Major Changes in Austria's Biggest Tournament
While the 2007
World Series of Poker is already history, the European circuit is heading toward its next season. From Oct. 9 to Oct. 13, one of the most prestigious poker events in the world will be held again at Casino Baden/Austria. The
European Poker Championship is taking place this year for the 18th time, and, once again, some of the world's best poker players from more than 35 countries will be taking part. The
Baden Open (no-limit Texas hold'em, buy-in of €2,000) will take place Oct. 9-10, directly before the
European Poker Championship. The third
European Poker Tour (
EPT) is likely to visit Casino Baden in the run-up to the
European Poker Championship, although the new tour (which probably will start at the beginning of September 2007) has not yet been finalised.
A number of positive innovations at the traditional
European Poker Championship will be realized. The
European Poker Championship (limit seven-card stud) is to become a three-day freezeout tournament (Oct. 11-13) with a €2,500 buy-in and a very practical tournament structure. This year, you can dine à la carte. The obligatory "all-you-can-eat-and-drink" package will no longer be offered. You pay for only what you consume. A supersatellite tournament will be held for the first time on the day before the
European Poker Championship with a €300 buy-in (Oct. 10).
In Germany, a keen experiment was started at the beginning of the year, and it still is making positive progress. I'm talking about the "888 National Team Project." In several online freeroll tournaments, we were searching for some recreational players, to give them the chance of being members of our team without investing one cent of their own money. More than 100,000 people took part, and the 30 most successful were invited for the live final, held in Zillertal/Austria. In six televised live tournaments, two players won their positions on the 888 National Team. Maik Wnendt from Nuernberg and Christian Zetsche from Plauen are the new members. Both of them play with me in some major international tournaments, and sometimes they are joined by another player, who won a seat through a freeroll. The whole project has created a lot of media attention, and these young guys might have a chance of a lifetime. Instead of talking and talking, 888 played an active role in the support of amateur players.
And when it comes to big projects, I shouldn't forget another series of tournaments in Austria. Austria is divided into nine provinces, which are part of the federal state. In each province, a Texas hold'em poker championship is being organized in a public place outside a regular casino. With a buy-in of €200, the event is open to everyone. Additionally, players can qualify through satellites for as little as €10. The 10th and last event of the series will take place in Vienna's Concord Card Casino as the
Austrian State Championship. All tournaments are televised in high-quality productions by the private channel
ATV. The tournament director is the former chairman of the CCC, Thomas Lamatsch.
Finally, on June 10, a personal dream came true. I won my first bracelet at the
World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. It was in the $1,500 limit seven-card stud event, and I bought in just in time, because I had just gone out of the $5,000 pot-limit hold'em event a few minutes before the stud event started. After three hours, I was very short-stacked, sitting there with only $200 in chips left from the original starting amount of $3,000. I had to lay down my pair of aces on sixth street, as I could see that I was obviously drawing dead against my opponent. But I doubled up three times and found my way back into the game. I was consistently short-stacked until only 20 players were left in the event. But then the poker gods showed mercy and I had a rush of good cards. When the final table started, I was the chip leader and never looked back. After 17 hours of play on day two, I finally won the tournament. Winning a bracelet has been my biggest goal during the last 10 years, and things will never be the same anymore.
Michael Keiner is a German poker pro sponsored by 888.com. You can find him playing online at www.pacificpoker.com.
