Aaron Gustavson Wins PokerStars.com EPT London Main Event

The European Poker Tour has grown by leaps and bounds over its six-season run, and one of its strongest stops has always been London, where the action has taken place at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino. Tournament officials saw an opportunity for growth, and expanded the series to 16 events, while moving the tournaments down the street to the nearby Hilton Metropole, which is able to accommodate more players.

The 2008 main-event mark of 596 was easily shattered over the course of the two starting days, as the field grew to a whopping 730 players. The tournament no doubt benefited from the World Series of Poker Europe, which took place at the Casino at the Empire just before the EPT London kicked off. The £5,000 buy-in generated a prize pool of £3,540,500, which meant the eventual winner would walk away with £850,000.

It took four days to reach the money, and the final 104 players were guaranteed at least £7,500 each. The flattened payout structure allowed many players to pick up their aggression, and the sprint to the final table began.

Notables such as Eugene Katchalov, Jason Somerville, J.P. Kelly, J.C. Tran, Maria Mayrinck, John Juanda, Chris Ferguson, Theo Tran, and Annette Obrestad all made the money. They were joined by “November Nine” member Kevin Schaffel, who finished in 19th place, thus adding another impressive result to his growing poker resume. Schaffel also finished second in the recent WPT Legends of Poker main event.

After Vivek Rajkumar bubbled the final table in ninth place, the players broke for the evening to prepare for one of the more international final tables in recent memory.

Finalists:
Aaron Gustavson 7,140,000 US
Peter Eastgate 3,535,000 Denmark
Martin Gudvangen 3,510,000 Norway
Nikolai Senninger 2,165,000 Germany
Dominic Cullen 2,115,000 UK
Raymond Wu 1,535,000 Taipei
Rui Milhomens 1,095,000 Portugal
Karim Bennani 845,000 France

All eyes focused on the big stack at the table, Gustavson, along with reigning World Series of Poker Champion Peter Eastgate. Both players did not disappoint, battling early and often with each other and trading the chip lead several times.

The short stack at the table folded for a few more orbits than he should have, and ended up all in for just a few big blinds. The end result came as predicted, and Bennani was the first to get sent to the rail.

Eastgate wasn’t the only Team PokerStars pro at the table, but he soon would be after Asian pro Raymond Wu was eliminated by chip leader Gustavson. The next player to go was Portugal’s Rui Milhomens, who spent most of day 3 with the chip lead. Eastgate was the one who did the damage, inching closer to Gustavson’s spot atop the leader board.

The lone hometown player left at the table was the UK’s Dominic Cullen, who admittedly had very little experience at live-tournament tables. Cullen lasted as long as he could before losing a coin flip to bust out in fifth place.

The next to go was Martin Gudvangen. The Norwegian ran into Nikolai Senninger’s flopped full house and couldn’t recover from the short stack. Senninger’s run was short-lived, however, as Gustavson took him out in third place.

By this time, Gustavson had racked up an impressive 14 million in chips to Eastgate’s 8 million. The blinds were still relatively low, and many anticipated a long, drawn-out heads-up battle.

However, it turned out that only seven hands were needed to crown a champion. On the first hand, Eastgate fired three streets on a board reading Q 5 2 K 5 when he was faced with a big check-raise on the river from Gustavson. Eastgate agonized over his decision, spending five minutes in thought before letting his hand go.

With Eastgate’s stack circling the drain, he raised from the button to 350,000 and Gustavson reraised to 900,000. Eastgate responded by moving all in for his last 4.5 million, and Gustavson had no problem looking him up with the A Q. Eastgate showed a dominated A 9, and the board offered him no help, giving the title to Gustavson.

Eastgate earned £530,000 for his runner-up performance, and certainly proved that he is one of the most talented WSOP main-event champions of the decade. Gustavson, who has victories in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up and a preliminary event at the Borgata Summer Open, banked £850,000 (roughly $1.35 million) with the victory.

Aaron Gustavson Shines on European Poker Tour Stage
The bright lights of the EPT live stage can be intimidating for anyone, especially a 23-year-old first-timer who’s playing for more money than ever before. Sure, Aaron Gustavson had won tournaments before, about $300,000 worth. He picked up a win at the Borgata Summer Open, and also had success online when he won the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars.

No doubt a professional, Gustavson still had yet to feel the pressure of a big-money situation as he headed to the final table of the PokerStars.com EPT London main event with a big chip lead and poker’s reigning World Series of Poker champion, Peter Eastgate, hot on his heels.

Gustavson didn’t come out of the gates firing; instead, he opted to remain patient and pick his spots accordingly. When others at the final table threatened to take over his status as table captain, he put a quick end to it by three-betting and four-betting his way back to the top.

“There were three or four shorter stacks, so I couldn’t open very wide because I knew they’d be shoving light,” he said. “I had to make sure that I could call their shoves when I was opening, so I definitely just sat back and waited for hands I could call their shoves with. I didn’t need to go crazy. If I was in late position, I could raise light, but I pretty much just played solid hands.”

Eastgate was a particularly difficult threat to the Las Vegas resident, as he was sitting on Gustavson’s left and putting him to tough decisions. Twice, Gustavson played a passive pot, calling all the way down to the river before putting in a check-raise. In the first one, he got a little unlucky when Eastgate rivered a set, and in the second, Eastgate was forced to fold top pair and was left crippled in perhaps the most important hand of the tournament.

Gustavson’s fearlessness enabled him to stay in control and avoid risky situations for his entire stack. After the dust settled, it was clear that the best player on the day had deservedly won the tournament.

London Poker Festival Featured Big Winners in a Variety of Games
Jason Mercier and Joe Hachem Claimed Preliminary Wins

The problem with many destination poker tournaments is the lack of options available once a player has busted out of the main event. It’s hard to justify an expensive trip to Europe for just one event, but the European Poker Tour London enabled players to experience buy-ins ranging from £500 to £20,000 and a variety of games, including the eight-game European Championship.

That £2,000 eight-game Championship drew 60 players and had a star-studded final table that featured David Williams, Huck Seed, “Miami” John Cernuto, and Nikolay Evdakov. The eventual winner was Team PokerStars pro Joe Hachem, who banked £42,400 for the win.

The biggest turnout among the preliminary events was for the £1,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em tournament. A total of 223 players made the tournament a huge success, and it was Andreas Gulunay who topped them all for a £67,000 score. The series also featured a ladies event for the first time in EPT history. This tournament attracted 119 players and was won by Poland’s Dagmara Aleksandrowicz.

Other notable winners in the series included Fabrice Soulier, who won £23,400 in the six-handed pot-limit Omaha event; Dario Alioto, who won £22,000 in the pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event; and William Thorson, who picked up £52,400 in the pot-limit Omaha event.

The most notable win of the series went to Team PokerStars pro Jason Mercier, who has had no shortage of big finishes this year. Fresh off of his appearance at the WSOP Europe main-event final table, Mercier had a rough go of it in the EPT London main event. He was undeterred, however, and proceeded to enter the £2,500 no-limit hold’em event.

Jokes ran rampant among the other pros in the tournament that they might as well just quit, because his victory was inevitable. Their predictions proved to be correct, and Mercier earned the fifth live-tournament win of his career and banked £115,800 in the process. He now has more than $4 million in lifetime tournament earnings, and sits in fourth place in the Card Player 2009 Player of the Year standings.

With the success of its London poker festival, the EPT has planned to add more and more side events to its schedules, and will take the next big step toward that goal with the upcoming PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2010, which will feature more than 50 events, with a variety of different games and buy-ins.

Matthew Glantz Takes High-Roller Showdown at EPT London
Defeats Recent WSOP Europe Bracelet Winner Erik Cajelais Heads Up

Matthew Glantz may seem like the unlikely winner of the EPT London high-roller event, but in truth, his poker resume has been hinting at a breakthrough performance like this for years.

Glantz earned £542,000 for besting an elite field at the Hilton Metropole, and he defeated recent World Series of Poker Europe winner Erik Cajelais heads up for the top honors. The £20,000 buy-in tournament drew 75 top-notch players and created a total prize pool of £1,500,000.

Dead money was nowhere to be found, and the Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, pro had no problem putting the high-profile win into proper perspective. “There were tons of great players,” he said. “Out of the top 100 tournament players in the world, probably 50 to 60 were in this tournament.”

He wasn’t kidding. Only the final table of eight walked away with a payday, and notables who made it that far included Eugene Katchalov, Dennis Phillips, and cash-game sicko Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.

Despite being one of the better high-stakes cash-game pros, Glantz maintains a pretty low profile on the tournament trail. He’s best known for his fourth-place finish in the 2008 $50,000 World Series of Poker H.O.R.S.E. championship, where he earned $568,320. It may surprise you to know that he now has six six-figure scores to his credit and nearly $3 million in tournament winnings.

Yet, Glantz is adamant about his focus on cash games, and even confessed that he has trouble getting up for tournaments. “To tell you the truth, I know it sounds crazy, but this one was harder to get motivated for because you are putting up £20,000 to win £500,000,” he said. “You’re getting only 25-to-1 on your money, and you have to beat 74 great players. Cash games are more of a logical way to beat your opponents, while in tournaments, it’s more fun to try to get inside your opponent’s head.”

Glantz had more fun than he knew what to do with during heads-up play, coming from behind a bit to steal the title from Cajelais, who had held the chip lead for a big chunk of the tournament. On the penultimate hand, Glantz made a flush against Cajelais’ trip aces, and then on the final hand, his baby ace connected against Cajelais’ pair of queens to seal the victory.

Here’s a look at the results:
1 Matthew Glantz £542,000
2 Erik Cajelais £326,000
3 Eugene Katchalov £193,000
4 Adolfo Vaeza £141,000
5 Leo Fernandez £104,000
6 Ilari Sahamies £74,000
7 Dennis Phillips £60,000
8 Shane Reihill £45,000