EPT Poland Won by Iraq War VeteranPeter Willers Jepsen Wins $433,000 |
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The European Poker Tour touched down in Poland last month, attracting 284 players and generating a prize pool of $1.385 million, of which $433,000 went to the winner. It was the seventh event of season three of the EPT.
Peter Willers Jepsen won the event. He is a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who got into poker after being injured in the war. He says he took up poker after returning home from Iraq desperate to rekindle the rush of Army life, signed up to an online poker site, and started to play 50¢-$1 no limit. He worked his way up playing those small stakes and is now a high-stakes player. This was his biggest tournament cash so far, but he also cashed for $165,000 at the Caribbean Poker Classic in 2006.
Farid Meraghini was the runner-up. He won $242,498. Meraghini is a 22-year-old player from France, who is friends with former Noah Boeken. A former Magic: The Gathering player (he won a major event when he was 17), he made the switch to poker after watching his friends use the game to pay the bills.
John Conroy of the United Kingdom finished third, earning $145,444. He qualified for this EPT event through PokerStars. He is 43 years old. Conroy finished third despite starting the final table with only $73,000 in chips. The chip leader, Meraghini, started with $971,000.
The fourth-place finisher was 22-year-old Marius Torbergsen of Norway. He also qualified for this event through a PokerStars cash qualifier. The online pro won $103,885.
Katja Thater, 40, of Germany, finished fifth for $85,874. She's been a professional poker player since 2000.
Finishing sixth was Andrew O'Flaherty, for $67,872. The 45-year-old former Dubliner had been playing big-buy-in tourneys for the last eight years, and poker in general for 20. He also races greyhounds.
Patric Martensson was EPT Poland's seventh-place finisher. The 20-year-old Swede has made three final tables in the last 18 months, and his biggest finish was fourth at the EPT Barcelona. (Martensson is not Sweden's Monopoly champ as his friends have leaked to the media.)
Frederik Hostrup, 42, of Denmark finished eighth for $38,779. He is chairman of the Danish Poker Association and has been an online pro since 2000.
The event took place from March 14-17 and the buy-in was $5,141 (15,000 Polish Zloty).
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