Michael Martin Wins London EPT Main EventEuropeans Pipped to Post by an American Dream at European Poker Tour London |
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The £5,200 EPT London main event found its champion yesterday in the form of American Michael Martin. Martin made a fantastic comeback, after being short-stacked by aggressor Eric Liu, and finally met his match in another Michael — Michael Tureniec. The two were the leftovers from the original record breaking field of 596, but only one of them could take home the enormous £1 million top prize.
The other final table finishers were as follows:
3: Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki (Poland) £303,439
4: Eric Liu (USA) -- £234,920
5: Philippe D'Auteuil (Canada) -- £195,766
6: Alan Smurfit (Ireland) -- £153,351
7: Johannes Strassmann (Germany) -- £120,723
8: Antony Lellouche (France) -- £81,569
A stellar field of poker giants reared their heads throughout the event including the likes of Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Scotty Nguyen, and Phil Ivey, but apart from champion Martin, it was the performance of the many young Europeans that impressed the most.
Frenchman Antony Lellouche began gathering his large stack by slaying opponent after opponent on day 2 in order to ensure his place at the final table on day 4, Irishman Alan Smurfit short-stacked his way to sixth place, baby-faced Johannes Strassmann made some strategic and well thought out moves throughout the entire tournament, and Marcin Horecki from Poland kept his icy cool exterior, despite being behind in chips during the later stages.
After Michael Martin was left with less than 100,000 by the other surviving American,
Eric Liu, he went all in three times in three consecutive hands, and managed to double up each time. He then got his revenge on Liu with A
9
versus J
10 on a A K 5 A 7 board, knocking Liu out in fourth. He went on to take everyone else out, and win the first major tournament of his career. Tureniec took home £525,314 for his second place finish.
Another player worth a mention is Danish November niner, Peter Eastgate. Like his World Series Of Poker final table opponent Ivan Demidov, who recently came third in the World Series Of Poker Europe, Eastgate showed perseverance and determination as he almost made it to the higher end of the money at the EPT London. He may not have done as well as Demidov, but an 18th place finish for £16,313 is nothing to be snuffed at.
The next leg of the European Poker Tour is the £4,250 Hungarian Open in the Las Vegas Casino, Sofitel Hotel, Budapest, which will run from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
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