Everest Poker European Cup in Vilamoura, Portugal: A Gathering of Young Guns
Last year's
Everest Poker European Cup (
EPEC) was a huge success. I had the pleasure of being there in 2006, and was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere at the tables. In contrast to many of the international tournaments in which the atmosphere is sometimes tense and play is highly aggressive, this tournament had a true "gathering of friends" feel to it.
Back then, the event was staged in Barcelona, had a €50,000 prize pool (despite the fact that everybody was on a freeroll), and was won by a Swede, Peter Lindström. This year, we all got together in Vilamoura, Portugal, a cosy little town for relatively wealthy people. The prize pool had doubled to €100,000 - and yet again, it was a Swede who took the honors.
Gathering of Friends is a Gathering of Young Guns
But first, let's get to the overall atmosphere in Vilamoura. For those who are used to
European Poker Tour tournaments, this
EPEC event may not have had the same kind of tension or excitement. But for the vast majority of the participants, it did have this kind of tension: For most of them, it was the biggest tournament by far that they had ever played. With Everest being known as a site with many "low rollers" and lots of players who start out playing for very low stakes or even just for play money, the opportunity to perform for free in a €100,000 tournament was an excellent one. After many qualifying rounds throughout Europe, 174 players made it to Portugal, and a total of 17 (European) nationalities were represented.
The average age was 26, with the oldest being 57 and the youngest 19; 4 percent of the field was female.
As one can see, it was a truly European event, and with such a low average age, this was without a doubt a "Young Guns" event. And they were party people, on top of that! The night before the start of the event, there was a very lively party at the nightclub in the Casino Vilamoura, and the two strip joints in Vilamoura reported, let's say, "booming business." There was a true atmosphere of friendship, almost soccer-like, whereby friendships were in large part limited by the country of origin of the players.
The Netherlands, especially, had a large crowd of people who supported their players loudly, and this led to a situation in which out of the final 26 players, no fewer than nine of them were Dutch. But as so often happens in sports, when it comes to collecting the trophies, the Dutch are nowhere to be seen. After a series of unlucky races, the Dutch crowd could pack its bags after Bart Besselink and Marloes Willems busted out in eight and seventh place, respectively.
Tight Play Despite Very Shallow Money
In fact, the Dutch were basically the only ones who were willing to sometimes push marginal hands. Despite the fact that as
we got closer to the end, the money was rather shallow and the blinds and ante pressure was high, there were many walks and uncontested pots. Someone who was fairly aggressive was young Swede Per Vennström, playing under the nickname "pokerpewe" at Everest. Having started the second day as the chip leader, he built his lead even more with four tables left. Holding 9-8 suited, he called a raise from Jeen Koelemeijer, found a flop of 8-8-X, and cracked his opponent's pocket kings.
Young Swede Comes Back From Behind to Win Title
With large crowds standing around the final table, it was Richard Dutuor ("kTaLaN" on Everest) who had taken over from Per as the chip leader. But in a huge three-way pot, Per's A-K caught a king on the turn to beat two players (one with 8-8, so the Swede definitely needed this king), and he was able to triple up. And after another double-up (with 7-7 against A-K), the young Swede, just 19 years old, got back into contention. He started the heads-up phase trailing 328,000 to slightly more than a million for his strong opponent Dutuor. But Per fought back via a number of uncontested all-in raises. Richard played perhaps a bit too tight at this stage, and then decided to make a move at the wrong time. Having folded quite a few times despite seemingly good odds, the Frenchman pushed with 9-3 offsuit, and Per called with K-Q. A queen on the flop propelled Per into a 6-to-1 chip lead, and when in the final hand his K-4 suited held up against his opponent's 7-2, the match was over. The new
EPEC champion is a likeable young man who had gotten to Portugal for free - and returned home with a cool €21,000 in his pocket.
A large crowd, lots of media attention, a great atmosphere, and a gracious winner - what more could Everest have wished for. All in all, the
EPEC was a great promotion, not only for the site, but for poker in general - because it showed that a collection of "unknown" faces, people we know just by their handles, are a guarantee to perform well in a great live tournament in an excellent atmosphere.
Rolf Slotboom has been a professional cash-game player since 1998. He is the author of the successful Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha, and the co-author of Hold'em on the Come. He is the creator and presenter of the hold'em four-DVD set Rolf Slotboom's Winning Plays. He is the first-ever Dutch Champion, and maintains his own site at www.rolfslotboom.com.
