European Poker Tour Rolls Into Copenhagen & Berlin

As the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour ramped up its 2010 jaunts across the continent ahead of the highly-anticipated Grand Final in Monte Carlo in April, Card Player stopped by the final tables in Copenhagen and Berlin to get the story of its latest champions.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Copenhagen found its winner after one of the _Tour_’s longer running final tables. It didn’t help that nine players began the day instead of the usual eight. However with the departure of Denmark’s Magnus Hansen, the EPT had its final eight once more.

After hours of play filled with a mix of surprise twists and turns and periods of folding, eight became one, and 22-year-old Anton Wigg from Sweden took home DKK 3,675,000 (€494,000) for first place.

It seemed as if it was slipping away from the young pro at times when heads up against Italian Francesco de Vivo. However, he never lost sight of his goal, and after four hours of heads-up play, Wigg was crowned champion.

The final hand began with a raising war between Wigg and De Vivo, which resulted in Wigg shoving the rest of his chips in and De Vivo making the call. Wigg showed A J while De Vivo revealed K 10. The board was painstakingly dealt Q Q 9 2 8 and De Vivo had to settle for second place and DKK 2,275,000.

Anton Wigg, who qualified online at PokerStars, said, “It just feels so wonderful right now. I was in real trouble many times but I kept my cool and told myself never to give up and I am so proud to have come through.”

This was Wigg’s first cash on the EPT but his name may be familiar from taking down the European Masters of Poker Barcelona last summer and making the final table of a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure side event in January 2010. With his latest win he also gets a seat in the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo.

This final table was not just about the Swede and the Italian however. Seven other hearts were broken as the day progressed, including that of three Danes and Welshman Roberto Romanello. The Full Tilt pro made the wrong move at the wrong time and walked straight into Wigg’s aces, resulting in his exit in sixth place. But there were plenty of other stories like that along the way from 423 players to the last man standing.

The final table payouts were (DKK):

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Berlin €5,000 no-limit hold’em main event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin could not have been more eventful. After an armed robbery disrupted play on day four (see Inside Straight) the focus returned to poker for an explosive final table. A top prize of €1 million waited for the champion who would eventually top the record field of 945 players from 48 countries.

Here is a look at the chip counts when play began:

The first elimination came just a few minutes after cards got were the air when the short-stack Nico Behling moved all in preflop and Marcel Koller made the call. Behling held A-Q (he had previously moved all in on the first hand at the final table with A-Q but chopped the pot) and was up against the pocket tens of Koller. The board brought nothing but blanks and Behling was eliminated in eighth place for €72,000. Marko Neumann was the next player at risk and he made his move with A-K. He was racing against the pocket sevens of Kevin MacPhee and the board ran out 8-7-6-8-9. Neumann was eliminated in seventh place and was awarded €120,000, while MacPhee grew his chip lead to 10 million.

The eliminations kept coming at a brisk pace when Koller moved all in for 2,395,000 preflop with A-Q and Ilari Tahkokallio made the call with pocket queens. Koller found no help on the board and hit the rail in sixth place. He took home €165,000. Tahkokallio grew his stack to 7 million and looked to have the best chance of chasing down MacPhee at that point of the final table.

Almost an hour later MacPhee pulled away from the field again and he grew his stack to 14 million. The extra chips were a gift from Ketul Nathwani, who was eliminated in fifth place and took home €210,000. His A-6 was dominated by the A-9 of MacPhee and the board rolled out 9-4-3-5-Q to seal the deal.

The battle for fourth place took almost three hours to decide after that and it took a cooler to bring it to an end. Artur Wasek moved all in preflop for 1,655,000 and Marc Inizan made the call. Wasek pinned his tournament hopes on pocket queens but Inizan held pocket kings. The board saw no lead changes but it did provide a sweat when the flop came J-10-9. The turn and river fizzled with a 2 and a 4 though, and Inizan was eliminated in fourth place, taking home €280,000.

Here is what the stacks looked like at the dinner break:
Ilari Tahkokallio: 12,260,000
Kevin MacPhee: 10,760,000
Marc Inizan: 5,690,000

Inizan was active on the shortest stack left in play when the final three returned from dinner, but his luck ran out when he decided to check-raise for 890,000 on a flop of Jh 8s 7h after MacPhee opened the round of betting with a wager of 360,000. MacPhee quickly reraised to 1.72 million and Inizan went all in. MacPhee made the call and they turned over their cards:

MacPhee: 10 9
Inizan: J 10
Turn and River: 4 and A

Inizan was eliminated in third place and he took home €350,000. Here were the chip counts when cards got into the air for heads up play:
MacPhee: 17,675,000
Tahkokallio: 11,035,000

MacPhee increased his lead to 23 million before Tahkokallio was able to double up and gain some ground. He moved all in for 5.65 million on 6 3 2 Q board with 2 2 in the hole and MacPhee made the call with K 4. The river brought the 8 and Tahkokallio doubled up to 11.62 million thanks to his set of deuces. Tahkokallio then used his momentum to take the chip lead in a big pot where he induced MacPhee to muck on a 6-4-3-6-A board with a 900,000 bet. He held 15.5 million over MacPhee’s 13 million even. The chip lead then swung back in MacPhee’s favor in the next hand of consequence. On a 7-7-6-Q-J flop with two clubs Tahkokallio tabled 8 5 for a busted open-ended straight flush draw and MacPhee won the hand with Q-9 to take the lead.

He increased that lead to 18.5 million when he turned a straight against his opponent a few minutes later, and then MacPhee began to close in on victory. The final hand came when MacPhee raised to 700,000 preflop and Tahkokallio made the call. The flop was dealt 5c 4h 2c and Tahkokallio bet, MacPhee raised, and Tahkokallio moved all in for 8,995,000. MacPhee made the call and they flipped over their cards:

MacPhee: 4 3
Tahkokallio: 9 6
Turn and River: J and 6

Tahkokallio was eliminated in runner-up position on the exciting final hand and he was awarded €600,000. That made MacPhee the champion after a heads-up battle, which lasted three and a half hours. MacPhee, a 29-year old Idaho, USA resident who plays online as “ImaLuckSac” and qualified for the event on PokerStars, was awarded the huge top prize worth €1,000,000 and a seat in the Monte Carlo Grand Final.

The final table results were: