We started the day wondering whether we'd still be here tomorrow waiting for this intriguing PokerStars.com EPT event to come to a close. Thirteen players came in from the Catalonian sun to chase the 1.1 million first prize. But before the clock even ticked around to 12.30am, we had a champion after one of the quickest final tables in the tour's history.
Sander Lylloff, from Copenhagen, Denmark, continued the Nordic domination of the EPT when he, first, edged onto the final table, then watched three of his adversaries fall in the opening two hours. Then Sander himself joined in the carnage, building his stack as he slayed three of his final five opponents, ending with the brief heads-up assassination of close friend and hotel room-mate Mark Teltscher, from the United Kingdom.
The Cristal champagne that Teltscher ordered for the friends to sup over their mano-a-mano battle hadn't even arrived before all the chips were in the middle. Teltscher was delighted: he'd found kings. Lylloff had a meagre looking J-10 but hit two jacks -- on flop and turn -- to earn bragging rights and the cheque for €1,170,700.
But, begin at the beginning.
When we convened at 3.30pm, the chip leader was Nikolaus Jedlicka, a PokerStars Supernova from Austria. He had about 100,000 more chips than MikaPaasonen, from Finland, and the now-familiar Lylloff, Teltscher and Juan Maceiras, from Spain.
And while those four hung tough, the shorter stacks began a steady procession out the door, often bust by the young American PokerStars sensation Gregory Dyer.
First out was VoittoRintala, from Finland, a Dyer victim. Then Philip Yeh was on his way back to Sweden, who slipped up on DavidiKitai's big slick. But Kitai himself was soon on his way, the result of an unhappy clash of queens against Lylloff's aces.
Things slowed ... for a moment. After some to-ing and fro-ing involving Patrick Bruel, the French actor/singer/poker player and Teltscher, it was MohamadKowassie who lost his patience and shoved with Q-3. Gregory Dyer, silent smiling assassin, picked up another big slick and grinned Kowassie out of the tournament.
That brought us to the faux final table. There were nine players around it, which is one too many for the EPT television treatment. Something had to give and it was Juan Maceiras, the popular local, egged on by vociferous Spanish support, who got it in with A-6 but ran into another A-K of Dyer.
Out. Down to eight.
By the time the final eight got together, there had been a change at the top of the pile. Dyer's incredible run had taken him over the million mark, while Nikolaus had slipped down to fourth. The final table lined up like this:
But no one was in the mood to hang around, it seemed, and three hands into the final we lost Bruel, who had a stab at an ace-high, all-heart flop with pocket 10s. Mark Teltscher had an ace, and a heart to boot, and it was the singer's swansong. C'est la vie.
Then Jedlicka bit the dust, and again it was Teltscher and again it was pocket 10s in the eliminated player's hands. Teltscher had ace-queen and both appeared on the board to win the race for the Englishman.
Six became five. Adam Junglen, the 19-year-old from Ohio, who won the PokerStars Sunday million in July, among countless major tournament results, was the next to perish. He threw it all in behind A-4 and Sander woke up with pocket eights. He made the call and knocked Junglen to the rail.
And, at the blink of an eye or the flip of a chip, we were down to four. TrondEidsvig hadn't played a hand on the final table before he trap-checked a jack-high flop, but didn't get the expected bet from MikaPaasonen. Instead, Mika came out firing when a 10 came on the turn - with good reason, that had made him two pair, tens and nines, and Eidsvig had trapped himself.
Greg Dyer was the leader of the final four, with Sandor Lylloff the short stack. But an early double up for the Dane, through Dyer, started the comeback.
Meanwhile, Mark Teltscher was accounting for MikaPaasonen. A massive battle-of-the-blinds left the Finn crippled and Greg Dyer finished him off.
Down to three, and finally the action slowed. In fact, it was close to two hours, plus dinner break, before the final three could be parted. They exchanged chips, exchanged chip leads, levelled out, pulled away, levelled out again. But the rot had set in for Dyer, and despite surviving a number of gutsy all-ins, he ran into aces and couldn't wriggle out of that.
So, heads up. Lylloff versus Teltscher. They're friends and are even sharing a hotel room in Barcelona. For some, this might have been a battle for the EPT crown and a million odd euros. For them, it was all about who gets to sleep on the roll-out bed.
And it was quick. Mark found the kings, Sander had a speculative punt with his J-10. And sometimes in poker, fortune favours the brave. The jack on the flop looked dangerous, the second jack on the river looked decisive.
Teltscher, who could have become the first player to win two EPT crowns, was instead gracious in defeat and embraced his friend.
Party round theirs -- all welcome.
Goodnight from Barcelona.
EPT Barcelona: Final table
Posted: Sat, Sep 01, 07, 2:47 AM
The final table is about to begin, with the following players sitting in various states of nervousness or confidence around it.
Harvard statistics student Greg is too young to even play in a US casino - but he's clocked up some substantial successes online since taking up the game a few years ago. Last February he won a PokerStars $150 tournament for £21,000 and he has grown his $5 bankroll - borrowed from a friend - to some $150,000. Greg doesn't plan a fulltime poker career but admitted he has had "discussions" with his parents about his new pursuit. "Actually they weren't really worried until I starting winning a lot."
Seat 2: Adam Junglen, 19, Stow, Ohio, USA - 320,000
He may be just 19, but Adam Junglen has already made a real name for himself both online and on the live circuit. Playing as "AJunglen7" on PokerStars, he won the Sunday Million in July for close to $200,000 - adding to a string of impressive tournament results on the site. He also cashed in this year's Aussie Millions and came 5th in the pot limit event at the Johnny Chan Poker Classic in Canada. Things didn't start so well here in Barcelona - the airline lost his luggage - but Adam's fortunes have changed since then. He survived a table featuring Greg Raymer and Patrick Antonius on day 1B and has been soaring ever since. This is his first final table on the EPT.
Seat 3: Nikolaus Jedlicka, 20, Vienna, Austria - 569,000
Young Austrian Nikolaus is having a pretty good summer. In June, he won the Austrian Masters main event for €70,940 and he's also cashed in several other smaller events in Austria in the last year. Known as "RealAndyBeal" on PokerStars, Nikolaus is a Supernova player and cashed W-Dollars for buy-in to Barcelona. He's only been playing a couple of years and normally plays Omaha cash games.
Seat 4: Mika Paasonen, 29, Haamenlinna, Finland - 924,000
A former security guard in Helsinki, Mika Paasonen's life changed three years ago when he watched the poker movie "Rounders" with a few friends. They started a tiny-stakes home game which prompted Mika to begin playing online, and, after returning a steady month-on-month profit, he turned professional after just a year. Here in Barcelona, he's been playing a tight-aggressive game and has been among the chip leaders since Day 1.
Seat 5: Mark Teltscher, 27, London, UK - 676,000
Mark is already had enormous success at EPTs - he won EPT2 London for £280,000 and came 11 th at the Grand Final for €33,500. Sandwiched between those two successes was another huge win - the $5,000 NLHE tournament at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada - for a further $374,965. As of 2007, he has made nearly a million dollars in live tournament winnings. Mark comes from a backgammon and bridge background - and was an Under 18 bridge champion.
Sander Lylloff is better known for backgammon than poker - in fact, some consider him one of the best players in the world. He took up backgammon after failing to get into university, and before that he was a junior chess champion. He's no stranger to EPTs and won a side event at the Monte Carlo Grand Final in Season 2. He and fellow finalist Mark Teltscher are room-mates here in Barcelona but claim there won't be a fight if one of them ends up busting the one!
Making the final table of EPT Barcelona is Tronde's biggest success in his poker career to date. He turned professional 18 months and played at EPT Dortmund last season, getting knocked early in the second day.
Seat 8: Patrick Bruel, 47, France - 374,000
Patrick Bruel, 47, is known as the first Frenchman to win a WSOP bracelet (1999) and also hosts the French version of the WPT TV show. In his home country however, Patrick is extremely famous as an actor, singer and media personality with over 40 film credits, including Sabrina with Julia Ormand and Harrison Ford. His 2003 album Entre Deux sold over 2m copies. Although he has played many EPTs, this is Patrick's 1st EPT final table.
EPT Barcelona: Final day action
Posted: Sat, Sep 01, 07, 12:02 AM
4.05pm: And another one down. This time it's Davidi Kitai who gets it all in pre-flop, bolstered by queens in the hole. But Sandor Lylloff wakes up with aces and the board doesn't help Kitai. Down to ten.
3.45pm: Maybe it'll be quicker than we thought...?
Barely ten minutes into play today and we've lost two players.
Greg Dyer took two bites to eliminate Voitto Rintala, eventually finishing him off with an A-9 versus a 9-7. Voitto will take €33,450 back to Finland for his 13th place.
And a few hands later, Davidi Kitai took out Philip Yeh in 12th, who's ambitious push with 4-6 ran into a significantly more sizeable A-K. Yeh picks up €46,000 for 12th.
Dyer will have about 400,000 now, while Kitai is up to the mid 300s.
EPT Barcelona: The home stretch
Posted: Fri, Aug 31, 07, 11:32 PM
It's an early start for the final day of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour in Barcelona.
At the end of yesterday, day three, 13 players remained of the original 543 and this afternoon our first priority is to establish a final table of eight, then to name the winner.
But that's getting way ahead of ourselves. It'll probably take at least ten hours before we get anywhere near deciding the man who'll leave Catalonia as a Euro millionaire, and few spectators would be surprised if we don't end up trying to distract the security guards trying to close the place at 4am in order to cram in a few more hands.
Any of the following players would be happy to spend the next full day of their lives sat around the table:
Nikolaus "RealAndyBeal" Jedlicka (Austria) 879,000 - PokerStars Supernova, cashed W-Dollars for buy-in to Barcelona
Mika Paasonen (Finland) 715,000
Sander Lylloff (Denmark) 646,000
Juan Maceiras (Spain) 585,000
Mark Teltscher (UK) 533,000
Adam "AJunglen7" Junglen (USA) 419,000 - cashed PokerStars W-Dollars for Barcelona buy-in
Tronde Eidsvig (Norway) 339,000
Mohamad Kowssarie (Sweden) 294,000
Patrick Bruel (France) 270,000
Voitto Rintala (Finland) 253,000
Davidi Kitai (Belgium) 219,000
Greg "FunkiMunki" Dyer (USA) 155,000 - cashed PokerStars W-Dollars for Barcelona buy-in
Philip Yeh (Sweden) 116,000