Poker in Paris

by Mike Sexton | Published: Mar 28, 2003

I recently attended the 2003 Euro Finals of Poker at the Aviation Club de France. The no-limit hold'em championship at the EFOP was a World Poker Tour event. The winner of that tournament (the largest in Europe) is deemed to be the European poker champion for the year.

This WPT event in Paris is the primary reason the word "World" is in the name World Poker Tour. And the EFOP, with its tremendous international flavor of players and Paris as a backdrop, should provide for sensational television. (Note: The World Poker Tour premieres on the Travel Channel March 30, and can be seen every Wednesday thereafter starting April 2; check your local TV listings for times. Don't miss these WPT shows. You'll love 'em!)

The Aviation Club de France is an elegant club with a lot of European ambiance to it. It's where you would expect James Bond to hang out. What's really impressive, in addition to the games and hospitality, is that the club is located smack dab in the middle of the most famous street in Paris, the Champs-Elysées (perhaps the most famous street in the world).

The 2003 EFOP championship event had a 10,000 Euro ($10,800) buy-in. There were 86 entrants from four continents. Chris Johansson of Stockholm, Sweden, captured the title along with 500,000 Euros (well over a half-million dollars). He also received a coveted entry ($25,300) into the WPT Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas, April 14-18. Congratulations, Chris! Claude Cohen, a popular professional from Paris, finished runner-up for the second time in four years. (He finished second to "moi" in 2000.) Allen Cunningham, a 25-year-old poker sensation from the United States, was third.

As the host of PartyPoker.com and a commentator for the World Poker Tour, I don't get to play in anywhere near as many tournaments as I used to (and none of the WPT events). I really enjoy playing in the bigger tournaments, so I went to Paris a few days prior to the WPT event to play in two tournaments, the pot-limit Omaha championship and an event I've never played before - the heads-up championship. I finished just out of the money (11th) in the Omaha tournament, but couldn't have fared better in the heads-up tournament. (What a difference a day makes in tournament poker.)

A heads-up tournament is one-on-one poker. It works just like the NCAA basketball tournament or a tennis tournament, in that you have to beat your opponent to advance to the next round. In Paris, the buy-in for the heads-up tournament was 5,000 Euros (about $5,400), and the field was limited to 32 players. To win the tournament, you had to win five matches.

The structure and format of this tournament were very good. Playing no-limit hold'em, players started with $10,000 in chips with blinds of $100-$200. The blinds went up to $200-$400 after two hours of play, and stayed there. Players who won their first two matches got their 5,000 Euros back from the buy-in. Those winning their third match then got another 10,000 Euros, their fourth match, another 20,000 Euros, and the winner of the final match, another 30,000 Euros (for a total of 65,000 Euros). The remaining money went to the house and tournament staff.

I was in the upper bracket. My first-round opponent was tournament veteran and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Steve Zolotow of the United States. Steve was the runner-up in this event last year. Other Americans in the upper bracket included Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, and Allen Cunningham. (Nobody said it would be easy.)

My match with Steve "Zee" started out like I would have been a lot better off skipping this tournament. He took the early lead and I couldn't seem to get anything going. I lost a few pots and bluffed some money off, and was quickly down to $3,800 in chips. We then got it all in on the flop when it came A-3-3 with two hearts. I had aces up and Steve had the nut-flush draw. Luckily, he missed and I doubled up. That hand turned the tide for me. I ended up winning a long, grueling (but very fun to play) match, and advanced to the second round.

That match turned out to be by far my toughest battle. I won my next three matches, and found myself in the finals against John Duthie from England. Duthie is a famous European player, as he won the televised Ladbrokes Poker Million a couple of years ago. This finals matchup was dubbed the Poker Million vs. the PartyPoker Million.

Fortunately, things went my way in the finals. I was very proud to win the title and bring the trophy back to the United States. Obviously, winning any tournament is fun, but just playing these heads-up matches was really fun. Now, I'm hooked. I'll be playing all the heads-up tournaments I can from now on.

Poker in Paris - it's magnifique! Take care.