Joao Barbosa Wins EPT Polish Open 2008Final Recap of Day 4 of EPT Warsaw |
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With so much poker activity in Europe, a smaller field than usual turned up at the casino in the Hyatt Regency Hotel for the PokerStars.com 2008 EPT Polish Open. However, the 217 players who did turn up made for five days of high-octane, action-packed poker. Some of the notables included Sorel Mizzi, Johnny Lodden, Roland de Wolfe, Marty Smyth, Luca Pagano, Katja Thater, Dario Minieri, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Isabelle Mercier.
Here were the chip counts going into day 4:
Seat 1: Arnaud Mattern (France) -- 328,000
Seat 2: Ludovic Lacay (France) -- 296,500
Seat 3: Andrea Benelli (Italy) -- 100,000
Seat 4: Michael Muheim (Switzerland) -- 89,000
Seat 5: Joao Barbosa (Portugal) -- 123,000
Seat 6: Dario Minieri (Italy) -- 359,500
Seat 7: Nico Behling (Denmark) -- 343,500
Seat 8: Sergey Shcherbatskiy (Russia) -- 349,000
Seat 9: Atanas Gueorguiev (Bulgaria) -- 186,500
Ten former EPT winners entered the tournament and eight made it to day 3. Former champion Arnaud Mattern was the only one to make it to the final table, which kicked off yesterday. In the beginning, most of the action came from the two Frenchman sitting beside each other in seats 1 and 2 -- Mattern and Ludovic Lacay -- but soon the bustouts began.
Here are some of the highlight hands from CardPlayer.com’s live updates:
It seems to be quiet man Joao Barbosa's day today. It's his birthday, though, so it's not surprising that lady luck is on his side. Atanas Gueorguiev is all in with A-K, and Barbosa calls with K-Q. There isn't much action until ... Barbosa rivers a queen.
Joao Barbosa bets 44,000 preflop, Minieri shoves, and Barbosa calls with 9-9. Minieri flips over 7 7, and the board falls:
Q 3 3 8 4
Minieri leaves the tournament in third place, €123,162 richer.
Although the whole event was intense, heart-throbbing, nail-biting fun. The heads-up match was slow and tentative. Here's how the last hand played out:
Nico Behling Eliminated in Second Place (€205,270)
Nico Behling bet 60,000, Barbosa raised to 200,000, Behling went all in, and Barbosa called. Behling turned over J 7, while Barbosa had him beat with A10. The board came down A 7 3 6 6, and Barbosa became the new champion. Behling, who said something about it being his lucky hand, finished as runner-up for €205,270.
Joao Barbosa, who, coincidentally, was celebrating his 26th birthday on the day, became the 2008 European Poker Tour Polish Open champion. He received €367,141 for first place. The next stop on the EPT is Prague. Join CardPlayer.com for all of the action as the reporting team go live for the next explosion of poker in Europe.