Tim raises to 30,000. Nobody calls and Tim wins it.

*****KEY HAND****Hand #32
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Tim is in the big blind.
Josh raises to 40,000, Andreas makes it 120,000. Josk moves all in. Andreas calls.

Josh: KJ clubs
Andreas: AQ clubs

Flop: A5J
Turn: 4
River: 6

Andreas win 609,000 pot

Josh Schiffman leaves in 7th place taking home 23,000 Euro.

******ANOTHER KEY HAND Hand #33
Tim has the button. David is in the small blind. Pascal is in the big blind.
David raises to 92,000
Pascal announces all in. David calls.

David has A5o
Pascal has AJ

Flop: A8T
Turn: 6
River: K

David leaves in sixth place taking home 28,800 Euro.

Hand #34
Nobody has the button. Pascal is in the small blind. Mika is in the big blind.
Joachim announces all in and wins.

Hand #35
Pascal has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Andreas is in the big blind.
Joachim announces all in and again and nobody calls.

Hand #36
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Andreas raises to 107,500. Joachim shows a deuce and folds. Andreas shows a pair of sixes.

Hand #37
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Tim is in the big blind.
Pascal is under the gun and raises to 40,000. Nobody calls.

Hand #38
Joachim has the button. Tim is in the small blind. Pascal is in the big blind.
Tim raises to 107,500 and takes the pot.

****KEY HAND****Hand #39
Tim has the button. Pascahl is in the small blind. Mika is in the big blind.
Andreas raises UTG to 55,000. Tim re-raises all-in. Pascal thinks about it. He'd have to call 199,500. Pascal folds. Andreas considers it. He really want sto call. He counts out his chips, then goes back to thinking. In the background music plays from a adjoining tournament. Andreas asks,"Du you have a pair of sevens?" Finally, Andreas calls.
Eeesh. Tim, in fact, does have a pair of sevens.

Tim: 77
Andreas: A9 offsuit

Flop: 383
Turn: 2
River: A. Andreas rivers his ace to boot Tim from the tourney.

Tim Ramsey, finance man from USA, leaves in fifth place, cashing for 34,500 Euro.

Andreas is unstoppable.

CHIP COUNTS
Joachim: 127,500
Pascal: 799,000
Mika: 527000
Andreas: 1,500,000

Hand #40
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Andreas just calls. Joachim checks his option.
Flop: 922 Check Check
Turn: 5 Andreas bets 22,000 and takes down the pot.

Hand #41
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Pascal is in the big blind.
Joachim moves all in and Pascal folds.

Hand #42
Joachim has the button. Pascal is in the small blind. Mika is in the big blind.
Joachim announces all in again and againn takes down the pot.

Hand #43
Pascal has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Andreas is in the big blind.
Pascal calls on the button. Mika calls in small blind. Andeas checks.

Flop: A58 with two hearts. Mika bets out and both his oppoenents fold.

Hand #44
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Under the gun, Pascal makes it 40,000 to go. Mika re-raises from the button to 140,00. Joachim in the big blind mucks. Pascal moves all in. Mika thinks about it for a long time then folds. Pascal seems quite pleased about that.

Hand #45
Andreas has the button. Joachim is in the small blind. Pascal is in the big blind.
Mika announces all in from under the gun. and everybpdy folds.

Hand #46
Joachim has the button. Pascal is in the small blind. Mika is in the big blind.
Pascal calls form small blind and Mika checks his option
Flop: TTJ. Chk Chk
Turn: 9 Chk chk
River: 2 Pascal bets minimum 15,000. Mika folds. Pascal shows his nine.

*****KEY HANDHand #47
Pascal has the button. Mika is in the small blind. Andreas is in the big blind.
Pascal raises from the button to 35,000. Mika folds. Andreas calls.
Flop: T49. Andreas bets 40,000. Pascal folds. Andreas wins it.

Hand #48
Mika has the button. Andreas is in the small blind. Joachim is in the big blind.
Mika raises to 45,000. Andreas raises it up to 105,000 total. Joachim announces all in after a lot of thought. Mika, the initial raiser, already in for 45,000 should probably get away fromo this and does.
Andreas' bet already has Joachim covered.

Joachim: 44
Andreas: K7o

Flop: KJA
Turn: K
River: 2

Joachim is out in fourth place for 40,500 Euro and now Andreas is the becoming the table killer. Kudos to Joachim who came into today with the shortest stack and was able to hold out for fourth place.

------BREAK------

NEW CHIP COUNTS

Andreas: 1,737,500
Mika: 356,000
Pascal: 886,000

AFTER AN UNEXPECTED DINNER BREAK, WE'RE BACK

Hand #49
Andreas has the button. No small blind. Pascal is in the big blind.
Pascal wins with a walk.

Hand #50
Dead button. Pascal is in the small blind. Mika is in the big blind.
Pascal calls the big blind and Mika in the big blind says all in to take the pot.

******KEY HAND***Hand #51

Mika raises to 55,000
Pascal announces 150,000
Mika says all in. Pascal calls.

Mika shows 44
Pascal shows QQ

Flop: 885
Turn: 8
River: K

Mika is out in third for 51,800 Euro

HEADS UP PLAY BEGINS

I suppose everyone expected these Andreas and Pascal to be heads up. This should be a good match. Pascal has two very prominent gears. Hyepr-aggressive and Sorta-Tight. I'm curious to see how Pascal plays this.

Here's how the two men stack up going into the heads-up match:

Pascal: 1.2 million
Andreas: 1.9 million

HEADS UP HANDS

1--Pascal folds from small blind.
2--Andreas folds froom small blind.

3--Pascal calls from small blind. Andreas raises 40K more and Pascal calls.
Flop: 469. Andreas bets 45K. Pascal folds and Andreas takes it down

NEW BLINDS: 10K/20K/2K

4--Andreas opesn for a raise to 60K. Pascal calls.
Flop: 8KQ. Pascal checks. Anreas checks.
Turn: 7 Pascal checks and Andreas bets 35K. pascal calls.
River: 5 pascal checks. Andreas checks.
Pascal has A4 for ace high.
Andreas has 95 for a rivered little pait and the win of 190K pot.

5--Pascal calls from small blind and Andreas checks option.
Flop: 4JK Check Check
Turn: 8. Andreas checks and Pascal bets 30K. Andreas folds.

6--Andreas calls from small blind and Pascal raises to 75K total. Andreas announces re-raise and Pascal mucks before Andeas can announce how much the re-raise is.

7--Pascal calls and Andreas raises to 70K total. Pascal calls.
Flop: Q2K Check Check
Turn: 9 . Andreas bets 50K. Pascal raises to 300K. Andreas mucks a pair of sixes face up. Pascal shows J4 (aka The Jack Hammer) for no pair. Looks like "Aggressive Pascal arrived." This should be fun.

8--Andres calls from small blind and Pascal checks.
Flop: 2A6. Check Check
Turn: 7. Pascal checks. Andres bets 30K. Pascal folds. Andreas shows a 7.

9--
Flop: 324. Adreas bets 35K. Pascal calls
Turn: 6. Check Check
River: 7 Check Check

Andreas has 32 for two pair and Pascal mucks.

10--Andreas raises 40K from small blind and Pascal mucks.

BIG POT HAND---11--Pascal calls from small blind and Andreas raise to 70K. Pascal announces raise and makes it 100K more. Andreas calls.
Flop: 997. Andreas checks. Pascal bets 100K. Andreas makes it 170K more. Pascal announces all in and Andreas folds. That should be a fun hand to see on TV.

CHIPS ARE JUST ABOUT EVEN with around 1.5 million a piece.

12--In the small blind, Andreas makes it 60K to go and Pacal mucks.

13--Pascal raises form small blind to 80K and Andreas folds.

14--Andreas calls. Pascal checks
Flop:K84. Pascal checks. Andreas bets 30K. Pascal folds.

15--Pascal calls. Andreas raises to 70K and Pascal calls.
Flop: 3KA. Andreas checks. Pascal checks.
Tur: A. Andrea checks. two spades and two clubs on the board. Pascal bets 25K. Andreas calls.
River: 9 Check Check
Andreas: 44.
Pascal shows 67.
Andreas wins with aces up.

16--Andreas raises and Pascal folds.

HUGE HAND-----17--Pascal raises to 60K. Andreas calls.
Flop: 473 with two diamonds.
Andreas checks and Pascal bets 150K. Andreas announces raise and puts in 250K morre. Pascal announces all in. I love that move. He's done it to Andreas before. This time it's giving Andreas serious heartburn. He's fallen into the tank. Pascal is smirking at him and trying to chat him up. Pascal says something about having a hearrt attack. Andreas face can look like American actor Clint Eastwood when he's thinking very hard. Finally, Andreas calls.

Pascal: 99 for an overpair.
Andras has J7o for top pair.

Turn: K

River: 3

Pascal takes it down and cripples Andreas.

This might be over very quickly.

NEW CHIP COUNT (such as it is)

Andreas:246k
Pascal 2.5 million

18--Andreas folds from small blind.

19--Pascal calls and Andreas checks.
Flop: 237
Turn: J Pascal bets 20K and Andreas calls.
River: 4. Andreas checks. Pascal bets 50K. Andreas folds and Pascal shows the jack for top pair.

20--

Flop: Q56. Andreas bets 25K. Pascal announces all in. Andreas calls.
Andreas shows 76
Pascal shows 85
Turn: A
River: A

Andreas has 380K in chips.

21--Pascal calls and Andres checks.
Flop: 8JA. Andreas checks. Pascal bets and takes the pot.

22--A whole bunch of checking.
Board J669T
Andreas picks up the blinds with K-high.

23--Pascal calls and Andreas checks.
Flop: 27K. Andreas bets 30K. Pascal folds.
Andreas shows a deuce.

24--Andreas calls and Pascal checks.
Flop: 7TK
Pascal bets 20K and Andreas folds.

25--Andres raises from small blind and Pascal folds.

26--Andreas folds.

27--

pascal calls, Andreas raises, pascal moves all. andreas calls.

Andreas: KJ diamonds
Pascal: AJ spades

Flop: QQ6 with one spade
Turn: 7
River: 4

Pascal wins.
Flop

Frequently Asked Questions

2004-02-28T20:09:00.000+01:00

What is the European Poker Tour?

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is a new series of major poker tournaments being conducted and televised throughout Europe. The EPT consists of events at some of the most beautiful casinos in some of Europe's most historic cities. Click here for a schedule.

How do I play on the European Poker Tour?

No matter where you live in the world, you still have an opportunity to play in the Grand Final event of the European Poker Tour in beautiful Monaco. Online satellite tournaments for the Grand Final event in Monaco will be played on PokerStars.com. Winners of those satellite events will receive their buy-in, hotel accomodations (where offered), and spending money which can be used for airfare and other travel incidentals. Players who wish to buy directly into an EPT event may do so, as well.

Where can I learn more about the EPT?

Click here for a FAQ about the EPT.

I'm playing on the EPT and want you to feature me on the blog.

Write an e-mail to Brad "Otis" Willis at otisbdart@yahoo.com and tell him about yourself. Once you arrive in the tournament area, ask someone where Brad is. Or ask them where Otis is. Or find the guy with the camera, notepad, and caffeine-brimming eyes. Then introduce yourself.

I want a chip-count. Now!

Many online players have become accustomed to clicking on the tournament lobby and finding immediate chip-count updates. However, until all chips are outfitted with radio transmitters, it's a little difficult (read: impossible) to have up-to-the-second chip counts for hundreds of players in a live tournament. Otis will strive to bring you updated chip counts as often and accurately as possible.

Who is Otis?

Brad "Otis" Willis is a long-time blogger and poker player. He spent nearly ten years as a broadcast journalist before taking on writing, blogging, and poker as full-time vocations. When he is not on the PokerStars' tournament circuit, you'll find him in such publications as 5th Street, ALL IN, and Casino Player.

Brad "Otis" Willis at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, January 2005

Brad "Otis" Willis at the World Poker Blogger Tour Holiday Classic, December 2004

Glossary of terms used on the EPT blog

2004-02-28T18:27:00.000+01:00

While most of the readers of this blog have a fairly firm grasp on the poker jargon that slips so easily out of my fingers, I've come to realize there are folks out there who may not be as familiar with some of the poker terminology and slang. I've included here the definitions of some of the more commonly-used words and phrases. If you have a question or would like to suggest an entry, feel free to e-mail me at the link on the right.

Shorthand for some phrases will be in italics.

All in--The process of betting all of ones' chips.

American Airlines--A nickname for two aces.

Ante--A small bet that all players are required to post before the dealer passes out the cards.

Bad beat--Losing a hand that one was favored to win.

Big blind (BB)--The player two to the left of the dealer button who is required to post a full blind bet before the hand begins. (see blinds)

Big Slick --An ace and a king, one of the strongest starting hands in Texas Hold'em.

Blinds--Forced bets made by the players one and two to the left of the dealer button. These bets insure action on every hand. In tournament play, the amount of the blinds increases throughout the game.

Board--The five community cards on the table, consisting of the flop, turn, and river.

Boat--Short for "full boat" or "full house."

Bubble--The last place one can finish in a tournament and not win money.

Bullets--A nickname for two aces.

Button (Dealer button)--Signifies which player serves as the dealer during a particular hand. This player is the last to act on all betting after the flop. Having the button is the most favorable position to have during a game. (see Position)

Call--To match a bet without raising it.

Calling the clock--When a player feels an opponent is taking too long to make a decision or stalling, he/she can "call the clock" on the opponent. At that point, the opponent has a pre-designated amount of time (usually 70 seconds) to make a decision. If the opponent fails to make a decision within the designated amount of time, his/her cards are considered dead.

Cash qualifier--A player who has qualified in a satellite tournament on PokerStars.

Check--The first player to act on a round of betting can defer to his opponents without betting. This is called "checking." (Chips are also sometimes referred to as "checks")

Check-raise--To defer to an opponent then raise after the opponent bets.

Chopped pot--A pot that is split between players who hold the same hands.

Community cards--The five cards on the table that all players can use to make the best hand in combination with their hole cards.

Cutoff--The player to the right of the dealer button.

Direct buy-in--A player who entered the tournament by posting the full entry fee.

Doubling up--A player who wins a hand to double his/her number of chips has "doubled up" (also known as "doubling through").

Draw--A player on a draw still needs to see more cards to improve his/her hand (straight-draw, flush-draw, etc).

Drawing dead--When no cards in the deck can improve a player's hand into a winner, that player is drawing dead.

Hole cards--A player's two hidden cards used with the five community cards to make the best hand.

Flop--The first three community cards on the table.

Frequent Player Points (FPP)--PokerStars players use FPPs to enter qualifying tournaments for free. Players build up points on PokerStars based on the amount of time they play.

Gutter--Slang for "gutshot" (see below)

Gutshot--A phrase used to describe a player who has four cards to a straight but lacks one card in the middle (ex: A23x5). Only four cards in the deck will fill the straight, making it a less-than-likely possibility. This word is often used in the phrase "gutshot straight draw."

Heads-up--When only two players remain in a hand or only two players remain in a tournament.

Kicker--A kicker is an unpaired card in a player's hand that can determine whether his/her hand is better or worse than an opponent's. For instance, if both players had a pair of eights, but one player had an ace as a kicker and the other had a queen as a kicker, the player with the pair of eights and ace kicker would win.

Muck (noun)--The discarded cards on the table.

Muck (verb)--To fold one's hand.

Nuts--The best possible hand one can make when taking the five community cards into consideration, often used in terms of the "nut-flush" or "nut-straight."

Offsuit--Two hole cards of different suits, sometimes abbreviated as a lower case "o" (AKo, 23o, etc.).

Open-ended--A phrase used to decribe a player who has four cards to a straight and needs one of eight remaining cards in the deck to make his hand (ex: a player holding 9TJQ would need an eight or a king to make the straight).

Open-ender--See "Open-ended"

Orbit--The number of hands equal to the number of players at the table.

Outs--The number of cards presumed to be left in the deck that can improve a player's hand. Players often count their "outs" to determine whether to stay in a hand or fold.

Pocket pair--Any two hole cards that are the same (two aces, two fours, etc).

Position--A player's placement at the table relative to his/her opponents based on distance away from the dealer button. Position is often referred to in terms of early, middle, or late. Players face more favorable circumstances when sitting in later positions.

Pre-flop--The period of time in a hand before any of the community cards are placed on the table.

Rainbow--A collection of cards of different suits.

Raise--To increase a bet.

Read--When a player attempts to deduce what cards his/her opponent is holding.

Re-raise--To raise a bet that has already been raised.

River--The final community card on the table, also known as fifth street.

Runner-runner--When a player catches two cards he/she needs to win on the turn and river, it's described as runner-runner. For instance, if a player needed two spades to make a flush and the turn and river were both spades, one would say, "She caught her runner-runner flush."

Running--Similar to runner-runner, running cards are two like cards that come on the turn and river. For instance, if both the turn and river were kings, one would describe it as "running kings."

Set--Three of a kind, sometimes referred to as "trips."

Short-stack--A player who does not have many chips left. While there is no hard and fast definition for what makes up a short stack, it's often considered to be less than six times the big blind.

Small blind (SB)--The player one to the left of the dealer button who is required to post half of a blind bet before the hand begins. (See blinds)

Stack--A player's collection of chips.

Suited--Two hole cards of the same suit. Sometimes abbreviated as a lower-case "s" (AKs, 23s, etc).

Tank--A player "in the tank" is deep in thought and taking a long time to make a decision.

Top Pair Top Kicker (TPTK)--A player who holds the highest pair on the board with the best possible kicker.

Turn--The fourth community card on the table, also known as fourth street.

Under the gun (UTG)--The player immediately to the left of the blinds, first to act after the cards are dealt.