Ben Big in Berlin

The PokerStars European Poker Tour Berlin no-limit hold’em main event saw Canadian Internet professional Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky lift the championship trophy. He topped a field of 773 players to take home the top prize of €825,000 in Berlin, Germany in early March. He increased his combined live and online lifetime earnings to more than $2 million with the victory.
Along the way a number of well known pros cashed in the event including:
11th Fabrice Soulier France €36,000
17th Konstantin Puchkov Russia €20,000
20th Henrique Pinho Portugal €20,000
26th George Danzer Germany €17,500
40th Tomer Berda Israel €15,000
64th Tristan Clemencon France €12,500
75th Roberto Romanello UK €10,000
78th Joao Barbosa Portugal €10,000
95th Peter Eastgate Denmark €10,000
96th Sebastian Ruthenberg Germany €10,000

However arguably it was the elimination of Daniel Pidun on the final table bubble which caused the most raising of eyebrows. Armin Mette raised preflop and Pidun reraised to 375,000. Mette then reraised all in and Pidun made the all-in call. Their cards:
Mette: A♥ A♦
Pidun: Q♦ Q♠
The board fell: 5♥ 4♥ 2♥ Q♥ K♥ and Pidun was eliminated in ninth place on the hand by the nut flush.
Here is a look at the chip counts when the final table began:
Ben Wilinofsky Canada 5,225,000
Maximilian Heinzelmann Germany 4,970,000
Vadzim Kursevich Belarus 4,345,000
Darren Kramer South Africa 2,235,000
Armin Mette Germany 2,125,000
Martin Jacobson Sweden 2,085,000
Joep van den Bijgaart Netherlands 1,060,000
Jonas Gutteck Germany 1,025,000

Wilinofsky increased his chip lead to nine million in the first major hand of the final table against Max Heinzelmann. Wilinofsky feasted on Heinzelmann once again a short time later to increase his chip stack above 10 million and hold more than half of the chips in play. Jonas Gutteck was the first player to fall in eighth place (€66,000). His J-9 ran into the pocket kings of Heinzelmann and those kings made quads by the end of the hand.
It took quite some time after that before the last Team PokerStars pro in the tournament Joep van den Bijgaart hit the rail in seventh place (€100,000). Bijgaart held A-5 but it was cracked by the K-J of Wilinofsky on a Q-J-3-K-2 board. Darren Kramer fell just minutes later when his A-9 lost a race against the pocket sevens of Vadzim Kursevich. He took home €140,000 in sixth place.
Wilinofsky became the second player to get dealt quads at the final table to eliminate Armin Mette in fifth place (€180,000). Wilinofsky’s quad aces were more than enough to trample the pocket twos of Mette. Swedish professional Martin Jacobson was the next to hit the rail in fourth place (€230,000). His A-K lost a race to the pocket sixes of Heinzelmann.
Wilinofsky maintained his chip lead from the start of the final table when Kursevich moved all in with A♣ K♣ on a K♠ Q♠ J♣ flop and Wilinofsky made the call with 10♥ 9♥. The 6♠ on the turn and the A♠ on the river ensured that the flopped straight was enough to send Kursevich home in third place (€300,000).
When heads-up play began Wilinofsky held 16,235,000 to the 6,895,000 of his opponent. Heinzelmann was a little stubborn on the way out but the wire-to-wire victory by Wilinofsky never seemed to be in doubt. On the final hand Wilinofsky limped preflop and Heinzelmann checked to see a 8♠ 5♣ 3♦ flop.
Heinzelmann bet 225,000 and Wilinofsky raised to 500,000. Heinzelmann reraised all in for 4,025,000. Wilinofsky made the call and they flipped over their cards:
Heinzelmann: 9♥ 8♥
Wilinofsky: 7♥ 6♦
Turn and River: 9♠ and J♥
Heinzelmann was eliminated in second place and he took home €500,000 for a strong runner-up performance. Wilinofsky took home the top prize of €825,000 as the champion and his first major live tournament title.
The final table results were:
First Ben Wilinofsky €825,000
Second Maximilian Heinzelmann €500,000
Third Vadzim Kursevich Belarus €300,000
Fourth Martin Jacobson €230,000
Fifth Armin Mette €180,000
Sixth Darren Kramer €140,000
Seventh Joep van den Bijgaart €100,000
Eighth Jonas Gutteck €66,000